Sadness is a White Bird

Sadness is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher

   Never more timely than now, Sadness is a White Bird will likely leave you with more questions than it answers. It will certainly make you think.

    Jonathan was born in Israel but spent many years in the United States.  He feels the strong pull to go back to Israel and do his part to defend his homeland, the homeland his grandfather helped to establish after the Nazi’s exterminated his community.  Jonathan doesn’t have any problem with this, it’s his duty as a member of his family and as a Jew.   But there was something he wasn’t counting on.

    Jonathan is introduced to Laith and Nimreen, the children of his mother’s Palestinian friend.  There is an immediate acceptance on the part of all of the young people. There are curiosities, the working out of language, but in the end these three are emotionally connected, braided together tightly.  They travel together, share hopes, discuss their futures, all the while knowing that Jonathan is there to defend his homeland against Palestinians, against Nimreen and Laith.  But it doesn’t matter.  Their love and friendship will keep them.

    And then, it’s time.  Under shameful pressure from his grandfather, Jonathan must report for service, he must face what he might have to do, he does think that the love of his friends will see them all through. Until the day of reckoning. 

    This story is told through Jonathan as he sits in jail trying to reconcile in a letter to Laith how things came to be.  It’s the story of friendship despite differences, despite politics, despite having to be true to yourself.  And in this day, in this time, it’s not a story you will soon forget.