Book Review: The Hands of the Pianist, by Yali Sobol

Israel, after (just) another war. Hagit and Yoav, two people without any political involvement - either right or left. Hagit is video cutting at a TV news office. Yoav a piano player with an average audience.

The war is over, but the ambiance of mistrust and the pressure on freedoms is becoming heavier. Journalists are under permanent observation, mostly through surveillance cameras installed in their offices. People active in the cultural field are regularly requested for reporting to the police. The piano player himself is not allowed to leave the country, due to unspecified reasons.

People - or rather some of them - are coping relatively well with the new - but not completely different - circumstances. The usual 'protectsia' operates well and a daughter of a police officer can successfully apply for a role in a play directed by a director recently interogated by her father. Or a journalist whose father is a top official in the Ministry of Defense is left unscattered physically and professionally by a little storm aimed at the son of a high personality in the establishment accused of murdering a young girl.

Because of this journalist, Hagit and Yoav's lives will be upsided down for ever. They represent the perfect scapegoats of anti-democratic measures. Without a clear political support, without political opinions, focused on their work only without uttering any opinions, they are becoming victims against their will. Hagit accepts to take an USB stick from her journalist colleague and she is not even curious to check the content.

The psychological depth of the characters is very well built, catching perfectly the weaknesses and the average answers to political pressures. Far from having an obvious agenda, the characters are left to talk by themselves which makes the narrative flow clean and clear, in a very natural way.

Using physical coercition and psychological pressure, the authorities are able to make them 'confess' imaginary crimes, bringing other people into the story as well, as innocent as them. But this is how mostly authoritarian regimes survive: they turn innocents, apolitical beings into informers even though the information provided might be false. Under pressure, and with the clear reward in sight (which means freedom) as long as names are dropped, most of us will willingly betray a friend or a relative. It always happened and will always happens. If we want to keep being human we need to get rid of such methods. To leave such an environment or united, to fight it.

Yoav and Hagit, can be any one of us.

(I've read the German translation of the Hebrew version)

Rating: 4 stars

Fear

When it comes to the definitions of various political regimes, what really makes the difference between one system and the other is the way in which it encompasses the human nature. 

For instance, in a liberal democracy, the human nature is credited with free will and the capacity to decide its fate, with a minimal intrusion on behalf of the state. 

In a dictatorship, the human nature is considered weak, unreliable, even dangerous when not contained by a very elaborate state system, therefore, it needs to be permanently supervised and controlled, from an early age through education and further on, through an omni-present surveillance system which relies often on voluntarily human informers. From this point of view, both the right and the left dictatorships do endeavour the same future for their citizens: their consciences need to be modelled carefully, like a knead, while under a permanent pressure to conform to the values assumed as right by the state.

When it comes to define the 'enemy', the dictatorships usually use a very generous definition that includes both its own citizens that under various circumstances, including foreign influences, might display openly thoughts and opinions and even behaviours, contrary to the state-accepted values. Those values might be subject to change, therefore as a member of the close community you have to be permanently connected with the vital ideological organs of the state. Yesterday's favorite might turn overnight into the public enemy, so better watch out!

What a dictatorship, or an emerging dictatorship is mostly afraid of, is the difference of opinions, especially those opinions who seem to neglect its awesomeness. The builders of such a system are afraid that once people are being told that 'the King is naked', more and more subjects will follow because, isn't it, they are just weak mortals, unable to have their own opinions. A democracy stays stronger despite and often thanks to its critics. Democracies, as we'are witnesses in many parts of the world right now, are not irreversible and you need dedicated institutions and individuals strongly believing in the values of freedom.

The dictatorships in the making are operating in a reverse mode. Institutions aimed at guaranteeing the check and balances are discredited - especially the judiciary, theoretically an apolitical entity, is invaded suddenly by political interventions, mostly when at stake are serious corruption files against politicians, media is facing a permanent pressure, in the modern variant being forced to reproduce various battle lines produced by skilled governmental spin doctors. Anyone daring to utter a different opinion is labelled as 'enemy'. 

Of course not everything which is said in a democracy is true. Individauals and/groups might be biased, driven by hate or just unable to understand some specific situation and historical contexts. They can be manipulated, the messengers of a specific ideology or religious mindset. 

In a democracy, such people are allowed to have their opinion, eventually being assisted and being offered a different version of facts. A strong democracy is not afraid of dissidents and critics, even the unfair ones. The only real threat is a person or group of people aiming at destroying violently that democracy or taking control over the democratic institutions in order to restrain the basic freedoms and institute dictatorship. 

Fear is the cheapest and deadliest fuel in a dictatorship. For fear, basic freedoms are limited. For fear, dissidents are put into prison and interrogated. For fear, media is taken away its basic freedoms. For fear, people with apparent or obvious antagonistic opinions to the state's ideology are not allowed to enter. For fear, people are paying their way into freedom, either by open acts of corruption even by willingly acts of denunciation. 

Who really wants to live with fear?

This Year Lessons of Tisha B'Av

For years, mourning and fasting on Tisha b'Av was an unique moment of connection and meditation on the deep meanings of what caused the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. This year, for the same reason, it is a great moment to figure out what I had to disconnect with some of my fellows.

I know how bad is to make difference between us and consider one better than the other - or worse. I know the destructive power of lashon hara. I know how sad and lonely is to feel isolated from your fellow Jews in galut and to realize that you have to cut ties with some of them otherwise your soul is feeling dirtied.

My mother (z'l) whose yohrzeit falls on Tisha b'Av used to teach us something. When you dress in a certain - immodest - way it is your decision to treat your body well - or not. When you decide to do not respect certain holidays and prohibitions it is your responsibility towards Gd. When you decide to eat certain non-kosher foods it will harm yourself but it is your decision to spiritually poison your body. All those decisions are aimed at harming yourself and no one else. But, when you utter certain words and to say bad things to other people , it is your decision to harm other people which is by far worse than anything you can do to yourself. The human soul is so delicate that only one single word said with hate can completely destroy its basis. 

And this is exactly what happened to me in the last years. People that used to trust or just welcome in my house and help turned against me and throw up lashon hara just because it was easier than check directly facts with the target of those slanders. Bad for them, I have my conscience clean that I helped someone in need, but still, words hurt. People that are so corrupt that you can hardly imagine, turned against because it is better always to pretend having someone against someone who knows your real value. Bad for them, they only add more deceit to an already mountain of disappointment. And there were also those who were so sour against life that just being ugly did not cost them a dime. 

I'm long healed for all of them, but the scars are still there. The scars of realizing that in the end, for my own psychological sanity, I need to start treating them with the same condescendence and even harshness as anyone else. I was not ready for this and the decision was hurtful, but had to. Living the galut in the middle of your own people is painful.

After all, the fact that we are not better than the others leave a lot of room for improvement. Open the doors for recognizing the humble humanity and kindness of any human, regardless the background received by birth. 

In a very condescending way, I am terribly sorry for those people that were unable to understand kindness and chose to attack. They might have their hurtful histories they are trying to fight against. Meeting them up was a deceiving experience but was all for the good. I am surrounded by the people I chose to have around me based on their good midot and not the Gd they pray, based on their humanity, humility and intelligence. I keep being myself, being proud of my education and background but very careful with embracing my fellows only because we share the same group stigma.

The Temple was destroyed and we were left on ourselves. Left to build our homes of peace and our souls clean. By far, most difficult than putting together stone with stone. 

This Tisha b'Av means more than ever a milestone. A milestone of me being finally able to fulfill my spiritual and human potential, freed from the mental overload and human toxicity that only broke my heart and my faith. I was able to move forward beautifully and I happy to embark on this journey.