The Sword of Freedom by Yossi Cohen

 ´Don´t dare touch my country!´

The first Orthodox Jew to be named the director of the Mossad, the one during whose mandate the unforgettable stealing of Iran´s secret atomic energy archives took place and who planted the seeds of the pager operation wrote a memoir - The Sword of Freedom - that raises few questions.

Why would a veteran operative and former director of the Mossad share so many inside secrets? There are anonymised details about operations, fate of operatives, recruitment, more than in any other similar memoir I´ve read before. Contrary to how the saying goes, the history is not written by victors. Especially after the massive intelligence failure of 7th of October, the resilient history of Mossad may be forgotten. Yossi Cohen is insisting that there is a different angle to it and this is not the exception rather the rule of operation of an unbeatable intelligence service.

Another question is: what exactly wants Yossi Cohen to achieve with this very detailed memoir? He is sharing a very realistic geopolitical overview but also his own strategic considerations, based on his decades of experience in the field. He is articulated, as cynical as a Mossad spy is expected to be but also knowledgeable in terms of personal management and recruitment techniques. 

What´s next though? Or rather, is Yossi Cohen planning to put his art of government knowledge into practice? Never say never. Could he turn into an Israeli Putin - a political character whose (geo)political realism he outlined in two or three occasions ? It is clear that he does no intend to join any current political structure - although he was offered - as ´I am no one´s No. 3´, but with the new elections - long time not seen - looming towards the end of the next year, he may create his own structure. Currently he is a consultant and his interests are covering a wide array of topics like renewable energies, smmart use of information and AI. 

A patriot, he proudly mentioned his intellectual references: David ben Gurion, Jabotinsky und Menahem Begin. Meir Dagan was his professional model and rabbi Haim Druckman, the late spiritual leader of the religious Zionist community - Cohen also learned at Yeshivat Or Etzion leaded by Druckman - as his spiritual leader. Although a religious person, his stance regarding the military service for yeshiva bochurim is very clear: they need to be part to the patriotic efforts of the Israeli society otherwise their social aid may be cut. If determined to enter politics such a position will not bring him the votes of a specific community, but his target groups are nevertheless very well defined.

The next moths will show if there will be a politician Yossi Cohen. He was very diplomatic when mentioning Bibi, whose National Security Advisor he was and under whose guidance he intensively negotiated the Abraham Accords and who nominated him as the chief of the Mossad, but some referenes about how power corrupts and the need of unity may loudly beat the drums for anyone to hear. Despite his charming and wrinkle-free appearance, Cohen is in his 60s, so there is no game to talk about a new generation of politicians. His advantage though is that he is connected to the real world, has an already proven strategy but also the religious fervor of a Bnei Akiva; a leadership model who transcedes and goes beyond generational rifts.

Girls, Girls, Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee

 

A Jewish queer debut novel of coming of age set on the bubbling backdrop of the San Francisco in the 1990s, Girls, Girls, Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee is also an exceptional well written story. I had access to the book in the audiobook format - also read by the author -, and therefore the experience may have been different in narrative terms, but in any case, the story of Hannah, a young queer Jewish girl leaving Long Island, NYC, for San Francisco will stay with me for a long time.

Together with her crash, Sam, Hannah leaves her home, dominated by her newly Jewish Orthodox mother, and abandoning her beloved Bubbe to go to a place where she can be herself. No one to tell her what to do, how to dress and eventually who and when to get married. If separating from her devout mother was a relief, leaving behind her beloved Bubbe was so far the hardest thing.

But emancipation, growing up, involves also such decisions and Hannah´s life is taking unexpected turns: in order to make money she is stripping in a bar, then she is the crush of Chris whom, encouraged by Sam, would date for money. Her relationship with Sam is deteriorating, but she is building up a new network of friends sharing the same orientation, belonging to different religions. She learns to grief, as her Bubbe is dying of pancreatic cancer.

The tensions and emotions involved by this process are vividly described and so are Hannah´s efforts to find her place in this new world: new, difficult, but more representative for her search of self. The variants of the Jewish identity she is about to discover for herself may give her the freedom - as in ´frei´ - of being herself. Coming out is just the first step, putting together the fragments of identity, creating her own story, may be different. 

These tensions inherent to the growing up process, becoming an adult with different responsibilities and a life story, who builds the rest of the narrative, are very important for me. 

Shoshana von Blanckensee, who is also an oncology nurse, was inspired by her own experience with the queer scene in San Francisco in the 1990s. Different vocabulary and ways of talking, nevertheless a queer life of itself, that may look very different of today´s. Those nuances, especially regarding the choice of words, are part of the charm of this book, that is still echoeing in my head those days.

Rating: 5 stars