Sami Michael
Encyclopedia
Sami Michael is an Israeli author. Since 2001, Michael has been the President of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
Michael was among the first in Israel to call for the creation of an independent Palestinian state to exist alongside Israel. In his novels Michael writes about the aspirations and struggles of both Jews and Arabs. This new approach in modern Hebrew literature was controversial and has been widely discussed in universities and in the media. Michael was awarded the EMET Prize
in 2007. Michael defines himself not as a Zionist, but, as in Unbounded Ideas, as an Israeli in order to make room for the inclusion of all citizens in Israel.
, where his father was a merchant. Michael completed his education in the Jewish educational system of Baghdad, in Shamash School
, receiving his high school diploma in 1945.
At the age of 15, two years after the outbreak of World War II, he joined and soon became a leader of a leftist (Communist) underground group acting against the oppressive regime in Iraq, fighting for human rights and democratic values. Michael later wrote about this period of his life in his novel A Handful of Fog
. Shortly after, aged 17, he began writing articles for the Iraqi press. His political activities led to a warrant being issued for his arrest in 1948, Michael was forced to flee and went to Iran
. The Iraqi court sentenced him to death in absentia. In Iran
he joined the communist party, Tuda, and continued to work for democracy in Iraq
. Unable to return to Iraq, Michael came to Israel in 1949.
Michael arrived in Israel alone, his family remaining in Iraq, joining him later (1951). In the early fifties the majority of Iraqi Jewry left Iraq, forced to relinquish their Iraqi citizenship. Michael, on the other hand, till today still holds Iraqi citizenship, as he did not officially give it up.
Michael settled in an Arab quarter of Haifa
, Wadi Nisnas
. He was invited to work for a newspaper by Emil Habibi. Michael was the only Jew on the editorial board of Al Ittihad
and Al Jadid (Arabic language newspapers of the communist party) where he worked as an editor for four years. At the same time he had a weekly column in which he wrote stories and articles under the pseudonym Samir Mared. His stories, while written in the spirit of “socialist realism”, were laced with irony and humor. In 1955, disillusioned with the policies of the USSR, he terminated his affiliation with the communist party, and concluded his work on both papers. "I left the party but not the ideals of socialism."
Michael worked as a hydrologist in the north of Israel (25 years). He completed his hydrology studies at the British Institute (London) and went on to study Psychology
and Arabic Literature
at the University of Haifa
.
At the age of 45 Michael embarked upon the project of mastering the Hebrew language. In 1974 he published his first novel, in Hebrew All Men are Equal – But Some are More
; about the lives of immigrants in transit camps in Israel in the 1950s. The title of the novel – Shavim ve-Shavim Yoter – became a well-known phrase depicting the struggles for equality of Jews from Arab countries. This book opened the door for profound discussion about the socio-economic gaps in Israel and also about the situation of the Arabs in Israel.
Michael has published 11 novels and 3 non fiction
focusing on cultural, political and social affairs in Israel, 3 plays and a children's book. Most of Michael's books were published by Am Oved
publishers. Michael left Am Oved in 2007 and moved to Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir
publishers after receiving a very attractive offer, granting him a fixed monthly salary. His first book that published with them was Aida
. Michael has also written numerous articles and essays. His writings and his social and political activities have made him a household name in Israel. Michael has never been an author of the establishment, which meant that he did not enjoy promotional or financial assistance.
Two cities feature in many of Michael's novels Victoria, Storm among the Palms, A Handful of Fog
and Aida
, are set in his home town Baghdad
, and Refuge, A Trumpet in the Wadi
, Water Kissing Water, and Nabila are set in Haifa
, his adopted city. Michael wrote about his departure from Iraq and arrival in Haifa when he wrote of his first day in Haifa, Israel -"Each kilometer that the airplane gulped, took me further into a one way tunnel. The flight was a difficult separation from a pained love. When I opened my eyes, I imagined that I was looking at a Fata Morgana, which was stranger than anything I had ever known... I loved Haifa then, and about half a century later, I am faithful to this love. But at the beginning of my first day in Israel there were no designated moments for love set aside."
In 1982, he left Haifa for 10 years moving to the rural, northern Galilee town of Ma'alot, on the hillside overlooking a valley. It is here that he wrote the novel Brown Devils about rock hyraxes that frequently stole the fruits of his well tended garden. In 1992 Michael he returned to Haifa
.
Sami Michael's Way – The man is the crown of creation (literary way) – is a route in the Wadi Nisnas
, an Arab quarter of Haifa, named after Michael in 2002. Literary extracts from his novels are written along the walls of the route both in Hebrew and in Arabic. Michael dedicated three novels to Wadi Nisnas including: A Trumpet in the Wadi
.
In 2008 Michael was appointed as an honorary member of the Arabic Language Academy in Israel.
In 1987 the Israeli High Court of Justice appointed Michael as arbitrator to decide on a matter of education and multiculturalism. The subject was widely covered in the press and his decision was a precedent in Israel which still stands.
Michael is the chairperson of the Aachi Council- a council of Iraqi artists in Israel. He was a member of staff of the Jewish Quarterly
in London.
In 1998 Michael hosted a 13-part series on the Educational Television channel on World Literature, where he engaged writers, researchers and scholars in discussion about their favorite literary masterpieces.
A number of documentaries films and programs on Michael have been made. Michael is a nominee for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
He wrote his first novel in Arabic, which won a prize awarded by the Communistic Party. On leaving the party he ceded publication of the book. Throwing the handwritten copy away Unbounded Ideas
"In his study, amongst books in Hebrew, Arabic and English – novels, poetry, politics, history and science – lies on the table a student's folder and inside it neatly arranged pages of his next novel – all handwritten in exemplary fashion on white paper; rows of sentences in perfectly straight lines, that later he will cross out again and again until he decides that this is it, it can be typed. Not by himself. 'At my age you want me to write on a computer? I belong to the generation that does not press buttons, but rather turn them,' he explains, 'I could not do otherwise. I need the contact of the pen where the words flow from the hand on to the page.'"
Michael has fixed hours for writing: twice a day – morning and afternoon. While writing he disconnects from everything. He doesn't have a telephone in his study, where he writes. He insists on finishing the novel in the same room in which he started it. He started to write Victoria in his garden shed in Ma'alot, and when he sold the house and moved back to Haifa
, he hadn't completed his book, he asked the buyer to allow him to continue living there until he finished writing Victoria – paying full rent of course.
During his writing he does not show it, not even a chapter to anyone. Nor does he consult with anyone. "A good writer in known not only in by good writing but also in his ability to throw away without mercy, to erase and to leave a pure text."
"At the end of the process – approximately three years from the beginning of a book, it will be typed. He does not show his unfinished handwriting, not even to his editor. Here is the place where stubbornness and the joy of creating join to become one determined decision, with the last word left to Michael at all times.[5]
He mostly discards the whole novel and begins writing again. he wrote the novel Water kissing Water over 20 years, and the version that was finally published was the eighth version. During this time he had other novels published.Unbounded Ideas.
He declares that he writes from the gut, without planning out the novel. He likes to surprise himself, although he adds: At the Heart of literature is the plot. When there is no plot, in my opinion, it is not literature but rather another academic exercise.
His books are bestsellers and his readers are from diverse social strata. His style has been nurtured by both the treasures of the Hebrew language and the wealth of the Arab language. Many would say that Michael generated the revolution of pluralism in Israeli literature in that his protagonists are always “the other”, mainly focusing on Arabs, women, refugees and immigrants. Michael says "life experience has given me a whole gallery of characters." Michael: "my childhood was soaked in the wisdom of women. I was amazed by the richness of their imagination. I remember with wonder how a woman, at the age of 90, toothless would become pretty when playing a princess waiting for her prince."
His novels explore a wide range of interlocking relationships – social, ethnic and political – between Jews and Arabs, Moslems and Christians, nationalists and communists and Iraq and Israel, at times comparable to the multiple political identities within Michael himself. "It is as if, sometimes, I feel I am two persons. One is an Arab Iraqi, the other an Israeli Jew."
Michael's writing is characterized by its humor, painful irony, empathy and tolerance. His style is clean, direct, and bare of symbols, yet with an outstanding expressiveness. Each story exudes authenticity and personal involvement.His writing, rich in imagery. With a scathing realism, he exposes the weaknesses and virtue of the human being, but always with a jealous regard for his honor, freedom and compassion.
In his books he describes the Jewish-Arab conflict of its deep national, psychological and social aspects. The longing for social justice, equality between peoples, communities and gender are a central motif in Michael's writing that smashes stereotypes and prejudices. Michael was the first Hebrew author to make the Arab the protagonist in his stories and his referring to him neither with arrogance nor idealization. His style of writing milks both the treasures of the Hebrew language and the wealth of the Arab language. In all his writing the sanctity of life is uppermost.
Michael's books have been translated into many languages and used as text books at universities and schools in Israel and abroad.
In 2005, he was voted the 131st-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Ben Gurion University of the Negev (2000): "In his books, human beings are portrayed as they are – with their weaknesses and their virtues – with cold, at times almost cruel realism, yet always with compassion for mankind.”
Tel Aviv University
(2002): for “his significant contribution to Israeli culture as a unique literary voice and sociopolitical critic. His role in redefining the Israeli experience by broadening its scope and introducing previously unmentioned themes; his ground-breaking work as a protest writer who expressed the discrimination felt both by new immigrants and Israeli Arabs; his role as a leading figure in contemporary Hebrew literature.”
University of Haifa
(2009): "in recognition of his prolific literary contribution, which reflects the many faces of Israeli society with respect for mankind and its freedom. Michael’s public activity that consistently expresses deep commitment to peace, justice and civilian rights; and his contribution to the advancement of mutual understanding between the different denominations and between Jews and Arabs."
| The College of Management Academic Studies
(2008),: "For his contribution in Literature and for his activities on behalf of human rights"
he was aware of the social gaps in society and since his youth has been active in the struggle for equality and human rights. In Israel
he has never ceased to work for human rights.
Michael was amongst a group of leaders of the Communist underground in Iraq
. At this time there was no written material on Communism in Arabic, which meant they had to translate everything from English. During his time in Iran Michael joined Tuda, the Iranian Communist party. Once in Israel he joined the Israeli Communist party; he was a youth leader and worked on the editorial board of Al Itihad and Al Jadid (Arabic language newspapers of the communist party) where he worked as an editor for four years. At the same time he had a weekly column in which he wrote stories and articles under the pseudonym Samir Mared. "In 1955, a short time before the mass disillusionment with Stalin he ended his affiliation with the communist party," and concluded his work on both papers. "…because they transgressed against all my ideals. Today I am a Marxist." "Communism
was a beautiful illusion; despite the disillusionment I will always believe in the human spirit and justice," said Michael.
"I joined Communism as a Jew and I left Communism as a Jew", Michael Unbounded Ideas. "Throughout my years as a communist, the beautiful words coined by Maxim Gorki were imprinted on my mind – the worth of a human being, and when it became clear to me that that same person became the cheapest item in the Communistic regime, I understood that something here was dead. For the years that I waited expectantly for death of communism I hope that at least it would have an honorable burial, but when it came it came so ugly. In spite of the disillusionment and despite the disappointments, I have always been passionate about these ideas and will always continue to be. I will always believe in the spirit of the human being, in social equality and justice, even if they are not realized, for another 300 years, as Chekhov
wrote, but if only in another 3,000 years." Michael.
Since leaving the Communist party Michael chose not to belong to any political organization "in order to keep his conceptual independence as an intellectual". Not once has Michael said: "I am a Party of one man."
Michael was amongst the first in Israel (1950's) to call for coexistence between Jews and Arabs, signing the first petition of artists and public figures calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Michael was invited to give lectures in Cairo
directly following the signing of the peace agreement between Israel
and Egypt
. During the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) he was amongst a delegation of intellectuals that broke through IDF barriers that besieged Hebron
. In 1994 Michael, was invited together with Palestinian author Emil Habibi to Tunis
(at a time when Israelis could not travel there) sponsored by UNESCO
and the Tunisian Ministry of Culture for a conference in Carthago on Arabic Literature.
Michael is known as a peace activist. "There are many definitions of war in different countries. According to my experience, I find that war is a type of disease that damages both body and soul and horribly distorts the images of people. I, myself am a product of two cultures, (Arab and Jewish), and to this day I do not understand the destructive power which has brought the two cultures to life and death confrontations. There is so much beauty and wisdom in the two cultures. It is so easy to be clever and give advice from afar, so hard to be wise and sane from within the flames."
Michael established together with activities people a movement against Meir Kahane
(an advocate for the Arab transfer) in Ma'alot, where he lived for 10 years (1982–1992)
Michael was a partner in the struggle against the expulsion of Palestinian South Hebron Mountain cave dwellers: "The state of Israel was established thanks to international recognition which was granted following the holocaust and the deportations, stating that the Jewish people were entitled to establish a national home, where the proverbial wandering Jew and the refugee will find safe and secure habitat. This would be evil if we were to expel the caves inhabitants, if only because they don't have any defense or savior. The expulsion of these wretched people undermine our moral right to sit as free men and women in our secure homes in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. There is abominable personal terror, but the use of militaristic power to banish citizens from their shacks and from their caves is no less abominable. Event at Tzavta Tel Aviv, 2002
In 2007 Michael, together with David Sasson, created the Forum of the peace initiative with Syria. The forum included Intellectuals, academics and business people such as Yaakov Peri
, Amnon Lipikin Shahak and Alon Liel. An extract of the declaration composed by Michael: "We gave up Sinai and in return we gained peace with Egypt. We call upon the government of Israel, upon those amongst us who are responsible for designing policy, to listen to the voices that are making themselves heard from Damascus. Peace with Syria means peace with the region in which we live. The price of peace is much cheaper than the bitter and destructive price of war."
He has written extensively on social and political matters for Arabic and Hebrew newspapers and occasionally for foreign newspapers. His stance against stereotyping, prejudices and racism is also reflected in his novels. Even in his first novel All Men are Equal – But Some are More
he writes of these prejudices within Jewish society in Israel. The novel was influential for the second generation of the immigrants who saw Michael as a spiritual leader. The name of the book became a well known saying.
On the ever widening social and economic gap in Israel Michael says "this is dangerous shortsightedness. Poverty is a hot-house for the collapse of democracy and culture. Poverty is not a natural disaster. The rich need to understand that widespread poverty threatens, in essence, the existence of social-order. The most secured mansion with all its inhabitants, will not endure if the mansion is built in the center of a shantytown."
When the annual report of ACRI came out on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2007 "Author Sami Michael, the association's president, said upon the release of the report that racism was so rife it was damaging civil liberty in Israel. Israeli society is reaching new heights of racism that damages freedom of expression and privacy." "A hundred years of conflict has given us a majority poisoned by ideological education –a racist majority even more extreme than its leadership." 10. At the Hebrew Book Fair in Tel Aviv when Michael made a solitary demonstration against racism in Emanuel
(a settlement town). "Let's call a spade a spade: The lords of Emanuel are racists who imperil the values of Judaism and democracy. This separation fence of defilement, which shady rabbis plot to plant in our souls, must be uprooted… I will definitely demonstrate during the celebration of Hebrew Book Week, for a school is called 'the house of the book' in Hebrew… Every man, woman and teenager will be welcome to join me to extirpate the racist crime in Immanuel today – and should we remain silent, in all of Israel tomorrow."
"It is dreadful to realize that people who paid a price so horrific in the previous century due to the building of racist fences, permits the building in their own homeland a despicable fence such as this".
About the immigrant and foreigner: "The fact that we are talking about Christians and Buddhists and those without religion does not negate from them the possibility to be helped as the poor of my city. How could we, as Jews that groaned under the evils of fascistic regimes, adopt the same fascistic measures towards those who are prepared to come here (Israel) to look after our sick and elderly and to strengthen our factories? And what about the children of these foreign workers that were born here and whose only language is Hebrew, they no longer have another homeland? And in whose name exactly are we entitled to trample on these people and their rights? We that claimed the right and the duty, to take care of the migrant, the orphan and the widow?" 10
For years Michael was a volunteer in the ERAN organization – an emotional/mental crisis hotline
– Israel's only emotional first aid service provides a confidential 24-hour hotline, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Michael also lectures voluntarily in prisons to prisoners, both Jews and Arabs.
In 1987 the Israeli High Court of Justice appointed Michael as arbitrator to decide on a matter of education and multiculturalism
. The subject was widely covered in the press and his decision was a precedent in Israel which still stands.
Michael is chairman of the council of AHI, the Council of Iraqi born Artists for encouragement of research, literature and art in Israel (Ramat-Gan).
In the early 90s he was on the editorial staff of the Jewish Quarterly
, published in London.
In 1998, he was elected president of The Society for Solidarity between the People of Israel and the People of Iraq, a non-profit society founded by key public figures from cultural, academic and intellectual circles in Israeli society. The group, attracting much attention in Israel, the Arab world and elsewhere, stresses that a clear distinction ought to be made between the Iraqi oppressive regime and the Iraqi people, who have unjustifiably borne the horrifying consequences of the ongoing conflict in the region. The request of the group, however, to be registered as an official non-profit organization was denied by the Interior Ministry’s registrar, claiming that Israeli law forbids “contact with 'enemy states'.” In April 2003 the founders reestablished the Society. Michael was reelected as its president. In the same year after the fall of Saddam Hussein
's regime, Michael was invited to join the group of composers of the new Iraqi constitution. As he did not reside in Iraq nor had he for many years, he felt that it would not be right. He did however have one request which was to insert one important clause: the defense of minorities.
Michael has close relations with many Iraqis both in Iraq and throughout the world. His novel Aida
(2008) set in Iraq in the days of Saddam Hussein
. Friends from Iraq sent him up-to-date pictures of the country so that Michael could see the Iraq of today. He wrote thereon in the acknowledgements of the novel: "I will not forget the good people who extended me their help which was priceless, but I am not able to mention their names as it may put them in danger, amongst them university professors businessmen and women and journalists who risked their freedom to help, and where one of whom was actually arrested for this literary mission."
Michael, an atheist, wrote on Judaism: "the Jewish religion is somewhat like a covenant between the people and godly justice, and at the same time constitutes a treaty of brotherhood and solidarity between people. Judaism has taken a dangerous route with the last generation in Israel). From within it an unbending nationalistic leadership has arisen that strives tirelessly to recruit the faith for clearly political goals. This leadership schemes to destroy the humane, spiritual side of the religion and use it as a weapon of war. Regrettably, this tendency is intensifying.
In these times, Judaism, as a religion, is in desperate need of redemption. I had always thought that Judaism is a religion of compassion and grace, benevolence and of progress and freedom. Judaism is a religion where, at its very center, stands above all else the human being as a holy and superior entity. Life, all life, is supreme, even above good deeds and religious obligations. If freedom has meaning then mere attempts to free Judaism from its chains will be likened to a miracle.
"The marriage between politics and religion is the most destructive marriage that could be, both to the state and to the religion. This marriage has brought corruption of the Jewish religion in Israel. You can see, for example, a rabbi who goes round with a pistol or an Uzi, and, in his opinion, he has the right to murder and kill without any judgment or judge, like Rabbi Moshe Levinger
.
Judaism
originally is a religion of life, but here in Israel an elite of black suited men has been formed. The Jewish religion of every generation was never involved in the government and its intrigues. Joining the coalition since the beginning of the founding of the state and until today has ruined the religious establishment.
If you define secularism according to the level of your struggle against the symbols of the religion, you become religious. I do not define my secularism by anti religious dimensions. I am not anti religious like the 'orthodox secular' in Israel who does not ask questions and who is just left with a shallow puddle of anti religiosity and in which he wallows. The highest degree of secularism is when a person becomes skeptic. The true secular has a daily dialogue between him and himself with questions about the creation, his relationship with his surroundings, and his relationship between him and other people in general. Unbounded Ideas
• Gvulot ha-Ruah (Unbounded Ideas) 2000 ISBN 965-02-0138-6
• Ha-khavaya Ha-yisraelit (The Israeli Experience) 2001
"Michael, 41 years in Israel, writes and dreams already in Hebrew, but notwithstanding, he did not lock the door of his other cultural home, his Arab house behind him. Therefore in each his works there are heroes of both peoples. He builds bridges. Stubbornly. Michael went on to say: "I write for the stage in order to tempt fate. For experience other things. I am a novelist. My home is the novel."
, Cairo Trilogy
: Palace Walk
(original Arabic title: Bein el-Qasrein, 1956), Palace of Desire
(Qasr el-Shoaq, 1957), Sugar Street
(El-Sukkareyya, 1957) This Hebrew translation was the first translation of the trilogy. It is part of the academic curriculum in Israel.
In an interview with Imam Al-Chakim, the film director, Tuefik Salah, a close friend of Naguib Mahfouz
, he spoke of his intimate relations between Mahfouz and three Israeli figures: two researchers and the author Michael: "The translation of the work of Mahfouz by Sami Michael into Hebrew, held great importance for Mahfouz
, which he sees as a significant step that indicates the possibility of making peace and coexistence between the Arab world and Israel. Michael met with Mahfouz
many times, who never hid his high estimation and gratitude for the translation of the Cairo Trilogy
into Hebrew, and which was reflected in the way Mahfouz
welcomed Michael into his home and presented him to his close friends.
During a visit to the home of Mahfouz
Prof. Sasson Somekh
noticed the Hebrew translation of the trilogy on a bookstand next to his writing-desk. Mahfouz told him: "the symbolism of this translation bestows it special value".
"Before I started to translate the Cairo Trilogy
I didn't know Mahfouz
nor had I read any of his work. For years I did not read any Arabic prose once I had made the shift from writing in Arabic to writing in Hebrew, as I was afraid for my newly acquired language. The Cairo Trilogy
was my first literary translation from Arabic to Hebrew. In order to keep up the suspense, I didn't read the trilogy before working on it and I translated the three volumes sentence by sentence, without knowing what was waiting for me in the next line and in this way I succeeded in working and getting enjoyment from it. The process of translation gave me an opportunity to look at the Hebrew with an external eye. Hebrew is not my mother tongue, and not once have I been forced to write a whole sentence instead of one word in Hebrew that escaped me and instead the word in Arabic English would come to my mind.
"The translation is not only a lingual matter but rather an attempt to convey from one culture to the other. The traps are hidden mainly in the effort to find an equivalent to the different things and fields which are unique to a specific culture and society. In the translation I did not use the dictionary, but I worked only according to my senses.
"The translation from Arabic is an interesting challenge. In Arabic there are two languages: Literary and colloquial. Many authors including Mahfouz
write dialogue in Literary Arabic and not in the colloquial, and while the reader is reading, in his own mind he converts the dialogue from the literary to the spoken in order to identify with the characters. For me it was a thrilling challenge that took me 8 years. Translation is an art in itself and I was able to delve into the depths of Hebrew.
The complete Hebrew translation was the first translation of the trilogy into a foreign language. Peace between Israel and Egypt came only after I had completed the translation of the first volume and only then we arrange a meeting in the cafe ' Rish' in Cairo. There I found an Intellectual and a conversationalist, who was exceptionally modest and pleasant."
The second translation was of lyrics of the Great Arab 'lyricists', lyricists such as Farid al-Atrash
, Mohammed Abdel Wahab
, the prince Abdulla al-Faisal . It was for a 45 part television series, performed by famous Arab singers such as Umm Kulthum and Fairuz
.
Michael was among the first in Israel to call for the creation of an independent Palestinian state to exist alongside Israel. In his novels Michael writes about the aspirations and struggles of both Jews and Arabs. This new approach in modern Hebrew literature was controversial and has been widely discussed in universities and in the media. Michael was awarded the EMET Prize
EMET Prize
The Emet Prize for Art, Science and Culture is an annual Israeli prize given for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have far reaching influence and significant contribution to society....
in 2007. Michael defines himself not as a Zionist, but, as in Unbounded Ideas, as an Israeli in order to make room for the inclusion of all citizens in Israel.
Background
Michael was the first child of a large, secular, Jewish family. Michael grew up and was educated in a mixed neighborhood of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, where his father was a merchant. Michael completed his education in the Jewish educational system of Baghdad, in Shamash School
Shamash School
Shamash School was a high school in Baghdad of the Jewish educational system until 1951. Some public figures from cultural, academic and intellectual backgrounds such as Sami Michael and Sasson Somekh completed their education in this school....
, receiving his high school diploma in 1945.
At the age of 15, two years after the outbreak of World War II, he joined and soon became a leader of a leftist (Communist) underground group acting against the oppressive regime in Iraq, fighting for human rights and democratic values. Michael later wrote about this period of his life in his novel A Handful of Fog
A Handful of Fog
A Handful of Fog is a 1979 novel by Sami Michael, published by Am Oved publishing house. The novel is about the communistic underground in Iraq, both Jews and Arabs. The book has been translated into German....
. Shortly after, aged 17, he began writing articles for the Iraqi press. His political activities led to a warrant being issued for his arrest in 1948, Michael was forced to flee and went to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. The Iraqi court sentenced him to death in absentia. In Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
he joined the communist party, Tuda, and continued to work for democracy in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Unable to return to Iraq, Michael came to Israel in 1949.
Michael arrived in Israel alone, his family remaining in Iraq, joining him later (1951). In the early fifties the majority of Iraqi Jewry left Iraq, forced to relinquish their Iraqi citizenship. Michael, on the other hand, till today still holds Iraqi citizenship, as he did not officially give it up.
Michael settled in an Arab quarter of Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, Wadi Nisnas
Wadi Nisnas
Wadi Nisnas is an Arab neighborhood in the city of Haifa in northern Israel. Nisnas is the Arabic word for mongoose, an indigenous animal. The wadi has a population of about 8,000 inhabitants....
. He was invited to work for a newspaper by Emil Habibi. Michael was the only Jew on the editorial board of Al Ittihad
Al-Ittihad (Israeli newspaper)
Al-Ittihad is an Israeli Arabic language daily newspaper based in Haifa. Once considered the most important Arab media outlet in Israel, it is owned by Maki, the Israeli Communist Party, and was edited by a former Maki/Hadash Knesset member, Ahmad Sa'd until his death on 20 April 2010.-History:The...
and Al Jadid (Arabic language newspapers of the communist party) where he worked as an editor for four years. At the same time he had a weekly column in which he wrote stories and articles under the pseudonym Samir Mared. His stories, while written in the spirit of “socialist realism”, were laced with irony and humor. In 1955, disillusioned with the policies of the USSR, he terminated his affiliation with the communist party, and concluded his work on both papers. "I left the party but not the ideals of socialism."
Michael worked as a hydrologist in the north of Israel (25 years). He completed his hydrology studies at the British Institute (London) and went on to study Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and Arabic Literature
Arabic literature
Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....
at the University of Haifa
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
.
At the age of 45 Michael embarked upon the project of mastering the Hebrew language. In 1974 he published his first novel, in Hebrew All Men are Equal – But Some are More
All Men are Equal – But Some are More
All Men are Equal – But Some are More is a novel by Sami Michael, published in 1974 by Bustan publishing house. The novel is about the lives of immigrants in transit camps in Israel in the 1950s...
; about the lives of immigrants in transit camps in Israel in the 1950s. The title of the novel – Shavim ve-Shavim Yoter – became a well-known phrase depicting the struggles for equality of Jews from Arab countries. This book opened the door for profound discussion about the socio-economic gaps in Israel and also about the situation of the Arabs in Israel.
Michael has published 11 novels and 3 non fiction
Non Fiction
"Non Fiction" is a single released by The Pillows on September 14, 2005. The B-side "Heart Is There" is a cover of the Nine Miles song of the same name. An alternate version of "My Girl" later appeared on the album My Foot.-Tracks:...
focusing on cultural, political and social affairs in Israel, 3 plays and a children's book. Most of Michael's books were published by Am Oved
Am Oved
-History:Am Oved was founded in 1942 by Berl Katznelson, who was its first Editor in Chief.It was created as an organ of the Histadrut, Israel's federation of Labor, with a goal of publishing books that would "meet the spiritual needs of the working public." Its most well-known series is "Sifriyah...
publishers. Michael left Am Oved in 2007 and moved to Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir
Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir
-History:The company's oldest imprint, Dvir, was founded in Odessa in 1919 by Hayyim Nahman Bialik. After the Russian Revolution, Dvir moved to Berlin and in 1924, to Palestine. Machbarot Lesifrut, the company's imprint for world literature in translation, was established by Israel Zmora in 1939....
publishers after receiving a very attractive offer, granting him a fixed monthly salary. His first book that published with them was Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
. Michael has also written numerous articles and essays. His writings and his social and political activities have made him a household name in Israel. Michael has never been an author of the establishment, which meant that he did not enjoy promotional or financial assistance.
Two cities feature in many of Michael's novels Victoria, Storm among the Palms, A Handful of Fog
A Handful of Fog
A Handful of Fog is a 1979 novel by Sami Michael, published by Am Oved publishing house. The novel is about the communistic underground in Iraq, both Jews and Arabs. The book has been translated into German....
and Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, are set in his home town Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, and Refuge, A Trumpet in the Wadi
A Trumpet in the Wadi
A Trumpet in the Wadi is a 1987 novel by Sami Michael. It details a love story between a Russian Jewish immigrant and an Arab woman in the Wadi Nisnas of Haifa. The novel has been adapted for the stage five times in Israel, as well as for a film in 2001...
, Water Kissing Water, and Nabila are set in Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, his adopted city. Michael wrote about his departure from Iraq and arrival in Haifa when he wrote of his first day in Haifa, Israel -"Each kilometer that the airplane gulped, took me further into a one way tunnel. The flight was a difficult separation from a pained love. When I opened my eyes, I imagined that I was looking at a Fata Morgana, which was stranger than anything I had ever known... I loved Haifa then, and about half a century later, I am faithful to this love. But at the beginning of my first day in Israel there were no designated moments for love set aside."
In 1982, he left Haifa for 10 years moving to the rural, northern Galilee town of Ma'alot, on the hillside overlooking a valley. It is here that he wrote the novel Brown Devils about rock hyraxes that frequently stole the fruits of his well tended garden. In 1992 Michael he returned to Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
.
Sami Michael's Way – The man is the crown of creation (literary way) – is a route in the Wadi Nisnas
Wadi Nisnas
Wadi Nisnas is an Arab neighborhood in the city of Haifa in northern Israel. Nisnas is the Arabic word for mongoose, an indigenous animal. The wadi has a population of about 8,000 inhabitants....
, an Arab quarter of Haifa, named after Michael in 2002. Literary extracts from his novels are written along the walls of the route both in Hebrew and in Arabic. Michael dedicated three novels to Wadi Nisnas including: A Trumpet in the Wadi
A Trumpet in the Wadi
A Trumpet in the Wadi is a 1987 novel by Sami Michael. It details a love story between a Russian Jewish immigrant and an Arab woman in the Wadi Nisnas of Haifa. The novel has been adapted for the stage five times in Israel, as well as for a film in 2001...
.
In 2008 Michael was appointed as an honorary member of the Arabic Language Academy in Israel.
In 1987 the Israeli High Court of Justice appointed Michael as arbitrator to decide on a matter of education and multiculturalism. The subject was widely covered in the press and his decision was a precedent in Israel which still stands.
Michael is the chairperson of the Aachi Council- a council of Iraqi artists in Israel. He was a member of staff of the Jewish Quarterly
Jewish Quarterly
Jewish Quarterly is a UK literary and cultural magazine, published 4 times a year. It focuses on issue of Jewish concern, but also has interests in wider culture and politics. It was founded by Jacob Sonntag in 1955 and has published continuously since...
in London.
In 1998 Michael hosted a 13-part series on the Educational Television channel on World Literature, where he engaged writers, researchers and scholars in discussion about their favorite literary masterpieces.
A number of documentaries films and programs on Michael have been made. Michael is a nominee for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Writing
Michael's mother tongue is Arabic. It took him roughly 15 years to make the move from writing in Arabic to Hebrew. By sheer persistence and strong will, lacking any formal training, he managed to gain a complete mastery of his new language. He learned from listening and obsessive reading. He defines this 'move' as a miracle. "It sometimes happens to me while writing, that I seek a word; mischievous as it is it appears in English, it appears in Arabic, but refuses to come in Hebrew. To some extent I made up my Hebrew. Unquestionably, the influence of Arabic is dominant, my syntax is almost Arabic." Unbounded Ideas. "When Victoria came out in Cairo, in the preface it was written that 'this is an Arabic novel written in Hebrew'. I took it as a complement."He wrote his first novel in Arabic, which won a prize awarded by the Communistic Party. On leaving the party he ceded publication of the book. Throwing the handwritten copy away Unbounded Ideas
"In his study, amongst books in Hebrew, Arabic and English – novels, poetry, politics, history and science – lies on the table a student's folder and inside it neatly arranged pages of his next novel – all handwritten in exemplary fashion on white paper; rows of sentences in perfectly straight lines, that later he will cross out again and again until he decides that this is it, it can be typed. Not by himself. 'At my age you want me to write on a computer? I belong to the generation that does not press buttons, but rather turn them,' he explains, 'I could not do otherwise. I need the contact of the pen where the words flow from the hand on to the page.'"
Michael has fixed hours for writing: twice a day – morning and afternoon. While writing he disconnects from everything. He doesn't have a telephone in his study, where he writes. He insists on finishing the novel in the same room in which he started it. He started to write Victoria in his garden shed in Ma'alot, and when he sold the house and moved back to Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, he hadn't completed his book, he asked the buyer to allow him to continue living there until he finished writing Victoria – paying full rent of course.
During his writing he does not show it, not even a chapter to anyone. Nor does he consult with anyone. "A good writer in known not only in by good writing but also in his ability to throw away without mercy, to erase and to leave a pure text."
"At the end of the process – approximately three years from the beginning of a book, it will be typed. He does not show his unfinished handwriting, not even to his editor. Here is the place where stubbornness and the joy of creating join to become one determined decision, with the last word left to Michael at all times.[5]
He mostly discards the whole novel and begins writing again. he wrote the novel Water kissing Water over 20 years, and the version that was finally published was the eighth version. During this time he had other novels published.Unbounded Ideas.
He declares that he writes from the gut, without planning out the novel. He likes to surprise himself, although he adds: At the Heart of literature is the plot. When there is no plot, in my opinion, it is not literature but rather another academic exercise.
His books are bestsellers and his readers are from diverse social strata. His style has been nurtured by both the treasures of the Hebrew language and the wealth of the Arab language. Many would say that Michael generated the revolution of pluralism in Israeli literature in that his protagonists are always “the other”, mainly focusing on Arabs, women, refugees and immigrants. Michael says "life experience has given me a whole gallery of characters." Michael: "my childhood was soaked in the wisdom of women. I was amazed by the richness of their imagination. I remember with wonder how a woman, at the age of 90, toothless would become pretty when playing a princess waiting for her prince."
His novels explore a wide range of interlocking relationships – social, ethnic and political – between Jews and Arabs, Moslems and Christians, nationalists and communists and Iraq and Israel, at times comparable to the multiple political identities within Michael himself. "It is as if, sometimes, I feel I am two persons. One is an Arab Iraqi, the other an Israeli Jew."
Michael's writing is characterized by its humor, painful irony, empathy and tolerance. His style is clean, direct, and bare of symbols, yet with an outstanding expressiveness. Each story exudes authenticity and personal involvement.His writing, rich in imagery. With a scathing realism, he exposes the weaknesses and virtue of the human being, but always with a jealous regard for his honor, freedom and compassion.
In his books he describes the Jewish-Arab conflict of its deep national, psychological and social aspects. The longing for social justice, equality between peoples, communities and gender are a central motif in Michael's writing that smashes stereotypes and prejudices. Michael was the first Hebrew author to make the Arab the protagonist in his stories and his referring to him neither with arrogance nor idealization. His style of writing milks both the treasures of the Hebrew language and the wealth of the Arab language. In all his writing the sanctity of life is uppermost.
Michael's books have been translated into many languages and used as text books at universities and schools in Israel and abroad.
Awards and citations
- 1976 (and 1990) – Zeev Prize
- 1978 – Kogel Prize for fine literature
- 1981 – Prime Minister Prize
- 1981 – Petach-Tikva Prize for fine literature
- 1990 – Prize of the cylinder, Ministry of Education and culture and fund of culture America Israel, Omanut La-Am
- 1992 – Hans Christian Andersen AwardHans Christian Andersen AwardThe Hans Christian Andersen Award, sometimes known as the "Nobel Prize for children's literature", is an international award given biennially by the International Board on Books for Young People in recognition of a "lasting contribution to children's literature"...
– International Board on Books for Young PeopleInternational Board on Books for Young PeopleThe International Board on Books for Young People is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland committed to bringing books and children together.-History:...
(IBBY), Berlin - 1993 – Victoria selected as novel of the year in Israeli Radio, Kol Israel
- 1993 – Am Oved Prize
- 1993 – ACUM Prize (1993)
- 1993 – Wizo Prize (Paris)
- 1994 – Israeli Literature prize (by Ministry of Education, Science and Art)
- 1996 – Honor prize (Berlin)
- 1998 – International RotaryRotary FoundationThe Rotary Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs...
prize - 1999 – Joseph Avileah Prize
- 2001 – special prize by Society for International DevelopmentSociety for International DevelopmentThe Society for International Development , founded in Washington, D.C. in 1957, is committed to stimulating dialogue and cooperation on global development issues, enhancing skills, knowledge and understanding among development practitioners, and providing a network for individuals and...
(SID), promoted by United Nations and Italian Association for the Promotion of Peace in the Middle East (AISI), Italy - 2002 – Awarded Key to the City, HaifaHaifaHaifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
- 2004 – Brenner PrizeBrenner PrizeThe Brenner Prize is an Israeli literary prize awarded annually by the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel and the Haft Family Foundation.It was founded in the name of the author Yosef Haim Brenner and was first awarded in 1945....
- 2005 – President and Hebrew University Prize
- 2005 – Honorary of Beit Hagefen Arab-Jewish Center
- 2007 – Wizo Prize (Italy)
- 2007 – EMET PrizeEMET PrizeThe Emet Prize for Art, Science and Culture is an annual Israeli prize given for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have far reaching influence and significant contribution to society....
for Arts, Science and Culture - 2008 – Gilboa Award for Tolerance and Coexistence
In 2005, he was voted the 131st-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
Ynet
Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Honorary doctorates
The Hebrew University (1995) “a distinguished writer of the generation that witnessed the early years of Israel’s statehood, Michael sheds light on aspects of life that rarely feature in Israeli literature and empowers his work with a use of true-life artistry that strips away outmoded myths and hackneyed forms of description."Ben Gurion University of the Negev (2000): "In his books, human beings are portrayed as they are – with their weaknesses and their virtues – with cold, at times almost cruel realism, yet always with compassion for mankind.”
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
(2002): for “his significant contribution to Israeli culture as a unique literary voice and sociopolitical critic. His role in redefining the Israeli experience by broadening its scope and introducing previously unmentioned themes; his ground-breaking work as a protest writer who expressed the discrimination felt both by new immigrants and Israeli Arabs; his role as a leading figure in contemporary Hebrew literature.”
University of Haifa
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
(2009): "in recognition of his prolific literary contribution, which reflects the many faces of Israeli society with respect for mankind and its freedom. Michael’s public activity that consistently expresses deep commitment to peace, justice and civilian rights; and his contribution to the advancement of mutual understanding between the different denominations and between Jews and Arabs."
Honoris causa
Honoris Causa from COMASComas
Comas is a district in City of Lima; located in the North Side area of the city, it's one of the most populous districts in Peru's capital and the Province of Lima.Its current mayor is Miguel Ángel Saldaña Reátegui....
| The College of Management Academic Studies
The College of Management Academic Studies
The College of Management Academic Studies, a college located in the city of Rishon LeZion Israel, is the largest college in Israel. Founded in 1978, COMAS is the first non-subsidized, not-for-profit academic institution in Israel to be recognized and certified by the Council for Higher Education...
(2008),: "For his contribution in Literature and for his activities on behalf of human rights"
Social and political outlook and activities
Michael is known for his deep commitment to peace, justice and human rights. He is on the board of various councils. Michael is a true left-winger, both socially and politically. While still in BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
he was aware of the social gaps in society and since his youth has been active in the struggle for equality and human rights. In Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
he has never ceased to work for human rights.
Michael was amongst a group of leaders of the Communist underground in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. At this time there was no written material on Communism in Arabic, which meant they had to translate everything from English. During his time in Iran Michael joined Tuda, the Iranian Communist party. Once in Israel he joined the Israeli Communist party; he was a youth leader and worked on the editorial board of Al Itihad and Al Jadid (Arabic language newspapers of the communist party) where he worked as an editor for four years. At the same time he had a weekly column in which he wrote stories and articles under the pseudonym Samir Mared. "In 1955, a short time before the mass disillusionment with Stalin he ended his affiliation with the communist party," and concluded his work on both papers. "…because they transgressed against all my ideals. Today I am a Marxist." "Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
was a beautiful illusion; despite the disillusionment I will always believe in the human spirit and justice," said Michael.
"I joined Communism as a Jew and I left Communism as a Jew", Michael Unbounded Ideas. "Throughout my years as a communist, the beautiful words coined by Maxim Gorki were imprinted on my mind – the worth of a human being, and when it became clear to me that that same person became the cheapest item in the Communistic regime, I understood that something here was dead. For the years that I waited expectantly for death of communism I hope that at least it would have an honorable burial, but when it came it came so ugly. In spite of the disillusionment and despite the disappointments, I have always been passionate about these ideas and will always continue to be. I will always believe in the spirit of the human being, in social equality and justice, even if they are not realized, for another 300 years, as Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
wrote, but if only in another 3,000 years." Michael.
Since leaving the Communist party Michael chose not to belong to any political organization "in order to keep his conceptual independence as an intellectual". Not once has Michael said: "I am a Party of one man."
Michael was amongst the first in Israel (1950's) to call for coexistence between Jews and Arabs, signing the first petition of artists and public figures calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Michael was invited to give lectures in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
directly following the signing of the peace agreement between Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. During the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) he was amongst a delegation of intellectuals that broke through IDF barriers that besieged Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
. In 1994 Michael, was invited together with Palestinian author Emil Habibi to Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
(at a time when Israelis could not travel there) sponsored by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
and the Tunisian Ministry of Culture for a conference in Carthago on Arabic Literature.
Michael is known as a peace activist. "There are many definitions of war in different countries. According to my experience, I find that war is a type of disease that damages both body and soul and horribly distorts the images of people. I, myself am a product of two cultures, (Arab and Jewish), and to this day I do not understand the destructive power which has brought the two cultures to life and death confrontations. There is so much beauty and wisdom in the two cultures. It is so easy to be clever and give advice from afar, so hard to be wise and sane from within the flames."
Michael established together with activities people a movement against Meir Kahane
Meir Kahane
Martin David Kahane , also known as Meir Kahane , was an American-Israeli rabbi and ultra-nationalist writer and political figure. He was an ordained Orthodox rabbi and later served as a member of the Israeli Knesset...
(an advocate for the Arab transfer) in Ma'alot, where he lived for 10 years (1982–1992)
Michael was a partner in the struggle against the expulsion of Palestinian South Hebron Mountain cave dwellers: "The state of Israel was established thanks to international recognition which was granted following the holocaust and the deportations, stating that the Jewish people were entitled to establish a national home, where the proverbial wandering Jew and the refugee will find safe and secure habitat. This would be evil if we were to expel the caves inhabitants, if only because they don't have any defense or savior. The expulsion of these wretched people undermine our moral right to sit as free men and women in our secure homes in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. There is abominable personal terror, but the use of militaristic power to banish citizens from their shacks and from their caves is no less abominable. Event at Tzavta Tel Aviv, 2002
In 2007 Michael, together with David Sasson, created the Forum of the peace initiative with Syria. The forum included Intellectuals, academics and business people such as Yaakov Peri
Yaakov Peri
Yaakov Peri was head of the General Security Service, the Israeli domestic intelligence agency , or Shin Bet, from 1988 to 1994.-Biography:...
, Amnon Lipikin Shahak and Alon Liel. An extract of the declaration composed by Michael: "We gave up Sinai and in return we gained peace with Egypt. We call upon the government of Israel, upon those amongst us who are responsible for designing policy, to listen to the voices that are making themselves heard from Damascus. Peace with Syria means peace with the region in which we live. The price of peace is much cheaper than the bitter and destructive price of war."
He has written extensively on social and political matters for Arabic and Hebrew newspapers and occasionally for foreign newspapers. His stance against stereotyping, prejudices and racism is also reflected in his novels. Even in his first novel All Men are Equal – But Some are More
All Men are Equal – But Some are More
All Men are Equal – But Some are More is a novel by Sami Michael, published in 1974 by Bustan publishing house. The novel is about the lives of immigrants in transit camps in Israel in the 1950s...
he writes of these prejudices within Jewish society in Israel. The novel was influential for the second generation of the immigrants who saw Michael as a spiritual leader. The name of the book became a well known saying.
On the ever widening social and economic gap in Israel Michael says "this is dangerous shortsightedness. Poverty is a hot-house for the collapse of democracy and culture. Poverty is not a natural disaster. The rich need to understand that widespread poverty threatens, in essence, the existence of social-order. The most secured mansion with all its inhabitants, will not endure if the mansion is built in the center of a shantytown."
When the annual report of ACRI came out on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2007 "Author Sami Michael, the association's president, said upon the release of the report that racism was so rife it was damaging civil liberty in Israel. Israeli society is reaching new heights of racism that damages freedom of expression and privacy." "A hundred years of conflict has given us a majority poisoned by ideological education –a racist majority even more extreme than its leadership." 10. At the Hebrew Book Fair in Tel Aviv when Michael made a solitary demonstration against racism in Emanuel
Immanuel (town)
Immanuel is an Israeli settlement and a town with local council status in the West Bank. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics ,...
(a settlement town). "Let's call a spade a spade: The lords of Emanuel are racists who imperil the values of Judaism and democracy. This separation fence of defilement, which shady rabbis plot to plant in our souls, must be uprooted… I will definitely demonstrate during the celebration of Hebrew Book Week, for a school is called 'the house of the book' in Hebrew… Every man, woman and teenager will be welcome to join me to extirpate the racist crime in Immanuel today – and should we remain silent, in all of Israel tomorrow."
"It is dreadful to realize that people who paid a price so horrific in the previous century due to the building of racist fences, permits the building in their own homeland a despicable fence such as this".
About the immigrant and foreigner: "The fact that we are talking about Christians and Buddhists and those without religion does not negate from them the possibility to be helped as the poor of my city. How could we, as Jews that groaned under the evils of fascistic regimes, adopt the same fascistic measures towards those who are prepared to come here (Israel) to look after our sick and elderly and to strengthen our factories? And what about the children of these foreign workers that were born here and whose only language is Hebrew, they no longer have another homeland? And in whose name exactly are we entitled to trample on these people and their rights? We that claimed the right and the duty, to take care of the migrant, the orphan and the widow?" 10
For years Michael was a volunteer in the ERAN organization – an emotional/mental crisis hotline
Crisis hotline
A crisis hotline is a phone number people can call to get immediate emergency telephone counseling, usually by trained volunteers. Such hotlines have existed in most major cities of the United States at least since the mid-1970s. Initially set up to help those contemplating suicide, many have...
– Israel's only emotional first aid service provides a confidential 24-hour hotline, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Michael also lectures voluntarily in prisons to prisoners, both Jews and Arabs.
In 1987 the Israeli High Court of Justice appointed Michael as arbitrator to decide on a matter of education and multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
. The subject was widely covered in the press and his decision was a precedent in Israel which still stands.
Michael is chairman of the council of AHI, the Council of Iraqi born Artists for encouragement of research, literature and art in Israel (Ramat-Gan).
In the early 90s he was on the editorial staff of the Jewish Quarterly
Jewish Quarterly
Jewish Quarterly is a UK literary and cultural magazine, published 4 times a year. It focuses on issue of Jewish concern, but also has interests in wider culture and politics. It was founded by Jacob Sonntag in 1955 and has published continuously since...
, published in London.
In 1998, he was elected president of The Society for Solidarity between the People of Israel and the People of Iraq, a non-profit society founded by key public figures from cultural, academic and intellectual circles in Israeli society. The group, attracting much attention in Israel, the Arab world and elsewhere, stresses that a clear distinction ought to be made between the Iraqi oppressive regime and the Iraqi people, who have unjustifiably borne the horrifying consequences of the ongoing conflict in the region. The request of the group, however, to be registered as an official non-profit organization was denied by the Interior Ministry’s registrar, claiming that Israeli law forbids “contact with 'enemy states'.” In April 2003 the founders reestablished the Society. Michael was reelected as its president. In the same year after the fall of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's regime, Michael was invited to join the group of composers of the new Iraqi constitution. As he did not reside in Iraq nor had he for many years, he felt that it would not be right. He did however have one request which was to insert one important clause: the defense of minorities.
Michael has close relations with many Iraqis both in Iraq and throughout the world. His novel Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
(2008) set in Iraq in the days of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. Friends from Iraq sent him up-to-date pictures of the country so that Michael could see the Iraq of today. He wrote thereon in the acknowledgements of the novel: "I will not forget the good people who extended me their help which was priceless, but I am not able to mention their names as it may put them in danger, amongst them university professors businessmen and women and journalists who risked their freedom to help, and where one of whom was actually arrested for this literary mission."
On religion, secularism, and Judaism
Sami Michael defines himself first of all as a Jew and only secondly as an Israeli. He comes from a secular Jewish family in Baghdad. "In the Jewish community in Iraq we lived in harmony, almost absolute between the religious and the secular. In Israel I demand the religious to respect my secularity. I have a personal permit to talk with my own personal god. For this I do not need the rabbinate." Unbounded IdeasMichael, an atheist, wrote on Judaism: "the Jewish religion is somewhat like a covenant between the people and godly justice, and at the same time constitutes a treaty of brotherhood and solidarity between people. Judaism has taken a dangerous route with the last generation in Israel). From within it an unbending nationalistic leadership has arisen that strives tirelessly to recruit the faith for clearly political goals. This leadership schemes to destroy the humane, spiritual side of the religion and use it as a weapon of war. Regrettably, this tendency is intensifying.
In these times, Judaism, as a religion, is in desperate need of redemption. I had always thought that Judaism is a religion of compassion and grace, benevolence and of progress and freedom. Judaism is a religion where, at its very center, stands above all else the human being as a holy and superior entity. Life, all life, is supreme, even above good deeds and religious obligations. If freedom has meaning then mere attempts to free Judaism from its chains will be likened to a miracle.
"The marriage between politics and religion is the most destructive marriage that could be, both to the state and to the religion. This marriage has brought corruption of the Jewish religion in Israel. You can see, for example, a rabbi who goes round with a pistol or an Uzi, and, in his opinion, he has the right to murder and kill without any judgment or judge, like Rabbi Moshe Levinger
Moshe Levinger
Rabbi Moshe Levinger is an Israeli Religious Zionist who since 1967 has been a leading figure in the movement to settle Jews in the territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War...
.
Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
originally is a religion of life, but here in Israel an elite of black suited men has been formed. The Jewish religion of every generation was never involved in the government and its intrigues. Joining the coalition since the beginning of the founding of the state and until today has ruined the religious establishment.
If you define secularism according to the level of your struggle against the symbols of the religion, you become religious. I do not define my secularism by anti religious dimensions. I am not anti religious like the 'orthodox secular' in Israel who does not ask questions and who is just left with a shallow puddle of anti religiosity and in which he wallows. The highest degree of secularism is when a person becomes skeptic. The true secular has a daily dialogue between him and himself with questions about the creation, his relationship with his surroundings, and his relationship between him and other people in general. Unbounded Ideas
Fiction
- All Men are Equal – But Some are MoreAll Men are Equal – But Some are MoreAll Men are Equal – But Some are More is a novel by Sami Michael, published in 1974 by Bustan publishing house. The novel is about the lives of immigrants in transit camps in Israel in the 1950s...
, (in Hebrew: Shavim ve-Shavim Yoter), novel, 1974 - Storm among the Palms, in Hebrew: Sufa ben ha-D'kalim, novel, 1975
- Refuge, (in Hebrew: Hasut), novel, 1977
- A Handful of FogA Handful of FogA Handful of Fog is a 1979 novel by Sami Michael, published by Am Oved publishing house. The novel is about the communistic underground in Iraq, both Jews and Arabs. The book has been translated into German....
, (in Hebrew: Hofen shel Arafel), novel, 1979 - Tin Shacks and Dreams, (in Hebrew: Pahonim ve-Halomot), novel, 1979
- A Trumpet in the WadiA Trumpet in the WadiA Trumpet in the Wadi is a 1987 novel by Sami Michael. It details a love story between a Russian Jewish immigrant and an Arab woman in the Wadi Nisnas of Haifa. The novel has been adapted for the stage five times in Israel, as well as for a film in 2001...
, (in Hebrew: Hatsotsrah ba-Wadi), novel, 1987, ISBN 965-13-0455-3 - Love among the Palms, (in Hebrew: Ahava ben ha-D'kalim), novel, 1990, ISBN 965-070084-6
- Victoria, novel, 1993, ISBN 965-13-0867-2
- Brown Devils, (in Hebrew: Shedim Khumim), novel, 1993, ISBN 965-448-022-0
- The first day in Israel; in Haifa, short story, 1997
- The Third Wing, (in Hebrew: Ha-Canaf Ha-Shlishit), novelette, 2000, ISBN 965-07-0901-0
- Water Kissing Wate, (in Hebrew: Mayim Noshkim le-Mayim), novel, 2001, ISBN 965-13-1516-4
- Nabila, (in Hebrew: Yonim be-Trafalgar), novel, 2005, sequel / dialogue to the novella 'Return to Haifa' by Ghassan Kanafani ISBN 965-13-1761-2
- AidaAidaAida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, novel, 2008 - The ABC go to the Sea, (in Hebrew: Otiyot Holchot La-yam), children's book, 2009, ISBN 978-965-517-456-4
- The Flight of the Swans, (in Hebrew: Maof Ha-Barboorim), novel, ISBN 978-965-517-998-9
Non Fiction
• Ele Shivtei Israel (These are the Tribes of Israel: Twelve Conversations on the Question of Communities) 1984• Gvulot ha-Ruah (Unbounded Ideas) 2000 ISBN 965-02-0138-6
• Ha-khavaya Ha-yisraelit (The Israeli Experience) 2001
Plays
- Devils in the Basement, 1983– Haifa Theater
- TwinsTWINSTwo Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral-Atom Spectrometers are a pair of NASA instruments aboard two United States National Reconnaissance Office satellites in Molniya orbits. TWINS was designed to provide stereo images of the Earth's ring current. The first instrument, TWINS-1, was launched aboard USA-184...
, 1988 – Haifa Theater - HeHeHe is a third-person, singular personal pronoun in Modern English, as well as being a personal pronoun in Middle English.-Animals:...
, 1999 – Tzavta Tel-Aviv
"Michael, 41 years in Israel, writes and dreams already in Hebrew, but notwithstanding, he did not lock the door of his other cultural home, his Arab house behind him. Therefore in each his works there are heroes of both peoples. He builds bridges. Stubbornly. Michael went on to say: "I write for the stage in order to tempt fate. For experience other things. I am a novelist. My home is the novel."
Works translated by Michael
Michael undertook two sizeable tasks of translation from Arabic, his mother tongue into Hebrew, his second language; the first being a trilogy by the Egyptian Nobel Prize laureate Naguib MahfouzNaguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie...
, Cairo Trilogy
Cairo Trilogy
The Cairo Trilogy or ) is a trilogy of novels written by the Egyptian novelist and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz.The three novels are, in order:* Palace Walk...
: Palace Walk
Palace Walk
Palace Walk is a novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, and the first installment of Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy. Originally published in 1956 with the title Bayn al-qasrayn , the book was translated into English in 1990...
(original Arabic title: Bein el-Qasrein, 1956), Palace of Desire
Palace of Desire
Palace of Desire is a novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, and the second installment of Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy. It was originally published in Arabic in 1957 with the title Qasr el-Shōq....
(Qasr el-Shoaq, 1957), Sugar Street
Sugar Street
Sugar Street is a street located in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. From 1866 to 1868, it was the location the Hong Kong Mint, the only mint in Hong Kong....
(El-Sukkareyya, 1957) This Hebrew translation was the first translation of the trilogy. It is part of the academic curriculum in Israel.
In an interview with Imam Al-Chakim, the film director, Tuefik Salah, a close friend of Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, along with Tawfiq el-Hakim, to explore themes of existentialism. He published over 50 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie...
, he spoke of his intimate relations between Mahfouz and three Israeli figures: two researchers and the author Michael: "The translation of the work of Mahfouz by Sami Michael into Hebrew, held great importance for Mahfouz
Mahfouz
Mahfouz is a surname, it may refer to one of the following people:*Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi businessman*Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel Prize winning Egyptian novelist*Naguib Pasha Mahfouz, an Egyptian obstetrician and gynecologist...
, which he sees as a significant step that indicates the possibility of making peace and coexistence between the Arab world and Israel. Michael met with Mahfouz
Mahfouz
Mahfouz is a surname, it may refer to one of the following people:*Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi businessman*Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel Prize winning Egyptian novelist*Naguib Pasha Mahfouz, an Egyptian obstetrician and gynecologist...
many times, who never hid his high estimation and gratitude for the translation of the Cairo Trilogy
Cairo Trilogy
The Cairo Trilogy or ) is a trilogy of novels written by the Egyptian novelist and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz.The three novels are, in order:* Palace Walk...
into Hebrew, and which was reflected in the way Mahfouz
Mahfouz
Mahfouz is a surname, it may refer to one of the following people:*Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi businessman*Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel Prize winning Egyptian novelist*Naguib Pasha Mahfouz, an Egyptian obstetrician and gynecologist...
welcomed Michael into his home and presented him to his close friends.
During a visit to the home of Mahfouz
Mahfouz
Mahfouz is a surname, it may refer to one of the following people:*Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi businessman*Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel Prize winning Egyptian novelist*Naguib Pasha Mahfouz, an Egyptian obstetrician and gynecologist...
Prof. Sasson Somekh
Sasson Somekh
Sasson Somekh is a professor emeritus of Modern Arab Literature at Tel Aviv University.-Biography:Sasson Somekh was born in Baghdad to a secular Jewish family. In 1951, Somekh and his family immigrated to Israel in the wake of growing pressures on the Jews of Iraq to leave the country...
noticed the Hebrew translation of the trilogy on a bookstand next to his writing-desk. Mahfouz told him: "the symbolism of this translation bestows it special value".
"Before I started to translate the Cairo Trilogy
Cairo Trilogy
The Cairo Trilogy or ) is a trilogy of novels written by the Egyptian novelist and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz.The three novels are, in order:* Palace Walk...
I didn't know Mahfouz
Mahfouz
Mahfouz is a surname, it may refer to one of the following people:*Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi businessman*Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel Prize winning Egyptian novelist*Naguib Pasha Mahfouz, an Egyptian obstetrician and gynecologist...
nor had I read any of his work. For years I did not read any Arabic prose once I had made the shift from writing in Arabic to writing in Hebrew, as I was afraid for my newly acquired language. The Cairo Trilogy
Cairo Trilogy
The Cairo Trilogy or ) is a trilogy of novels written by the Egyptian novelist and Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz.The three novels are, in order:* Palace Walk...
was my first literary translation from Arabic to Hebrew. In order to keep up the suspense, I didn't read the trilogy before working on it and I translated the three volumes sentence by sentence, without knowing what was waiting for me in the next line and in this way I succeeded in working and getting enjoyment from it. The process of translation gave me an opportunity to look at the Hebrew with an external eye. Hebrew is not my mother tongue, and not once have I been forced to write a whole sentence instead of one word in Hebrew that escaped me and instead the word in Arabic English would come to my mind.
"The translation is not only a lingual matter but rather an attempt to convey from one culture to the other. The traps are hidden mainly in the effort to find an equivalent to the different things and fields which are unique to a specific culture and society. In the translation I did not use the dictionary, but I worked only according to my senses.
"The translation from Arabic is an interesting challenge. In Arabic there are two languages: Literary and colloquial. Many authors including Mahfouz
Mahfouz
Mahfouz is a surname, it may refer to one of the following people:*Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi businessman*Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel Prize winning Egyptian novelist*Naguib Pasha Mahfouz, an Egyptian obstetrician and gynecologist...
write dialogue in Literary Arabic and not in the colloquial, and while the reader is reading, in his own mind he converts the dialogue from the literary to the spoken in order to identify with the characters. For me it was a thrilling challenge that took me 8 years. Translation is an art in itself and I was able to delve into the depths of Hebrew.
The complete Hebrew translation was the first translation of the trilogy into a foreign language. Peace between Israel and Egypt came only after I had completed the translation of the first volume and only then we arrange a meeting in the cafe ' Rish' in Cairo. There I found an Intellectual and a conversationalist, who was exceptionally modest and pleasant."
The second translation was of lyrics of the Great Arab 'lyricists', lyricists such as Farid al-Atrash
Farid al-Atrash
Farid al-Atrash, or in French spelling Farid El-Atrache, was a Syrian-Egyptian composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor. Having immigrated to Egypt in childhood, Farid embarked on a highly successful career spanning more than four decades — recording 500 songs and starring in 31 movies...
, Mohammed Abdel Wahab
Mohammed Abdel Wahab
Mohammed Abdel Wahab , also transliterated Mohammed Abd el-Wahaab was a prominent 20th-century Arab Egyptian singer and composer...
, the prince Abdulla al-Faisal . It was for a 45 part television series, performed by famous Arab singers such as Umm Kulthum and Fairuz
Fairuz
Nouhad Wadi Haddad , famously known as Fairuz is a Lebanese singer who is widely considered to be the most famous living singer in the Arab world and one of the best known of all time...
.
Quotations
- I am leaving Iraq totally. For ever. Until my death I will not see the Tigris. I will stand in a foreign street, in a foreign city and scream, and no one will hear me. It happens in my dreams. I already miss everything and I am still here. And I do not know in what way it is different from death A Handful of FogA Handful of FogA Handful of Fog is a 1979 novel by Sami Michael, published by Am Oved publishing house. The novel is about the communistic underground in Iraq, both Jews and Arabs. The book has been translated into German....
.
- An immigrant is a person who commits suicide in the hope of being resurrected Unbounded Ideas.
- The true motherland, the most precious of all, is the woman that you love AidaAidaAida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
- Nature is a gifted and cunning set designer. She creates an illusion of permanency and persistent continuity. Otherwise birds would not brood their eggs despite the nibbling hunger, trees would not blossom in times of drought, and man would not become slave of a treacherous piece of land. The mechanism of continuity revives burnt forests, placates erupting volcanoes, and brings relief and oblivion to the broken hearts Water Kissing Water
- The shit of today is fertilizer for the flowers of tomorrow A Trumpet in the WadiA Trumpet in the WadiA Trumpet in the Wadi is a 1987 novel by Sami Michael. It details a love story between a Russian Jewish immigrant and an Arab woman in the Wadi Nisnas of Haifa. The novel has been adapted for the stage five times in Israel, as well as for a film in 2001...
.
- From this height all cities look the same; Palaces and mansions become blurred. All of them, all the cities appear as gray scars scattered over the face of the earth AidaAidaAida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
- It is hard to strive to be a good Arab, especially when you do not know exactly what a good Arab is. Many Jews think that a good Arab is a dead Arab. How is it possible to strive every day to be dead? A Trumpet in the WadiA Trumpet in the WadiA Trumpet in the Wadi is a 1987 novel by Sami Michael. It details a love story between a Russian Jewish immigrant and an Arab woman in the Wadi Nisnas of Haifa. The novel has been adapted for the stage five times in Israel, as well as for a film in 2001...
.
- If you define secularism according to the level of your struggle against the symbols of the religion, you become religious Unbounded Ideas.
- Living matter is a miracle in a universe dominated by emptiness and silence. The average matter in the known universe is almost zero. The distance from one planet to another is like the distance between two lonely people, one living alone in Israel, and the other, his closest neighbor, in Japan. Moreover, they flee one another at enormous speeds by astronomical computations. How wasteful we are with the living cell and the drop of water The Flight of the Swans
- Literature is the bible of the secularists, a bible that is rewritten over and over again in beautiful and varied variations, And always under the cover of its attractive exterior is a hidden social human message, not less than in every other religion. As in every religion there are false prophets and prophets of truth, also in creative writing there are authors of truth and creators of falsification Unbounded Ideas.
- I did not know, as a pupil in Iraq, that ours, the Jews, had a part and heritage of Andalusia. I cried on desolation of Andalusia as Iraqi. . And here (is), I came to Israel and discovered that The Spanish Expulsion is the Expulsion of the Jews, up till that time I thought it meant the Expulsion of the Arabs. Thus, I mourned twice for the Spanish Expulsion Unbounded Ideas.
- Great literature is a microscope through which we see the particles of our existence. Whereas ideological literature is meant to blur our vision The Flight of the Swans.
- We are geniuses at starting wars, but we do not know how to get out of them. We drift into war without thinking thereon that the results can be catastrophic, and therefore with us every war is born out of the previous war Unbounded Ideas.
- Night is the magical part of day. At night, ugliness hides and beauty shines sevenfold The Flight of the Swans.
- There is no war that is impossible to prevent. Also the First and Second World Wars could have been prevented. The Yom Kippurs War certainly was in our hands to prevent. The Lebanon War was an unnecessary, stupid war. In The Six Day War we occupied a territory that does not have any connection with the holy land Unbounded Ideas.
- There are words that hurt when they are said, and there are words that injure more when they are unsaid The Flight of the Swans.
External links
- The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) – [www.acri.org.il/eng/]
- 2007 Conference: Sami Michael and Jewish Iraqi Literature – www.stanford.edu/dept/jewishstudies/events/sami michael conf/
- Am Oved publishing house – http://www.am-oved.co.il/htmls/home.aspx
- Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Publishing house
- Forget Baghdad, a film by Samir
- סמי מיכאל (Sami Michael) from the Hebrew-language Wikipedia. Retrieved November 24, 2005.
- "Sami Michael" at the Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature. Retrieved November 24, 2005.
- "Sami Michael". Contemporary Authors Online, ThomsonThomson CorporationThe Thomson Corporation was one of the world's largest information companies.Thomson was active in financial services, healthcare sectors, law, science & technology research, and tax & accounting sectors...
Gale, 2003. - Portrait of Sami Michael by painter Eric H. Gould
- www.haaretz.com/print-edition/.../ever-onward-1.382056