Hi friends and acquaintances, I've started translating a book I really like - India: journal of a visit, written in the 50s by Ezriel Karlebach.
Karelbach, a leading journalist and editorial writer during the early days of the state of Israel, was the first editor-in-chief of Israel's two largest newspapers, Yediot Ahronot, and then Ma'ariv. He was a renowned public figure in Israel of the 1940s and 1950s. His articles would cause a mini stir in the public, giving fright to those with power and something to look forward to for ordinary citizens. They'd discuss it, quote it - and wait for the next one. Upon his death when his coffin was carried from the Great Synagogue in Tel Aviv, Allenby Street was clogged with thousands of mourning readers who had never met him in person, but read his writings faithfully and considered him a guide for the perplexed.
The book depicts his impressions from a visit to India in the 50s. Despite being written so many years ago you could easily mistake it for progressive writings from the 2000s, and despite being a nonfiction book, it is written in such a unique style, that it reads like poetry or a fairytale.
Somehow no one has translated it to english yet which is my luck.
Since I'm not a professional translator and this is the first time I'm doing something like this, and the fact that I sometimes need to google words in Hebrew to understand the original, I would love any comments / impressions / readers as they will motivate me to continue.
Here is a part I like especially. Let me know if you want to read more. https://twitter.com/urivalev
One night I said: "Take these cows for example. The mercy you show them is why you deserve none. You have more cattle than any other country in the world. 250 million cattle heads, a third of all meat in the world! A treasure greater than any amount of gold! It would be enough to feed you with meat, strengthen your muscles, give milk to your children, make them healthy, immunize your sons, help you in the fields and restore them, and export leathers to make you rich. And what will you do with this great treasure, what joy do you derive from it? None at all! You would not touch the cow's meat, and since you won't butcher them, they multiply as fish in the sea. And because they multiply, they have nothing to eat, and because they have nothing to eat they lay in the walkways, hunger stricken and dying, and give you nothing, and furthermore take from the little you have. So the cow perishes and you perish, and you weaken each other… Not long ago I was riding on the tram in the city when suddenly it stopped. Turns out a cow was laying on the tracks. It was so exhausted and hungry it could not get up. All passengers alighted and started hugging it, pleading that it may move, but not one dared to shove it or expel it…"
"And why," answered the landlord, "do you speak only of the cow? Is it the only beast holy to us? The monkey for example…"
"Yes" I said gladly, happy to realize that we see eye to eye on this issue. "And the monkeys? They swarm in all the roads and all the streets, the gardens and fields, more than our street cats. And they are quicker than the cows, they can climb and infiltrate any place, no fence or lock would stop them. They come into the houses to snatch a meager meal from the mouths of children, and no one would lift their hand at them. They'd steal a week's worth of food right off the plate, and even chasing them is forbidden! They sabotage the fields and plantations… they do unimaginable damages, and all this is holy?"
One of the guests constantly wanted to interject. It seemed my words boiled his blood. But his neighbor, a young man with glasses, stopped him. And the landlord, with a patient philosopher's smile, nodded his head in approval to encourage me.
"And the snakes?" He said. "The poisonous snake is even holier than the monkey! And in some regions it is not only forbidden to hurt the cobra snake or any other twirling snake when it comes into the house to emit its venom, furthermore approaching and feeding it is an obligation…"
"Yes!" I said, "The snakes too… and the trees you worship… isn't all that pointless?"
The members of the group, all Indians, seemed offended.
"You must forgive him," said the landlord pointing at me. "He comes from a very underdeveloped country. In India too we had such primitive tribes - hundreds of years ago, while we were jungle dwellers. Don't take his words to heart. He is not to blame. His country is still devoid of civilization…"
Not all guests knew my origin and even when the landlord told them, not all were well informed in geography and history, and he had to explain it to them: "The people of Israel belong to the jewish faith, which is especially odd and backwards. They have a book, which has yet to reach these parts of our world - the bible. This book begins with the story of creation. Do you know how they imagine the world has come to be? Seven days God has toiled, creating first the skies and the earth, the moon and the stars, then continents and seas, then animals and birds, all for the centerpiece, the peak of creation and the purpose of all the universe… Can you guess who that superior being might be?"
None of the guests knew. Trying to guess they all failed.
"It is man!" said the landlord triumphantly.
All burst into great laughter. Old men's bellies shook with laughter, young ones were giggling with shame, as if someone told a dirty joke.
"Then," they asked, "why were the stars created, surely man has no use for them? Ha ha ha… It's not as if he could live in them… Ha ha ha. And if man is the purpose, what are the eagles and swans, the owl and starling, the falcon and cuckoo, the parrot and the ostrich for? What good is the tiger and wolf, dama and fox, the seal and the lion? And for whom are the tall himalayas and the desolate islands in the sea, and what are the rocky cliffs and eternal forests for? What good is the entire world? What? What is the sense or reason?"
The landlord smiled widely.
"The reason," he said, "is very simple. They made up this legend so they may act upon all their heart's wishes. So that they may chase their lust limitlessly. They say man to be the purpose of creation, so he would be justified in stepping on all other creatures, to justify his cruelty onto the entire universe, enslaving all that he sees, exterminating for pleasure's sake anything he comes by, since all is inferior compared to him, all was created for his sake, an entire world was built to be trampled by him. It is as I said… savages…"
The guests looked at me with bewilderment mixed with mercy and fear.
"And do they also live by this superstition?" wondered an old man, who couldn't, wouldn't believe.
"Live by it they do", replied my friend, sighing. "Taking anything in their path, and valuing it only by their ability to take life from it, so that they may live more comfortably… Yes, anything, every inanimate object, every tree, every river…"
"What?? Rivers too?"
"Yes. Rivers too. They are unaware that in them too resides a spirit. They believe that any spirit they do not fully grasp, any spirit with whom they can't speak on the phone - does not exist. They think the entire world is dead. Soulless".
The young ones too start shaking their heads. Unbelievable! Such an inferior culture…
"But what do they do with the living things? The cow and the monkey and the elephant and the dog and the cat and the chicken? All creatures that are undeniably similar to man, that move like humans do, at their own will, copulate and give birth as they desire, bring food to their youngs out of love, look for prey, cry, rejoice, play… surely in this case they would not argue, that a soul is not to be found, or that they have no part in creation, in all the grass growing in the fields and the waters running in the rivers and the shade of the trees… here they surely could not not deny that the world exists for other living beings besides man!"
"But I've already told you," the landlord said, almost scolding them, "that they were all taught to see themselves as masters of all living beings! All that stands in their way is killed. Because all is beneath them… they have no relatives on earth… none are their equals…
"If so," the guests fire a myriad of questions, "do they believe in the concept of promiscuity? Should a man walk on his toes in nature, taking care not to take too much? Do you mean that they just eat living beings? ravage on the other? swallowing the world in its entirety?"
"Things are even worse than that," continued my counselor friend, with his story of horrors. "They have amongst them those who obliterate the world, not out of hunger or appetite, not to satiate and sustain themselves, but for mere play. A sort of cruel amusement, to witness the turmoil of creation…"
"That is libel," I interjected, "where I come from there is no such thing. Indeed we exterminate insects and animals that damage our plantations, but only to defend and survive, not for the sake of pleasure…"
"It is possible'', the landlord said, slightly retreating, "that in Israel in particular murder is not a pass-time, but in the other western countries the phenomenon indeed exists. Would you deny that in England, for example, there are organizations dedicated to hunting? Educated men, highborn nobles especially, who have never known hunger in their lives and were able to fulfill all their lusts to the point where they do not know how to spend their time anymore, go out, for reasons of boredom and idleness, and wait, sometimes for entire days, until their slaves and their dogs provoke some forest animal out of its hiding place and bring it to range of their master's guns which would then fire in ambush, only to observe the animal convulsing in death… and some shoot birds mid-flight… from a safe distance, without any need or use… they even primp themselves with them. Decorate their walls with the heads of deers they had killed, lay murdered bear skins on their floors as carpets…"
Shivers ran through the guests. It was a long time before anyone could utter a word. It was as if an abysmal darkness enshrouded them, taking away their tongues. A skinny cow, skin and bones, scratched itself against the porch fence, and they reached their hands to her, caressing her mercifully. "Then," one of them finally broke the depressing silence, "what assurance does one have at the hands of the likes of these…?"
"Indeed there is none." ruled the landlord. "A place where none respects the living, for the supposed reason that it does not possess a right to exist on its own, and was not made for anything but to be of use, no living thing is safe. Especially men. And indeed their bible admits it, and right after declaring man as the purpose of creation, it tells of the conclusion: The story of Cain and Abel. A brother rises against another in murder. There can be no other result. Indeed in theory, religion forbids murder, but in practice murder is avoided only out of fear. Fear of law and punishment and the victim's resistance, his vendetta and blood vengeance… it is their reality to live off the other's death, or fear of the other's death. As I said - cannibals, man eaters." Terror consumed them. They looked at me, as if at any moment I might jump the nice young man in front of me to bite off a piece of his body…
"And so," concluded the landlord, "their wars too. It all stems from their holy scriptures, teaching that same superstition, that the world was not created for anyone but them, and that all their eyes discover is for the sole purpose of their desires. And that is why, you now understand, the atomic bomb…" And suddenly it all became clear to them.