Yitz岣k Shalev (1919鈥�1992), Hebrew poet and novelist. Born in Tiberias, he became a teacher in Jerusalem. His first poems were published in Moznayim and Davar, and subsequently appeared in a large number of newspapers and literary journals.
Among his volumes of poetry are O岣zet Anaf ha-Shaked (1951), Kolot Enosh 岣mmim (1954), Kol Annot (1955), Elohei ha-Noshek Lo岣mim (1957), Shirei Yerushalayim (1968), and Na'ar Shav min ha-岷抋va (1970). He also wrote a novel about the Jewish defense activities during the riots in Palestine in 1936, Parashat Gavri'el Tirosh. In 1969 he wrote the novel Dam va-Ru'a岣�. He is the father of writer Meir *Shalev.
A very well written story. Thankfully i've read a bit before the book that it was about how EZL & LEHI separated from the Hagana as it was an important part of the book. Frankly i don't understand many people who say that Gabriel 'used' the youth for his goals, but in the way he did so is no different from what each adult does to children/youth- he educates them in the manner he/she sees as the best way. Gabriel saw that the war with Arabs is inevitable and he properad the group for it. We all saw how 'well' it ends if a group doesn't see what is coming to them (i.e. the holocaust) The language of the book is beautiful old Hebrew, the storyline is well defined and the pace is good, very recommended
In Parshat Gavriel Tirosh, a historical novel of pre-independence Israel, Gavriel Tirosh is a larger-than-life young history teacher for a class of eleventh graders. Gavriel recruits a select few of his eleventh grade students to join the cause of winning Israel鈥檚 independence by fighting the local Arabs and making life difficult for the ruling British. The story鈥檚 nameless narrator is one of these recruits, a bit less war-like and more reluctant than his cohorts. His reluctance is shared by the only female recruit, Ayah, on whom the narrator has a deep and abiding unrequited crush. Ayah, for her part, has a deep and abiding unrequited crush on Gavriel which is what keeps her in the group despite her own misgivings.
The historical context of the story was quite interesting to me. Unfortunately, the story itself fell flat. I don鈥檛 know how much of this to blame on the Hebrew (which was a bit more difficult than in some of the other Hebrew books I鈥檝e been reading) as opposed to the actual quality of the writing, but I felt distanced from the characters and their conflicts. While I understood intellectually what the narrator was going through and how hard it was, I had difficulty feeling it and empathizing with it.
I couldn鈥檛 really understand Ayah鈥檚 appeal to the narrator other than her apparent beauty, and why he would continue loving her so deeply when it becomes increasingly obvious that she views him as a friend and nothing more. My friends in the Hebrew book club claimed that this was developmentally consistent with being 16 years old and maybe it was. That might be why I鈥檓 really not a YA reader. My patience for this kind of dead-end, unrequited hopeless love as a major plot point is limited, especially when the relationship itself just doesn鈥檛 seem all that deep or complex.
While I did feel more empathetic with the narrator鈥檚 reluctance about participating in the group鈥檚 guerilla warfare activities, I still didn鈥檛 find that this dilemma touched me as deeply as it might have. I also thought that the character of Gavriel and the students鈥� relationship with him could have been fleshed out more fully and complexly. The concept of the charismatic teacher dazzling his students and having a disproportionate influence on them can be fascinating; in the story, though, it just kind of happened and everyone went along with it. The issue remained more or less unexamined; the focus was mainly on the group鈥檚 activities and on the narrator鈥檚 undying love for Ayah.
I will say that this was definitely an improvement over many of the other plotless wonders we鈥檝e had to read for the Hebrew book club in that there was actually a story here, even if the story wasn鈥檛 particularly compelling in its own right.