Between There and Here: Eli Amir

Abstract

This article discusses Eli Amir’s autobiographical novel Tarnegol Kaparot. This narrative bases on the counterpoint between the writer’s familiar world, which has been abandoned in Iraq, and his family’s sufferings after their emigration to Israel. The imperative of forgetfulness hovers above these immigrants, who are expected to abandon not only their original names and language but also their cultural references and systems of values, so as to be enabled to aspire at integration in Israeli society. This society, constructed around the values of the Labor Party and Zionism, understands itself as the only possible alternative for the future of the Jewish people and its opposition to the beliefs and values of the immigrants creates traumatic experiences which are the subject matter of this book.