On Storks, Sirens and Missiles

As I sit in my office, which also happens to be our safe room in our Kfar Saba apartment, I wonder how am I ever going to focus on the fact that my new book – Stork's Landing – will be hitting bookstore shelves in less than two weeks' time. I should be excited, but the existential question of the hour is far more pressing for me as an Israeli citizen.

Just this morning, as my husband and I sat down to breakfast, we were treated to two siren alerts. Nine hours later we “enjoyed” a bookend effect as we sat down to dinner. Lodged behind a heavy metal door, checking the minute-by-minute news on the internet, my mind wandered to the video that went viral two days ago, in which one Israeli pilot signaled another to pass over a target because children were clearly visible. I was struck by our humanity, a compassion clearly missing on the other side. Then it hit me. This is the connection with Stork's Landing. A touching nature tale set in Israel, it highlights the Jewish bent to reach out and care for the wounded through a focus on the Jewish value of kindness to animals.

It's a gentle story, beginning with the fact that Kibbutz fish farmers must place nets over their fishponds in order to shield their fish from ravenous birds flying above. To an extent, these nets are to the fish as what the Iron Dome is to our population. They are there to protect and preserve. Sure enough when a hungry stork comes in for a landing it gets caught in the net, breaks its wing to the serious extent that it cannot be operated on, yet the kibbutz members don't put it to sleep. They nurture and shelter it, providing a secure surrounding. A true parallel to the Palestinians being treated in Israeli hospitals, even during these worn, torn times. A fact rarely covered in the world press.

 So while we hover in what I smilingly call our “War Room,” I am now focusing on the fact that Stork's Landing is a Jewish everyman's tale and how lucky all Jews are to have the State of Israel. We live by the same book, we perpetuate the same values, and we will make sure we remain a safe haven for all Jews. In the meantime, come early autumn may only storks, not missiles, land on our shores.

I Have a New Book Coming Out with a Tie-in to Israel

With Yom Ha'Atzmaut around the corner I can't think of a better time to tell you about my new book. Set on a kibbutz in Israel, it's called Stork's Landing and it will be coming out this August.

Stork's Landing is the story of Yaffa, a beautiful stork who breaks her wing on a kibbutz fishpond net and can never fly again. Discovered by a little girl named Maya, who together with her father and other kibbutz members carefully nurture and watch over her, Yaffa overcomes her disability and achieves a new, fulfilling role in life. This sensitively told nature tale focuses on the Jewish value of caring for animals, while at the same time subtly incorporates issues of adoption and acceptance of those with differences. 

I am very excited about this book and am flying to the States in November to promote it during Jewish Book Month. Right now it looks like I'll be in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Rockville (MD), and Houston. Please contact me if you would like me to appear in your school with an interactive presentation on the book, that naturally includes a reading of the story. In the meantime, Happy Yom Ha'Atzmaut.
Tami