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February 28, 2007

You must have courage...

“You must have courage. It is not so difficult.”
These are the words of my mother-in-law. She recently turned 94. She lost most her family in the Holocaust. She has seen and experienced more than I can imagine. So when she advises me to have courage, I listen.

What is the challenge I face? Why do I need such encouragement? She is teaching me French and I am having a very hard time. Once a week, I walk to her apartment on Palmach Street. We sit together and she patiently listens to my sad pronunciation of her beautiful language. She moved from France to Israel over twenty years ago and although she is fluent in four languages, neither Hebrew nor English is among them. Maybe this is part of the reason she is so patient with my language issues.

We talk to each other in a combination of English and Hebrew, muddling through, finding the words we both understand. We gesticulate quite a bit. We both have fun communicating in creative fragments of languages. Perhaps this is how new languages form. Perhaps we will create some strange new hybrid language.

In addition to teaching me French, she is a marvelous artist and has been so since she was a teenager. Her paintings are of her children and grandchildren, of Europe, of Israel, and flowers, and trees. Once a week, she goes to a club where other people of an advanced age create art. I went with her once. Everyone greeted her as we walked in. Everyone greeted her in a different language. Hebrew is the national language here. But there are people all over piecing together words of many languages and creating new languages.

Sketching the Jerusalem Hills from Sataf.

She takes a break from her painting when Elie and I stop by to say hello.

Posted by Ilene Weismehl  at 8:01 AM | Permalink

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Posted by: Joan at March 14, 2007 10:55 PM

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