Personal journey from Israel to Australia
WHEN Israeli author Nava Semel visited her son in Byron Bay, she recorded her experiences in a diary which form the basis of her new book.
LEXI LANDSMAN
THERE are inevitable cultural exchanges lost in translation. Israeli author Nava Semel knows this well.
It’s for that reason that when Tel Aviv-born Semel left Israel to be by her son’s side in Byron Bay, she recorded her every experience in a diary.
With Hebrew as her first language, but fluent in English, she recorded in her native tongue her second-language encounters.
It was an attempt to make meaning of her journey, which came after the death of her brother-in-law, who lost his battle with cancer.
“I was in an emotional turmoil,” Semel, now back in Israel, explains. “Once I was on the plane I began writing a journal -— as I used to in my youth. At the time I was not aware that this is going to become a book,” says Semel, who had previously only written fiction.
It is those recordings of her time spent in Australia with her son and his girlfriend that form her recently released memoir, Australian Wedding.
Semel lived with Iyar in Lismore, where he studied music at the Northern Rivers Conservatorium Arts Center. She became the fifth roommate among a group of Australians and Israelis.
“Travelling like a backpacker was quite challenging at my age,” she laughs. She joined in many of her son’s daily activities, spent time with his girlfriend and their circle of friends, who took to calling her imah (mother in Hebrew).
She also travelled around the region. “I love the vast spaces in Australia, the breathtaking beauty, so different than my suffocating Middle East,” she says.
“Having always been interested in people’s past and heritage, I felt an immediate bond with the rich local heritage.”
Apart from recording her experiences of cultural exchange and, at times, dislocation — Semel believes Australian Wedding sheds light on what it’s like for parents to “confront their wandering children”.
“Naturally, like any mother, I would like my kids to be close to me. I dream of grandchildren, who will not be strangers to either my language or my heritage. However, my son’s happiness is the most important thing. Even if the price means separation and constant longing, he must follow his own destiny.
“I’ve learnt a lesson about partnership — we must let go and embrace our children, no matter what.”
In the book, Semel, who is the child of Holocaust survivors, questions whether Israelis are “doomed” to look for their destiny outside Israel.
“It is painful to see that Israel — the homeland my parents chose after the Holocaust — isn’t automatically the younger generation’s final ¬≠destination.”
It’s that questioning and reflection on Israel and her Jewish identity that dominates much of her writing. She has written 16 books of fiction and four plays, including her most recent Holocaust-based novel And the Rat Laughed.
Semel has won a number of awards including the US National Jewish Book Award, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Award for Literature and Woman of the Year in Literature of the City of Tel Aviv 2007.
Australian Weddng is available in Australia from Sunflower Bookshop in Melbourne. Enquiries: Visit www.navasemel.com.
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