Haim Sabato

As the story opened, I was expecting a bibliographic story of the author's experiences as a child immigrant to Israel from Egypt. I was not exactly clear why the story turned to the Hungarian immigrant Moshe Farkash, an adult friend who studied Talmud with the narrator, but then I "got" that this story was not about the narrator.

At first, I was getting pulled into the story because of some ways in which I identified with the character of Farkash. My grandfather (who died during WWII) was also a baker and was from the area of Europe that had once been the Austro-Hungarian empire.

I found some parts of this book touching. The one that affected me the most (maybe because I read it on Mother's Day?) was when Farkash took an apprentice job with a difficult master in a bakery. He did this because his family was too poor to have him attend yeshiva to study. In his letters to his mother, he only wrote of the good which made his mother happy. I guess we call this a white lie, but it made me cry. Just the sadness of it. A mom always feels the pain of her children. So also thought Farkash, feeling he had to protect his mother from the harshness of his own world.

On the other hand, there were other parts of this book I liked less. Some of it was confusing. I had a difficult time with the time sequences going back and forth, using characters in four different generations of Farkash's family. I finished this book feeling a bit more disappointed than I did satisfied.… (more)

At the heart of this book lie some of the most engrossing and terrifying first hand accounts of war that I've ever read. Haim Sabato's story of a young and observant soldier fighting in the Tank Corps on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 is quite unlike any other book of war writing/memoir that I've previously encountered. Haim's (and his friends') experiences in that dreadful war were all too vivid and real. Threaded throughout the narrative are some of the contemplations, prayers, hymns and rituals, that a religious soldier takes a part in. Although of secular persuasion myself, I found many of these passages were extremely humbling. I was reminded of some of those I served with who were also soldiers while maintaining their religious observance. I always marveled at their dedication and resourcefulness in pursuing their faith in such difficult circumstances - this book reinforces that impression.… (more)

Too realistic to be thought of as fiction, Sabato’s engrossing account of a tanker gunner’s experiences in the Golan during the 1973 Yom Kippur War in Israel blend traditional Jewish liturgy with wartime action. The story explores the grueling physical and psychological realities of war experienced by a soldier the Israeli tank corps. Haim relates his personal experience as he seeks to find an answer to what became of his yeshiva friend and study partner Dov who joined the tank corps at the same time that he did. This is a gripping account of what it means to be a soldier and how just one individual tries to cope in the chaos of an unexpected war. Long after the story ends, liturgical phrases will be sure to pop up with new meaning in the reader’s mind! This, my friends, is the ultimate never-ending story… (more)