Opinion: Meeting Amos Oz and Ben Yehuda

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Amos Oz’s house is in Arad, a two-and-a-half hour ride from Jerusalem along the shores of an ancient sea (Dead) lined with modern hotels (Caesar’s). The town is far removed from the intensity of Jerusalem, and Oz himself at first seemed detached and tired when we met.

He answered questions about the peace process in perfectly formed, perfectly bored paragraphs. He was exhausted by the issue, he said, as were most Israelis, but he was also hopeful, since exhaustion is more likely to bring peace than effort. “Only when both sides tire of a conflict can it end,” he said.

We went on this vein for at least an hour, with Oz focusing mostly on some vague point outside the window. As Israeli’s most famous novelist, and one who is politically active, Oz is often asked about the situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians. But he doesn’t necessarily like it.

Not until the subject turned to the Hebrew language did he become truly engaged. Oz writes in Hebrew, which he says is more flexible than English, and he was effusive about Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the founder of modern Hebrew.

Ben Yehuda was so monomaniacal that he eventually stopped speaking to his own mother because she couldn’t understand Hebrew and he refused to speak anything else. ‘He was stark raving mad, but he was a genius,’ Oz said.

Left: Directions to Amos Oz’s house in Arad, courtesy of a man at the taxi stand in the center of town. The directions are not in Hebrew.