Tel Aviv Ramallah by Yossi Yonah

Author:Yossi Yonah [Yonah, Yossi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-03-12T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Tali

The last phone call with Yoav had left her distraught. It was clear now that he wasn’t going to give up Harvard and didn’t rule out living in separate cities. What to do? Should she go to Boston University so they could stay together? As Tali brooded over unsettling questions the phone rang. It was Galia Hoffman, Tali’s mentor, calling to tell her that the other reviewer of Tali’s thesis liked it very much. Tali took the news with equanimity. She told Galia about UPenn. “That’s wonderful!” Galia exclaimed. “UPenn’s considered a big name in social and cultural psychology. You’ll have a great time there, you’ll see.” Tali didn’t share her other concerns. They agreed to meet in two weeks, after Galia gets back from a conference.

Tali checked her inbox. There were no new messages from universities but there was a surprising reply from Hadil, the Palestinian woman she’d met in Amman. Tali opened the message with interest. It was brief; Hadil wrote that she understood why Tali chose not to share Yoav’s whereabouts during the seminar – but that she couldn’t ignore the fact that these soldiers, even those who oppose the occupation, serve and legitimize it. It was a note of measured reprimand. She ended the message by wishing Tali and Yoav the best of luck with their future plans and signed it Yours, Hadil.

Tali replied immediately. She confessed that she didn’t want Yoav to do his reserve service in the Territories and had even suggested that he dodge it. And regarding their plan to study abroad there was increasing doubt whether it could even happen, and things were becoming more and more complicated. She paused for a long moment, staring at the screen, wondering if she wanted to share her more intimate concerns with Hadil. She took a deep breath and plunged forward:

I hope I won’t have to make an enormous concession just so we could be together. You know how it is with men. They think their career is more important than ours. Anyway, I do hope we meet again, maybe in the US. Yours, Tali.

“The only thing that matters to us,” Tali’s parents always said as if reciting an article of faith, “is that you’re happy.” This universal cliché included the promise of not interfering in her choice of career or life partner, then was invariably followed by Tali’s parents clearly stating their preference: “We wish you’d find someone with his head on his shoulders and his feet on the ground.” Years before Yoav, when Tali was dating Avi, her parents made their reservations known. “He’s not a serious man,” they’d say, “he’s not in touch with reality.” With Yoav it was different. She told them about this “new” boyfriend one Saturday afternoon two years ago, when she and Yoav had already been dating for quite a while. Tali was in her parents’ living room after a late breakfast with them, when Yoav called to ask when she was coming back to Tel Aviv. He suggested she leave early to avoid the traffic.

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