{Character Interview} Night in Jerusalem's Sarah
We’re thrilled to be talking to Sarah from Gaelle Lehrer
Kennedy’s Night In Jerusalem.
It is a pleasure to have her with us today at Pimp That Character!
Thank you for your interview, Sarah. How old are you and what do you do for a
living?
I’m a twenty-three year old childless widow. Because I was
unable to conceive during my marriage, the only man willing to marry me is an
older widower with children of his own – not an attractive
Can you tell us about one of your most distinguishable
features?
I have long, lustrous auburn hair, but I must cover it with
a wig or scarf as that is required in my orthodox community.
What would I love the most about you?
My kindness and generosity of spirit are the qualities I
most appreciate, though the first thing you might notice about me is my singing
voice. I sing every Saturday at our family’s Shabbat dinner.
What is your most treasured possession?
My spiritual books which I read every morning and night.
They are my best friends and advisors. Whenever I’m in need of an answer, I
close my eyes and open to a page which always presents the guidance I need.
What is your greatest fear?
To go through life never having known the love of a man
again, and not having children.
What is the trait you most not like about yourself?
I live in a close religious community where my father is the
rabbi. I am always worried about what others might think or say about me. It
causes me a great deal of fear, because of not wanting to hurt my father or
family’s reputation.
Do you think the author portrayed you accurately?
Yes. She seemed to know what I was thinking before I did.
She knew my fears, and my deepest desires.
Are you a loner or do you prefer to surround yourself with
friends?
I prefer being with my family, close friends and my
students. I cherish my time alone to meditate, connect to God, and have the
luxury to dream of love and far away places.
What is your favorite weather?
I love Fall. The trees turn color and cast a spell over the
city, especially at sunrise and sunset, when the stone houses look so alive.
Someone is secretly in love with you. Who is it and how do you feel about that?
I
hope it is the Englishman, David, because I am secretly in love with him. I
dream of him all the time, and can’t keep him out of my every thought.
About
the Author
Gaelle Lehrer Kennedy worked as an actress and writer in
film and television in the United States
and Israel. Night
in Jerusalem is her debut
novel, which she has adapted to film. She lives in Ojai California
with her husband and daughter.
She writes, “I lived in Israel
in the 1960s, a naive twenty-year-old, hoping to find myself and my place in
the world. The possibility of war was remote to me. I imagined the tensions in
the region would somehow be resolved peacefully. Then, the Six Day War erupted
and I experienced it firsthand in Jerusalem.
I have drawn Night in Jerusalem
from my experiences during that time. The historical events portrayed in the
novel are accurate. The characters are based on people I knew in the city. Like
me, they were struggling to make sense of their lives, responding to inherited
challenges they could not escape that shaped their destiny in ways they and the
entire Middle East could not have imagined.
I have always been intrigued by the miraculous. How and
where the soul’s journey leads and how it reveals its destiny. How two people
who are destined, even under the threat of war and extinction, can find one
another.
Israel’s
Six Day War is not a fiction; neither was the miracle of its victory. What
better time to discover love through intrigue, passion, and the miraculous.
Writing this story was in part reliving my history in Israel,
in part a mystical adventure. I am grateful that so many who have read Night In
Jerusalem have experienced this as well.”
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About the Book:
A bewitching love
story that is also an extraordinary portrait of Jerusalem, its faith, spirituality, identity, and
kaleidoscope of clashing beliefs, Night in Jerusalem is a novel of mystery, beauty, historical
insight, and sexual passion.
David Bennett is
invited to Jerusalem in 1967 by his
cousin who, to the alarm of his aristocratic British family, has embraced
Judaism. He introduces David to his mentor, Reb Eli, a revered sage in the
orthodox community. Despite his resistance to religious teaching, David becomes
enthralled by the rabbi’s wisdom and compassionate presence. When David
discloses a sexual problem, Reb Eli unwittingly sets off a chain of events that
transforms his life and the life of the mysterious prostitute, Tamar, who, in a
reprise of an ancient biblical story, leads both men to an astonishing
realization. As passions rise, the Six Day War erupts, reshaping the lives of
everyone caught up in it.
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