#621 Free Fruit for Young Widows- Nathan Englander
This was a tough one for me, as it should be, as it was designed to be. But I’m not sure of it’s for the right reason. An Israeli man remembers his war years to his son. He has been telling him for years about the time his good friend killed four Egyptian soldiers in cold blood.
“They were people. They were human beings who had sat down at the wrong table for lunch. They were dead people who had not had to die.”
And for years, his son didn’t understand why his father forgave him for his cruelty. Then he gives him “context” by telling him another story about his friend surviving the Nazi prison camps. After returning home to his house now being lived in by his former house-keeper and her family, he kills them in their sleep (after over-hearing their plan to kill him). I will never explain the story completely enough to do it justice, but the story was told to the son to show him the horrors of the time, and also to show him why he has forgiven his friend.
Justifying murder is a little morally dicey to me, even with the “context” given. There is a large and significant difference between understanding a transgression and justifying one. I’m not sure we should be so casual with that distinction (I’m speaking more about the killing of the Egyptian soldiers years later than his actions upon returning home). These are tough topics to discuss, I am glad Englander talks about them in such an unguarded manner.
Notable Passage: “You must risk your friend’s life, your family’s, your own, you must be willing to die—even to save the life of your enemy—if ever, of two deeds, the humane one may be done.”
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