Introduction

A short intro into what we're going to do

We’re publishing the book that Hagar wrote, here on Substack, free for all. There will be two chapters per week, one released Saturday and one on Wednesday.

That is the plan.

The book is about Hagar’s growing up in Israel, her experiences and the experiences of others with parents that are traumatised and do their children a lot of harm. It goes on to extrapolate this to the Israeli culture and the colonisation of Palestine. Below is what Hagar wrote about it.

Here’s where you can buy it:

On Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gr/en/ebook/land-of-promises-1

On Apple Books: Not yet, not sure why, it’s an Apple thing and I’m getting tired of dealing with itunesconnect. Publishing on Kobo is much easier!

Hagar’s own description of wrote her book (also on Kobo):

This book is my personal story of growing up in a country who’s existence is continuously questioned. Does a promise by god need to be fulfilled by humans? What if it means overruling god’s will that traumatised people wouldn’t build a country - they weren’t even allowed in. It’s not for nothing that for forty years Mozes was roaming the desert with his people, so that only the new generation who didn’t know slavery would be allowed into the promised land. Is a traumatised person capable of building a country without repeating his experiences, or not?

K’naan was inhabited, and so was Palestine. Obviously those who claim the land are in the position of the agressor, in front of those who are already tenanting. The jewish people don’t see themselves as agressors, but as perpetual victims. Acts of aggression are seen as acts of heroism. Is it ok to seize and conquer a promise?

About my name. Hagar is an Egyptian name. According to the bible she was a slave to Sarah, who gave her to Abraham to bear a heir. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, and this made Sarah jealous. So she demanded that Abraham get rid of her and her son, and he did. He sent Hagar with his first born to the desert to perish and it was god who saved her and Ishmael from death. The cruelty and injustice towards Hagar influenced my brother Shlomo as he exactly studied this story when my mother was pregnant with me. It’s he who requested this name be given to me.

From what I’ve seen around me I can say one thing. The first born is not the one who inherits, but the second, by another mother, is. And you can say that the story of Hagar is continuously repeated in different variations. And a story of an individual finds its reflection in the story of an entire folk.

Hagar. October 2022

The die is cast, the Rubicon is crossed, but we’re no future dictator. Chapter one follows a little later.