Eshkol Nevo - World Cup Wishes

They wouldn’t let you? Why not?

They said it wasn’t practical, he said with contempt. It was so predictable that they’d say something like that.

Predictible?

If I prove what I set out to prove, it would undermine everything they believe in. All their axioms. People are very attached to their axioms, you know.

What exactly are you trying to prove?

It’s complicated. I’ve been working on it for three years already. That’s why I took the job here, because it’s mindless and doesn’t interfere with my thinking.

About what? What do you have to think about?

Sorry, I’m keeping that to myself, for the moment.

OK, we won’t press you. Even though … we’d very

much like to hear.

I’m really sorry, Yoram Mendelsohn said with a shrug, and we took our briefcases from him and were about to walk into the hotel, but as we took the first step, he suddenly began to speak.

OK … if you’re so interested … I’m trying to build a physical, mathematical model that will explain reincarnation.

Reincarnation?

Look — he ran a finger across his moustache as if he were wiping milk off it — the separation between the world of life and the world of death is an axiom that the Western world accepts. But think about how much death is an inseparable part of life in this country, for example. So why can’t life also be a part of death? Not to mention that reincarnation is an accepted concept in many places in the world. And here too, if you go to the Druze village of Dalit-al-Carmel, they’ll tell you stories … that will make your neurons jump.

And in India … Ofir began to say.

Not only in India, Yoram Mendelsohn interrupted him, everywhere in the world people report on reincarnation, and to this day, no scientist has ever tried to deal with that scientifically and thoroughly. Don’t you think that’s suspicious?

It’s more than suspicious, it’s a conspiracy, I said, looking at my watch to signal that we were in a hurry.

So you’re still friends, Yoram Mendelsohn said, looking slowly at the three of us (whenever we met people we went to high school with, they always had the same surprised-envious expression when they saw that we had remained friends after so many years), good for you. I don’t have friends. I had some at the Institute, but the minute I started talking about reincarnation, they kept their distance from me as if I were a leper.

Well, that’s how it is with work friends, Ofir said.

Don’t worry, Amichai said, putting his hand on Yoram Mendelsohn’s shoulder, you’ll have other friends.

And if you don’t have friends now, then maybe in your next life, I said.

Yoram Mendelsohn was quiet for a moment, as if he were going to feel hurt, but then he let out the wild, uncontrollable, hiccupping laugh of a seventeen-year-old.

We said goodbye to him with a promise to ‘get together sometime’ and went into the lobby.

A young man in an old man’s tie came over to us and told us in English to wait a few minutes till Mr Eisenman called us up to his conference room.

Eisenman?! There must be … a mistake … I said. We’re supposed to meet with Mr Goldman (likes young girls. Likes nightclubs. Is looking for passion in the eyes of the person proposing a social project, so it’s a good idea to use the words passion or passionate or passionately in every sentence during the presentation).

Sorry, but there’s no mistake, sir, the guy in the tie said in a forgiving tone, Mr Eisenman will meet with you to hear your proposal, and only then will he recommend to Mr Goldman whether to consider it.

OK, sir. Of course, sir. Absolutely.

*

We sat down in the armchairs that overlooked the sea. Soft carpets throbbed under our feet. A Japanese waitress asked us in Hebrew what we’d like to drink. A mix of foreign languages surrounded us on all sides. English, French, German, Russian.

Don’t you think that what people say in a foreign language sounds more intelligent? Ofir asked.

I smiled, but Amichai didn’t. He was looking out of the window at a flock of birds approaching us. Perhaps he was thinking about the possibility that Ilana’s soul had reincarnated into one of those birds, and now she was flying towards us to wish us good luck. And perhaps he wanted to join the flock and fly as far away as he could from his own life.

It’s unbelievable that of all the places in the world, people decide of their own free will to spend their holidays in this ugly city, Ofir said, and neither of us had the strength to answer him any more. Amichai kept watching the birds, and I was picturing the luxurious chandeliers over our heads falling from the ceiling and crushing us. I was almost sinking into my why-not-end-it-all mood again when the guy in the tie suddenly appeared and said that Mr Eisenman was waiting for us.

*

You can call me Ron, he said when the meeting began.

None of us dared to call him Ron then, not during the rest of the meeting either, but even so, everything went beautifully. First, Amichai spoke a few words. Then Ofir continued with the PowerPoint presentation, elegantly interspersing illuminating examples from his personal experience and from the newspapers. I watched him from the side. His curls were bristling, his eyes were shining with an inventor’s glow and the suit he was wearing, I had to admit, looked a lot better on him than the traditional sharwal .

When he finished, I took over for the last stage of the presentation: Mr Eisenman asked questions, expressed a few reservations, and I replied. I could see that he was very impressed with my English. In general, I had a strong feeling that he was taken with our idea.

Look, he said when we’d finished, I think your idea is important. And I’m impressed by the fact that you’re so committed to it. It warms my heart to see that there are young people with a vision in Israel, and I have no doubt that it’s important to support this kind of project.

*

Two hours later, he called Ya’ara and told her that he’d decided not to recommend us to his boss.

But how can that be? we cried. He was so …

American, Ya’ara said knowingly. They have a completely different way of communicating. With them, yes is no and no is perhaps. And even that isn’t a rule you can always rely on.

So what now? we asked.

The next meeting is the day after tomorrow. Do what you can to improve the presentation. And pray that it works.

We did what she said. We added a biblical verse to the top of every page to show that our idea was firmly grounded in Judaism and its values. We took a home-video camera to the shopping centre next to the hospital and interviewed people about the treatment they’d received. We put two of those testimonies into the presentation and decided to use them if needed. We added the words ‘empowerment’ or ‘sustainability’ at least once to every slide, the way we’d seen it on the home pages of other human rights organisations in the US.

We also came to the conclusion that the division of labour among us at the first presentation was too stiff, and we practised a different division that would look more spontaneous.

And again we went to the Hilton. And again met Yoram Mendelsohn at the entrance (who told us that he’d had a huge breakthrough in his research, we’d all be hearing about it soon, and we’d be proud to know him).

And again the presentation went off without a hitch.

And two hours later, the donor told Ya’ara that he wasn’t interested.

Bastard, we hissed.

Who needs his money.

Did you see the way he looks? Like the Jews in those Nazi caricatures.

I hope the neo-Nazis take power in America. I’d like to see him then, looking for refuge here.

Hey guys, Ya’ara said, trying to cheer us up, you have a few more meetings. Don’t give up now.