(Reviewed by JD Jung)
“If those rebels get access to Assad’s germ bombs, Hezbollah will have the means to launch them into Israel. I will NOT sit around and watch my people choking to death, crying to death, suffocating and breaking out into hives because of a Syrian projectile. I will NOT sit in the comfort of this apartment in this comfortable country while my people suffer. I cannot. “
Amir has a big decision to make. He’s a loving husband and father with a successful real estate career in Brooklyn. He is also a highly trained officer, a chemical warfare specialist, in the Israeli reserves.
When he is called back to Israel to serve, there is no question what he will do. Though he loves his family and the United States, he also loves his homeland.
Unfortunately his American wife, Amanda, doesn’t understand. How could he risk his life for a foreign country when his family loves and needs him at home? It’s worse for her Egyptian-born father, Mahmoud, who is Muslim. It was enough that he had to explain to his cousins and other relatives that his daughter was to marry a Jew. But how will he explain that his son-in-law is going over to Israel to kill Muslims?
Bridge of Comprehension isn’t a political story; it is a human story. It gives us a human look at cultural and religious prejudice, a perspective that we don’t often see in the news. As readers get emotionally involved in the characters, we realize that the good in people is often masked by ignorance and misunderstanding.
There’s more to this, though. Not only do the twists and suspense keep readers captivated, but they also serve to remind us that for every step forward in the peace process, we often take a few steps back. Right when I thought the characters were to reach a certain level of amenability, an event would occur that would seem to destroy what was accomplished. But isn’t that true in real life?
One comment that Amir mentioned in the story that stunned me was that Arabs and Jews in Israel get along better than those in the United States. Since I have never been to Israel, I have no way to refute or accept that. It did give me something to think about though.
Author Albert Mordechai who came from Israel to New York in 1979 …” believes that all bloodshed will stop as soon as everyone realizes the truth about terror attacks and how they will never lead to peace. Willing to understand each other and above all, to value life, will bring both sides closer to peace.”
Amen.
