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recently seen fit to send me two long and rather perplexing letters which do her no credit. If I have succeeded in penetrating her vague language, there are indications that her second letter is also intended to hint to me about your pecuniary shortcomings. And I will wager that you, sir, are the puppet-master who lurks behind her demands.
Circumstances make it possible for me (without any special sacrifice on my part) to come to your assistance once again. I have instructed my lawyer, Mr. Zakheim, to transfer to your bank account an additional contribution of five thousand dollars (in your name, in Israeli pounds). If this does not suffice, either, I must ask you, sir, not to address me again via your wife and in ambiguous terms but to inform me (through Mr. Zakheim) of the final and absolute sum you require to solve all your various problems. If you will be good enough to specify a reasonable sum, you are likely to find me ready to go some way toward meeting you. All this on condition that you do not bother me with inquiries into my motives for giving the money, or with effusive expressions of gratitude in the Levantine style. I, for my part, naturally refrain from pronouncing any judgment on the values and principles which permit you to demand and to accept financial assistance from me.
With all due respect,

A.A. Gideon
    ***
    To Mr. Manfred Zakheim
Zakheim & di Modena, Lawyers
36 King George Street
    By the Grace of G-d

Jerusalem

13th of II Adar, AM 5736 (14.3.76)
     
    LOCAL
     
Respected Sir,
Following our telephonic conversation of yesterday: we require
in toto
a sum of some sixty thousand dollars U.S. to pay off our mortgage and construct an additional room and a half, and another like sum to settle the future of the son and likewise that of the little girl, amounting in all to one hundred and eighty thousand dollars U.S. There is requested further a contribution in the sum of ninety-five thousand dollars U.S. toward the purchase and renovation of Alkalai House in the Jewish Quarter of Old Hebron (a Jewish property that was seized by force by Arab rioters during the 1929 riots, which we are now attempting to repossess, not by violence, but by paying the full market price).
Thanking you in anticipation for your trouble, sir, and with deep respect to Dr. Gideon, whose scientific writing has inspired admiration in our country and increased the honor of the Jewish people among the nations, and with all good wishes for a happy Purim,
     
Yours faithfully,

Ilana and Michael (Michel-Henri) Sommo
    ***
    A GIDEON HOTEL EXCELSIOR WEST BERLIN
     
    ALEX PLEASE ENLIGHTEN ME IMMEDIATELY IS IT BLACKMAIL SHOULD I PLAY FOR TIME SHOULD I INVOLVE ZAND AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS MANFRED
    ***
    PERSONAL ZAHKEIM JERUSALEM ISRAEL
     
    SELL PROPERTY ZIKHRON YAAKOV IF NECESSARY ALSO BINYAMINA ORANGE GROVE PAY THEM EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND CHECK HUSBANDS BACKGROUND SOONEST CHECK BOYS CONDITION SEND PHOTOCOPY DIVORCE PAPERS RETURNING LONDON END OF WEEK ALEX
    ***
    Ilana Sommo
7 Tarnaz St.
Jerusalem
    20.3
     
Ilana,
You asked me to think about it for a day or two and let you know my opinion. You know as well as I do that whenever you ask for someone else’s opinion, or advice, what you are really asking for is their approval for something you have already done or decided to do. Never mind—I’ve decided to write anyway, to clarify for myself how it was that we parted on bad terms.
The evening I spent with you last week reminded me of the bad old days. I was in a panic when I got home. Even though on the surface everything was as usual, apart from the rain that didn’t stop all night. And apart from Michel, who was looking tired and gloomy. He spent an hour and a half putting up those bookshelves, with Yifat passing him the tools, and at one point when I got up to help him by holding two uprights for him, you mockingly suggested from the kitchen that I should take him back to the kibbutz with me because his talents are wasted here. Then he sat at