Nathan Shaham (נתן שחם) – a biographical sketch[1].Shaham is an Israeli writer who was born in Tel-Aviv in 1925. He was a member of the youth movements Mahanot Ha-Olim and Ha-Shomer Ha-Tsa’ir and in 1945 joined the kibbutz of Beit Alpha.In the years 1942-1945 he served with the Palmach and rejoined it in 1947. Subsequently he worked in the Israel Broadcasting Service and wrote for the press. Shaham comes from a family with literary connections. Both his father and his brother were writers, although neither attained his fame. Initially he tried his hand at writing poetry, but his most prominent and important works are in prose, among them the story collections Grain and Lead (Dagan Ve-Oferet), The Gods Are Lazy (Ha-Elim Atzelim) and Veterans’ Housing (Shikun Vatikim), the latter containing the story “Hand of Fate” that is the subject of the present study. In addition, Shaham wrote novels and plays, for example the novel Always Us (Tamid Anahnu) and the plays A Field beyond the Border (Sade Me-Ever La-Gvul) and They’ll Arrive Tomorrow (Hem Yagi’u Mahar), originally written as a story entitled “Seven of Them” F(Shiv’a Mehem”) and later turned into a play.
[1] For more information on the writer see The Hebrew Encyclopedia, Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, 1965, vol. 13, p. 701.
Keywords: Hand of Fate, Israel, Nathan Shaman, Women, Yad ha-Goral, symbol
