Imperial age through its connection to France

We all know about journalist and intelligence officer Gil Kessari's deep connection to France (to date, six of his many articles on these subjects have been published on this site ), but what exactly are its origins? I discovered Gil's French roots while reading his memoir, Things I Didn't Tell , in which the journalist reviews his trajectory on the personal, family, national, and international levels with a focused and entertaining perspective.

The extended family, three generations, were crowded into one apartment on Engel Street in Tel Aviv, so the French atmosphere also influenced Uri Kessari and his two sons, Adar and Gil, and his wife Fanny. The latter, who was born in Geneva, was steeped in French culture and language and read a lot of French books, especially Henri Bergson.

Gil Kesari lived in Paris, on and off, for twelve years. After his military service, he joined his family, who were already in Paris, and was accepted to study at the Institute of Political Science.

A student in love

In the hallways of the faculty, he met Nicole, a beautiful non-Jewish Frenchwoman. You will read the story of their unconventional love in the sixth chapter, “First Love,” where you will also learn about the connection between the dessert called “Diplomat” and Gil’s academic career.

Nicole, from a conservative family, fell in love with the Israeli foreigner Delfon, who came from another world. She would later marry a Hungarian refugee. A love affair of four and a half years, during which Gil lived in a shabby room on the ground floor, in an alley that bordered theMontparnasse Cemetery: Impasse de la Gaîté.

I read with particular interest the analysis of the relationship between the two innocent young people from the distance of time and after the death of the patient and devoted Nicole at the age of 75. Uri Kesari's attitude towards the charming stranger, the radically different attitude of the mother Fanny, each and his reaction. There is nothing like first love and all the many loves that come after it are nothing but an imitation or continuation, Gil suggests.

In the same class, there was also a man named Jacques Chirac who tried, unsuccessfully, Gil emphasizes, to seduce Nicole. Chirac would later become famous not only for his political career but also for his many loves, both hasty and longer. He never separated from his wife Bernadette (once almost, but was stopped) and she suffered more than enough from his infidelities, but that is not what Gil is concerned with. The seventh chapter, “My President’s Friend” France", focuses on the extraordinary personal relationship that Gil forged with the handsome Jacques, whom Nicole introduced to him.

“Maariv” reporter

In 1955, Gil returned to his homeland, but France called him again. In 1969, he finally received the coveted appointment as a correspondent for “Ma’ariv” in Paris. During four and a half years of rewarding stay, Gil fulfilled his role with great success thanks to his familiarity with the language and culture, his personal involvement in Parisian reality, and, of course, his professional skills as a journalist.

The book details several incidents from this rich period, including the Sherbour ship escape planned by former Navy Commander Mordechai Limon in 1969, the attempted assassination of Mossad agent Tzadik Ophir in a Brussels cafe in 1972, and many other exciting events. Gil was at the scene to report and photograph.

But the eldest son, Yoav, was too busy packing and returned to his homeland. The boys must grow up and be educated as Israelis in every way. Gil never thought of spending most of his life in another country.

Intelligence person

And again a mission in France, this time as an "Mossad" man, the journalist became a spy agent who risked his life in experiences that satisfied his adventurous instinct, but at the heart of the mission was patriotism.

It was as follows: In 1979, Gil received an offer he could not refuse. To go to France, an arena that suited, as we have seen, his background, and from there to operate in several other countries, some of which had no ties to Israel or were even hostile to it. Gil was appointed head of the “Nativ” branch, a division of the “Mossad,” abroad, under the cover of a diplomat at the Israeli embassy in Paris. Equipped with diplomatic passports, which grant immunity from the authorities of countries that have relations with Israel, the family set off for Paris. In his forays into hostile countries, Gil presented himself as a French journalist.

Gil received instructions, albeit too hastily, on how to conduct himself in his new role. Caution and alertness were indeed necessary qualities. Mysterious accidents occurred to colleagues on the part of the “enemies” of the Russian secret services, whatever their name, KGB or other acronyms. The detailed manner in which the murder of Gil’s colleague at the embassy and the “Mossad,” Yakov Bersimentov, in 1982 in Paris by a Lebanese terrorist is recounted helps to illustrate the magnitude of the risk.

Fans of the espionage genre will find what they are looking for in this episode, firsthand. Read about other breathtaking stories, in France and other countries, from Gil's mouth. Thanks again to the land of philosophy, love and cakes, I dare say, which served as the basis for the activities of a "Maariv" reporter who temporarily stopped his work to step into the shoes of a spy disguised as an Israeli diplomat or a French journalist and brought his handlers valuable information.

Conversations with celebrities

At the end of the book are a dozen conversations with famous people that Gil Kesseri interviewed during their visit to Israel, including Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel, Romain Gary, Graham Greene, Jean-Louis Trintignant (section on Mike Brant, whom Gil knew personally and helped him when he arrived in Paris, appears in an earlier episode called “My Friends”).

The summaries of the interviews with celebrities often reveal details that were previously unknown thanks to Gil's sharp eye, which captured the fire burning in their souls from unfamiliar angles.

Here is the place to clarify that I came across Gil Kesari's book after reading his description of his meeting with Jean Modigliani on his private Facebook. Because I wrote Article about Amedeo Modigliani In which I briefly mentioned his daughter, Kesari's words about her captivated me so much that I told myself I had to read the book in its entirety.

A conversation with Jean Modigliani

And finally, I will present you with the chapter “Jean Modigliani,” whose subtitle is “Alienated from Her Father” as dessert:

Jeanne Modigliani, the daughter of the famous Italian-Jewish painter, never knew her father. When she was just one year old, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 36, and soon after, her mother committed suicide out of grief.

“This connection that people are trying to create between me and my father is abstract and theoretical. Nothing throws me off my feet more than the aura of holiness and admiration that has surrounded me all these years simply because of the name my father left me. I tried with all my might to separate my personality and private life from the memory of my father. In France, where I live today, I succeeded and people understand me. However, in Italy, where I spent my youth, I completely failed.”

And Jeanne Modigliani says:

“I came here as a guest of the Ein Harod museum, which paid for my trip to Israel in exchange for my father's 'death mask,' which was made by the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, while my father was on his deathbed.

This mask is made of plaster and eight bronze copies were cast from it, which are in the possession of various collectors. I have now brought the plaster mask to Ein Harod, because I believe that it will not be misused and that no copies will be cast from it. This mask was placed in my house for years. Whenever guests came, it would immediately be placed on the table and everyone would worship it as if it were a ritual.

I hated it. In addition, my apartment is small. I need closets for my clothes and I have no suitable place for the mask. So I entrusted it to a family of friends in Florence until I decided to give it to some museum. At first I thought of the Livorno museum, but I must admit that cynical considerations changed my mind.

I know Livorno well – not Israel. When I was offered the opportunity to donate the mask to the kibbutz museum, I was fascinated by the idea itself, but I also knew that in exchange for the mask I would be given a trip to Israel. That’s how I got here.”
The Jewish blood she inherited from her father was added to the Hebrew education she received in Modigliani's parents' home in Florence. Immediately after her parents' death, she was brought to her grandfather's house and lived there until the age of 18.

“Between the ages of 13 and 18, I was struck by a ‘Zionist crisis.’ I even learned Hebrew. Today, nothing remains of it. I was especially impressed by the ‘Mizrahi’ businessman in Italy, a Jew named Pacifici. His room and his red beard left a great impression on me, as did his words about the land of the ancestors.

He did hope to instill in me a belief in the Jewish religion, but he did not succeed. I am now a staunch atheist. I recognize my Jewishness, but not from a religious perspective. My family was full of arrogance about their Spanish origin. They claimed to be descended from the Spinoza family, although I am not sure that is true.

"In any case, today there is no longer any trace of my father's family - his eldest brother died last year. Only my two daughters remain, who still bear the name Modigliani. I, too, despite being married, am known to everyone by my father's name and everyone addresses me that way. My husband's name, which I bear since my marriage, is actually only used for the purpose of the bank account and paying taxes."

“Everything that has been said and written about him is not true. Even I was unable to expose him in my book, because I was unable to penetrate his secret and get to know him. However, I think I was able to understand why he stubbornly sought to destroy himself: First, he lacked self-confidence, despite his confident demeanor.

Secondly, he was not at all satisfied with his work. In fact, he always wanted to be a sculptor but was prevented from doing so because he was poor and could not afford to buy the material needed for sculpture. Also, working in stone took a toll on his health, which was weakened by tuberculosis.

“If my name had not been Modigliani, I would have started painting many years ago. My desire to escape the memory of my father helped me curb my desire. But in the end I decided to give in, because if you don’t start painting at forty, you will never do it again. In addition, the desire to paint haunted me and in my sleep I dreamed of colors and paintings. For a long time I painted in secret and kept it a secret, until I stopped being ashamed of it and I no longer hide it.”

This is how she quit her job as an Italian teacher and now she sees painting not just as a calling but as a profession. Last November she held a solo exhibition in a small gallery in Paris (“the success and reviews were not bad”). She mainly painted on paper, although she has recently begun to create with oil paints on canvas. What is her ambition as a painter? - “To sell pictures, of course.”

During our conversation, several pieces of her work were placed next to her – all of them purely abstract. I searched her paintings for hallmarks and similarities to her father's works. I was unable to find any similarity, except for one thing: in each picture, at the bottom, the name Modigliani appears. The main thing is to sell. (pp. 187-189).

Note

You are invited to read my first review of Gil Kesari's book, "Things I Didn't Tell You," in which I address the entire book in all its many facets, not just the French aspect, on Merav Golan's blog "Yittarbat." The two reviews are very different and complement each other.