third The tailor of death Stories of ancient war heroes, a destiny call and a dream. beautiful ones and some zeros, a cup that is full to the brim. Spicy fish that can kill you, a serving plate for your wife. A true love that might as well heal you. and a tale for the rest of your life. Boaz Zippor First Edition 2
To my family, who supported me through my decades of creative meandering and looking for myself. And, to you. Yes, you. 3
Lucky levy the third, ..........................................................5 Just for me.......................................................................69 Spicy fish and sweet surrender......................................117 The Fig bowls................................................................165 The New Narkis.............................................................187 Superhero......................................................................220 The vault........................................................................247 4
There are thousands of people called Levy around the world, probably more than thousands, tens of thousands. It is not an uncommon name in the Jewish community. There are a lot of Levys, and a lot of them live in Israel. Yes, in Israel It is actually a very common name, just like Cohen for example. It is the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, the tribe that was working in the Mishkan, in the temple, the original temple, the Jewish temple that started as a tent, grew up to be a building, was destroyed, was built again, and destroyed, and built again and destroyed and would probably be built again sooner or later, because that was its destiny, the fate of this temple, to be destroyed and built again until the end of time. Which by the way is not that far away, the end of times, if you believe the legends, but it is better not to get into that now, why ruin the mood, especially when we have such a lovely story ahead of us, and we have not even started yet. There are thousands of people called levy, in Israel, but there was only one who was called lucky Levy. Ok, technically, one might argue that there were three people called lucky Levy, at least three people called lucky Levy, as he was, you probably saw it in the title, lucky levy the third, but he was in fact not only the luckiest of these levys, but probably luckier than most other Levys, not only the other two in his blood line, but literally all thousands of Levys around the world, put together. 5
because there really are thousands of Levys out there, so it is not fair, some of them must be lucky, but I would honestly say that he was luckier than at least a couple of dozens of Levys put together. thirty levys at least, fifty, yes, fifty levys, yes, he was luckier than at least fifty levys put together, maybe even sixty, ok, sixty Levys, and lucky levys too, not just normal levys. He was luckier than at least sixty very lucky levys. Yes. That sounds about right. And that is why he was called lucky levy, because he was lucky. Just for example, lucky Levy the third died four times, officially, and still, there he was. he died four times and lived to talk about it. not that he liked to talk about it, he always said it was bad luck to talk about those things, but still, if he wanted to talk about it, about how he is still alive, well, he could, and that is a big achievement for someone who died four times. True, when the time comes, when he will be older, probably much older, he would surely embrace death with joy, with acceptance. No, not just acceptance, with love, real love, even with some anticipation. He will, and he knows it. But until that time, all those small deaths, all those deaths that did not take, they were nothing. Yeah, I died, so what? don’t make a fuss over it. 6
was death for Lucky Levy, which was better than life for most normal Levys, or normal anyone for that matter. You die. It happens. No big deal. He died four times and lived to talk about it, but on the other hand he killed one hundred and sixty-two people, who did not live to talk about anything anymore. Oh, don’t make that shocked face, you softy, they were bad people and deserved to die. Yes, one hundred and sixty-two people is a lot, that is a big number, but you have to remember more than half of that number, more than half of them, were in fact killed in times of war, so they don’t really count. And they were Nazis, so really, it wasn’t like killing real people. Well, at least a lot of them were Nazis. Some were in the war before the Nazis, the first one, but most of them, the majority, yeah, they were Nazis. Actually, his war history was a bit confusing, but that was not his fault, that was history’s fault. You see, he was part of the “Arditti”, the Italian special units, the original “special unit”, the one who gave the “special units” the name “special units”, and he fought with them in the first world war. But then, well, then, in the second world war, well, ahm, the Italians were the, as you know, eh, the baddies, so he fought for the other side. It was interesting times in Europe, you see, in the sense of that famous Chinese curse of ‘may you live in interesting times. 7
on the right side. Yes, he killed people for the right side. And some for the mob, for the mafia, between the wars, but that is a different story. And some, well, some he killed after he came to Jerusalem, but again, you have to remember, it was only bad people, so it was ok. No, I am not saying that killing people was ok, but it was bad people, so, it was sort of ok. And as I said, a lot of them were Nazis. Yes. In the second world war. Actually, he killed almost as many people in the first world war, so they were not all Nazis, but, and it is not really nice to say so, they were all Germans, so that was close enough, and well, they did start those wars. Not that I have anything against Germans. Love the beer and all, it just happened that they started a lot of the, you know, world wars, and so Lucky Levy, Lucky Levy the third, well, he got to kill a lot of them. Maybe got to kill a lot of them is not the right word, he happened to kill a lot of them. Yes, that is better. He just happened to kill a lot of them. He had to kill a lot of them. He was on the right side, they were on the wrong side, and he killed a lot of them. Really not his fault. He couldn’t help it. They just kept on being on the wrong side, so they really can’t complain. I do love the beer. and sauerkraut too. I have to say that when he worked for the mafia, as a killer, between the wars, he hardly killed any Germans at all. 8
ok, one German, but it turned out he was an ex nazi too, so it doesn’t count. He was not racist, not at all, he just killed enemy soldiers. In the first world war he killed fifty-one enemy soldiers, and in the second World War, thirty-four. Yes, what can you do, he was a lot older then, in his late forties, when most men have a beer belly and are more concerned about their lawnmower and mortgage payments, so he just got thirty-four kills in the second world war. He always felt a little bad about it, what with them being Nazis and all, in the second world war, and felt that he could have done better, that he could have done more, could have killed more, but still, you do what you can, what else can you ask for, right? He got into that war, the second one, with two toes missing in his left foot, one kidney, a shoulder that was making a horrible creaking noise when he raised his arm, worn out knees that worked on pure faith, and around two dozen scars, some of them two or three inches long. So just thirty-four. But he had to do his part. And then there were the people that he killed not in the wars, as a civilian, some as a freelance, and some as, well, it would be wrong to say hobby, but… you know what, we will get to that later. What is important, is to remember that all of them, all of the one hundred and sixty-two, were very very bad people who deserved to die. 9
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