A presentation of a new book by poet, historian, and prominent Jewish public figure Yehiel Fishzon, “I Was Asked: How Many Hands Does God Have?”, took place on January 24 at the Museum of the Sixtiers in Kyiv. The event was held amid blackouts caused by Russian attacks on Ukraine. Alongside the book presentation, an exhibition of drawings not included in the publication was also displayed.

The event featured the author, Yehiel Fishzon, a Kyiv native, researcher at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, historian, tour guide, and poet; the publisher, Olena Zaslavska, a Kyiv-based designer, artist, director of the “Diye-Slovo” Studio, and Executive Director of the Zionist Federation of Ukraine; and one of the translators, Maria Eff.

Fishzon’s first book in the series, “Which World War?”, was published at the end of 2023 and was fully dedicated to Ukraine after February 24, 2022.

His second book, “I Was Asked: How Many Hands Does God Have?”, presents poems written after October 7, 2023, the day of the deadly terrorist attack in Israel that claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis, as well as reflections on the events that followed, including the war in the Gaza Strip.

“The poems of Yehiel Fishzon are at once memories and prophecies, documentary testimonies. They speak about those who ‘survived’ but now live with a ‘scar-like mark,’ and about those who fight ‘so that when death sweeps us from the chessboard, Justice, as it should, will put a bullet in the forehead of Evil.’ This book does not provide answers, but it allows us to feel that we, Ukrainians and Israelis, are not alone in our experiences and daily pain,” said translator Lora Pidhirna.

“There is something symbolic in the fact that the presentation of Yehiel Fishzon’s book ‘I Was Asked: How Many Hands Does God Have?’, which has already become part of my life as a designer, publisher, and, unexpectedly, as the author of some of the illustrations, took place yesterday in complete darkness. Two EcoFlow stations powered my computer and the large screen. There was also no running water in the museum. But, as always, we carried on despite all circumstances,” noted publisher Olena Zaslavska.

The publication of the book was carried out within the framework of the “Diye-Slovo” Studio and the Zionist Federation of Ukraine, with financial support from the Federation and private donors.