Shortly before Amos Oz’s death, despite his successful career as a world famous writer, his daughter Galia accused him of verbal and physical abuse that continued for the rest of his life. This news shocked the world community because it tarnished the reputation of a beloved, sensitive writer who, in addition to his literary heritage, fought for peace and a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian coexistence. Many hastened to denounce him or condemn even his books, heralding the end of his literary value.

A few days ago, Yair Kedar’s documentary “The Fourth Window” was screened at the Israeli Film Festival in Athens. Amos Oz in this documentary talks to his latest biographer as faces from his family and friends intervene, talking about the author’s life: a troubled childhood, the suicide of his melancholic mother, a lonely and violent adolescence on a kibbutz, adulthood, marriage, children , books , recognition. The image of Oz is the image of a Hollywood star, beautiful, bright, but his voice hurt, banal, trembling at times, wondering: “Galia, Galia, what have I done to you?” After the scandal that broke out, the author tried to understand what happened, why his daughter was so angry, what harm he caused her. But in vain.

We live in extremely turbulent times, but not worse than others. Scandals break out, writers are accused of improvisation, petty activists throw paint on the masterpieces of Klimt and Van Gogh. “What did Klimt do to save the planet?” they ask. And they will remain with the question, and their actions will remain the rude reaction of angry children who have not asked themselves what is really wrong with them. But they mess around with works of art.

Of course, what better to expect when the publishers themselves can’t protect their books. When they recall, or at least they have been heard to recall, all of the award-winning author’s books because of the horrific accusations that have surfaced, which we all remain silent about, in the hope that Justice will do its job. accurately. But can we separate business from people? Can we or can we afford to cultivate a space of thought in which many and sometimes conflicting things will coexist? Love, for example, “Journey to the End of the Night”, but do not agree at all with Celine’s views on anti-Semitism. I love the books of Amos of Oz, but I regret their family drama and the suffering of Gaul.

You cannot be an artist if you are not injured. How much, in what parts you were affected and how much you are aware of the trauma is another story.

To fight for the planet and its beauty without tarnishing the picture, recognizing that perhaps Gustav Klimt did not fight to save the planet. And also put up with anyone who thinks Kevin Spacey is a great actor, even if he was also a petty seducer, which he hasn’t proven.

We often talk about totalitarian regimes. How we do not want them to return someday, so that modern man does not experience the absolutism of thought and action, mechanistic leadership, fanaticism. But today all of us democrats who hate Hitler, how far are we from absolutist thinking? How do we improve ourselves so that we can think freely, see contrasts and contradictions, not idealize and also not throw everything into the fire, even if the subject itself should be condemned.

But his works? Works of art are works of spiritual intelligence. This is the result of the struggle between good and evil. This is a clash of thought with the action of a restless mind, a sensitive soul, a wounded subject. You cannot be an artist if you are not injured. How strong you are, what parts of you are hooked, and how trauma aware you are is another big debate. But you can be a bastard and still have time in the small hours of your life to leave a sob, a prayer, a hope for redemption with your poems, your books, a piece of music as a legacy to mankind.

This “voice”, which led to art, and not to the brutality of acts of the absurd, we must, we must preserve it. Every night you have to keep a small lantern, barefoot and tattered, despite the abundance of information, in order to throw away what is left of the fire. How he breathes, how he escapes from worms. And magically, if we have the innocent eyes of a child, we will see greatness in the criminal, but also pettiness in the householder. Actions are judged, condemned, uprooted and touch Justice. Our thoughts are with the victims. But spiritual works as symbols continue to concern a society that wants to live and its own struggle with good and evil. And through every work of art, small or large, we will see that good always, always wins.

Who are we to destroy it? When, after all, none of this belongs to us, only our personal battle with the wounds we bear in the general discomfort of civilization.