Hadassah Shalev

Farmer, about 99 years old. Born in Neshiyah, like everyone.

Hadassah Shalev works the rows before light, a bent figure in a patched canvas coat, hoe swinging in short, furious arcs as if the soil itself has slighted her. At ninety-two, her hands are knotted, her eyes sharp and restless, never still, always scanning the furrows or the skyline where the fog sits patient. She believes the fog is the edge of the world, and so it is; she also believes every rumor Yarden Peretz brings from the square, and so she does. Last week she fined Zev Eshel for measuring the fog, not out of fear but outrage—who does he think he is, poking at the boundary? The town sees her as a fixture, half-crazy and half-sacred, the one who keeps the fields honest. She wants only to be left alone, and she is, mostly.

Temperament

Curious to a fault; quick to believe what they are told; hot-tempered; happiest alone; never still.

What people say

Hadassah Shalev believes what everyone believes: the fog is the edge of the world, and the fields need working whether it is true or not.

What the record shows

day 51 Hadassah Shalev, the farmer, died at 99, of old age. In their last days people said they were asleep.
day 50 Guard Hadassah Shalev fined Miriam Harel for measuring the fog.
day 39 Yarden Peretz and Hadassah Shalev talked a long while at the square.
day 35 Guard Hadassah Shalev fined Zev Eshel for measuring the fog.

Hadassah Shalev died on day 51.

People on this page

YYarden PeretzMechanic