Much of the narrative of ADJUSTING SIGHTS (Toby Press, May 15, 2003, hdcv.) centers around recounting those chaotic first days of war endured by Haim, a tank gunner, along the hills and valleys of the Golan Heights. Interspersed with the action are Haim’s memories of childhood, growing up with Dov in an immigrant neighborhood of Jerusalem. The religious teachings Haim and his fellow soldiers have grown up with are constantly with them as they deal with the devastating disarray of their forces and their fear of failure and capture. Prayer and Talmudic passages form a framework that enables them to cope with their experiences. Sabato skillfully draws us into the individual worlds of these young men; their courage as they help each other, their pain as they deal with the loss of comrades.
A lightly fictionalized biography written in a style reminiscent of S.Y. Agnon, ADJUSTING SIGHTS is not a book about religion, politics, or the rights and wrongs of war, but rather, it’s a story about the personal experiences of a 19-year old man who has to adjust not only the sights of his gun, but also his understanding of the world in which he lives.
The author, Haim Sabato, descends from a long line of rabbis from Aleppo, Syria. He was born in Egypt but moved to Israel with his family when he was six. He served in the tank corps in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and today heads a Yeshiva near Jerusalem. ADJUSTING SIGHTS was a runaway bestseller in Israel, and won the prestigious Sapir Prize for Literature. It is his second book.
ADJUSTING SIGHTS was translated into English by a leading Israeli translator, Hillel Halkin. Halkin is also a journalist and author.
