Rivlin eulogizes Amos Oz: ‘You weren’t afraid to be called a traitor’

President Reuven Rivlin pays tribute to Amos Oz, the revered Israeli writer and peace advocate who died aged 79, at a memorial ahead of his burial later in the day.

“Our beloved Amos. I still do not know how to choose the words,” says Rivlin at the ceremony in a small theater in central Tel Aviv. “Two days have passed and I still do not know whom to talk about — my Amos or our Amos?

“Amos, my friend from the bench at the Jerusalem Gymnasia school, which he didn’t like so much. Amos my neighbor, the boy who didn’t play soccer. But when I had the flu he came to visit me and for three hours explained to me the difference between political Zionism and mystical Zionism. Three hours when we were 14 years old — you can only imagine the kind of headache I had after that.”

Rivlin also explains the impact Oz’s writing had on Israeli society, and the way in which he touched his readers with his depictions of a life they found so familiar.

“Your most unique fingerprint was your ability to look at things deep inside, but also always a little from the outside,” Rivlin adds.

“Not only were you not afraid to be in the minority and hold a minority opinion, but you weren’t even afraid to be called a traitor. On the contrary, you saw the word as a title with honor.”