Michel takes Yifat back and begins divorce proceedings

Michel Sommo’s decision to take Yifat from Ilana Sommo and begin divorce proceedings turns a marital rupture into a struggle over access to their daughter. Communicated through a rabbi rather than in a direct conversation, his action leaves Ilana facing both a separation and a religiously framed accusation: that she is a rebellious wife who may no longer see Yifat. In Ilana’s account, the formal notice, the removal of the child, and Michel’s silence reinforce one another, making custody not only a practical question but also a means of punishment and control.

Background and the Separation

On the eve of New Year, about a month before Ilana recounts the events, Michel sent his brother-in-law Armand to take Yifat to him in a Peugeot truck. He then informed Ilana in writing, through Rabbi Bouskila, that he had initiated divorce proceedings. The notice also declared Ilana a rebellious wife and said that Michel was raising loans to repay the money she had given him, which he described as tainted. Thus the dispute combines the child’s removal with an effort to reject Ilana’s financial support and to define the marriage in religious and legal terms.

The means of communication deepen the distance. Michel does not explain his actions to Ilana face to face; she receives the news from a religious intermediary, including the declaration that she is forbidden to see Yifat. In her later appeal, she asks why he did not demand an explanation from her himself or show her a path to repentance. Her questions expose the imbalance she experiences: Michel has made decisions about the marriage and their daughter, while she is left to interpret them and plead for contact.

Family Intervention and Alexander’s Offer

Rahel Morag and Yoash visit Ilana to urge her to hire a lawyer other than Manfred Zakheim and insist on her right to know what Michel has done with Yifat. Their concern is not merely that Ilana has surrendered custody; they press her to demand to see her daughter. Rahel offers to go to Jerusalem to persuade Michel to reconcile and asks to speak with Alexander Gideon in person. She also proposes involving Boaz Brandstetter in the planned shuttle diplomacy.

Ilana receives the intervention with near-complete withdrawal. She sits without answering beyond asking to be left alone. After Rahel and Yoash depart, she checks that Alexander has taken his pills and asks whether he would agree to let Michel and Yifat come to the house at Boaz’s invitation. Alexander responds wryly, then agrees and offers Michel one hundred dollars for each day he stays. The offer makes the house a possible meeting place, but it does not itself restore Ilana’s access to her daughter.

The next day, Alexander abruptly summons Manfred Zakheim. Zakheim arrives from Jerusalem, receives a cold rebuke, and is instructed to transfer another twenty thousand dollars to Michel. Although Michel had announced his intention to repay the money he considered tainted, he apparently accepts this payment: the check is not returned. Alexander also directs Zakheim to put the house and surrounding land in Boaz’s name. These arrangements place substantial resources behind the possibility of bringing Michel and Yifat into the household, while leaving the custody conflict unresolved.

Ilana’s Appeal and Michel’s Silence

Ilana’s appeal to Michel grows more urgent as time passes. She asks whether he fetches Yifat from the nursery at half past one, cares for her, and sings to her; she also wonders whether he has left Yifat with his brother’s family while he goes to the rocky hills of Hebron. These are questions and possibilities in Ilana’s letter, not confirmed descriptions of Michel’s routine. Their force comes from the ordinary acts of parenthood she fears losing: collecting her daughter, keeping her clothes and toys near, and being present in her daily life.

She offers to forgive Michel if he brings Yifat back, and even offers to resume their sexual relationship and do whatever he asks. The terms of the appeal show how far the separation has narrowed her choices: she bargains with forgiveness and intimacy for the chance to have her daughter returned. She measures the loss through passing days and nights, describing each as another hill and valley gone beyond recovery. Michel, meanwhile, remains silent. Ilana reads that silence as deliberate avenging, resentment, and punishment, and contrasts his compassion for Israel, ancient ruins, Boaz, and Alexander with his lack of compassion for his wife and daughter.

Consequences and Narrative Significance

Boaz Brandstetter advises Ilana to let Michel remain angry, suggesting that he will eventually cool down and give in to what she asks. The advice offers a possible way through the impasse, but it does not alter the immediate facts: Yifat is with Michel, divorce proceedings have begun, and Ilana has been told she cannot see her. Her question to Boaz about whether she wronged Michel underscores her uncertainty about the grounds for the punishment and her wish for an explanation that Michel has not given her.

The episode sets two competing forms of authority against each other. Michel invokes religious status, repayment, and the power to determine Ilana’s access to Yifat; Ilana and her relatives invoke a lawyer, direct conversation, reconciliation, and the mother’s right to see her child. Alexander’s money and open invitation offer another route toward reunion, but neither financial aid nor a welcoming house can compel Michel to speak or return Yifat. The action therefore ends not in reconciliation but in suspended separation: Ilana’s plea remains unanswered, and her hope depends on Michel reversing a decision he has communicated through others.