Nesher Shereshevski

Nesher Shereshevski is Yardena’s former boyfriend, the diligent hydrologist she accepts as her husband after leaving Shmuel Ash. A specialist in collecting rainwater, he is quiet, practical, and attentive to Yardena’s preferences; in Shmuel’s recollections and jealous comparisons, his ordinary acts of care acquire the force of an answer to Shmuel’s own restless, impulsive devotion.

Identity and Background

Nesher works as a hydrologist and is an expert in collecting rainwater. The narrative gives him little independent presence: readers encounter him mainly through Yardena’s decision to marry him and through Shmuel’s observations, memories, and imaginings. Even so, those details establish a consistent contrast. Where Shmuel is impetuous and distractible, Nesher is taciturn and diligent, attentive to practical needs and able to anticipate what Yardena will want next.

His profession also becomes a recurring point of reference in Shmuel’s thoughts. During a winter of heavy rain, Shmuel imagines that Nesher must have plenty of rainwater to collect. The thought turns an occupational fact into an intimate, faintly comic reminder of the man who has taken Yardena’s place beside her.

Yardena’s Choice

Yardena had enjoyed Shmuel’s nervous energy, helplessness, and exuberant friendliness, which she likened to the behavior of a large, affectionate dog. Yet she chose to separate from him and accept the proposal of Nesher, her former boyfriend. The narrative gives this decision a tangible basis in Nesher’s attentiveness: he often seems to know what Yardena will wish for before she says it.

His care appears in small, precise gestures. He gives Yardena a handsome neck scarf for her birthday according to the Gregorian calendar, then an oriental rug in a greenish shade two days later for her birthday according to the Hebrew calendar. He remembers even the birthdays of her parents. These observances stand apart from grand declarations: Nesher’s attentiveness is shown as sustained knowledge of the dates and preferences that matter in Yardena’s life.

Yardena and Nesher are in a hurry to marry, unwilling to wait even until winter ends. Shmuel receives an invitation to the wedding and fantasizes about arriving unexpectedly, breaking into the intimate ceremony with smiles, backslaps, and comic imitations of Professor Gustav Yom-Tov Eisenschloss. The plan reveals how Shmuel imagines himself responding to the loss—with conspicuous warmth and performance—but the wedding day instead brings a severe asthma attack that sends him from a clinic to Bikur Holim Hospital.

Shmuel’s Rivalry and Imaginings

Nesher continues to occupy Shmuel’s thoughts after the marriage. Once, on King George Street near Bet Hamaalot, Shmuel thinks he may have glimpsed him. Pulling his shapka down to cover half his face, he smiles to himself about the rainy winter and imagines that Nesher might one day come to the house in Rabbi Elbaz Lane to inspect the water gathered in the courtyard well beneath its iron cover. The scene is not a meeting between the two men so much as a passing sight—or a possible sight—expanded by Shmuel’s imagination into a private joke.

At a Hungarian restaurant, Shmuel asks himself what Nesher possesses that he does not. In his jealous portrait, Nesher has a square body like a packing crate and speaks in elaborate, dull phrases. Shmuel recalls sayings that reduce obvious distinctions to ponderous observations: Tel Aviv is less ancient than Jerusalem but more modern; the old differ greatly from the young; the majority decides and the minority must accept its view. The caricature reflects Shmuel’s hurt as much as it describes Nesher.

Yardena’s last words to Shmuel, as he remembers them, call him a restless little dog. Shmuel inwardly accepts the description, yet feels ashamed, insulted, and humiliated. The comparison with Nesher is therefore not simply a contest over which man is more lovable. Shmuel recognizes that his own qualities—generosity and exuberance alongside impatience and inattention—may have made him difficult to depend on, while Nesher’s steadiness answers a need he had not met.

Narrative Role

Nesher functions as a largely offstage character whose importance grows through contrast. His rainwater work, measured habits, and attention to birthdays give concrete form to the steadiness Shmuel lacks. Rather than presenting an extended account of the marriage, the narrative lets Shmuel’s imagination supply a succession of views: the rival at the wedding, the possible passerby in the rain, and the reasonable hydrologist whose very conventionality irritates him.

That contrast also helps mark a shift in Shmuel. After dwelling on Yardena’s departure and reading the evening newspaper’s account of military warnings and threats, he feels that what seems lost may not be wholly lost and resolves to become a calm, bold man who knows what he wants. Nesher is not shown causing this decision; he is part of the emotional pressure behind it, a figure against whom Shmuel’s wounded self-image becomes newly legible.