Gabriel did his undergraduate degree in anthropology and economics in Argentina. When he finished he felt unsettled, and decided to travel before entering the world of work. He ended up backpacking in the south of India, and ended up in Kerala. As these things happen he met a documentary maker there, who was making a documentary about the Indian Jews of Cochin. The filmaker and Gabriel hit it off, and Gabriel got involved with the production, in a volunteer capacity,drawing upon his anthropology background, and learning about filmaking.
The filmaker told Gabriel he would be travelling to Israel, where most of the Cochin community had emigrated. Gabriel called his parents, who said they would fund a ticket to Israel, happy their son was travelling to the Jewish homeland and secretly hoping he might meet a suitable partner there.
Although he did not meet a partner there, Gabriel fell in love with Israel. He decided to enroll for a Masters in "Documentary Story telling" ast a little film school in tel Aviv. There was a girlfriend or two, but nothing lasted longer than six months. While a student, partly because the idea titillated him, and partly because he was paid for it, which helped fill out his meagre student allowance, he donated sperm to a fertility clinic adjacent to the Soroka hospital in Tel Aviv. After six months of regular visits to the clinic they told him his services were no longer required, as some couples had conceived from the donations and there was a limit to how much each donor contributed.
When Gabriel completed his degree he looked for work. After applying unsuccessfully for countless jobs he found a role at the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive cataloging material, but it was a bit of a nowhere job. He had a 3 month fling with a woman he met at an energy healing workshop, but after three months it fizzled out by mutual agreement.
Gabriel, believing he was treading water, decided to return to the land of his birth, Argentina, for a holiday, and spend some time closer to his parents and a sibling who had married. As happens, his life unfolded as life does. He began working as a research assistant for a production company, and looked for opportunities to make documentaries where his interest in anthropology and film making coalesced. He had two relationships, the second of which turned into marriage, a son and a daughter, a house with a mortgage, some successes and struggles with work, and the ups and downs of life.
The family travelled, the children grew bigger, the marriage was good, but gradually little cracks appeared and the couple slowly drifted apart. By the time both children were attending university the shared life tasks that had been the last remaining glue had dissolved, and Gabriel and his wife decided upon an amicable separation. Gabriel found himself living alone in a two bedroom apartment in Buenos Aires, seeing his children only now and then. They were well adjusted kids, leading increasingly busy lives of their own, and did not have much time or interest in anything but perfunctory contacts.
There had been a number of terror attacks on Israelis in the last few months, one in the suburb where Gabriel had lived as a student some 30 years ago. He was lonely. The connections which had anchored him to Buenos Aires had somehow evaporated. The impulse arose in him, suddenly, unbidden, to revist the country where he had spent happy years as a relatively carefree student, and after some deliberation he arranged his life so he could spend three months in Israel, 6 weeks volunteering with an organisation that supported orphans whose families had been killed in bombings and shootings, the rest of the time free to travel and look up old acquaintences.
One of the Israeli staff at the organisation was a young woman in her late 20s, a social work student who was doing her placenment at the organisation. Gabriel felt strongly attracted to her, her youth and vitality and kindness. He tried to find excuses to invite her for coffee, ostensibly to discuss organisational matters, but really just so he could spend time with her. She told him about her conflicts and aspirations, that she was recovering from the breakup of a seven year relationship, and what she hoped to do with her degree when she finished. Gavriel listened, made suggestions, admitted he was attracted to her. She came back to the Air B & B he was renting one night. They kissed. then kissed again.
"You don't mind that I'm old enough to be your father"
"Give me another drag of that joint and I won't mind"
They slept together
She said it was probably a mistake, but they slept together again. He told her he did not have much to go back to Argentina too, and would commit to her if she did not want to look for a more appropriate age mate. He also offered to take her back to Argentina. She ended the relationship. He finished the six weeks, still besotted with her, but travelled north to help pick fruit on a moshav whose labourers had fled ongoing missiles from Lebanon. After a month in the North he received a phone call.
"I'm pregnant" she said, " I'm taking it as a sign. I've decided to keep the baby. I'm sure he or she will look a lot like us."
"We should get some genetic testing" he told her. For "Tae Sachs syndrome, and the other Ashkenazi stuff."
They did the tests. It turned out she was his daughter.
