bthroughout the country privately espoused. Therefore, I was al-
blowed as many books as I wished, things that I could not have
bdone without while writing my commentaries.
bAnd that is the key to the writing of this book. It would have
bbeen impossible to write the manuscript, with all its facts, dates,
bincidents, quotes, and names, had the prison officials not al-
blowed me to bring in all my private papers and newspaper clip-
bpings. It is thanks to them that this book was written, a fact they
bknew about and to which they conveniently closed their official
beyes.
bCell 23 in Wing Nine of Ramle Prison was, thus, the scene
bof many hours each day, many days a week, more than two
bcontinuous months of writing. I had no typewriter, and so each
bpage had to be handwritten. Moreover, never knowing when the
bauthorities might change their attitude and confiscate the work,
bI smuggled out each chapter as it was finished and thus never
bhad the opportunity to look back at what I had written. Never-
btheless, I gained strength through the encouragement of the oth-
ber prisoners. On the door of my cell I had placed a large Hebrew
bsign that read: “How good it is to be a good Jew.” Every time
ba prisoner passed, he would shout the message out to me and
bsmile. Indeed. “How good it is to be a good Jew.”
Meir Kahane