Jocelyn Mojzes: My Short Stories and Their Journey Home To Israel
My Short Stories and Their Journey Home To Israel
An Autobiographical Account
BIO
Jocelyn Mojzes was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She is a mother of two sons. She
graduated with a Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture in 1992. She made aliyah to
Israel in 2012 but returned to Toronto due to the passing of her late husband in 2019.
Roots and Influences in General
My writing is influenced by my experiences working over the years as a landscape architect
having spent decades working close with nature and by a love of gardening. I became
interested, even as a graduate student, in the connection between human psychological
health and its connection to engaging in creative pursuits. Over the years I dedicated a
portion of my life’s work to mentoring different groups and encouraging people to grow as
individuals facilitating opportunities for community connection through shared interests and
creative projects. In my stories, I hint to the many lessons I have learned along the way and I
also include many more grains of wisdom that were discovered through the process of
creative writing itself.
In Israel
The short stories found their way into Israeli society between the years 2010 and 2019
during which time I first presented 4 of them at the International Book Fair in Jerusalem. I
was led to believe that my short stories would be well received in Israel having been given
an encouraging sign by a visiting Israeli in our home to whom I gave private English
lessons. She read the short story “The Boy, The Old Man and The Apple Tree, and in her
response, she revealed to me how it contained within it our shared cultural roots in the Torah.
Little did I know that not only would attending the Book fair cause a meeting of the minds to
occur in Israel but something above and beyond any foreseen expectations would happen
there as well.
It should be mentioned that prior to going to Jerusalem, my late husband at the time had
created a website to help me sell my publications to prospective customers. After spending
the last two thousand dollars to my name on the printing of books, a hotel, and flights, I took my
18-month-old and a friend as a helper along with us, in order to participate in the Fair. While
attending the event, I passed by the booth for The National Library of Israel. I gave a copy of
the short story “The Boy, The Old Man and The Apple Tree” to the enthusiastic gentleman
who was manning the booth at the time for The National Library of Israel. I had no idea what
his connection to the library was. I simply enjoyed his enthusiasm for the institution and his
proud description of their recent purchase of Rashi’s manuscripts.
The next day the young man representing The National Library of Israel approached me at
the fair and let me know that he had read the short story “The Boy, The Old Man and The
Apple Tree” to his then 9-year-old daughter and that I should be expecting to hear from the
Library via email. I had not brought a computer with me. Back then I had little to do with
computers if at all. I waited until I arrived home to receive this letter. In short, the National
Library of Israel’s head of acquisitions had decided to place an order via the website my late
husband had produced earlier, for all of the short stories I had published thus far. This
encouraging gesture on the part of the Library’s choosing propelled me to continue on this
writing and publishing journey.
Two years passed and I found myself once more at the International Book Fair in
Jerusalem. This time I was visited by a very enthusiastic older gentleman who for a half hour
praised the books as he described how his daughter, a professor of bibliotherapy in Netanya,
puts all my short stories for her students to read on a shelf of recommended books. He said
his daughter was so impressed at how effective they are as tools helping to work miracles in
therapy sessions. This was all the confirmation I needed that my decision to follow my heart
and intuition despite all of the financial challenges and obstacles I had to face was the right
thing to do.
Our family made Aliyah to Israel and now I did not know what to do with the already
successful publications that were making such a positive impact on the lives of Israeli
children and adults. In all honesty, living in Israel was a real struggle for our family. My
husband, an accomplished landscape architect and recognized fine artist could not find
work, always being turned away for being “overqualified”. He was busy making strides in the
world of art and thankfully, he was welcomed and accepted by the Artist associations, was
given several showings of his work in public venues around the country and he was
recognized in Israel as “a world-class artist” by the Israeli media. In the meantime though, I
had to find a way to sell my books just to make ends meet and support our family. I had to
really hustle.
It was a privilege to be able to participate in the “Shavuah Ha’sefer” festival in Tel Aviv where
I had the chance to present my books twice with so many of Israel’s talented and generous
participants. The biblio-therapists in the crowd of visitors found me there too. It was such an
honor to be part of the literary community by having one of my stories read at the Tel Aviv
Central Library during one of their after-school programs. My books found their way via
donors into kindergarten classrooms, by teachers teaching English as a second language
around the globe and into public libraries throughout Israel. One was donated to the Library
for the Blind in Jerusalem to produce a braille version. People encouraged me every day by
telling me things like “We read The Boy, The Old Man, and The Apple Tree at the Shabbat
table and our family had a discussion about it.” Along my journey, I met so many wonderful,
caring and creative people in the world of bibliotherapy as well as teachers and
professionals working with kindergarten or school-aged children needing
emotional/psychological care or those with special needs. The short story, “A Tree in A
Field”, with a title that was inspired by the Talmud, was discovered by a gifted biblio-therapist
to be a useful diagnostic tool.
I was invited to present the story “How The World Became a Nicer Place” at the Hospital for
Children in Tzfat at the Autism Israel Convention by one of the coordinators. The beautiful
thing is that these short stories were written for a universal audience and not for special
needs children. This same story was read by Rabbis and teachers in adult education classes
in Jerusalem. These are timeless, universal stories for all that just so happen to also
communicate to children with special needs without setting them apart from the rest of our
human community. It was clear that Israel and I struck a soul chord through these stories
along the avenue and in the pursuit of nurturing mental and emotional healing.
The short story, “The Listening Cloud” was actually written in a Chabad kindergarten where I
was teaching gardening. One day it was raining and so I ended up illustrating and writing a
short story for the rainy day’s activity with the children instead. A year later it occurred to me
that I should publish it. Several years later I found myself talking to someone on the corner of
Jaffa and King George streets in Jerusalem, a psychologist who made Aliyah from Boston,
who said he could use the story as a tool in his practice.
So the journey continues. Soon two new stories will accompany “The Listening Cloud” in a
new collection of short stories. The short stories are there to inspire us to live according to
our soul’s calling, to choose to create, co-create, learn, nurture and grow to make a world
that provides a home for all humanity to thrive in freedom and in peace.
Book List
The list of short stories currently available for sale are provided in the links below.
Note that The Boy, The Old Man and The Apple Tree are also available on Amazon in
Spanish and in French. All of her stories will be made available in Hebrew translation.
Currently these can be acquired privately. More of her publications will become available
including two new short stories in the near future.
The Boy, The Old Man and the Apple Tree: A timeless tale of the miracle of planting a seed,
in the soil and in the heart: Mojzes, Jocelyn, Rundek, Petra: 9780987991805: Books –
Amazon.ca
French Version: Le Garçon, le Vieil Homme et le Pommier: Un conte intemporel évoquant le
miracle de planter une graine dans le sol ainsi que dans le coeur
Spanish Version: El Niño, El Viejo y El Manzano: Una historia atemporal sobre el milagro de
plantar una semilla en la tierra y en el corazón
How the World Became a Nicer Place : Mojzes, Jocelyn, Mojzes, Igor: Amazon.ca: Books
Love Is: Poems: Mojzes, Jocelyn: 9798551703273: Books – Amazon.ca
Other books to come: The new edition of Agatha’s Forest
Tree in A Field
The Listening Cloud: a new addition as a collection including two first time (short story) publications.
