Born Saleh Kemal Menashe Mejaled in 1926, the Israeli writer Sami Michael grew up in the Jewish quarter of Baghdad before moving to the suburbs. Active in the Communist underground as a young man, he fled to Iran and was later sentenced to death in absentia. Airlifted to Israel in 1949, he joined the editorial staff of the Arabic newspaper al-Ittiḥād and published stories in the journal al-Jadīd under the name Samir Mārid. After completing his compulsory army service, he joined the Israel Hydrological Service, where he worked until taking early retirement in 1…