Bat-Chen was born on Purim, March 19th, 1981. She was born in Raanana. She lived in Raanana until she was four years old after which she moved with her family to Kibbutz Kfar Aza. When she was 6, the family relocated to Tel Mond, where she began elementary school and first grade.
When she was in fourth grade, at the age of 10, she began writing her first diary as a result of the outbreak of the Golf War. It was a very frightening time for her and her teacher suggested that the children keep a diary to record their reactions, feelings and anxieties which appeared as a result of the war. She even entitled this diary, "The War Diary."
Her parents never knew that she was even keeping a diary!! Only after she was killed, did they find these treasures. They found four diaries in all.
As a part of Bat-Chen's legacy and will to be a writer and poet, we, her parents, decided to share her writings with the world. We feel that we received her permission to do so when, in one of her diary entries, she wrote, "who knows, maybe one day I will be in the paper and be famous."
January 1997
Bat-Chen!
We named you for a flower -
but we didn't know then
that the loveliest flowers
are the first to be picked.
Bat-Chen Shahak, may her memory be blessed, was killed in the murderous terrorist attack in Dizengoff Centre, Tel-Aviv on Adar 13, 5456, March 4th 1996.
It was her 15th birthday.
Bat-Chen is with us no more, but her spirit and her reflections will always remain. Her diaries and writing reveal a daughter with an interior world that was rich, sensitive, multi-faceted, different and special. As she wrote:
"So remember me as a special girl, a little different…"
And now every word is more powerful, each comma is imbued with her memory, every full-stop brings her back to life. Suddenly, there's significance to every character and each casual doodle. Today, all of us - her family and friends - cherish the gifts she left us, study and cry over her collection of poems, drawings and comments, which remain so vividly alive in her diaries' pages.
In publishing this book, we consider it an immense privilege to preserve the legacy of our Bat-Chen, as reflected in her poem: "What do I want to be when I grow up?", in her fourth-grade diary:
"And what do I want to be
You must have guessed
Right!
I want to get across
Feelings and thoughts
That inter-twine to create songs
That make life easier and make people
Look at problems differently,
From all sorts of viewpoints".
Everything in the book was produced by Bat-Chen (z"l) including the sketches which are taken from her diaries and projects
And, as Bat-Chen writes in her 5th grade diary, "I've decided that writing this diary will be a wonderful souvenir of my childhood", it's equally important that this souvenir of the beautiful moments with Bat-Chen will remain for each of you around the world.
We hope that you will all remember something from her writing, so that her memory will stay fresh for eternity.
The Shahak Family
P.O.B. 282
Tel-Mond
ISRAEL
