In honor of World Book Week, I went to one of the major bookstore chains to replenish my stock of children's books at home and enjoy the deals, colors, and wide variety offered to me along the way. But this time I was looking for a different book - a book that doesn't tell about bears, ducks, and little brothers.
I was looking for something innovative, something I hadn't come across before, a book where I could enjoy, recite, tell, and convey a lot of experiences, together with the little Zatota.
The comic books were pretty repetitive. The plots were varied, but similar to each other, and for some reason this time they failed to catch my eye. Out of despair, frustration, and confusion, I was already turning to leave.
And then she stood there to the side, peering at me with a smiling, winking, colorful, and so inviting look... S-a-p-o-r the sheep.
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Edna Navon - first and foremost - a wife, mother of eight children and grandmother of more than ten grandchildren, a convert for over 40 years, a Jerusalemite, a resident of the Ramot neighborhood, who lives in a pastoral place on a breathtaking border. In the middle of the big city, but in a corner that is so quiet and green.
Edna welcomed me with great warmth, introducing me to a magical and wonderful world that she created and built with her own hands. On the walls of the house hung amazing, colorful pictures, painted by her husband with an artistic and professional hand, drawing me in to the beautiful and vivid colors.
Shafu the sheep, in its enormous size, sat respectfully on a chair in the living room, and a doll in the form of a boy named David sat not far away on a decorated and carved wooden chair.
Who are you, Edna Navon?
First of all, I have a B.Mus degree in dance movement and body awareness for 41 years, lecture, and lead workshops called Treasures or Troubles, for female and physical empowerment. Over time, I examined the body in light of the sources and according to spiritual principles, and on this basis I developed a special method for movement and dance.
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Tell me a little about your special method?
The basic idea is first of all to let the woman feel like she is a gift. When the mother transmits stress and anxiety to her fetus or child, it is automatically passed on to them. This has been scientifically proven, the body is a reflection of the physical structure to the spiritual structure. With the help of special exercises that I developed, the exercises cause the body to open up and receive mental support from within - which later helps both the woman and the child.
How did you get into dance and movement?
The Yom Kippur War and the great loss of people I knew led me to reflect and ask myself: What is my calling in life?! I enrolled in a dance movement and dance class, and in the process I began to repent and find myself in a process of spiritual ascension, specifically through dance.
At the age of twenty, I decided to bring a new expression to dance and teach people to change, through movement and dance.
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Why now, a children's book, where have you been all these years??
For 23 years the book lay in the depths of the drawers, gathering dust. It was during the Gulf War. It was a private book that I wrote for a drawer. At some point I wanted to take the book out of the private to the public and share it with other mothers and children who would benefit from it. In addition, I have been working for years with children who suffer from dyslexia, tantrums, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, introversion, and more...
What is the purpose of the book?
The book is about self-image. The brain has a pressure gauge that starts with survival and moves to development. At some point, the brain, due to bad habits we have acquired, fails to separate development from survival.
The starting point of every child is very low and our demands as parents are very high. In this gap that has been created, many times we lose the child, and find the child dropping out or in other distress due to our high expectations of him. This book was truly written with the goal of preventing this gap and reducing future damage.
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How exactly in a book like this, which seemingly seems like a simple children's book, can one achieve harm reduction, as you describe?
This is where the research phase that I did and worked on for years comes in.
From infancy, a child has a resistance mechanism, and over time this turns into alertness and rigidity. Our brain is actually built like an electrical system, where the voltage increases - the plug pops, and if we don't start reducing the loads or adding "phase" the body will collapse.
And how do we gather "phase"? Through love, pleasure, and experiences of success. Personal contact with the mother causes the child to secrete proteins, which is very important and necessary for the child's proper development.
And how does the relationship with the mother enter the book?
This is a book with a different character, the format here is unfamiliar and innovative. This is not another story that you must not skip any page, so as not to lose the sequence. There is a book that I put a lot of work into, both movement, also text, also an explanation to the mother why and how the movements are used, and how it influences and encourages the child to learn to recite and play. .
It is both mother and child, and the bond between mother and child is strengthened and brought closer, as a result of the cooperation created between them.
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Why a sheep?
I worked on the book for a year and a half, looking for a friendly character who would suit all sectors. In general, all the characters in the book are happy, non-threatening characters, who are very easy for children to connect with.
For a year and a half, I worked with my eldest daughter, who was responsible for every detail of the book - from the graphics, the design, the illustrations - and in general, I was involved down to the smallest detail, until the book was published.
The book has been translated into two additional languages: Yiddish – which actually comes with a booklet with stickers in the shape of the text's structure, which can be pasted directly onto the book, and the second is translated into English.
Tell me a little about the body parts that come into the story and what their importance is?
The five parts of the brain correspond to the five most important organs in our body - eyes, mouth, nose, hands, and ears.
Eyes- When there is fear, the eyes open, and when there is jealousy or anger, the eyes shrink.
even- This is impatience, and breathing for calm.
Hands- Finger contraction tension, and concentration with the finger.
here –Smiles when happy and frowns when sad.
Ears- When they hear a loud noise, they close, and when they hear something good, they open.
And the book contains recitations and games with all these body parts, and this allows and helps the child to play and deal with these feelings, which overflow and arise every day, such as joy and anger.
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Why is the sheep's nose here in its natural size?
Edna laughs.
We wanted to add the doll to each book, so that you could play with it while reading, but unfortunately it turned out so unsuccessful that we dropped it, and decided not to include it in the first book.
We are currently producing a new and successful Shapo doll in China, which will be included in the next books.
The ringing of the bell interrupts our fascinating conversation.
Edna's husband walks in with a small suitcase. He just got back from Thailand, she says, and she's so proud of him. He serves as a kosher supervisor abroad and travels a lot, by virtue of his job.
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I return home, stock up on a book by Shapu the Sheep, which is intended for ages two to six, sit the little Zatota down next to me, and begin to recite and demonstrate the movements. The little one cooperates in an extraordinary way, playing with her fingers, eyes, nose, and tiny hands.
We finish reading and playing, and before I put the book aside, she jumps up and gets excited and asks with a sweetness that I can't refuse, that I sit with her again to read Shafu, and she hugs me very tightly. As if in her own way, she's saying thank you.
Shafu the sheep accompanies us every night before bed. The little sheep knows all the movements by heart, and falls asleep with a huge smile on its sweet little lips.
I look at it, and I definitely admit that the book is very connecting and bringing people closer together.
Edna Navon I thank her from the bottom of my heart. You definitely deserve a shout-out, Amitai.
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