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Research Article

Hospitality in times of war

Open ORCID profile in a new windowVered Lev Kenaan*Vered Lev Kenaan*

Vered Lev Kenaan (PhD Classics and Comparative literature, Yale) is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of Haifa. Her research interests are Greek and Roman mythology, Gender, Psychoanalysis and Receptions Studies. Among her publications are Pandora’s Senses: The Feminine Character of the Ancient Text (Wisconsin, 2008), The Ancient Unconscious: Psychoanalysis and Classical Texts (Oxford, 2019). Lev Kenaan co-edited with Patricia Rosenmeyer, Classics Transformed in Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian Receptions (Oxford, 2025).

vered.lev.kenaan@gmail.com

Abstract

‘Hospitality in times of war’ is stimulated by a single image, which was too quickly swept away by the relentless flux of horrific war imagery. The photograph, taken during the handover of an Israeli hostage to Red Cross representatives, captures 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz—abducted by Hamas on 7 October 2023—turning back to shake hands with her captor. This article examines Lifshitz’s gesture in relation to both official and personal images of the handshake in antiquity, with particular attention to Homeric scenes and modern philosophical reflections on hospitality. Through a close reading of fraught moments in the Iliad, where enemies clasp hands in a fleeting recognition of shared humanity, the article explores the political and ethical resonance of a woman’s handshake, uncovering a lesser-known history of pacifist women’s resistance. This article is published in connection with a conversation between Vered Lev Kenaan and Rachel Bowlby FBA, which reflects on the article’s genesis and broader context within the ongoing realities of conflict and the hope for reconciliation from a woman’s perspective.

Keywords

handshakeYocheved LifshitzhospitalityhostageIliadpacifist resistancegestureantiquityhumanity

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Research article

Normal View Dyslexic View

Hospitality in times of war

Open ORCID profile in a new windowVered Lev Kenaan*Vered Lev Kenaan*

Vered Lev Kenaan (PhD Classics and Comparative literature, Yale) is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of Haifa. Her research interests are Greek and Roman mythology, Gender, Psychoanalysis and Receptions Studies. Among her publications are Pandora’s Senses: The Feminine Character of the Ancient Text (Wisconsin, 2008), The Ancient Unconscious: Psychoanalysis and Classical Texts (Oxford, 2019). Lev Kenaan co-edited with Patricia Rosenmeyer, Classics Transformed in Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian Receptions (Oxford, 2025).

vered.lev.kenaan@gmail.com