My father was born just before the Nakba. His family fled to Gaza. My mother was born to a Zionist family in Tel Aviv. When it was discovered they were in love and planned to marry, they were both disowned by their families. After emigrating to Australia they each maintained a quiet observance of their respective faiths. I grew up around these articles and customs, so similar and yet so different, and always mysterious, for I was not invited into either spiritual world. Even as a child I was too cynical to believe in a just or good God, or the vindictive one of my parents' faiths for that matter. But for the sake of my parents, whom I loved dearly, I could not believe in no god at all. So I conceived of a deity of my own. One without agency. An unknowing God. An oblivious one. I saw Him as an author, writing stories he didn't know were being acted out, people living and dying at the stroke of a pen.

David Nassar – The Cosmic Wheel