Ham’s Heaven by Ori Gersht; translated from Hebrew by Joanna Chen; New York: Warbler Press; © 2025; ISBN 9781965-684528; 136 pages plus photographs, $16.95.
SAN DIEGO – This novel is an account of the cruelty that a chimpanzee experiences when captured in Cameroon and selected for rigorous training to be the first ape in space.
Bradley, Ham’s behavioral mentor, winces whenever Ham is put through the next in a seemingly interminable series of tests culminating in the chimp’s launching into space and splash down in the ocean. Ham’s physical discomfort is mirrored by Bradley’s psychological pain.
The novel tells of Ham’s testing, his first space mission, his celebrity, and the protest against subjecting animals to what effectively is torture in the interest of science. In the aftermath of the protest, Ham is separated from Bradley, the only human who has shown him sustained kindness, and banished to a Zoo.
As the “first chimp in space,” Ham experiences a mix of adulation and abuse from the Zoo’s visitors.
Israeli author Ori Gersht, who is better known as a visual artist, tells the anthropomorphic story matter-of-factly, allowing readers to gradually realize that Ham’s treatment is unusually cruel, inhumane, and unethical. Some readers, as a result, may even tend towards becoming animal rights activists.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.