Bobby Berkowitz's website

The artifact I am creating for Baruch Berkowitz is a website for his wine importing business, “Lamed Heh,” which is Hebrew for “The Thirty-five.” The business is a cover for his real work as a secret agent for the Mossad (the Israeli secret police).

For the first round assignment, I inserted links to real events involving a massacre at an Israeli “kibbutz,” a communal farm that was typical of early Israeli settlements. In 1948, during Israel’s war of independence, thirty-five officers of the “Haganah”—the Israeli army—were slaughtered while attempting to bring supplies to the besieged Kfar Etzion Kibbutz. After the “Six Day War,” Israel took control of the area, and in 1967, the survivors  of the original settlement returned to reestablish Kfar Etzion.

Rachel and Bobby were both raised on Kfar Etzion. Rachel develops sympathies for the Palestinians, while Bobby staunchly defends Israel settlement policies. The conflict between Bobby and Rachel is related to Rachel’s motive to kill Cadence MacArthur.   

For the second round, I intend to add links that contain secret messages related to Mossad. For obvious reasons, the links cannot be easy to follow, so that only someone who knows what to look for can find the clues. I hope to construct a “game” not unlike some of the E-Literature we have been reading: Imagine that you are a homicide detective investigating a possible connection between the murder of Cadence MacArthur and the murder of Bobby Berkowitz (yeah, he’s dead too); you are searching Bobby’s website for whatever might shed light on either or both murders.

My experiment in "hiding clues" is found on the "Our Story" page: in the text is a hyperlink associated with the Hebrew word, "Haverim." Visitors cannot find this page unless they click on the link--its not otherwise in the navigation.

Here is the link to the site:

http://lseagull.wix.com/lamed-heh