Nathan’s Life

Nathan Arnavah Krystall

Arnavah was born as Nathan Krystall in Michigan, USA in 1964. In 1972 he moved with
the family to Kenya. He graduated from University of Massachusetts, Amherst and
University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
His ‘career’ was tasting the diversity of what life had to offer. He was a global traveller,
spending large portions of his life in Kenya, Massachusetts, Brooklyn, Jerusalem,
Johannesburg, Thailand, Cambodia, Bali, India, Greece, Taiwan, Beijing, and finally Peru.
To name just a few of his many occupations: activist for Palestinian rights of residency in
Jerusalem, author of biographies (including Swimming Through Life, a biography of his
father), ghost-writer, English teacher in Taiwan and Beijing, therapist and healer, musician
and music producer, and many more….
Much of his adult life was spent working for societal and political causes in which he
believed. His refusal to serve in the Israeli army (required of Jews who move to Israel and
acquire citizenship) because he believed the army suppressed the rights of the
Palestinian people landed him in prison. But the letter he wrote to the Israeli Minister of
Defense explaining why he would not serve was published on the front page of every
Arabic-speaking paper (and is still quoted almost 30 years later) and the authorities
eventually released him. He also worked constructively for many years in the Middle-East,
always for the rights of the Palestinian people.