The variety, the energy, and the joy of poetry are all visible in this one session of many in the Metulla Festival. Let’s hope we get more pictures than Ezi’s from friends.
There may be another break from a day in this diary. I’m spending this night and next at the leper hospital in Jerusalem filming and i don’t think they have wi-fi there either.
Did you miss me?
I did too
I spent Shvuot in Metulla, pretty much resting. There were innumerable poetry readings and discussions – formal and informal – and wonderful people to meet – but i was too tired to attend more than the session in which I participated and promise many poets I’d catch up with them later. Even my cellphone ran out of juice so i effectively couldn’t communicate with the world.
Of course I exaggerate, and perhaps even prevaricate. Not only did I run into long-lost friends on the pastoral streets of Metulla, and even share intellectual meals with some of the best minds I know, but I got to see my old-time college buddy, Ricky, who lives pretty much at the end of Israel.
This is the part that always strikes me most when i am in this town – the fact that people of my heart dwell under the extremely watchful high-tech eyes of the hizballah. From her kitchen window Ricky can wave hello every morning to the same people who left her souvenirs of rocket shells a few short years ago. From our hotel window, we could see that there is a concrete factory, a quarry, and lots of shiny electronic eyes looking back. I tried to get a shot of the mezuzah on the door of my room and the hizballah camp visible from the hallway but the angle didn’t quite fit. When Ezi comes back from picking up Shusha we’ll put some pictures up for you.
May 27, 2009
After we picked up my polka-dotted bone scan today, we started getting to work on the eggplant and techina we promised for dinner tonight. i was pretty worn out by the whole morning of health clinic but we had work to do, and a long night ahead. Especially since i want to get to Metulla as early in the morning as possible.
Family and friend traditions are important and our shvuot ritual is an annual dinner. Every year we follow our dinner with Shvuot related issues – interpretations of the bible, ethics, history, etc. Unfortunately we also drink, so nothing comes of all those discussions.
Right.
Like i’m going to stroll Rothchild Boulevard all night when i have a Bone Scan at 8 in the morning.
I think i snapped last night as we were coming home from a wedding in Hadera. My body decided that it was enough. The traffic jam from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv because of the soccer game (Yes, I too waved my scarf out of the window and clapped) kept me away from a nap between the Knesset visit and our wedding up north. So by the time we hit our pillows it was way past midnight.
And today was taken up with the excessive maintenance necessary for women my age and holiday preparations. So now i will have to forgo the poetry reading i promised to do tonight at the Felicia Blumenthal center in Tel Aviv and go to sleep. But look for me in Metulla on Friday afternoon.
My mind is still in a mess from today’s events. First, the arrival at the Knesset. Something was wrong with the computer so instead of going in one at a time and in order, there was a mad rush to convince the guards of the individual legitimacy of each queue member. At one point I was almost next to a guard when a large lady stepped on my foot and elbowed me away. I was thinking that if I had brought my own car I’d leave now, but I was too deep in the crowds and had no way to escape.
Somehow I managed to get in, and then began the search for the meeting of the education and immigration committee down the long corridors of the Knesset. Turns out that was the only show in town at the moment and everyone was trying to get in. I think there were over 70 people in there.
And the meeting was quite an experience – the number of jokes in Yiddish that took the place of speeches, the number of admissions of members of Knesset that their parents spoke the language but they do not, at first amused me and then began to depress. Because although this was a meeting about what should be done for the Yiddish language, there seemed like the only thing left was an admission that all that is left – according to them – are a few songs and a couple of witticisms. When I came home I turned on the tv to see how they viewed the “Yiddish Day” in the Knesset, but the feature was Ahmed Tibi reading a little joke. How funny to hear an Arab use the word “pish’n”….
As you can see I’m pissed.
The Yiddish theatre did a show for parliament after the meeting with ever kitsch piece I ever threw up over. Any song about “Yiddishkeit” seems to me to be another nail in the coffin. And if I hear “rozinkes and mandlen” one more time I’ll go crazy.
Well maybe something good will come of it.
Actually I’ve been thinking that if people could be exposed to the real Yiddish – the uncensored unprettified unsentimental Yiddish that forms the body of literature, they’d be overwhelmed. I know I identify far more with Shalom Asch than Shalom Aleichem ( even though I do love Shalom Aleichem)
Correction: Ahmed Tibi spoke when most of the knesset members were at the committee meeting. And what he said in Yiddish was “when the poor man dances, the orchestra takes a piss call.” It was appropriate and i have to find out who wrote those lines down for him…
May 25, 2009
Dara Barnat’s celebration of her new book, (Headwind Migration)at Tsomet Sfarim on Dizengoff Street, was not only a wonderful occasion in itself, but also gave me the opportunity to revisit Dizengoff Street. The book is about migration, as its title suggests, and what you take with you, and as i strolled toward the store, I thought of what Dizengoff was like when i first moved here, and how elegant and sophisticated it seemed to me then. I have lost the sense of strangeness, and feel at home now on the street, even though i visit it so infrequently now.
Got a big day in parliament tomorrow, so i have to go to sleep now…
May 24, 2009
you’re not voting…
Here’s a little poem for Shvuot – i think i did an earlier version of this once on this site but i can’t look back
RUTH
“Sometimes you just can’t be subtle with these Jewish boys.”
My mother-in-law says,
“Forget the ways of the Diaspora,
the flirty eyes, a glimpse of stocking,
the wise, backward glance.
Jewish men have a thing for shikses.
Shikses and feet. Shikses
at their feet.
“So dress well, use all the nuit d’amour
you can absorb, and tell him all
about your relatives, especially me.
“The strategy is foolproof,
and I’m sure it’ll get you into the tribe
eventually, if you just stay loyal to me
and beget the right kind of sons..”
Which reminds me – the other night I had a chance to watch some locally made porno – incredibly self-conscious and imitative. It actually made me feel a little better about Israeli men – to see that they are not altogether happy about straight sex, even though the girl (who performed tirelessly with 8 odd men) was pretty. As for the woman, she improved a bit after number 4. But I cannot recommend Israeli porn so far.
1070 days Gilad Shalit in captivity
1070 students to protest outside the offices of the International Committee for the Red Cross on May 27 2009.
1070 students will be joined by hundreds of other protesters to draw attention to the 1070 days that Gilad Shalit has been held in captivity by Hamas terrorists.
The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) has not visited Gilad Shalit, in order to ascertain his physical and emotional wellbeing,
The protesters will be demanding that the International Red Cross do everything in its power to pressure Hamas to allow a humanitarian visit to Gilad.
We want Gilad free!!” said Dr. Chagit Hadar, international coordinator of the efforts to free Gilad Shalit.
Protesters will assemble at 12 noon on May 27, 2009 outside the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross at 801 2nd Ave, Manhattan.
Members of the United States Congress, New York State Assembly and
New York City Council will join the protesters and speak at the rally.
FOR MORE DETAILS OR TO ANNOUNCE THAT YOU WILL BE ATTENDING CALL;
DR HAGIT HADAR 01 5168492533
May 23, 2009
I had the dream tour in mind today – Neve Tsedek, lunch at Suzanna’s, a walk through the grounds, past the cute shops, some ice cream. We wanted to make Marita and Joe’s last day ideal. (You can take a virtual tour of your own here). But the sun or too much lunch made me black out and we forgot to tell most of the great stories about the place. So our tour went something like, “Hey, Chelouche Street! Ezi, aren’t you related to that guy, Chelouche?” “Yeah.” Neve Tsedek means oasis of justice, and there are innumerable tales to be told about almost every house in the neighborhood. I didn’t even remember we did a Hebrew video clip there Saper-li in which I play an aging shrink who tries unsuccessfuly to seduce a patient. The best part of the clip is when he races down the street and passes the band sitting on the steps, or in the park. You can even see Shusha there.
Please refrain from asking me about our Prime Minister.
My disdain is so profound that my body reacts before my mind begins
to kick in. Hackles that were born a generation back
rise next to new hair on my neck.
i want to like him, because he is the leader
of a land i love, but he teaches me each day anew
that only wise men can learn, change, respond
to the times, the needs, the people before him,
