Tel Aviv Diary: Karen Alkalay-Gut

March 15, 2010 – Mars, War and Weather

Administrator — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:50:56 +0000

“Beware the Ides of March,” the seer warns Caesar, but I didn’t realize until today that this day is not only the day he was murdered but also a celebration of the god of War. We are exceedingly involved in letting loose the dogs of war around here today, and I can’t wait for a new day to begin. Maybe it will happen the way the weather changed today – as I walked into the front of the administration building it was hamsin – hot and dusty and the sky was beige, but when i walked out the back door one minute later it was grey and cool and i could breathe.

March 13-14, 2010 – Ghetto at the Cameri

Administrator — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:04:40 +0000

This evening I had the honor and the privilege to see the Cameri’s new production of Yehoshua Sobol’s play “Ghetto.” The story of the Jewish theater in the Vilna Ghetto (which was just one of 1140 ghettoes in Europe)is simply riveting, and the acting, the pace, the complexity of the moral situation as well as the physical and psychological one, is outstanding. Hani Firstenberg as the marionette and Itai Tiran as the Nazi soldier were flawless, as was Natan Datner at Ganz, the head of the Judenratt. The Bundist, Herman Krook, provided the moral opposition, and my identification was in some way with him – because he kept a diary. His obsessive charting of the destruction of the jews of Vilna was similar to what I would have done. But his refusal to cooperate with the Germans would have been too hard for me. I would have grasped at any straw that would help me believe in humanity, even if it was hopeless.

In other words I was so involved in the play I could not see it from without. It was that good.

At lunch today with Debby, who works at the Hebrew Translation Institute, she told me that “Ghetto” doesn’t go over big in the U.S. It’s big in Europe, but the Americans don’t seem to go for Israeli Literature. Maybe that’s why the review in the New York Times over twenty years ago complained so much about Ghetto. But I think it is primarily a problem of how to translate the experience that works so well in Hebrew to a local audience to one that does not have the facts about the Vilna Ghetto to bounce off. I’d say it is time to retranslate, contextualize, and reproduce it.

March 12, 2010 – Solutions?

Administrator — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:12:51 +0000

That siege on Gaza? Those tunnels transporting food, viagra and explosives? What if we sheetpiled the tunnels and checked the bags at the border? What an unusual solution.

Those displaced people in Sheikh Jerach? By the same law that displaced them they should be displacing the people in Jaffa who live now where their families lived (oh no, i forgot, we made that against the law).

So now the Corrie Family is here to sue the state for Rachel Corrie’s death. What a tragedy. Still from all the information publicized on tv here way back then it really didn’t look like the driver of the reinforced bulldozer could have seen her. In this case one should not expect evil when stupidity is sufficient to explain it.

March 11, 2010 – Biden was here

Administrator — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:03:55 +0000

I couldn’t attend Biden’s talk today at the university because i was teaching. The helicopters above constantly reminded me of what I was missing a few meters away, but I’m content teaching poetry instead of waiting two hours to hear about how much we are loved but how we have to start negotiating. I would have been all excited and enthusiastic but what good would it do. I still have Eli Yishai to contend with.

March 10, 2010 – Questions and Answers

Administrator — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:54:55 +0000

The young woman who called asking for responses to one of those Mina Tsemach surveys didn’t sound like she was surprised when i questioned every question. “are you scared about the future?” “I wasn’t until you made me think about it” “would you vote for Netanyahu, Barak or Livni?” “that’s a loaded question. i would vote for Mitzna if i had my choices” “if we get out of the golan without a public referendum, would there be a civil war?” “aren’t there any other alternatives?” I protested the whole concept of the questionnaire, and gave my age, making me officially a crochety old woman.

March 8, 2010 – Bowery Poetry Club, some videos

Administrator — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:16:27 +0000

Here’s some of the Bowery Poetry Club Performance with Liz Magnes, making magic on a rinky-dink piano

Let Me Think

I’m so Glad

For Tony Soprano and Morning Science

I Explain Darwin to the Rebbe

You are a Shower of Gold

Reader Response

Milk and Honey

March 7, 2010 – Ajami

Administrator — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:49:13 +0000

It is pretty difficult to believe – especially for me – that i haven’t seen Ajami yet. I’ve been meaning to see it for months, not only because it’s supposed to be great, but also for the language – the sound of Palestinian Arabic. It’s different from Egyptian, Lebanese or Jordanian Arabic, and I understand it better. Even though Mr. Copti, the director, feels he isn’t representing Israel at the Oscars, he’s got Israel in his vision, his words, his pain. He’s also got a couple million bucks from the Israeli government in his movie. I must admit I feel more of a kinship toward Palestinian Arabs then, say, the Lithuanians my ancestors lived with for generations. The interweave is complex, unique, and profound.

March 6, 2010 – Spring is here, Puppets

Administrator — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:48:07 +0000

Shusha had her first shearing of this year – this is concommitant to saying i think the heavy winter is over. It might get cold again, but not really cold. The birds are saying the same thing. The chirping all day was constant. Only now, that the sun is going down, and where each one will spend the night is all settled, is it becoming silent. The stories of the birds are much more audible during the quiet sabbath, and their joy is palpable.

When Abraham died his two sons buried him in the Cave of the Patriarchs. Shouldn’t they both fix it up together now?

I didn’t know about the puppet center in Holon. I didn’t know there was a museum, a school, international festivals, performances. I didn’t know it was the only one in the world. A pretty wonderful place – with some pretty wonderful people in it

March 5, 2010 – Roots and Branches

Administrator — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:55:33 +0000

An extended family gathering – I learn that many of my relatives of the next generation have been exploring their family roots. My niece, who is related to me only by marriage, goes back easily a few generations on her mother’s side, and on her Italian father’s side can trace relatives back to the sixteenth century. A similarly related nephew has found records and records of his relatives in Poland. I am jealous for a moment, thinking of the whole in my family’s history created by the Holocaust, but then stop. The greatest hole is Amos, my other nephew’s loss – less than two years ago – and it is palpable in his children’s eyes, in his widow’s determination, in his mother’s eternal sadness. The lack I feel of a family history is a theoretical one, the lack of Amos is real.

March 3, 2010 – Israel’s Declaration of Democracy

Administrator — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:12:18 +0000

Salman Masalcha, an amazing writer, woke me up this morning with his piece in Haaretz “Israel’s Apartheid doesn’t stop at the West Bank” because he begins by recalling the ideals of democracy in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, and noting how far Israel has fallen from the ideals of democracy. I admire Salman Masalcha, but I must add that there was a reason Israel could not fulfill it’s ideals of democracy in 1948. The Arabs declared war on the State of Israel. This declaration has never officially been rescinded (except for Egypt and Jordan) and never negotiated. Although it is true that there are innumerable difficulties and cultural divides, the basis for the discrimation of Israel is mistrust that is not entirely baseless.

On the other hand, I have mentioned again and again, I think – and with great pleasure – the increasing numbers of Arabs in managerial positions and other positions of importance and responsibility in my neighborhood. A frequently played radio commercial that begins with a dialogue between an employer and a prospective employee has the interviewee answering the question of his background with “I’m Arab. Is that a problem for you?” to which the employer responds, “Heaven Forbid.” But, as the announcer soon tells us, he doesn’t get the job. We are reminded that it is illegal to discriminate. The fact of the commercial itself indicates that there is a problem, and that we’re dealing with it. So, with great respect, I totally disagree with the word Apartheid attached to Israel.