israeli politics

because Ezi had an early date at the hemotology ward, we got up very very early. and when that happens we don’t sleep the night before. so even though i told you i was going to have fun today – there wasn’t much of that. i went to the strip mall to the post office and saw that the place was overrun with happy people (well of course I couldn’t see if they were happy – they covered at least their mouths with masks) and decided to meet my friend at home.

and i can see that not only the extremists following the Rav Kanyevsky who have decided to end all rules considering the lockdown and break the law, but the rest of us are bending a bit too much. we’ll be back in lockdown before you know it

i hear the demonstration going on down the street and would be happy to join – but with a partner with no antibodies i can’t even get close to them. And despite the fact that i agree with the premise, i don’t like the idea of the negativity of the demonstrations. they follow one principle of simplicity i believe in. the signs say “GO!” but Bibi says “No!” And pro-Bibi crowd have started throwing things at the demonstrations – sometimes big things, sometimes causing serious damage. there is growing fear of a violent end. But i do believe it would be nice to have clear and positive alternatives.

october 18, 2020 Read Post »

israeli politics

Tomorrow the 1000 meter limitation will be eased and some of the children will be back in school.  We are all grateful the limitations are not necessary, but our own lockdown is extended a few days – Ezi goes in for treatment tomorrow.  he’ll be home in the afternoon but will stay put for a few days.  So my explorations will continue to be limited to the neighborhood.  I still am not allowed to accompany him to the hospital – which is sad – but suddenly I’m free to meet with a girlfriend.  We usually shop together but there are no stores open, so we will sit on the sidewalk and watch the masked population walk by.  Ah, freedom!

October 17, 2020 – almost out of lockdown Read Post »

israeli politics

These are the last days of this particular lockdown.  From Sunday on we will be releasing gradually.  So Sunday we will no longer have a 1000 meter limit and can go out, and maybe even visit friends. 

These lines that open the second scene of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”  keep returning to me, lately.

Viola:  What country, friends, is this?

Captain:  This is Illyria, lady.

Viola: And what should I do in Illyria?

Every day we take a walk in some different direction that keeps us within the limit.  Every day it is like going into another world.  When we got to the strip mall, for example, where all the shops were empty but you could buy coffee to take away, and people we sitting on the walls, the benches, sometimes even the concrete, it was incredibly eerie, as if civilization had remained but the foundations had been destroyed.  Today we crossed the street into the wealthier neighborhood and discovered new parks, houses we’ve never imagined, and trees with fruit overhanging onto the sidewalk.  Just beyond our reach. Even though I know people in this neighborhood, it all seemed so strange, so empty, so unused.

 I’m hoping tomorrow will be our last walk in the neighborhood in a long time. 

But we are not an obedient people, and it is feared the same thing will happen that happened last time.  We’re opening places up only because the population will open them up anyway, not because they should be opened.  It is indeed an illusory world.

october 16, 2020 – “What country is this?” Read Post »

israeli politics

Every day i write the date I think of my young friend who has been telling me about me about his girlfriend, then his fiancee, then his bride-to-be, then his wedding planned for November 11. How much time is left for the corona limitations to end? Will the wedding take place? Start counting off with me….

october 15, 2020 Read Post »

israeli politics

Even though we don’t really see doctors any more – unless it’s an immediate emergency – we do write a lot of posts. i now know exactly what medications i need to take, and fill in the forms on line – and sometimes i actually get all of them. the ideal is to get 3 month prescriptions so i don’t have to endanger myself too often, but sometimes I forget to ask for all of them, and sometimes a situation comes up where i need something i haven’t used for a long time. But often I get the answer that my needs have been met. lately, however, since my doctor is also head of a ward that seems to be converting to corona (or maybe they’re just more than usually overcrowded), he doesn’t have too much patience for my little itches and pains, and mixes things up a bit. So when I remembered I’d forgotten to ask for something i take twice a day, and i was running out, i made a special request. i got the answer back in an hour, but it was for one month only. Okay, I needed it right away and didn’t have the strength to go back to my computer, so i went out first thing in the morning and arrived at an empty health clinic drugstore before everyone else. Except of course the pharmacists who were getting themselves ready for the usual Jewish daily onslaught.

Lately my friends and I have been getting from welfare offices, health offices, and even the municipality to ask if we need help with anything. I’m almost going to ask the next one I get if they can straighten out my medications. Not really. There are so many greater problems to solve – and with me, it’s just a little irritation. it’s pretty amazing how well so many of us are doing in this situation. When I think of it, my grandmother probably had a kidney infection in Stuthoff and for that reason, she was carted off to be made into soap. when I had a kidney infection – at a much more advanced age than her – I was in the hospital here getting iv’s before I could even feel sorry for myself.

october 15, 2020 – pharmaceutical challenges Read Post »

israeli politics

At least twice a day we get phone calls from organizations checking to see if we’re all right or need something. We may be among the very few who do not, but the fact that the health clinic, the municipality, and numerous individuals check in to see how we are is pretty remarkable. The isolation that characterizes the nature of this disease has probably killed more people than the disease itself and it has emphasized the need for interrelations, for caring about each other. Even the fact that our actions – our success or failure to protect ourselves – influence the lives of other, something we have not been sufficiently aware of for decades – is something that now is becoming more central in our minds.

The numerous television spotlights on individuals who have been experiencing incredible grief and hardship comfort me even as it brings me to despair. We CARE that a 39-year-old man has thrown the contents of his shoe store into the street because he can’t pay rent anymore. And he found comfort in the fact that the shoes were picked up by needy people – even though he has no idea what will happen to the rest of his life.

And somehow this gives me just a bit of hope. Maybe it’s not going to be a jungle even though our Knesset is doing everything possible to make it one. Maybe the people WILL get together to make the situation of this civilization possible. I know our politicians have been terrible examples, causing chaos wherever they interfere, instead of taking responsibility for order and unity, but it really appears that human beings can be so much better than this, and maybe we’ll figure out that left and right are the same, that Arab and Jew are the same, that Black and White are the same, even if only we are dependent upon one another to maintain our own existence. Remember the line i repeat every once in a while in these pages from Alexander Pope: “Man, like the generous vine, supported lives/ The strength he gains is from the embrace he gives.” I know Pope got blasted for that poem of his. He was trying to talk about how critics and writers have to work together to make for a better culture, but he got pounced upon for being a little, ugly, outsider. that too is a lesson for us.

october 14, 2020 – unity Read Post »

israeli politics

we’re definitely dividing into tribes – the extreme religious are following their own rules while we can’t seem to get any one else to follow them as long the others don’t. in other words, everyone is going their own way. We may be the only ones observing everything that the crazy government forces on us, But that’s because we’re terrified and old. okay, so we broke them by meeting with kids, and maybe going a little farther than 1000 meter here and there. but it doesn’t count.

but people need to do what they need to survive. the religious feel their rabbis understand much more than the government that hasn’t proved any succees in fighting corona. They hide their sick at home and bury them in secret and put a top priority on sending their kids to school – talmud torah, and yeshivas. they say that 25% of the men have contracted corona. on the other hand the arabs have seemed to stop the spread in the villages by cooperating with each other.

most of my neighbors also seem to follow the rules, but we all cheat. even though we don’t have financial problems, we’re going crazy from loneliness and boredom.

we ‘re not in the situation of the people in small business who have been shut down without any air, and means of support or any hope for the future. the people who work in the market, the little shops who have been having to contend with big businesses and chains for years and now are totally screwed. the government has no interest in them and doesn’t sustain them in any way, and their have gone past despair. maybe they’ll help us get back to socialism if we live that long…

in the meantime, we’re all trying to get by in our small groups – leaderless and frightened.

october 13, 2020 – tribes Read Post »

israeli politics

Please excuse the fancy stuff – the experiments with format will go on a bit until I figure it out. 

There is a square near our home that was always crowded with cafes and restaurants.  At least 3 hairdressers, a nail salon, a dress shop and what – maybe 4 cafes, the center so crowded with tables and chairs it is hard to tell what belongs to what.  And now the cafes are closed.  But food stores are open so there have sprung up a whole bunch of high class bakeries, delis, chocolatiers, and other take-aways.  It seems to be working, even though the usual joy in not apparent.  We went to visit the new neighborhood butcher – a famous television chef and personality – and his shop was full of amazing delicacies.  Aharoni himself was there, guiding our purchases, explaining his products, delineating his plans, and sharing with us his plans for future products to brighten our lives.

Well, maybe he isn’t all that unrealistic.  Like Donald, Bibi is promising a vaccine soon.  We’re testing on humans now.  A homemade product that might relieve the plague and the constant depression that seems to have overcome us.

october 12, 2020 – surviving – with luxury edibles Read Post »