israeli politics

my cleaner, who for so long has kept a distance whenever she comes over, has not had a conversation with me since february, brought us 2 kilograms of kumquats and lots of lemons.  Now lemons I can handle, but what can i do with kumquats?  i know, i know – i can make jam, marmelade, cake, chicken… But I’m not going anywhere and no one is coming over this weekend, and we have very limited freezer space… According to my cleaner I should cook it as jam for 3 days.  By then we may have a vaccine…

november 19, 2020 – kumquats Read Post »

israeli politics

When I was teaching, I took great pains to wear jewellery.  Indian jewellery I bought in the Judean hills near Jericho, Yemenite jewellery inherited from my mother, Palestinian jewellery that were gifts from my students, even a bit of gold jewellery left over from my divorce of 40 odd years ago.  The jewellery helped keep the students eyes on me, even though their ears often went elsewhere.  But since the outbreak of Corona I’ve even stopped wearing earrings.  But an old friend, Heather Ferguson, woke me up to the question.  Don’t I wear jewellery for myself?  Why don’t I even wear necklaces on zoom meeting?  She has the most interesting necklaces with amazing personalities of their own.  You can look her up here. 

The big question is a sense of self.  When I go on zoom I always spray perfume (even though it is not something I think about in my usual existence (Even my husband lost his sense of smell from chemo 13 years ago).  It centers me – reminds me that I am me and I am home, no matter how far away the others are…

So now I will add necklaces to my zooms.  The next zoom I’m on is poetry and I’ll wear the piece I bought in a spa in Hevis in Hungary.  It is very flashy and tasteless and has a life of it’s own, but it gives a different proportion to the Mishnah lesson my brother teaches  – especially since this week I think we’re discussing something about modesty…

 

 

NOVEMBER 19, 2020 jEWELLERY Read Post »

israeli politics, ,

There must have been great fun times here in Roman days, what with all the orgies they must have had in the communal baths and all.  But right now all the sites – the hippodrome, the amphitheater, the baths, the museum – are silent, with few visitors.  After all, the only real place to relax is the ice cream kiosk.  And a few minutes before our tour was over,  I skipped out with a couple girls for some chocolate mint.  Because Ezi went on to the Crusader ruins, and I knew he’d be back to the bus within minutes, I ordered the chocolate mint on top and diet vanilla on the bottom, so he wouldn’t have to break his diet.  But it got dark before our group leader finished his lecture and I got to the bottom layer that was melting before he returned to the bus.  This may be the most important warning I can give for a day in Caesarea – DONT order the diet Vanilla.

Everything else was perfect – even without the wonderful restaurants I love so much.  

november 18, 2020 – caesarea under siege by the plague Read Post »

blog, poetry, ,

We walked along the acquaduct today from Jisr El Zarcha to Caesarea, admiring the amazing engineering skills of the Romans

as well as the entepreneurship of the people from Jisr

it was a long and gorgeous walk along the shore, and so exciting i  kept clicking and it is not surprising that I ran out of battery along the way.  Yet every photograph showed the way everything in the country is connected:

but after 10 miles all i could think of was a warm bath

november 17, 2020 – walking to caesarea Read Post »

blog, poetry

no – not out of our social distancing, not out of our relative isolation, but out of our usual schedule.  tomorrow we go back to Jisr El Zarcha and walk along the beach to Caesarea.  We will see  few people and many seagulls. 

The news about vaccinations has made me realize how frightened I am of living a normal life in the future.  What have I been doing all this time at home?  Where should I go if I can go anywhere I want?  Last week a friend asked me where we will go for our next vacation and I had no answer – no will.

november 16, 2020 – we’re breaking out Read Post »

israeli politics

iSince the beginning of March, when we returned from Egypt overwhelmed with the experience, I’ve been even more attuned to the archeological work all around the area.  we see so many discoveries and so many digs on our hikes on the Israel trail, but it only occurred to me when I heard the accouncement of the discoveries of 100 mummies in Sakara that we had heard something about it when we were there.  And we saw the dig, and we heard there were big discoveries there.  So much has happened in the past 50 thousand years or so.   but why are they discovering so much just now, while we’re all wondering about what will happen tomorrow?

november 15, 2020 – what are all these archeological discoveries? Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, poetry

I was waiting for the obituaries on Zach – it took people  a week to get it together and then everybody started talking.  Two main points that were repeated with the greatest frequency: 1. he was a very nasty man 2. He absolutely changed the face  of Hebrew poetry and even the way language is used.  I want to add another – his magic is impossible to translate.  I know he’s been translated, but I can’t find his magic in translation.   How do I know?  I’ve failed again and again.  His ability to fill simple words of every day speech with meaning and feeling was unparalleled.  here is one example.  

 

In the evening

when my girl said

get going

I went down the street to go

And I would go

and get confounded

go and get confounded

 

i opened the book of “Shirim Shomin” – Different poems, or Strange Poems – in 1974 – and this was the first poem, my first experience with poetry that could be called ‘modern’ in Hebrew.  No rhyme, no meter.  Only an incredibly beautiful sound that leads to incredibly beautiful sadness.

November 14, 2020 – Natan Zach Read Post »

blog, poetry, ,

“you can’t have love in a society that doesn’t love”: click here to hear me speak with Shlomi Hatuka

 

Shlomi broadcast this conversation a few months ago and now made it into a podcast.  I don’t like listening to myself, and heard in this dialogue in Hebrew that I was breathless all the time, and didn’t read very well.  But the subjects were fascinating.  Shlomi is very active in the Yemenite community and has been very prominent in the movement to uncover the truth about Yemenite children who disappeared after they were brought to Israel.  And yet we talked about what it is like to be a witness to the first generation.  it is nothing like second generation because it doesn’t talk about the effects on the individual, but it concentrate on witnessing the effects on survivors.  And then suddenly he shifted the subject to my next book in Hebrew, about love and sex.  And now that I think of it, my answer was the same as the previous subject.  I have a need to transmit what I witness.  

november 14, 2020 – A CONVERSATION ABOUT HOLOCAUST AND LOVE Read Post »