How is it all one day? Yesterday Ramadan began, the day before was a rosh chodesh, a new month, and yesterday was Remembrance day, and tonight is Independence Day. And today we wandered through Tiberias, a city in ruins in so many ways:
All the basics remain – it’s possible to rebuild it all…
this is the city that has the most to rebuild…
and there is no doubt that is it one of the most beautiful spots in this country
april 14, 2021 – ramadan kareem Read Post »
what an amazing achievement – we’ve made it so far.
And the fact that the right to light a torch in its honor was denied to one worthy person because he signed a protest against the university of Ariel many years ago – bothered me a great deal. I think I signed that document as well. I’m not sure. But Oded Goldreich will get greater honors, and we will regret the veto of the minister of education in the future.
nevertheless the ceremony – however staged and swerved to the right – was extremely moving. Nurses, teachers, police, immigrants, victims of gender violence, we made it through another year. It’s clearly a staged event, but it’s still right.
april 14, 2021 – hag sameach! Read Post »
It’s not like Memorial Day in the States or other places I know. The losses are immediate and real. Soldiers, victims of terrorism, mourners – most people around here have one sort of pdsd or another.
As for soldiers, there is no doubt that we have a terrible “sacrifice of isaac” syndrome, that we send our sons to protect us. We endanger them to save ourselves. Sons, lovers, fathers – all all lost.
As for PTSD – a guy who kept claiming he needed help for his PDSD set himself on fire in the offices yesterday. Beyond desperate for help, it was the only way he could get attention, because we really don’t like to acknowledge this “weakness” of ours. But I imagine seeing your seven best friends being blown up in the jeep in front of your jeep might have a lasting affect, don’t you?
They managed to save the guy, for now.
And it happens that this year our terrible memorial day falls on the eve of Ramadan.
april 13, 2021 – the eve of remembrance day Read Post »
After a year of doing nothing, we’re going to take a holiday.
If I look back and read what has happened this year, it’s probably a lot. But it feels like nothing has been accomplished except survival. And I don’t allow myself to read my diary, because it will make me even more self-conscious.
And I’ll be embarrassed that I write so much about my life and not about politics and change in the country. I’ll be ashamed I have done nothing to improve even the small section of the world I inhabit.
So
april 12, 2021 – holiday Read Post »
The poem on the Statue of Liberty has always been incredibly significant to me, and I am very proud to have been a part of the project of translating this work into other languages. You can see it here. There are numerous languages and videos and the combination is also exciting.
April 12, 2021 – the new colossus Read Post »
think about it – nothing is progressing with our government, we have innumerable meetings on zoom that do so much, and yet I forget what was accomplished as soon as I leave,
Old clothes – I have a closet full of old clothes, some only a year old – some from forty years back – all very foreign, like life before. i keep trying to take things out and throw them out, but then I think – maybe we haven’t aged irrevocably. Maybe we won’t be nuked by Iran, although I am not totally sure of Joe’s wisdom.
See how filled with excitement the Safari was?
But as for my dialogue with the visitors from Nablus, our little conversation has ended – I sent the pictures to the guys and they said thanks and goodbye. so I don’t think that I’ll be visiting them in Nablus any time soon.
The last time I was in Nablus was over fifty years ago. My ex did business there and we visited the manager frequently, even going up to the Mount of the Samaritans on Passover. The secretary’s father was high priest there. Her name was Iftikar, and I was sure we would be visiting frequently in the near future when we made peace.
I was sure I’d be sitting in the beautiful courtyard in Nablus and showing Tel Aviv to the extremely sophisticated and pleasant people I’d met there, entertaining them in our little apartment. But I never did anything to make that happen.
april 10, 2021 – zoo and more Read Post »
