israeli politics

pity is what you feel for the troubles of others.  I’m thinking of the 30,000 odd workers who come over the border every day to earn their daily bread, and the fact that we’re now preventing them to get through the cracks in the wall makes me pity them and their families for losing their income.  But when I see what happened in Bucha today – I don’t feel pity.  I feel horrified.  It is the kind of horror one should never overcome – but should do everything to prevent happening again.  I’m sure the Russian people don’t get to see the terrifying footage of a random slaughter of hundreds – because they would never be able to sit quietly after that.  And I’m sure we will do everything we can to make sure that they do see it.

april 4, 2022 -pity Read Post »

israeli politics

“Will your house be kosher for Passover??” a religious friend asked when I invited him to visit sometime soon.  “No,” I answered, remembering the big vats in our yard where we used to scald all our pots and dishes.  I didn’t continue to say we don’t buy bread for the holiday, because I knew that for him it wouldn’t matter.  Kosher for Passover demands the complete package.  Even the cat food is sold to the cat for the week.

But what happens in the hospital?  For years it was not possible to bring in food during the period of the holiday because of the danger of bringing in leavened food.   The large families of patients that come with their feasts to bring comfort to the recovering relative were not to be seen on the days of Passover. 

But this year it is being allowed – and the government may fall as a result.   As much as I love tradition, I really don’t like the idea of disturbing other traditions.  A Jewish State to me doesn’t mean the imposition of Jewish laws on non-Jews.  “But can we be responsible for an institution breaking the Jewish laws?” a different friend asked me.  “It’s not our business what they do,”  I replied.  


april 4, 2022 – Passover kosher Read Post »

israeli politics

From everything I understand about Islam, from followers and from scholars like the late Uri Rubin, it is meant to be a month of holiness and reflection, of self-control and resignation to the will of the divine.  And when you’re told the will of the divine is the destruction of the Jews, you have to succumb. 

Last night 3 terrorists, part of the holy war group, were stopped on their way to a attack.  I cannot figure out a way this can be justified even though I do understand the sense of threat that many feel about the third holy place for Islam.   I understand as well that Al Aksa was erected deliberately over a holy site for Jews.

But I’ve also always understood that for Jews holy places are less important than spirituality, that Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham together, that there are things more important than rivalry.

Ramadan Kareem, a generous Ramadan to all.

 

 

 

 

   

April 2, 2022 – Ramadan Kareem Read Post »

israeli politics

Spring

 

Don’t let April fool you.  It isn’t only in the buds

That your hope is renewed, but the aromas, the tastes in the air

Entering your flesh in ways it wasn’t awake to know.

Close your eyes, feel the sun play into your pores

recalling how cold you were for so long,

how much you depend on the renewal

of the world for your own survival.

 

Don’t let April fool you.  It’s not just little truths

That poets turn to for lifting their spirits,

and it’s not only the cruelest months

that wake you to your integration with the trees,

the snails, the details all around. 

Think of the months before, the worn light

Graying your sight from the thought of revival.

 

Maybe it was always there, that hope

And when it comes, you call it April.

Don’t let it fool you – it’s here whenever

You have the courage to remember it. 

april fool Read Post »

israeli politics

Am I worried that on the eve of Ramadan there have been so many terror attacks, with over a dozen people killed?  That’s not good, but that’s not what bothers me.  Here’s what bothers me – that we’re all so worried about it.  We’ve been through so much worse, we’ve made such progress with our Arab neighbors, we have learned so much about each other – I really believe we can work together against Isis, that most of us are benefitting from living together.

But we have to remember this, and make sure we have leaders we trust, and not leaders who react in fear.  We need someone to say, like Roosevelt said – the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

april 1, 2022 – what, me? Worry? Read Post »