israeli politics

Okay, I forgive you.  In some cases, I even understand that your actions were partly my fault.  And I should have known you’d screw up if I gave you that much freedom over my plans. 

It’s also my own choice if I get offended by your insults.  They’re your problem, not mine. 

But I must first ask you for forgiveness.  Let’s go together into Yom Kippur with as much purity as a human can muster.  Our sins may be as scarlet, but we can try to get out as many stains as possible. 

You’re now asking yourself if I believe in God and His book of life.  It doesn’t matter to me.  The entire concept of Yom Kippur is good for my soul and good for everyone I can connect with, and I highly recommend taking it seriously.  I may have begun this entry ironically, but really, it is essential for living in society.  “The desert breeds monotheists,” R.J. Kaufman used to say, but I wonder if it isn’t the opposite as well.  Living in society is easier with a being that sees through us.

but i’m not fasting.

 

 

 

 

Forgiveness – sept 30, 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

All night Ezi was waiting for the apple store to open to get his phone fixed, and he left first thing in the morning.  But within an hour he was home, calling me at the office, because there was no electricity at the mall and the stores couldn’t open.  Byt the time I finished with my work,  the stores had opened by the entrance to the garage with us in line.  I sent Ezi out anrad waited in the ever-changing line. (people don’t wait in line here – they maneuver). when i finally got to the apple store, it was still closed and Ezi was 15 in line.  I took off and had half an hour before he finished – grabbed two pants and a shirt – and then raced home with Ezi –

to bed.  i ran out of steam.  

ramat aviv mall -sept 29, 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

I am not one for malls.  It has been a long time since I’ve been in a shop, and I must confess that I was intimidated by the Tel Aviv Mall.  Of course I’ve got all the brand names here and there in my closet somewhere – the dkny, calvin klein, zara etc.  But I don’t even remember how I got them. Or why.

It was not terribly surprising to me, then, that the shops were relatively empty.  Life seems to go on, but our wardrobes remain plain and dull.  Except that all the news reporters on tv wear different colored silk shirts.  Shiny silk.  

I saw them in the mall.

Even my granddaughter couldn’t find a pair of jeans she likes.

Tel Aviv Mall – Sept 28, 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

“Why do you want to learn Arabic?”  someone asked me when I presented some of the translations of my poems to Arabic in a reading.  “Because people speak Arabic around me.  I have to understand.”  

Well, I’ve been trying to learn for years, and today, as Jereis and Maison were translating a poem of mine, I began to feel that it is beginning to work.  That I can understand here and there, that I can read the letters.  Wow.  It is hard! But my Hebrew has improved in the past few years as well.  And at my age, that’s amazing!

Unfortunately, even though Marek has been busy translating some poems into Polish, my Polish has almost totally disappeared.  And only occasionally does a word come to the surface, even though I was surrounded by Polish and Russian in my youth, with all the refugees.  Last night, as we were admiring the round challot our friend had baked, the conversation turned to the little black spots garnishing the challah.  Ketsach (nigella) the specialists around the table told me, is a new addition to the Israeli cuisine in the past twenty years.  And I said suddenly, tschernishkes, the Russian word for little black things.  That meant, I realized, that the “novel” ingredient had been known to me as a child.  Then I remember that tscherni is black and that my mother always sang the song “Black Eyes” ochi tschornya to me as a child.  “As much as I love them, so I am afraid of them.”  Kak lliblov yavas…

My eyes are now green.

arabic – sept 27, 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

One of my favorite first courses for the holidays in my Sephardic days was Agristada.  I never learned to make it, because the main ingredient was brains and it was impossible to find.  But suddenly I remembered it could be made with fish and my taste buds filled with longing.  I finally found a recipe in ladino and translated it.  I will make it when we’ve finished some of the leftovers.  Here it is:  

agristada
Author: Myriam Dueñas

Edition: Recetasjudias.com
Ingredients
• 3 cups of broth or water
• 1 very juicy lemon (if not 2 lemons)
• 1 egg
• 1 crushed garlic (with mortar)
• 1 to 2 level tablespoons of flour
Process
1. Beat the egg, add the lemon juice and very slowly add the sifted flour.
2. You must mix with a wooden spoon.
3. Add the broth and garlic
4. Take it over low heat until it thickens slightly
Grades
AGRISTADA is a sauce that is used to accompany fish or meat
It has the appearance of a mayonnaise.
Much appreciated in Sephardic Jewish cuisine!!!!

agristada -Sept 26, 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

Everything on my mother’s table had another meaning. For Rosh Hashana,  of course, everything was sweet.  

Except, of course, the fish.  The gefilte fish was served always with the head – so that you will be the head and not the tail of your endeavors.  The tsimmes was sweet, but the real meaning in that dish was the carrots – meren – in Yiddish.  Mer is more, so the year will bring more for you.  The chicken wings were served so that you will fly throughout the year.  And the teiglach – the little balls of dough cooked in honey and piled into a cone – a reminder that sweetness unites individuals and creates a powerful structure.

The thing that hit me most powerfully is the fact that we ingest our symbols.  They become a part of us.  The shofar always moved me, but it was a call from without… 

eating symbols -New Year Eve 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

This is all I have to show from August 25th in Beit Ariela. Almost everything is blurred or twisted. And so ends a year of wonderful mishaps. Let’s make the next one work.

me me me Read Post »