One of my most conservative friends called to make a lunch date on Saturday. “But early – we have to demonstrate,” she said. Wow – even she is one of us. And then I saw this article https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjygnzq112
Israel, like nowhere else. True. The number of people involved in the protest is astounding. Even tourists who come for a visit join in. Join us.
like nowhere else – april 13 Read Post »
As we near my mother’s birthday every year, I keep thinking about she was a refugee, determined to escape the situation – to save her life and the life of my father – despite the unwillingness of her family, the police, the government – often even my father.
Once out, she worked on creating an identity in a foreign country strong enough to contribute in a significant way to the recreation of her people. She worked on many fronts – the revival of Yiddish, the teaching of Hebrew, the promotion of creating viability in a safe area of the world – palestine.
Did she think about the Palestinian people? I doubt there was much room left for them in her mind. Were she alive now, she would be adopting Palestinian children – teaching them to succeed in the world.
palestinian people – April 13 Read Post »
Passover ends and Mimuna begins. I used to love Mimuna – the dancing and the carbs and the darbuka. when I first came here there was so much rejoicing on this day that seemed to have no rhyme or reason – only celebration at the end of Passover. But I don’t have any Moroccan friends anymore, and I fear politics has taken over this joyous holiday.
I have a feeling – although it is perhaps unfounded – that Mimouna is related to Lail Al Khadar, the holiest night of Ramadan, the night Mohammed ascended to heaven. Because both holidays are about the heavens opening to prayer. Who am I to make such connections? Nevertheless, I’m going to send up my own little prayer for peace in the middle east at midnight tonight. If you join me maybe it will work. Let’s go for it. Nothing else looks possible right now.
There were so many dogs at the kennel today – it’s clear everyone has farmed out their dogs and gone away for the second part of the Passover. We went to this forsaken site at the end of the world to pick up Orit’s dog so that he’ll be back home and clean before they get home from their trip. And when we brought him to our place we suddenly noticed all the other dogs in the neighborhood howling in their windows because they’d been left at home while their owners were out celebrating. It seems the holidays are not great for dogs.
chag sameach – april 11, 2023 Read Post »
Every time I have to get a heart monitor I call the central number of my health clinic and they send me to a different branch. I have to arrive at 8 in the morning and get connected, and then return it the next day at the same time. This should not be a problem – I get to see new areas of the country, right? And every place has a different population – Muslim, Druze, Religious Jewish, etc. So I don’t mind the drive.
Today, however, I screwed up in Herzlia. Because the address was so similar to my dentist’s, I figured I’d park in their underground parking and go up. But I arrived just a bit too early and the clinic wasn’t open. So I picked up a few things at the supermarket and then went back, where I was informed that I had the wrong clinic. The right one was up the street. But as I walked up the street I noticed that the numbers were going up, and I needed a lower number. So I went down – and the numbers disappeared. That’s when I turned on the map and discovered it was way up the street – four minutes – And I began walking. But as I continued to walk and seemed to get no closer, I looked again at the map and finally noticed that the time indicated was for driving, not walking. But I was more than a third of the way, so I kept going.
That’s when I ran into another problem. Once I got there – only half an hour late – the address was a group of cute little shopping centers with no signs and I wound up climbing stair after stair before I found the nurses’ station.
Strangely enough, because I was wet (it was raining) and a bit exhausted from the uphill walk and the stair marathon, I looked a little worn out, so the nurses decided to check me out before they gave me the monitor.
I was fine – just very low blood pressure, A liter of water took care of that and I was on my way back to the car.
The monitor, however, is for 24 hours and tomorrow is a holiday, so I have to take off the monitor tomorrow and be back at 8 the next day to return it.
I will be purchasing a monitor of my own in the future.
messed-up Monitor – april 11, 2023 Read Post »
Spent the evening with a bunch of girlfriends – everyone of them depressed over something else – but it’s really ageing and the politics. All of them spend Saturday nights demonstrating. Some are in their eighties and still marching in the streets, so I think that if we have to strength to march in the streets we have no reason to complain about our age. And if we’re still marching in the streets we have some hope for the future.
If you know a little Hebrew it’s worth trying to understand what Ehud Barak says here – that the demonstrations are what is making a difference in the temporary halting of the ‘reform’ of the judicial system. And the day the holidays are over, that reform will be pushed through. The President’s efforts to enable a compromise will fail within five minutes, he says, and I believe every word here.
go out and demonstrate – April 10, 2023 Read Post »
“Didn’t see you last night at the demonstration – What happened?” I explain that I didn’t feel well, but it’s clear that the demonstrations have become a form of social interaction. We used to meet at concerts, at parties, at restaurants. But it’s now like Friday night dinners with the family – you can’t skip without being noticed.
It’s not just Saturday nights, every few days there’s a facebook notice, a whatsapp or a message, that something is going on – maybe a protest in front of a neighboring knesset member, or a place where someone is speaking. But it’s like the old days growing up in the neighborhood when there’s a spontaneous meeting of friends on the corner.
I don’t mean to denigrate the significance of these demonstrations. They are incredibly important, and help us to feel some kind of empowerment in this helpless situation, where the country is being destroyed before our eyes by what has been looking like schizophrenics. Not that I have anything against schizophrenics – I just want to have control over my own fantasies.
custom – april 9, 2023 Read Post »
