israeli politics

Reflections – on Friday night we talk politics like good friends.  The differences among us are minor and tactical, the worry is universal.  Teenagers talk sex, and the adolescents are wide-eyed.  We avoid profound and practical subjects -bad for digestion.  And in the morning I realize it’s just about bonding and the escape from bonding enabled by cell phones.  It is an important event nevertheless, and I’m not quite too old to carry it off.

Ezi will probably sleep through shabbat, though.

 

friday night dinner – May 6, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

Because the heat wave we’ve been having is not unusual for this time of year, and it is often accompanied by a great deal of dust, I’m really grateful that I have a cleaner who gets rid of the dust, even though she left all the windows open today when she left.  

I’ve had household help since I first came here in 1972.  Then it was a Tunisian lady who was forced into marriage at the age of 14.  It was rumored in the neighborhood that she murdered her husband by spraying his food with DDT every day.  Her language was basically Arabic but she knew enough Hebrew to confuse my new immigrant knowledge of the language.  It took me years to figure out that “banelim” were the panels on the lower edges of the walls.  I cannot remember why she left but I still smell the vineagar she poured on her head every morning before work. 

There have been others in the meantime but it is only a dozen years or so since it became compulsory to pay insurance, social security and retirement benefits every two months, and the salary has increased exponentially.  My cleaner now, an intelligent Ukrainian woman long married to an Israeli man, does not pay taxes, however.  Nor does she speak Hebrew.  Nor does she pay any attention to the “banelim.”

If you want to hear about the other ladies you’ll have to ask. 

 

cleaners – may 4, 2023 ] Read Post »

israeli politics

The morning after the bombing I stand on the stage of the dressmaker, as if I’m the only one on earth, as she narrows the skirt I bought on Amazon so it doesn’t look as dumpy, and nips in the waist to show what I have never had, and I am a goddess.  The girl after me is having a skimpy wedding dress altered.  And I  remembered what a Czech soldier answered when I asked him why the girls in Prague wear such short skirts in the cold.  “Because the men are so drunk they need as much as you can give them to notice you.”  And we’re maybe that way too.   So we have to get sexier and sexier to be noticed.  To continue the species…

Nah, it’s the opposite here – the more danger, the hornier people get.  The transparency of the wedding gown is going to make this wedding that much more distracting.

I think I need a new bathing suit.

dressmaker -may 4, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

I was watching some of the reactions of the people who were hit somehow by one of the 50 rockets last night, and someone mentioned post-trauma.  Of course, the term is irrelevant because this happens every few months, sometimes a few weeks, usually as a reaction to something insignificant.  And few people get hurt because they run to shelters – sometimes before the sirens go off.  And most of them are scared much of the time.  It isn’t post-trauma, it’s trauma.

And last night, when I packed my medications in a bag in my sleep and put the bag by the door in case we have to run down to the basement, I realized that even I have a little bit of that in me.

post trauma? – May 3, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

up to now I’ve counted almost 50 rockets coming down.  The worst part to my mind was the big surprise barrage timed for when the kids are coming home from school.  Not nice.  And tonight is going to be even worse.   

I’d take a sleeping pull but i’m afraid I will need to be awake sometime in the night.

 

 

 

bombing addendum – tonight Read Post »

israeli politics

“What choice do we have?” the optometrist mutters sadly when I say something flip about having to go out to demonstrate.  I had just paid an enormous price for a pair of glasses I fell in love with – even though I love the pair I have.  These were really gorgeous, even though Ezi sniffed at them, and I thought at least the optometrist should be happy that he made a fortune in 10 minutes.  

But he got me thinking about choices.  I mean, I chose the glasses, but I can’t choose anything else.  I didn’t have anything to say about a terrorist prisoner going on a hunger strike and then dying.  And we just had 20 rockets over Gaza as punishment for his death.  That wasn’t a choice either – it was an opportunity.  Yeah, we seem to be falling apart, so this occasion was used as a test.  And we don’t have much choice as far as a reaction is concerned.  We have to react, especially since someone was injured and people are in shock, but we can’t react too much because we shouldn’t start a full-scale war right now.  

So I’m going to treasure these glasses (once they’re ready maybe next week) because they will be what I chose, hands down, over my husband and the optometrist’s indifference, and my awareness that my budget doesn’t allow for them, and the fact that I really never choose expensive things that will make people’s eyes pop out.

Wish me luck for the only choice I had to make this year.

 

 

choices – may 2, 2023 Read Post »