you said this war
destroyed our souls
but to me it is clear
our souls are still here
because they tell us
they are filled with pain.
I have faith our souls
will fill again,
and we will remain
with broken hearts
and a stronger will
to heal.
for Maysoon – March 20, 2024 Read Post »
You think things are upside-down on Purim? I was walking past all the shops with costumes hanging on the street and thinking that only women get gussied up – or down – with very sexy outfits this year. Considering the way women have been debased from October 7, and have proven themselves worthy of defense positions in the army, I find it ridiculous that they are promoting sexual and not regal wear. And then I remembered the poem from Itzik Manger’s Megillah.
getting ready for purim – march 24, 2024 Read Post »
Some of the people from Gaza who died in the war were featured on the first page of the NYTimes today. It was very moving – all the women and children with their individual stories. No fighters, although by my count there are well over 12,000 Hamas soldiers who have been killed in battle, and a few thousand taken prisoner.
Within Israel, almost all our tv time is taken up with interviews with families of hostages or soldiers, but none of it seems to be of interest abroad. I feel like I know each hostage, can identify each soldier, and know the difficult situation of all the men in reserve duty whose businesses have suffered as a result of their extended absence. I even know some of the wives whose husbands left them with babies and jobs for the war. But their stories are not being shared at all. The government here says it’s because of a lack of English-speaking volunteers. Here we are.
individuals – who they are – march 19, 2024 Read Post »
I’m getting very frustrated with the news.
In the shopping mall the traffic is as usual – as I walked to my car at least 3 cars stopped as the driver leaned out to ask me if I’m leaving. It’s a measure of how today compares to an average day of high-end shopping. And it is average.
And in the meantime our soldiers are fighting in Shifa hospital AGAIN, because we can’t secure the positions we have captured without making a decision about who will administer Gaza instead of Hamas. What are our choices?
All these people shopping have no idea. As I do not. I would like it to be the Gaza people but they are certainly not in a position at this moment to govern themselves.
So they go shopping – no, we go shopping.
We know the hostages are being beaten and raped, we know that the girls are pregnant, and we know that thousands are needlessly dead. Probably many of these people were at the demonstrations on Saturday. But what can they do?
We go shopping.
I have spent more money (that I can’t afford) on irrelevant items this month than the entire fall and winter.
Just from the spirit in the crowd I feared this demonstration was going to end in hoses and horses, and I’m too old for that, so we left. and apparently, the shit hit the fan.
That is, the cops, who had been all over anyway, and even took our pictures, came in – not through west Kaplan, where we had been, but Kaplan-Namir. The call in the demonstrations had been for elections, but became also a cry for the present government to admit its guilt and step down.
These have been our neighbors next door for the past year. The tenants moved out almost two years ago for a but of remodeling, but the Gazan workers haven’t been able to return to work for over five months and so the tenants can’t return. But the cats are being taken care of.
neighbors – march 16, 2024 Read Post »
I do envy those people who shut themselves off from the world on shabbat -and observe only the havdalah. Ezi, as the co-op go-to, gets all the phone calls and notices people have been forgetting about all week. The hall light doesn’t go off, there’s a leak in the sewer, the maid is suspected of stealing…
The latter is the only one that bothers me – because if I can’t believe my people instincts over the past decade, what can I believe?
Well, maybe now that she’s under suspicion I begin to think
I suspect her of using my perfume when I’m out of the country. Don’t have any jewelry of note, nothing worth stealing that isn’t traceable.
But somehow I can’t taking petty theft seriously. Not now, not when so much has been lost.
