israeli politics

Mishmar HaEmek Part 1 - 14.1.25

Amazing that in all the years we’ve been going on trips around Israel, we never go to the same place twice.   Today was perfect for getting away from the news, which have been and continue to be cliffhangers by the second.  We walked on the Megiddo trail for hours and now I see I’m too tired to find pictures or tell you about the amazing guide we met at Mishmar HaEmek.  In a way his stories were the perfect antidote to the news today.

But you’ll have to wait for tomorrow to hear about it.  In the mean time check out the background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishmar_HaEmek

mishmar haEmek part 1 – 14.1.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

waiting - 13.1.25

I could think of a thousand things we’re waiting for – everything from whether we’ll be shooting down another missile from Yemen tonight to whether our elevator will get stuck again this week.  But the tension of what will happen with the hostages is the worst – will they be returned? who will be returned alive? what condition will they be in? when will it happen?  Will it be tonight? Will it start next week? After 465 days…

Each individual is so significant – my mind keeps shifting from one to the other.  One after the other.  I dream of embracing each child, each woman, each man, each soldier.  

But why should I break your heart as well as mine?  The answers will come soon.  Be still.  Wait.

 

waiting – 13.1.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

numbers - 12.1.24

Everyone talks about numbers.  How many days, how many hostages, how many soldiers.  

The numbers are always about loss, how much time has passed, how many soldiers have been killed, how many hostages – who knows really.  

i sometimes imagine that there are more sets of numbers than we think of – how many artificial limbs, how many babies born in captivity, how many ptsd victims.  

We don’t always see the individuals.  Each human being.  And their connection to our lives.

Here’s one example.  Giora Leshem, who years ago helped me with translating poems and welcomed me into the literary community, wrote one of my favorite poems about exile, “My mother’s tongue is not my mother tongue.”  It only occurred to me last week that it was his granddaughter who had been captured from the Nova party.  I’ve watched his daughter repeatedly on TV talking about her daughter, Romy Gonen, and noted her familiarity.  But I didn’t put it together.  The personal connection.

 

numbers – 12.1.24 Read Post »

israeli politics

My watch keeps telling me that I’m too excited.  My heart is doing all kinds of flip flops, and I’m really looking forward to an unrelated zoom this evening.  

But tonight – tonight is going to be one of those revenge nights from Yemen, with a lot of alarms, running upanddown the stairs, and no sleep.  

Its been a difficult week, figuring out how to do google invitations for a zoom.  But now it works and it will be easy to do in the future, so i can teach others to do it – instead of me.

And I may even do an event of my own for my 80th birthday.

if i make it through the night, of course.

 

 

 

tonight’s surprise – 10.1.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

Finding the package - 8.1.25

After lying in bed for so much time because the room is spinning, I realized I had ordered a suit by mail for a party I never got to go to.  So yesterday, as part of my recuperation, we began texting and messaging the mailing company – to no avail.  We decided there was no alternative but to track the company down, and found an address in Petach Tikva.  

It’s going to be a dog kennel, I promised Ezi, who served as my driver and the guy holding me up when I lost balance.  But when we finally found it, the place was an enormous warehouse with thousands of bins that seemed almost organized.  And we even found a tiny office in the maze of bins.  The guy with the computer, however, couldn’t find my package on the lists.  Anywhere.

He could have said, sorry, you’ll get your money back from the company next month.  But he rose and walked out.  We waited – maybe half an hour – before he returned to say it probably didn’t arrive yet.  And we left, not really disappointed, because we didn’t really expect the package to be found.  

All this reminded me of the Israeli/Hungarian humorist Ephraim Kishon who did a famous shtik on the Israeli post office generations ago. and even wrote a board game

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38411/package-has-arrived

 

On our way home the manager called to tell us that the package had indeed been identified and would be sent to us today. 

And sure enough, it is here.  The name was wrong, the address was wrong, but the shipping number…was right.

And the suit doesn’t fit, and needs to be altered.

finding the package – 8.1.25 Read Post »