israeli politics

Refugee Day - 11.30.25

On November 30, the day after the Arab countries refused partition, 850,000 Jews were expelled from the Arab countries and Iran   in the wake of the establishment of the State of Israel..  So this day is also known as Yom Plitim (Jewish Refugee Day). Many of them came to Israel, many chose more fruitful countries.  And for many years I didn’t pay attention to my friends who were born in Cairo or Tunis or towns in Libya. 

Only today did I think of a woman who worked for me for almost six years from Libya,  quite mad.    Her name was Nachama – or at least that was the name given to her in Israel.  Married off at fourteen to a man she despised, she bore a few children before the long walk to Israel, and a few after.  She used to pour vinager on her head before she started work because it cleared her mind, and it was clear she was erasing her past in order to face her degrading present.

It is amazing how the 850000 who came here overcame their exile, one way or another.

 

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israeli politics

late thanksgiving - 11.29.25

Can’t do thanksgiving on thursday because the kids are in school on Friday, but it’s also Oren’s birthday so we have to celebrate, so we thought of  Saturday Night.  But there’s also school on Sunday and there are exams.  Ultimately the only evening we can stay up late is Friday – and Friday is not a time when we can do karaoke and make noise.  So we did karaoke on Saturday night, even though a morning physics test shortened the evening. 

I might have told you that we went looking for a turkey but could only find an enormous turkey breast.  Turned out it worked better than any other whole turkey thanksgiving.

And there is more to be thankful for this year than the last few years.  Even though our leaders are driving us quite mad, and we’re forgetting all the values and traditions that are important to us, we will recover and return.  The hostages that returned help me believe all the time that this is possible.

  

late thanksgiving – 11.29.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

escaping - 11.27.25

Today my friend took me for lunch to a “bistro” in a little hard-to find shopping center, and I felt I was in a different world.   It seemed a place for special people, but I’m not sure how they are special.  The two things I know is that the food was expensive with almost all the details in place (but now I have a stomach ache) and the shops (though local chaims) had things in the window I haven’t seen in this country.  Take, for example, La Prairie – a cream I would use if I could afford it.   

What a hick I am!

And what an escape it was, to discover another world in a place near my home I have visited often but never felt from the inside.

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israeli politics

survivors' Guilt - 11.26.25

I can’t be the only one who feels a connection between our extreme need for the return of all the victims with ‘survivors’ guilt.’    How many times have I felt it myself – the sense that it could have been me, that I did not do enough to protect these people.  I even recognized the signs – the explosive balloons and occasional flying over the towns in the south that signaled the ongoing hatred, clearly tests of our weakness.  But I demonstrated only against the fact that our voice was being taken away, not that the government wasn’t functioning to protect us.   

survivor’s guilt – 11.26.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

inheritance - 11.25.25

i keep getting asked where my dual language Yiddish/English book, Inheritance, can be found, but the address kept changing.  So now it’s final. The new site of Beit Leyvick is up, and here is the address:

ירושה – INHERITANCE | קרן אלקלעי גוט | בית לייוויק

And while you’re looking that up, check out some of my songs on SoundCloud 

or Bandcamp

https://panicensemble.bandcamp.com/track/imaginary-insects

inheritance – 11.25.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

"Singer" - 11.24.25

Last night we saw the play by Peter Flannery staged by the Cameri Theater about a holocaust survivor who learned from the camps to be evil.

The staging is amazing, the acting, singing, music, etc. is remarkable – and the number and variety of the cast is surprising: 

an orchestra, a band, dancers, singers, and of course prominent actors.

But the woman behind me, who left at the break, said soon after the curtain rose “nur dos hat mir gefelt.” (this was all that was missing in my life”)  and I agreed.  Greedy, evil Jews.

The image of Jews is changing – we’re going back to Goebbels’ description of us.  And we are going along with it.

 

https://www.cameri.co.il/eng/The_Cameri_Theatre_productions/show%7Cfwsa%7C11222/Singer

“Singer Read Post »

israeli politics

up North - 11.23.25

We attacked the Hizbullah neighborhood today – made holes in the forth and fifth floor of an apartment building and killed one of the top men.  The guy was Iranian and had a price on his head from the US government but I’m terrified because my granddaughter is up there, my college buddy is up there, and there will be reprisals.  Sooner or later.

I am beginning to think it is not surprising that I am losing my memory – it’s always been fuzzy but now sometimes it’s very sharp and sometimes it disappears.  But there is so much to look out for, so much to manage, so much to worry about, no wonder I was late to the osteopath on thursday.  No wonder I can’t myself together to erase the irrelevant in my computer.  There are so many fronts that threaten our very existence, and while we are watching and worrying about one of them, another one pops up.  

up north – 11.23.25 Read Post »

israeli politics

where to begin - 11.22.25

Periodically, I get scared.  At least lately.  This began before Oct 7 when I watched the Gazans standing along the fence and threatening everyone on the other side, and has gone on since then.  Much of the activities of the pro-Palestine movement had this (scaring me) as a goal from the beginning, and it works.  The fact that we may be going to war with Lebanon again because of the continued Hizbullah attacks is less scary to me than Mamdani and his ability to rally so many people around him.  By criticizing the Park Ave Synagogue’s program of Nefesh b’nefesh as a violation of international law after announcing his ‘protection’ of the jews, he seems to be getting close to alligning himself with the group that has placed $100,000 prices on the heads of Israeli academics.  I mean Jews who shut up are safe Jews but the others are dangerous.  I would be inclined to be a ‘safe’ Jew because I value my head, but I really don’t like being pushed around.  

At the same time, I have always believed in a two-state solution.  If the Arabs had accepted this in 1948 and if we had been wiser in our choice of leaders we’d be in a better place today.

where to begin – 11.22.25 Read Post »