israeli politics

port said - 6.24.26

Port Said is one of the ‘cafes’ next to the Great Synagogie…

at one point Oren turned to me and said, “Everything you could want is here.  The music is as up to date as you could possibly want – The food is out of this world – and everyone is enjoying themselves.”  I was sitting opposite the portrait of Farid Al-Atrash and thinking, it isn’t like Port Said – it is more like the dream of Port Said.  And how can this be, we wondered, when the world hates us, we’re trying to keep our heads above water on the northern border while our soldiers are dying so that people can continue to live in their homes even though they are under siege, and we could all disappear in a minute.

and yet there is Port Said

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israeli politics

books books books - 6.23.26

I’m not avoiding politics – really – Oh, sure, I am hoping Trump comes to the point with Iran where he realizes they are screwing him and ruining his name and the future of his own country.  But I hope he’s just waiting until our elections in October where the government may well change.  Even if Bibi remains in charge, the more destructive members of his government will probably be eliminated.  

Probably it’s just my escape but my attention is focussed on the books that are finally demanding attention.   And there are 4 books – 3 prose and 1 poetry.  All very different, at different stages, and with different tasks to complete.  

And then there is my heart, which is demanding different tests, each one of which has to be performed in different places.  The heart monitor, for instance, gets picked up in Jaffa one day and returned the next day.  Half hour each way.  The eco test is in Ramat Hachayal – 20 minutes in a different direction.  The regular cardiologist, half an hour to the north,  doesn’t seem to be up to date or doesn’t seem to care, so my gp sends  me to the cardiologist surgeon (for whom I need special permission each time) is in ichilov hospital.  And just the juggling is making my heart race.

I’d prefer to concentrate on books.

And, as you can see, to ignore the persian market that is threatening our lives but over which we have no control.  

books books books – 6.23.26 Read Post »

israeli politics

persian Market - 6.22.26

Persian market

 

“To bed right now!”

I say, with great authority.

“Just five minutes,”

he replies, looking at the screen.

“Okay, but at the commercial,

It’s off to bed with you.”

“the commercial is short,

I’ll just peek at the next scene.”

“That’s it, then to sleep

“or there will be

terrible consequences.”

And I plop down on the couch

to wait for him to switch off

and turn to the stairs.

 

And my eyes begin to droop

And open only when I hear,

“I’m just going to get some ice cream,

off the truck. Can I have

A few bucks?” 

His hand is already in my purse

and I’d rather get through this

without excitement,

so it passes quietly,

After a while, he comes back

and his face is covered with chocolate

And the tv is still blaring

and he sits down to finish

the last bits of the cone.

“you’ll have to wash your face

and brush your teeth

all over again, or

there will be terrible consequences.

 

By midnight we’re still on the couch

watching Dr. Strangelove together.

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israeli politics

survival - 6.20.26

Some of my friends living in foreign countries tried to comfort some of our Israeli friends by noting that every where in the world is dangerous, but come on.  Gaza is dangerous.  Levanon is dangerous.  Israel is dangerous.  Iran is dangerous.  Russia is dangerous.  Ukraine is dangerous.  Australia is not.  Canada is not….

to quote Tom Lehrer – together we go sliding down the razor blade of life.

and yet we’ve been laughing more than ever – because it is perhaps the last laugh.

 

 

 

 

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israeli politics

Left, Right, Whatever - 6.19.26

Now is the time for us to start arguing about what way we’re going in this country.  One thing is certain – we have to do everything in our power to keep ourselves together.  This country has to continue to exist.  And almost everyone agrees, it has to change. 

The arguments about how it has to change have invaded our dinner table – For me, change for the worse took place the night Yizchak Rabin was murdered.  And what we need is to return to Rabin’s values.  

The Hope

 

Karen Alkalay-Gut

 

On the night Rabin died I dreamt I wandered the streets

homeless and lonely in a crowd of confusion, ricocheting

off relatives and friends barely regarded, while dogs of peace

ran with panthers and tigers all loose and all free. 

 

No one was working — everyone

out on the streets or in groups

sleeping in different houses, using

 interchangeably each others’ phones —

connecting  with wrong numbers

saying a few impotent words,

disconnecting indifferently

 

Unseasonable cold penetrated my clothes,

and uncoated  I sought shelter

in cloaks of the dead,

but found myself in other byways

before I could wrap myself in them

 

The river was solid and the earth

liquid under our feet — the worst

walked on water while the best

fell in the treacherous sands.

 

Nothing held  the dream together

and everything could fall apart

at any random moment

 

 

 

(published in Jewish Quarterly, Moznaim (Hebrew), and Poetry New York

Alkalay-Gut, K. (1995). The Hope. Jewish Quarterly, 42(4), 10. https://doi.org/10.1080/0449010X.1995.10706605

 

Left, Right, Whatever – 6.19.26 Read Post »

israeli politics

escaping - 6.17.26

What did I learn today, as I watched the dance competition, was that the isolation and agression Israelis have been feeling from the world has made them stronger – as dancers at least.  I have been feeling all the time that people in general have been behaving more … more completely rhan ever.  The interviews I had this week, for instance, were more knowledgable and encouraging than I’ve ever known because the interviewers were totally into giving the best presentation possible. The hairdresser, with whom I am in love, but we can never find a common ground for conversation, asked me to watch over a neighbor of ours who takes her walks in the middle of the night.  What wise fulfilled personalities!

whatever happens to the country, we’ve expanded our humanity in some strange way.

escaping – 6.17.26 Read Post »

israeli politics

you don't want to know - 6.16.26

Maybe its a good thing they’re going to blow up the world.  Maybe the concert we saw that included Doctor Atomic Symphony by John Adams that includes John Donne’s sonnet, “Batter my heart” has got it right.  

Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

 

I would rather have peace ,but it doesn’t look that way.

you don’t want to know – 6.16.26 Read Post »