blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

women in combat – 4.11.24

One of the criticism of Israeli society has always been that our glass ceiling is more impenetrable that the US because the connections men make in the army facing difficult situations together creates a society that keeps the other out, that men make all their decisions through relationships with men. 

Well now women are involved in combat positions.  Partly because of the number of women who were mutilated, raped and killed on October 7, partly because of the way their advice was ignored before October 7, partly because there aren’t enough men in the army now.  

It isn’t an accomplishment.  It’s a necessity.

 

 

women in combat – 4.11.24 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

We were sitting in a restaurant watching the sun over the sea, discussing with the couple in the table next to us whether we should close the window because the wind was coming up, and I said, “but it’s so perfectly beautiful here.”  And she said, “Paradise on the rim of perdition.”

What a perfect description!  I had to get up and shake her hand.

heaven – april 8, 2024 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv, poetry,

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 »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv, poetry

Almost nothing can comfort me in the past weeks.  But making music with Ronen is overwhelming.  Ronen Shapira with all the clamps and frets he puts on his piano can make any sound in any direction.  He can sound Japanese, African, Western, Arab, and go anywhere in music.  Today I had a chance to reconnect with this genius and it allows me to believe again in soul.  Watch this space and I’ll figure out how to give you a taste…

music soothes savage beasts -march 7, 2024 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

Ichilov is always busy, but today the hours we spent waiting reminded me of the old days before everything was computerized and you took a number and waited until you were called.  For two hours I watched the fish fighting in the tank in the waiting room.  But it was worth it.  The same smiling team who sent Ezi to the operation last week examined the wound and reassured us that all was well.  Even I was happy when I saw the wound that yesterday looked like dimsum and today looked almost like a wound.  

But a few hours in a hospital can make you very selfish, thinking only about yourself and your life.  Ezi diverted his attention from the pain by reading about planes on his phone, and it seemed to help.  The lone soldier sitting next to me deserved some maternal attention, but I gave everything I had to the fish. 

hospital – march 6, 2024 Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv, poetry

No one can see the photographs and film of hungry Gazans without sympathy, and yet some of my friends disclaim any emotion.  One of the reasons we are seem less empathic is the fact that we never mention the terrible things done to us in order to demean and debase us.  Sometimes I mention something and nobody reacts.  Like a few months ago I dropped a hint in an article in firstofthemonth.org.  I said something about the fact that there were victims whose gender could not be identified at first.  Noone asked me about that, and I am sure that the families of these victims are not going to dwell on it.  But the mutilation of sexual organs was widespread on October 7, and the purpose was to debase and emasculate the men.  Raping women here was not about sex, certainly not when it was done with a shooting klatchnikov, but robbing the men and all the country of all power. Making a fifteen year old girl into a sex slave might have erotic benefits, but when I saw the footage of her, with her brownstained cargo pants, being pushed into a car on that fateful day, I wondered how anyone could get sexual pleasure from making that terrified child into a handmaiden.  

We don’t talk about the details, how the hostages of both sexes and ages are ravished daily – because it shames us.  But until we talk about it, we cannot explain – even to ourselves – our motivation.  Or regain our sense of moral superiority. 

Our attempts to bring food into Gaza have failed due to their desperation and our diffidence.  And when we remember how many Gazans were brought – by Israelis – to hospital in Israel for life-saving treatment, we are embarrassed we were such suckers.  Look at how we treated them and how they treat us.  It makes us feel even more foolish.

But we aren’t foolish – we’re human beings who were rewarded for our humanity with  behavior unheard of in the animal kingdom.  More of that behavior is unearthed every day.  

Victims are always embarassed to talk.  But until it all comes out, we remain victims.  

 

 

Hopium – March 5, 2024 Read Post »