blog, my life in tel aviv

Every time I see grandparents with their children, my heart goes out.  I’d love nothing more than to listen to the megilla in costume with little children.  Not in a dry reading, but the humorous version of someone like Mendy Kahan, who reveals a different costume as the story focuses on a different character.  Or perhaps a Purim Shpiel  – my role as haman as a child left a mark on me.  I so enjoyed being part of the story that every aspect of the tale is burned in my character.  What is evil?  What is good?  When does Good become evil?  What is fate?  What is fated?  How can fate be changed?  How can we know what should be done?    

in any case, my kids won’t be exposed to the entire spectrum of human heroism, hatred, and deception.  They know the story, they have acted in the plays, but it has been softened severely – these kids have suffered enough.  

and we can’t celebrate with them.  They have to meet other children, with and sometimes without masks, and anyway, they have forgotten our significance in their lives and won’t run to us to show us their costumes, or tell stories about their successes or failures at the parties.

february 25, 2021 – purim parties for corona Read Post »

blog, my life in tel aviv,

On our biweekly walks on the Israel Trail we go through a route determined in advance by the guide.  This is our fourth year, walking from the northern most point of Israel to the southern tip, so we have to cover a certain amount of space each time.  This means we have to walk at a certain pace.  And we have to miss a lot of things.  And I’m so exhausted afterward I barely function the next day.  

Why do I do it, then?  Yesterday we were in fields of the most beautiful flowers in the world – black irises, tel-aviv garlic (yes – only in the coastal area of this county). and all I could do was snap hurried pictures.  

But now I know where to go back to see the flowers – near Ramat Poleg.

And to know where I want to return is the important thing.  I don’t care about going back to the crusader castle ruins, or the battle sites and memorials for lost soldiers, and I’m glad we went through them quickly.

Suddenly I’m feeling like Joseph Addison, or maybe Samuel Johnson.  Like an old fogie giving advice and trying to teach the young generation how to behave.

But slow walking is for amazing beauty, for smelling flowers. 

february 24, 2021 – on the virtues of slow-walking Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

time to consider values.  the fact that we have ‘overbought’ and have vaccinations to spare means that we can give some away.  But to make the giving conditional on political concessions is somewhat questionable to me,  morally.  Diplomatic decisions – not clinical ones.

and who decides?  the government? the prime minister?  

and who decides who deserves vaccines?  our neighbors?  

Precisely because of the reversal of values characteristic of Purim, I wrote this poem It is connected to my fear of the decisions we make in the inebriation of success. 

february 24, 2021 – another thought on purim Read Post »

blog, my life in tel aviv,

from the alexander river to netanya

Things didn’t go as usual for us on the trail.  It was a great trail, as usual.  It was much harder than promised, as usual.  But our mix-up made it harder.  Because we spent a whole morning cleaning the tar from the shoes we wore to the beach last wednesday, we really didn’t feel like ruining another pair of shoes on the beach walk.   The oil spill was only announced on Thursday, but it has been repeated over and over on the news that the entire coast is polluted from an oil spill.   So when Rami posted that we’ll be walking along the beach but it was clean, we  didn’t believe him, and we found the oldest possible shoes, with as few ridges as possible.  Mine were summer sneakers, Ezi’s were old worn-out dress shoes.  

But the beaches were totally clean.  Alexander River kissed the sea.  

and the boulders along the shore kissed each other

But we had no traction.  I was slipping and sliding when we left the beach – especially because, as it turned out, my shoes and my socks were full of sand.  Ezi slipped going down a hill and turned his ankle.  

We should have believed our guide.

and then we raced home so I could do a zoom with the IAWE.

 

 

 

february 23, 2021 – israel trail Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv,

Since almost everything opened yesterday, I have been scared to leave the house.  It seems like a no-brainer that everyone mixing together is going to create a wave – one like we have experienced numerous times in the past year.  

and tomorrow we’re going on the Israel Trail – mostly along the polluted beach.  I’m still recovering from our last visit to the beach.  It was just the beginning of the oil spill and the tar along the coast.  We don’t seem to be talking about the identity of the ship that perpetrated the crime because we are trying to make peace with our neighbors, but we’re really in trouble because we’re not containing the spill.  We’re just mopping up.  What’s more important? Turtles or peace?

 

february 22, 2021 – which masks for purim? Read Post »

blog, my life in tel aviv,

Instead of going out to nature today we wound up cleaning up the tar from our shoes from our walk a couple of days ago.  Even though Ezi took the cleaning outside, the whole house smells of kerosene.  And the situation has gotten worse 

The whole coast from the northern border down to Ashkelon is full of tar.  Friends who are more active than we feel today have gone to the shore to help clean up, and some even volunteer to spot creatures wounded by the tar – turtle eggs for example.  The cause of the tar is probably dumping some ship from the north, but whatever it is, it is deadly to the plant, fish, amphibian and animal life here.  We’re under siege.

later: it seems that this tar comes from a ship that got flipped in the storm.  That may mean the leak will go on for a while causing even more damage to the environment, and apparently, to the health of those who are trying to clean it up. 

february 20, 2021 – tar Read Post »

blog, my life in tel aviv

how we remain human under more and more restrictions?  We can’t imagine evgrandchildren be able to renewt erything is supposed to change on sunday when so many places open up.  Will all the lonely people in the country find partners after a year of being alone?  Will all the grandchildren be able to renew their ties with their old grandparents who have been keeping themselves safe and apart?  

one of my strange comparisons – that comes unwillingly but inevitably – has been with my parents’ successful negotiations during the war.  who am i to complain when they spent 6 years in semi=hiding, trying to get out of Danzig before the Germans conquered Poland? 

so we spent an afternoon and evening with children and grandchildren, going through our fears and relief, and forgetting to be very careful – pretending – for the moment – all is well.

february 19, 2021 – pretending it’s over Read Post »

blog, my life in tel aviv, ,

yes, the sea was still wild after the storm.  not evilly wild, maybe even joyfully wild.  But we made the mistake of trying to walk along the shore and after filling our soles with tar and soot, it chased us away.

 

 

Even the buoy couldn’t stand up to the storm.  

 

And the poor trees along the shore suffered as well.

i keep thinking of the poem by Adelaide Crapsey: “On Seeing Weather-beaten Trees”

Is it as plain in our living shown, 

by slant and twist, which way the wind has blown

 

 

and the city, as always, endures

february 18, 2021 – by the sea Read Post »