israeli politics

Last night we wandered along the new walking paths on the shore.

Everyone was walking there – couples of course, groups of friends, single people, kids, a middle-aged man with an old lady…

.,,

Today we went to the university pool.  It was all about swimming laps or learning to swim.  I discovered I am incredibly out of shape and couldn’t even use the ladder – so I dove in and made it through 2 laps and hated myself every minute for my style and strength. Gotta get into shape.

Now what is better – wearing out your body in the afternoon or strolling by the shore in the evening?   

 

shores – sept 28 Read Post »

israeli politics

The holidays upon us terrify me.  I can’t bear the thought of the crowded aisles and the empty shelves.  I even threw a tantrum when Ezi offered to go with me.  And really, not that many people are in the country, anyway.  Most of my friends are traveling, and my family is busy.  But who knows who will show up for dinner?  How can I shop for my small fridge for all the possibilities – including the possibility of war?  

Nevertheless – I’m going.

Now.

now.

So we went.  To the new French supermarket.  Which somehow seems to remind me of Paris even though the food is boring and local – cold, cute, expensive, and utterly useless. 

Now I’ll order online. Quantities of water, catfood, rice, flour, fresh vegs.

 

 

fear of supermarkets – Read Post »

israeli politics

After the coverage over the mess created in Tel Aviv by the Times of Israel, I decided to join the Times.  Haaretz wasn’t clear enough for me, and I can’t get hold of my kids – who were probably there – because they’re working or sleeping.

This is what I understood 

  1. when the decision was made by an organization named Rosh Yehudi  to hold the prayers in Dizengoff center because of the covid rules against gathering indoors, the genders were not separated.  But this year there was a movement to enforce separation between men and women, but the municipality and the courts upholded the idea that public spaces must be open to both genders.  Nevertheless, the gender barriers were put in place, disturbing the worshippers.  
  2. The worshippers protested, the police appeared to enforce the illegal barriers, and violence ensued.
  3. The blame is being put on the protesters – particularly by Netanyahu and his family.
  4. Bibi has a lot more to atone for than yesterday.
  5. the barriers had been in place in the past, but the ruling this year was against the,
  6. the organization of Rosh Yehudi is Jerusalem-based and seems to be missionary concerning Tel Aviv.
  7. the rabbi is homophobic.
  8. what are we allowing this for anyway?
  9.  

jeepers! On Yom kippur yet! – sept 26 Read Post »

israeli politics, my life in tel aviv,

Usually we meet friends or family to break the fast.  This year I’m in bed watching tv – especially programs about the war.  The entertainers who risked life and limb to entertain the troops during the yom kippur war.  Surprisingly, it is fascinating.  I knew it when it was happening – although I don’t know how.  From Leonard Cohen to Danny Kaye, from Yardena Arazi to Aliza Kashi – there were so many of them witnessing horrors, experiencing bombings, kissing and hugging soldiers who wanted only clean socks and underwear. 

I have to find something to help me forget those bombings.

 

apres fast – sept 23, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

Don’t ask me about what happened in Tel Aviv during Yom Kippur.  I was in bed.  I didn’t go to services in Dizengoff Center, and will only hear about the mess later.  

All I know is that my head was filled with Yom Kippur of 50 years ago – with the way I knew nothing of what was going on in the many fronts, and too much of what was happening with my neighbors. 

And my focus was there.  After I saw Moshe Dayan sweating on television as he was explaining what was happening, I focussed my attention on being the only driver in the neighborhood and made myself available for procuring food for everyone,  getting one kid to the emergency, another woman to maternity, etc. etc. You must have heard these stories before from me.  I was in the little picture.  The big pictures are coming out now – now that the ban has lifted. 

 But who knows – maybe I’m sick because of those stories about the army, about the heroism, the loss, the memories.  It was really hell for me, and I faked a brave face.  

So now that Yom Kippur has now concluded, and the future for the year is sealed, I should be fine by tomorrow.

 

 

neila – Sept 25, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics, poetry

I’m not fasting.  It’s not because I have to take a ridiculous amount of medications.  It’s because fasting makes me concentrate on fasting and not on repentance, religion, prayer, or anything but food.  

But I’d like to give you a little gift – a poem by Rony Sommek:

 

Shofars

 

The sound of the shofar from the Ashkenazi synagogue

mingles with its brother from the Yemenite synagogue

which is already suffused with the shofar’s blow

from the Iraqi synagogue that was built above it.

 

Show me another restaurant in the world

whose menu includes in one mouthful

zhug,

amba

and ptcha.

 

 

(zhug is a Yemenite spicy sauce, amba is a pickled mango sauce from Iraq, and ptcha is an aspic popular in Eastern European cooking)

 

 

fasting – sept 24, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics,

Tshuva means repentance – it also means answer.  And tomorrow is the sabbath of tshuva, that comes before the day of atonement.  The reading includes Hosea 14, and I’m quoting what the Lord says from the NIV:

I will be like the dew to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon
    he will send down his roots;
6     his young shoots will grow.
His splendor will be like an olive tree,
    his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
7 People will dwell again in his shade;
    they will flourish like the grain,
they will blossom like the vine—
    Israel’s fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.

 

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea%2014&version=NIV

This morning I was filled with hope.  After gym and grocery shopping, we went to the local strip mall and discovered a guy giving away free resistance shirts of all kinds.  There was even one for me that I have been trying to find for months: Without Democracy there is no Academy.  Of course it’s classic de Toqueville, but it means so much more coming at this moment.

In a booth opposite the t-shirt table, the Chabad was stopping women to give away sabbath candles and to get men to put on tfilim.  My kids have complained about being offered candy and even ice cream in exchange for saying a prayer outside their school and I have often wondered at why that is permitted.  “Oh,” somone said, “That’s because the mayor got 6 votes from the extremists in exchange for allowing them the booths.”  I had been wavering about the mayor – so many problems in the city of late.  That settled it – I’m not voting for the mayor next month.

Another reason for feeling optimistic.  Maybe I’ll be able to walk on the sidewalk without getting run over.  Maybe I won’t get squeezed into a deal to rebuild our apartment building against my will.

 

shabbat tshuva – sept 22 Read Post »