israeli politics

Nah, I’ll just stick with the past.  It was 11 years ago that some of us writers were invited to the Knesset to discuss the situation of literature in Israel.  Me, I’m near the opposite corner here on the four-table square.  

I was one of the many who gave a talk about their unique situations and the needs of all the writers.  An inclusive organization was proposed. 

I’d been in the Knesset a few times before.  Once a dozen writers sat with Shimon Peres to speak of writing in other languages.  After that he never missed an opportunity to speak with me, I once interviewed him, and I sent him all my books because he always wrote back detailed observations.   

I don’t think I’ve been back there since.  

 

past and painful present – August 18, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

Even if we hadn’t been home protecting our cleaner from the threatening dog, we wouldn’t have been able to take the heat and the threat of violence at the opening of the new light rail.  After so many years of waiting this was indeed an exciting event, but Bibi cut the ribbon, and the protesters made so much noise he had to shout even though the mike was on full volume.  So we watched it on tv, where they had a hard time cutting the protesters out of the frame and adjusting the sound.

Of course the new light rail is exciting but doesn’t come close to solving any of the problems of Tel Aviv, and it is not surprising that the Mayor was not even invited.  

Light Rail – August 17, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

I’ve been writing almost every day for over 20 years.  I don’t read it, because that would start making me self-conscious, artistic, and fake.  I also don’t fool around with the mechanics.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  If one of you wrote to tell me that a link was broken or a fact was wrong I’d try to fix it somehow, but that’s it.  Today, however, the extreme heat and the dog we’re babysitting for is keeping us pretty much at home for the fourth day and I had some time to actually look at this site.  Pretty old-fashioned and rickety, heh?  I fixed a few links on the articles page, but it’s still a mess.  But let me know if something bothers you in particular.  If I stay home tomorrow I’ll really soup up the articles page.  Maybe.  

of course this looks amateurish – august 16, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

I watch him on tv enjoying dinner with his wife on vacation (how many have there been this summer?) and I cannot imagine how he thinks this summer will end.  Can he see any realistic conclusion?  Is he prepared to grab the plane he bought years ago with government money and head to Panama?  What devious plot could he possibly have to sacrifice this country and save himself?

how does he think it will end? August 16, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

don’t worry.  Nasrallah is not going to attack us now.  That would be the only think that would unite us, and he knows if he just waits, he won’t have to attack…

I watch his face as he pretends to threaten us – he’s happy, almost thrilled, at our behavior.

 

 

war – august 15, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

Rivka Bassman-Ben Haim  

who died this March, keeps speaking to me in Yiddish.  I think she wrote this when she was 98 and I translated it and forgot about it.  Today I found it on my desktop.  Did I publish it?  I have no idea:

A word

 

The words wait

until they can wait no longer

and reveal a tear

uttered in the silence of night,

a plea.

Lord God, hear what these words say

hours from now,

years from now,

as if the soul would speak

in a night-time language

to be heard, understood.

A word should be like a kiss

given alone.

Then it brings the morning

Sheltered from sun –

May the word to the morning

bequeath a poem.

 

 

a word from Rivka Bassman-Ben Haim Read Post »

israeli politics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan_Dog#Temperament This is a canaan dog.

This breed was first identified in Israel by Professor Rudolfina Menzel who found them eminently trainable.  They’re all over the Middle East, and were considered pariah dogs.  Menzel already had much education and experience when she arrived in Israel.  She had trained German Shepherds for the German army – in Hebrew.  Shev – for ‘sit’.  

She knew what she was doing.

So we’re babysitting a canaan dog.  You can see how well we’ve trained him.

 

 

dogtired- August 14, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

i don’t know if all my friends are well-meaning when they write ‘it’s hopeless.’  Are they saying I should be busy packing up my stuff and heading for some welcoming place like the imaginary places of tv series I use for cutting my anxiety about Bibi’s blindness?   Or are they trying to remind me that they were right years ago when they said this country couldn’t hold?

I keep thinking of the stage of the Farband building where I used to perform, where Yiddish organizations used to lecture, where conferences were held and declarations were made.  It was a scene of chalutzim farming the land. 

The pride I took in being on that stage was immeasurable.  All the refugees in the room felt that pride as well.  At last we could build a home.

 

why it matters – august 13, 2023 Read Post »