israeli politics

I try very hard not to write about family – except for Ezi who has no problem with my madness.  But the Bar Mitzvah Omer went through at Beit Schecter really impressed me.  Rabbi Roberto Arbiv managed to inspire us all to go to Friday night service, to go again during the week for the service in which he puts on tfilin, and then to go to the Mincha service and havdala on Saturday evening,  He doesn’t spend much time explaining the torah portion but he manages to keep the attention of the congregation – a congregation that is often opposed to religion in general and needs to be brought into the entire ritual.  

The first grandchild’s bar mitzvah was in an orthodox shul and sitting in the back on the second floor I heard nothing.  And felt only a mild pride.  

But sitting close to the stage, brought into the entire ceremony, and in gradually increasing stages, I was very moved.   We were not allowed to film during shabbat, but the moment the havdalah candle was lit, that signals the end of the sabbath, everyone brought out their cellphones and went crazy – the sense of an apotheosis was palpable

 

bar mitzvah – July 2, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

I don’t think there’s any way to avoid violence.  The underhanded techniques being used by the government, the sense of self-righteousness that allows and justifies these techniques, makes violence the only alternative.  I will not be at the demonstration tomorrow, nor at the warning demonstrations to come in the next few days – not because I’m afraid of violence but because I have other things that are also important in life to do.  I would also give anything to be able to imagine a viable alternative, a way to save this country, and I can’t.  It’s weird because I always believed it is better to give in than to endanger lives.  I would have been one of the first conversos in the Spanish Inquisition, but here I fear that protest is the only way that lives can be ultimately saved.

  

something’s gotta give – june 30, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

b is for beach.  where we can forget reality for a while.  And now we have a lot to forget.  Although we can not keep away from the news – wondering who’s running the country while Bibi is watching his trial going on in Brighton from the court in Tel Aviv, wondering what’s going on in Belarus, wondering how much of a mess is going on in the government, how much good the protests are – who’s running the show.  

The restaurant we go to at the beach is pretty boring as far as good is concerned, but I have always loved the waiters.  And the beach.  I need the beach.

 

b Read Post »

israeli politics

yam asal, yam basal, the saying in Arabic goes.  One day honey, one day onion.  And you never know which day, which hour the onion is going to make you cry. It’s not just the crazy government and the protests, the absence of leadership, the weakness of the political military leadership, the disintegration of the economy.  It’s also the craziness of our age – going from doctor to doctor at all hours, unexpected visits from visitors abroad who suddenly decide that if they don’t travel now – after covid – they’ll never travel.  And our own travels.  And our simchas – birthdays, bar mitzvahs, sleepovers, etc…  And our senile friends – making plans and disappearing.  

 

 

confusion – June 26, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

I haven’t been writing about the terror in the West Bank.  Because I can’t write about what I haven’t seen.  But this situation was inevitable.  And frightening.  When I’m at a demonstration I have hope – when I watch the news, I’m desperate.  My grandnothers, my aunts and uncles and cousins were slaughtered like that. And for similar reasons.

 

 

 

fauda – june 25, 2023 Read Post »