israeli politics

It’s all over the busses here –  how terrible abortions are and how you will regret it later.  I’ve been seeing them for years – a few at a time – and thinking it is some extreme religious organization, and who will pay attention.  But somehow it seems to infiltrate – that thought that even if the mother is endangered, the child should not be sacrificed – even though it goes against Jewish law to put the fetus before the mother.  And suddenly I had a flashback – when anyone in Israel could have an abortion, without a board to approve it.  And people still had children, and they were loved.   

Texas has made me lose all hope.

september 4, 2021 – Read Post »

israeli politics

NOT FOR THE WEAK STOMACHED READERS

The plan was to go up north with a bunch of friends for a birthday trip today.  But with my back still suffering from a minibus trip a few days ago, I decided my health comes first and joined some other friends for a catamaran jaunt.  I always find the sea invigorating, but I hadn’t had more than a veg shake for breakfast before we toasted with champagne on the yacht and by one began to feel queasy.  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the usual sea sickness because it was accompanied by all kinds of bathroom difficulties before the quadruple vomit in the galley.

I could not partake in the feast the group shared and went home to sleep it off. Now I am back to normal and if I weigh the beauties against the faults, still come out positive – the view of the shore from Netanya to Jaffa is magnificent and the conversation fascinating, with many important issues raised.  But if I promised to do something for you this weekend, forget it.  I’m out of commission,

september 3, 2021 – sailer’s blog Read Post »

israeli politics

We’ve reached the number of 80 assassinations in the Arab sector this year.  Everyone blames the police who are scared to interfere, but I also blame the need to take control over one’s life.  Corona is a small part of it, but the feeling that all order has been lost and the individual or the small group is the only possibility of establishing some kind of order – even if only in the family, or the community, or the business.  No country, no hamula, no medical authority, knows how to take control, so why not me?  Silly, but it feels like Corona has brought us into the world of the wild west.

september 3, 2021 – daily murders Read Post »

israeli politics

four more days before the holidays and we spent so much of the day on the phone connecting with elderly people, isolated friends, relatives – and some of them we hope to actually see.

The loneliness of the elderly is impossible to believe.  Even in this country, where neighbors seem to know everything about each other, people die alone, unknown.  We ourselves should not be seeing our children, the unvaccinated grandchildren, but we cannot resist.  

september 2, 2021 – warning: holidays on the way Read Post »

israeli politics

so this friend tells me that the only habit he maintains is to clear his history every day on the search engine.  And we’ve got more important things to talk about so I skip over that.  And then I wake up in the middle of the night with that sentence, “clear history.”  All my life I’ve been trying to document history, to learn from history, maybe even to change history, but clear history? Nah.  I just finished an article on the way the little bit of history of my family and friends in the Holocaust keeps changing, that even my mother changed her official testimony about her sister’s fate when she discovered my uncle had abandoned her when the Nazis caught her on a mission in the forests.  She wiped out her sister’s married name from the records.  Both the original and the doctored versions are fascinating to me. 

So I looked at my google history – and I thought, if ever anyone is interested in how my mind works, it will be an amazing document.  But if you follow these pages you’ve got enough to do.

 

 

september 2, 2021 – clearing history Read Post »

israeli politics

I have not yet begun the new years’ plans.  Okay, I’ve made the chicken soup and the kreplach and baked a cake and bought most of the stuff I need – but I’ve got so many meals to cook for. Even when we’re invited out we are given responsibilities – a salad, a soup, a honey cake.  So Friday one meal, Saturday lunch – the kids that are busy with their in-laws for the holidays, Monday – dinner for the others, Tuesday – at friends.  After that we go back into relative lockdown until Yom Kippur. 

And what of the gifts?  Tomorrow is my day to skip in and out of strip malls and see what I can dig up.  We tried yesterday with some of the kids and it almost killed me.  And we found almost nothing in the shops.  They prefer online shopping anyhow.  Real life doesn’t interest them.  

Come to think of it, I prefer online as well.



september 1, 2021 -new years plans Read Post »

israeli politics

years ago, when I interviewed Shimon Peres, I was overwhelmed with his practicality about cooperation in the Middle East.  “It’s good for everyone – it has to happen” was the impression that stayed with me.  I don’t know if I am remembering accurately, but so what.

when i meet so many Arabs in the medical profession, in the world of retail, and all over I know he was right.

 

 

august 31, 2021 – can an understanding be achieved? Read Post »

israeli politics

Dizengoff Center – To me, it looks like we’re too late. There’s almost no selection of holiday clothes for kids, and the school gear has been well-picked over, we get the last of the erasers and compromise on the wrong kind of rulers and just a few notebooks that may have the wrong number of lines. Nobody seems enthusiastic about school. There is much enthusiasm about the neighborhood nursery school – the neighbors have hired a lawyer to get rid of it. Why? Because it creates a crazy traffic jam that blocks all the cars around here. Education has nothing to do with our excitement. We’ve actually forgotten about education and what it means. We’ve also forgotten about how holidays should be celebrated.

august 31, 2021 – back to school Read Post »