israeli politics

I’m watching the dog – who is – thankfully – going home tonight.  And since he is totally unpredictable and undisciplined and scared, causing us to frequently lose our cool, I’m trying the method I’ve raised other dogs – carrot and control.  First, short leash, second – love reinforcement in addition to occasional treats.  

It seems to be working.  And I think Bennett wants to go this way, but Ben-Gvir keeps setting up road blocks.  I don’t believe we should be visiting the Temple Mount during Ramadan, much less waving flags all over the streets of Jerusalem.  Is any one surprised that we are getting rockets on our heads in Sderot?  Is anyone surprised that the tensions are escalating to the point where our wiser Arab politicians are abandoning hope for a greater improvement for their people, despite the opportunities opening to them?  

I don’t mean to compare dogs to people.  I just know what works on me.  When I know what is expected of me, what I lose and what I gain from certain behaviour, I feel better – even if I don’t always follow the rules.  If I could be assured that there is respect for both the Mosque and the Temple beneath it, I would be really pleased to ensure the peace.  But neither of us trust the other, and with good reason.

I’m ranting I know.  My focus today is on keeping the dog quiet and happy.  And as you know I never edit or revise.  But maybe some of this rant makes sense to you…

 

 

april 21, 2022 – another Rocket Read Post »

israeli politics

When I told the hairdresser that I have to get home to take out the dog, he warned me against it.  “You shouldn’t be so nice to your children – It’s not good for them as well as you.  I’m sure they don’t want to see you splattered all over the pavement.”  He hadn’t even seen the wildness of this animal.  And my kids think the same thing – but somehow thought all will be well.  But then the hairdresser added that he had left his dog with his parents, and when he returned he was told that the dog disappeared.  “Disappeared!”” he muttered to himself, “They probably left him on a traffic island somewhere.”  

And that put my mind on the subject that keeps coming up in recent days.  The whole concept of the chain of ethics – what do we owe our parents, our children, ourselves, our animals, our friends, our enemies, our teachers, our students, our strangers.  

I just wrote a note to Shlomo Gronich who clearly made a mistake last night when in a concert he used some racial slurs – ironically I believe.  Although the audience laughed the press hasn’t stopped discussing the issue and his apologies have not been accepted, even though his family announced that he’s suffering from dementia.  I must add that I noticed his mind alterations three years ago when I was trying to help him with a song, and today I owe him a letter of support.

This discussion may look like I too am suffering from dementia but I do think the issues are related.  The way I treat my friends is connected to the way I treat my children, their responsibilities as parents and their responsibilities as dog owners. 

And it is connected to the way we treat our neighbors and respect their religion.  It’s all a single fabric.  The parade today of Israeli flags through the streets on Jerusalem as a response to the violence in Temple Mount is also a question of social ethics and responsibility.  

I started today talking about my children leaving their dog with me, and continued with a erring friend, and end with a political issue – because I believe it’s all one issue.  What do you think?

p.s. As for the racial slurs – Gronich said that there was not one chach-chach in the audience, that everyone was a vus-vus.  Now why is it a “compliment” to be called ‘vus-vus’ and a racial slur to be called ‘chach-chach’?  yes, he was definitely joking about our racial sensitivity, in the same way he sings “I have a sympathy for the people who live in tel aviv – with their peeling walls and their stalled busses and the people with no sympathy…”  and other songs that laugh at themselves as well as the audience.  But we have no sense of self-irony any more.

 

april 20, 2022 – parenting Read Post »

israeli politics

The last I heard about my first cousin in Dneiperpotrovsk was that he was fine in the early 1950’s, that he had four sons, and that it was dangerous for him to have my mother write him.  I’ve don’t everything I can think of to find a link to the family – Kaganovich – even appeared on a family search program coming out of Moscow.    Not a word.  I’ve found other people names Alexander Kaganovich, but they’re either my distant cousins and they live in the US or they are not related.  

I’m still looking. 

The last I heard there are 150000 Ukrainian refugees looking for relatives

 

april 19, 2022 – Read Post »

israeli politics

Most grandparents I know spend their vacation on the holidays babysitting.  They take their grandkids everywhere – plays, nature walks, rafting, museums, etc.  

We on the other hand, are dogsitting a very active and homesick dog.  The cat is angry.  The neighbors are angry. 

And all this is a wonderful distraction from the news.  Charlie will keep us busy until the weekend.

The weird advantage of this is that I really love dogs, and when we had our enormous dog long ago I composed an answer to a question about him that I had to wait years for someone to ask.  At last, the hairdresser came out with just the right questions.  “Where does he sleep?” “With us!” “What about the smell?” “He got used to it.” 

So we’ll have to fumigate the house when he leaves – before we pack for our vacation – but maybe someone will reward me by asking the right questions.  

april 19, 2022 – Dogsitting Read Post »

israeli politics

I quote my  child psychologist late mother-in-law over and over – “It all started when he hit me back…”  So we get stoned and we get the army in and they get beat up and then we … and then they shoot rockets and then we… 

The problem is we’ve got much less tolerance in general and I’m sure they have lost it as well…

 

 

april 18, 2022 – jerusalem Read Post »

israeli politics

As we were leaving our friends at the nearby cafe we passed other groups of people talking.  It was almost the same conversation we were having – about the violence today in Jerusalem.  But we had also been putting it in context.  Because of our different professions, we were also discussing a wider view of the society, the level of violence in the schools, in the families, in the courts, in the world of medicine, the sense of unequality in the society.  “And why aren’t you, with such a religious background, keeping kosher?”  “Because it’s being imposed on me.”  And today, Easter Sunday, Ramadan, Passover – even our religions are clashing.

In the world too.

 

April 17, 2022 – Cafe Talk Read Post »

israeli politics

Last night at last we went to the play we had to delay for months, “The Tank.” Ezi had read the book about the five different guys who in 1948 claimed they stopped the Syrian tank from attacking kibbutz Deganya and turned the war around.  It didn’t sound all that great to me, but the play was much more fascinating. 

(gotta go – will fill in later) (As you know I don’t reread and don’t erase so consider this a blip)

In any case, the play was about heroism, patriotism, the flaws in the history of the state and the need to overcome them.  The play ends with two Druze (or Arab) soldiers discussing the need to tell good stories, that will model our lives. 

For me, the play was uplifting, not only because of the acting, the singing, the directing, etc. but also because of its concern with ethics.  Ethics that we need to reconsider. 

 

 

april 17, 2022 – The Tank Read Post »

israeli politics

What’s on the news?  Some of my family have moved to alternate news – people who broadcast on the spot.   One is very right wing and he believes in his sources, another reads all around and seems to know everything but he must spend at leastc 12 hours a day gathering pieces here and there and comes to his own conclusions that are much broader based.  Me, I don’t know what to believe.  Here, for example, I feel the remoteness of some of the Arab student population, but this may be because I don’t have the opportunity to get to know them – I only know the students who work with me on advanced degrees or have become friends.  My major friends in the Arabic department have passed away, so I don’t even know what to make of what I see every week.  My conclusion:  No news means you’re hiding out.

But this Passover there are two centers of news in the country – One is the stone throwing from Al Aksa (in the effort to protect the third holy place from the explorations underneath for our first holy place) You tell me what should be done.  Sometimes my thought is we should get the Iranians to bomb both holy places.

The other news is that for this holiday 100,000 Israelis have taken their vacation to Sinai – the heartland of Isis – and are enjoying themselves immensely….

 

april 17, 2022 – what’s on the news Read Post »