The most amazing article about the Geniza of Ben Ezra synagogue
came out today in Haaretz in English by David Green. It talks about the context as well, the Jewish community, and the government’s efforts to renew the synagogues. Check it out.
april 30, 2021 – news about the geniza Read Post »
We thought we’d be able to travel by September, and kind of dreamt of fun and games in the U.S. then. But today the hematologist scrapped that dream for us. This little contretemps has suddenly hit me. The way we’re all trapped, and the Indian strain has pushed up the number of people here with positive diagnoses – so we’re back to square one.
april 29, 2021 – traveling? nope. Read Post »
we were so busy arguing about who’s going to be justice minister that we forgot to stop people from India for testing at the airport. So now we’ve got the variant that is immune to the vaccine, and people who were inoculated are now sick. an interesting turn of events.
so now Ezi and I are back in lockdown. it was a brief freedom…
april 29, 2021 – forgot to shut the door Read Post »
Benny Ganz has says that this is the hardest battle he has ever fought, to help save the government from total destruction. Few people doubt that Bibi has gone off the rails, and most of us don’t want to know how many ministers haven’t been appointed, how many positions have not been filled, how many crucial decisions have not been made in these months. When someone wants to talk politics, everyone else shuts them up – because we can’t bear it.
So the President declared today we have an illusion of government here, and he’s not exaggerating. Some newscasters are saying that Bibi has a devious and complicated plan – to get out of the convictions that seem inevitable. I think it’s also a complicated illusion.
And I think Benny is the only responsible adult.
april 28, 2021 – an illusion of government Read Post »
Of course, you don’t come here to read the news. Of course, you understand that anything I say is going to be slanted by my distrust of everything Bibi does as he slips slides away from being an amazing representative of Israel in the UN to becoming – well – a pathetic magician. Today he tried to pull a coin out of your ear and you heard it tinkling on the floor. Do you blame him? wouldn’t you do anything you could to avoid jail?
april 27, 2021 – i can’t talk po Read Post »
I wasn’t there. I stayed close to home and ran around with errands. But when Ezi came back I discovered how much I missed. It’s exactly the kind of archeological hike that brings the bible back to life. I Samuel chapter 4 describes a lost war with the Philistines here and the loss of the ark. and the whole thing could be seen in that site.
and of course I wasn’t there.
april 27, 2021 – tel afek Read Post »
I have no authority to write about Egypt. I was there last year and felt like I was at home, and I wrote a little book about it. That’s all. But when I read about it in the New York Times
and how all the sites that had been crowded with people were now empty – I was so…is there a word like ‘homesick’ for a place you’ve only been to once?
Most of the attractions for tourists in Israel are also attractions for the locals, so as soon as it is allowed, we crowd in everywhere. So we didn’t see many empty places – or maybe i don’t remember. You would know better than I do if you’ve read these pages because I don’t read what I write.
it is a bit of a family tradition for Ezi. My mother-in-law used to go on archeological trips and take courses all the time. The attraction of Israelis to what is under our feet is very strong. I used to think it was connected to proving our biblical lineage, but it seems to be much more. On our trail, every little dig is examined in detail – the Philistine temple, the Canaanite idols, the neanderthal graves, and, of course, the Jewish sites.
