Omer’s birthday – I wanted to take the kids out for ice cream – something special. Bussa بوظة was the ice cream of choice. But when we got there, it was closed. That’s when I remembered it was Eid El Adha – عيد الأضحى – when Ishmael escaped being sacrificed by his father. (I hope I spelled it right – I’m still learning Arabic.) But what was written on the door of Bussa was that they hoped they would be opening again soon.

So since we had already parked our car, we decided to find somewhere else that had ice cream. And since it was so hot, we went to the Tel Aviv Mall. And there was no ice cream. Three places listed there on the internet, but none found. We wound up in Gregg cafe and pigged out on pancakes. I would have preferred local ice cream.

So Ben and Jerry’s was in my mind. Hillel Schenker published an article agreeing with the boycott of the territories. And he’s right too. But I can’t help thinking that strengthening BDS is not my bag. Well, there’s another year and a half before it happens. In the mean time I’m hoping that a two-state solution can be put on the table.

There is another, more basic, issue here. I keep remembering sitting with a guy in a beautiful garden next to a fountain in Ramallah, and we said – life has been good to you since Israel took over, hasn’t it? It was probably 1975, and I was noting his Rollex, his expensive clothes, the beautiful environment. Yes, he said, but I would give it all up for freedom. Freedom? I said. You were under Jordanian rule before us. There never was a Palestinian State. But there will be, he answered.

For now, I can’t even decide about ice cream.

the manager of Ben and Jerry’s claims he has been bombarded with false complaints for months – that they use Palestinian water, that they are built on confiscated land – all kinds of accusations that he denies categorically. I really hope that the complaints spread by BDS can be publically disproved. No matter what happens with Ben and Jerry’s, it has left a bitter taste in my mouth for the ice cream I always loved, if only because they didn’t fact check.

my favorite ice cream (except for Bussa) – and from next year they are not going to be selling in the territories. This means we will no longer have “chunky monkey” in Israel. I’ve never been certain that boycotting was the way to convince Israel to establish a Palestinian state, but suddenly it doesn’t taste all that great to me, When I read about it in the Post just now, I really admired the delicacy of their position and how careful they were to distinguish between Israel and the territories, and I appreciate it very much, but I don’t empathize with the effort to influence Israel’s policies – I don’t think BDS has Israel’s interests at heart, and many people who support don’t really know what’s going on here. At the same time, I would be very happy to support a two-state solution.

i understand I disappeared for a few days. I don’t know where I went or why, but I must have pressed an unfortunate button or something. Some people say it is a fire in the sun, others say it must be related to cyberattacks. But I pressed something and reappeared. Apologies – but anyway you didn’t miss much. We’re kind of holding our breaths to see whether Ezi’s vaccine took or not, and trying not to expose him in the meantime. When everyone was staying safe it wasn’t a problem, but people are really fed up with wearing masks, keeping distance, staying away. That makes our situation more dangerous. So we remain anonymous and invisible.

It’s coming out soon – the English-Yiddish version of the Hebrew-Yiddish book almost as soon as it was published. What’s holding it up – the proofs – I fix, my corrections get erased. I forget – so do they. It’s a parody of the book itself! But look for it – I’ll let you know when it comes out. Soon. very soon… One of the problems I ran into is that there is no one to speak with – I barely get a chance to speak English. Maybe I should start writing this diary in Yiddish… what do you think?

i had to add this entry because a friend from England asked that her birthday donations should go for medicines for Palestinians. And I was confused. Does she mean the Arabs who live in Israel? They’ve been vaccinated. Does she mean the west bank – because they are included in the same health clinics and were certainly immunized. Gaza is a problem because they refused the vaccinations we wanted to give them. … I’m just not sure who are meant, although it is clear that vaccination is the only way for the middle east.

we seem to have gone back in time with all the new rules and old dangers, but we’re coming from a much weaker place . We’re exhausted, we’re poor, and we’ve run out of movies to watch at home. Our government is in a less authoritative position to control the rules – I would have shut down the airport last week because that’s where the spread has been most prevalent. Instead, Bennett advised people not to travel and no one paid attention. Not that Bibi ever did a better job, but now we have to be much more strict.

Once – long ago – I told my boss in summer camp a secret a kid had told me, after a deep debate with myself about the issue. He immediately exploded and said, “you know what’s wrong with you ? You have a problem with authority!” Everyone who knows me knows this has been true for me all of my life – I never tell people what to do, never say that I know more than they do, never even tell people I’m a professor. And looking back, I’m sorry about that. Because I think the only way this plague can be overcome is with a strong leadership and strict rules. it should have been inculcated in us from the beginning of the corona when we were so scared. But we’re a people who need freedom, and trying to teach us something is like herding cats.

No, I don’t fast, but the story I found myself telling when we had some friends over for tea was as much of a tragedy as could be appropriate for this day of mourning. It was the story of my parents’ lives and their multiple escapes and survival, and the enumeration of all the relatives who didn’t make it through. I can’t imagine a more suitable introduction to a day of mourning.

I don’t know what made me tell it – I’ve told it in parts in some poems, and to Ezi here and there, but when my friend kept exclaiming that this should be a movie, I kept going. Maybe after I finish some of my more pressing projects…..