Because I have some kind of flu that makes me dizzy, it was hard to wake up at 4 in the morning or whenever it was that the Yemeni missile was shot down. I managed the steps down to the shelter, but I had to be fully conscious to do it so I really focussed. And then of course I couldn’t get back to sleep. So today is going to be a waste at best.
Local Testimony -1.3.2
This year’s photography exhibit at Muza, the Eretz Yisrael Museum, focuses on the horrific events of October 7, and the terrible consequences to Israeli society. The way we feel, not only the terrors we have endured, but also how we have been turned into animals by the multiple wars we are enduring again and again. My deepest prayer is not only that the hostages will be freed, and will be able to overcome their tortures and recover what is left of their lives, but also that we will be able to regain our moral ideals, to live like human beings.
https://www.eretzmuseum.org.il/en/exhibitions/local-testimony-2024/
What is missing there are photos from the Gaza side. Why? Because the Gazans won’t let us use any photos from Gaza.
Local Testimony – 1.3.25 Read Post »
I have been there, on New Years, on Bourbon St. It was a rousing time, and the sense ofnonymity lent a particularly unique feeling of freedom. The events this year, however, altered the significance of that sense of anonymity.
Everyone is a target.
When I sit in the shelter with my Arab neighbors I used to think – well, they are collaborators so there is some “justification” for them to be targeted like me. But we have to accept the fact that the innocent people who are killed in attacks like that are not just collateral damage – chaos is the goal – the overturning of civilized society. For the extremists at least.
bourbon St. – 1.1.25 Read Post »
What a year we’ve been through. What 5 years we’ve all been through around the world. No wonder we’ve changing our characters, our relationships with others, our sleep habits, etc.
Let’s try to make this year one in which the our world is a better one because of us.
We went to Tiberius today to see my old friend, still exiled from her home. But when Metula is fixed, will she be able to return? She has gone through so much she may no longer be able to return to her home, to take care of her home, to take the chance of infiltrators….
Let’s hope that we can return and pick up where we left off. After we’ve learned what we need to learn….
happy New Year -31.12.24 Read Post »
sorry for the delay. I had to go to the shelter. The Yemenites surprised us with an early rocket.
I’ve been talking to a friend who has been pressed by BDS to join the campaign against us. How well I understand how terrible the situation in Gaza is. How easy it would be to return the hostages and stop the violence. Bibi’s announcement that he would stop only at the destruction of Hamas seems to have foiled that possibility, perhaps because he feared their surrender. who knows? All I know is that all of us are suffering in ways that cannot be repaired. And no one deserves to suffer the way we Gazans and Israelis are suffering.
early missile – 30.12.24 Read Post »
A good friend told me today that in her shelter no one talks to anyone else. They just sit there for 10 minutes and then leave. Then she asked me what happens in our shelter. Let’s see – on Friday night I couldn’t sleep, so I went to the kitchen. And the noise of the refrigerator opening brought the cat to the kitchen, the cat I thought Ezi let out hours before. So I put on my shoes and coat and went downstairs to open the door of our building for her.
That’s when I heard a bunch of people talking in Arabic. How strange, I thought, and went to bed.
But before I could actually fall asleep the siren went off and we raced down stairs. The only people who joined us in the shelter were one neighbor and the group of party-goers. And the party was ready to continue. I had left a few games in the shelter, but nothing really appealing. “You promised to bring puzzles next time!” Someone said to me, and I realized it was right. I have been insistent to take our personal discomforts lightly.
But now I am sorry I didn’t go around the room and shake everyone’s hand.
life in the shelter – 29.12.24 Read Post »
What is the first subject of conversation at the last Hanuka party we attended? Missiles. How long will this go on. What are the odds. What we wear. Where we were. One couple left Tel Aviv for a Sabbath in Jerusalem so they could get a full night’s sleep, and awoke to sirens at 2 in the morning there. We in Tel Aviv slept.
No one asked what the alternatives were. whether it was possible we would not succeed in fighting off all our enemies. From the corner I whispered – yes the Macabees won, but a hundred years later the Romans beat the Israelites, massacred them and took the remainder as slaves to Rome.
missiles and Latkes – 29.12.24 Read Post »
