Tel Aviv Diary - April 10-4, 2007

April 10, 2007

No Mimuna for me - i'm still celebrating with plumbers. No work for me either.

Why do I like Mimuna? I think it's the holiday where the Jews go back to the Arabs to whom they sold their chametz and invite them over to celebrate the end of the holiday. As such it's theoretically the only holiday that brings in strangers - maybe connecting back with the seder which talks about inviting Elijah in, but doesn't seem to have a very open invitation for everyone.

April 11, 2007

i don't believe it - passover is hardly over and already they're planning for Independence day. As if we can't bear living normal lives. We have to have holidays or fear.

In the mean time we have managed to isolate one of the most scintillating Arab parliament memberwe've got. I remember when he had a wonderful sense of humor and a twinkle in his eye. But the less he was understood the less he tried to communicate and now Azmi Beshara isn't telling anyone around here what's going on, or where he is, or whether he wants to leave the country. Even though I was very angry with him during the war, I like him around.

April 12, 2007

We got to see Joseph Bar Joseph's play, "The Big Sea" about a religious couple who come to live in Tel Aviv. My advice is don't let your sons grow up and be religious.

April 13, 2007

Actually the play was built well, if sketchy, and the protagonist could be fascinating, but she spent the whole time running back and forth on the stage looking for her husband and no time at all in the traditional tasks of the woman. I can imagine this as a multileveled film, because much more information and background can be provided without the limitations of the single view and limited access of the stage. All the characters need are the depth of perspective. - physical perspective - and then it will be perfect. The dilemma of the religious community encountering the world outside - and maybe the impossibility of happiness in either community - etc.etc.

Friday, April 13, 2007

This the most unhappy day for Christians, is supposed to be a good number for us. I'm not sure why. But I'll find out today.

Tina Rieger, my friend since high school, has passed away.

I am watching Tina
piecing together a wedding canopy,
a chaos of silks satins colorful rich fabrics
brought into the order of art
to begin a new life

While I am remembering her
Pouring alcohol from her hospital lab
Into the punch at a proper garden party,
Brushing up her French with the Jesuits
Just for a chance at a good-looking Catholic,
Sitting in glitter in a concert in Yaffo
When no one I knew would come to Israel,
Introducing this one to that, matching up
Strangers, friends, connections,
planning their potential lives,
Piecing together canopies
To shelter love.

She died in New York but wanted to be buried in Misgav.

Change of Subject: The Minister of Finance. If we don't have enough inertia to get rid of a man who stole millions from Holocaust funds, how are we going to get rid of the atomic bomb before it drops on us? This is one of those moments when everyone should be rallying - and instead we seem depleted, preoccupied, unfocused. Here we've got all these peace proposals to play with - even if they're not real we should be treating them as such. If just to call a bluff. But we're distracted.

We need to focus

April 14, 2007

Nevertheless, I too revel in speculation. What could Azmi Bishara be thinking of that he is leaving the country? How could an Arab member of parliament take off and resign? I imagine he is sick of talking to himself, of being attacked by the press, and he doesn't feel at home here. But he will not feel at home anywhere, if I read him right. And he had a very important responsibility that he ditched. All the people he represented To add to that there will inevitably be a backlash.

April 3, 2012

On the way home from the hospital today I was weaving in and out of traffic, wondering if (with all the antibiotics and stuff in me) I'd ever get out alive (what with everyone else weaving in and out of traffic at the same time), I heard the UN decision to throw out the case Palestine brought against Israel for war crimes in Gaza in 2009. What was the grounds for the decision that took 3 years to make? Palestine is not a country, and therefore not a member of the UN. 3 years! They'd never get home from ichilov at that rate.

It was actually disappointing that they never examined the accusation itself.

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