Tel Aviv Diary - February 2-6, 2013 - Karen Alkalay-Gut
February 2, 2013 Breakfast at HaSharon hotel. Very homey and familiar - a few religious families, a few solitary diners, a group or two of young people. The day was gorgeous after the days of storm we've had, and everyone was on the way to walk on the beach. Around us we've got Syria on one side, Egypt on the other. Within, we have all our usual petty quarrels - but here, here, is peace. The Jerusalem Review is on Kindle! You can download it < a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B8L510O">here
February 3, 2013 I'm one of the editors of the Review, but once the stuff reaches the other editors, it's our of my hands. The editorial introduction isn't even by me, nor was the decision to put my translation of Amichai's poem on the cover. I love the journal, so I stick with it, but most of the time I don't know what's going on.
February 4, 2013 Usually the summer is the season for weddings - winter is so dark and cold. But this year we move from wedding to wedding, each one using the darkness to hide its simplistic structure and lighting and special effects to glamourize the occasion. We love the couples so we go, and the noise seems to have diminished lately because of the optimization of the sound systerms that focuses the sound on the dance floor. The only problem is getting there. Weddings take place exactly at the same time as the traffic jams and halls are usually way out in some moshav with the smell of fresh fertilizer wafting into the car on the way. And tonight is wedding night... February 5, 2013 And tonight was bat mitzvah night. I celebrate every chance I get. This one was particularly good because it made sure the kids had video games and pinball machines and french fries and shnitzel (the food of choice for most children in Israel) and ways to socialize comfortably. The weddings we usually go to all have music too loud to talk, so dancing becomes the only alternative - I don't mind dancing at all but I really like to talk too. I don't care about all the food. It's good but I don't like eating much at night so it's wasted on me.
After watching the swearing-in at the 19th knesset today I was filled with a tentative hope - maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe it will. It depends on the government that gets pulled together from all these young people, all these women, all these new members. And a lot of that depends on how cocky Yair Lapid is. The great news that Obama is coming here next month could help direct this coalition. February 6, 2013 Is it possible this country could be straightened out if the government starts behaving honestly? The many quarrels over income tax give the individual a sense that the government is not being straightforward with us. As chair of the israel organization of writers in Englidh I have failed at raising any money from the goverment, even though we are entitled to donations, it is so complicated. so when the rejections come in i turn to be warm hearted and open my wallet,
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