March 28, 2016
I couldn't leave my young friend alone this evening. As a guy who spent a few extra years in the army he knows how it feels to be afraid that even a severely injured terrorist can want to take a few soldiers with him into the next world. But as a moral person he can't agree with the soldier who killed the dying terrorist. "But who knows," he said, "How a person will behave under that kind of pressure." I remembered suddenly the only time I was violent - when i thought my son was being threatened. I was very shocked at the person who emerged from my body.
March 29, 2016
My husband read song of songs to me for my birthday. Need I say more?
March 30, 2016
Spent the entire morning planning things with the Yiddish writers association. Archives, for example. And Bulletins. And communication. Turns out there are dozens of young Yiddish writers I have never heard of before. Living in Israel. Most of them from Russia. This is a very big country even though it is physically tiny.
Imagine moving from a meeting in Yiddish directly to Arabic class. I get all farmished and suddenly realize that nish is not in both languages. I wish I could have another birthday party that puts every one of the languages I know and/or am learning all together. Reverse babel.
March 31, 2016
I've lost control. Facebook. Twitter. Website. wrong html command. it was my birthday that did it. i heard from too many wonderful people i wanted to write back to. but i lost control even of my mail. so if i owe you a letter, i'm sorry.
but i've been doing readings, organizing other readings, organizing a trip for all the kiddies, and then organizing my own little grave research trip. it's all at once and very complex and all the while the politics here is becoming more transparent in its corruption and i'm not quite able to figure out what's at the bottom of it. First - the accusations against Deri - is it because he's really the crook i always thought he was? or is it a plot to keep him from getting too powerful? Second the accusations against Boogie. Now that one I know is wrong - he's not the nice guy he appears to be but he's not corrupt. Then the accusations against Abu Mazen. Of the three, Abu Mazen seems to me to be the most desperate to actually get something done.
My friend says, why do you write about politics? I say because my LIFE depends on it. if i can't trust the leaders in this country how can i hope for any stability in my life?
April 1, 2016
The night streets of Acre are enlivened with children and cats. The children because they have no where else to play, and the cats because there are no gardens or courtyards, and they have maneuver the long narrow windowless streets with no escapes of fences or bushes. Bis is the word for cat around here. It seems that most people don't speak any language but Arabic unless they have to deal with tourists.
It is a magnificent place.
This afternoon we went to Ghattas Hammam (you have to make an appointment) and had a massage like never before. And at night at Arabesque we had the greatest dinner and the most amazing room. I'll tell you the story tomorrow.