Tel Aviv Diary - May 10-14, 2013 - Karen Alkalay-Gut
May 10, 2013 All day I was thinking of the small but powerful demonstration last night against the new policies of Lapid. People were exhibiting a personal sense of betrayal - he got in on promises of reform, of new government, and he seems to want to give us the old government intensified, where the people who are barely getting by wind up paying of the prime minister's lavish life style.
I am not in that situation - I am not barely getting by. But I was in that situation for a time, and remember the daily fear of not being able to provide food for my children. The whole situation of being in a strained-low-to-middle class situation creates anxiety, but the day-to-day is one of fear. Any one
who has been there knows that no one deserves to be in that state, and a government should do everything possible to prevent it. May 11, 2013 Even though I have not seen the new economic policies I am becoming more and more convinced that they are antithetical to the way I perceive government. But I am more and more convinced that we are hysterical people who don't know how to take things in proportion. With 500,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan alone in the past year, we have no right to complain about our situation.
Did a reading at the Sipur Pashut yesterday that Dorit Weissman filmed:
May 12, 2013 After many years, Ezi succeeded in finding his aunt's grave in Trumpeldor cemetery. It had fallen apart and no name was left, but he identified it through the neighboring graves and is now rebuilding the gravestone. It may be a bad time to do this since they're trying to institute a grave tax. of course what if you don't pay it? Will they throw you out?
May 13, 2013 Here's a video in Hebrew from Friday.
May 14, 2013 Tonight is erev Shuvot and as always we meet with a group of friends to eat, discuss politics and our lives, and talk about Shvuot. There are usually a dozen of us and our hostess is very serious about the concept of transformation and renewal in the holiday. Her husband and some of the guests are not, and complain bitterly when she tries to get us to discuss some passage in the book of Ruth. Most of the people are much more learned than I am so I can sit back and relax. That's a holiday I can appreciate.