These have been our neighbors next door for the past year. The tenants moved out almost two years ago for a but of remodeling, but the Gazan workers haven’t been able to return to work for over five months and so the tenants can’t return. But the cats are being taken care of.
neighbors – march 16, 2024 Read Post »
I do envy those people who shut themselves off from the world on shabbat -and observe only the havdalah. Ezi, as the co-op go-to, gets all the phone calls and notices people have been forgetting about all week. The hall light doesn’t go off, there’s a leak in the sewer, the maid is suspected of stealing…
The latter is the only one that bothers me – because if I can’t believe my people instincts over the past decade, what can I believe?
Well, maybe now that she’s under suspicion I begin to think
I suspect her of using my perfume when I’m out of the country. Don’t have any jewelry of note, nothing worth stealing that isn’t traceable.
But somehow I can’t taking petty theft seriously. Not now, not when so much has been lost.
How do you prepare for Purim when you’re in the middle of the story – the part where all the Jews are going to be killed? On King George Street today in Tel Aviv, there were costumes, very sexy costumes, all over the streets, and the streets were full of people. But the mood wasn’t joyous – it was defiant.
purim preparations – march 15, 2024 Read Post »
for an ongoing discussion of this, check out
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard#Tablet_(magazine)_and_article_by_Wharton_statistician
statistics – it Goes on and on Read Post »
Boy, did I have a problem with statistics.. When I was studying psychology at the U. of R. I had to take a course, and I was failing – with a 25% average on quizzes. In desperation I turned to my brother who pointed out that the whole course was about five equations and once I could see which one had to be used I’d be fine.
I aced the final, got a c in the course, which brought down my status on graduation from highest honors, but taught me that statistics could be my friend.
To the point: We’ve been wondering about the statistics of Gaza deaths all along – how on certain days when not much was going on anywhere the numbers were the same as the day before, how some days of heavy battle few men were killed but a lot of children, etc. Now Tablet magazine has pointed out how the rates are impossible to trust. Check it out here:
I worked through the stats, and yes, he’s right.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-gaza-health-ministry-fakes-casualty-numbers
And them I raced to Ezi with the data, who barely blinked and said: “How do you suppose they could be gathering reliable statistics anyway? What kind of system could they possibly have in the chaos of war? Of course they make them up!”
And then it hit me. I never saw that statistics exam that gave me a C average. The professor probably just saw my other grades and realized I shouldn’t get screwed by the failure I deserved. Or maybe he remembered me by my plea for understanding. Or maybe I was prettier than I thought I was. But in order for me to get a C in the course with an average of 25 (when the value of the quizzes was 50% of the grade) I would need a final exam grade of way over 100, right? 175 to be exact.
So now that I have presented my credentials to discuss the subject, let’s take a look at the statistics of deaths in Gaza. Al Jaziera says “At least 31,184 Palestinians have been killed.” They also say More than 25,000 women and children killed in Gaza. This would leave us with 6,184 men killed. The US government seems to have adopted these statistics, making them seem more reliable.
IDF however says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7 in addition to the 12,000 killed in Gaza since. There are no bodies because of course they have been buried, but doesn’t it make sense that if we are fighting hand-to-hand and face-to-face, we know more about how many fighters have been killed?
statistics – March 14, 2024 Read Post »
goes unpunished. For years I’ve admired the struggle of the individuals and organizations who endeavor to transcend politics and to act in a humane manner – friends who drive to the border to pick up Palestinians and take them for treatment in Israeli hospitals, for example. Usually the treatments are complex and unavailable except in very specialized centers. I cannot imagine how many people have died since these volunteers have found it difficult to sympathize after October 7 and do not participate in transporting and accompanying Palestinians, even after the government has begun to allow it again. The revelation that some patients also planned terrorist attacks came out long before that but didn’t stop the volunteers. But the mutilation in the massacres made it more difficult to sympathize. Joanna Chen published a piece in Guernica about the renewal of her ability to empathize and return to her volunteer activities – and the journal was forced to remove the article because of objections at the ‘blatant zionism.’
In short, there is no way a Jew – especially one living in Israel – can come off as a human being.
no good deed – march 13, 2024 Read Post »
I’m sure I’ve written about Derijat before. Years ago we visited this Bedouin village in the desert and were absolutely enthralled by their individuality, their persistence, and their great achievements. We visited the school, the visitors’ hall, the cave a family originally lived in, and a few other places. We learned about how they managed to achieve government recognition and how education was their highest goal. This time we went there and the same host told us about the village – and it is still enthralling. But suddenly I wasn’t sure it was real. Maybe it is just me in a fake news world. Sometimes I can be so wrong. I’ll have to work on learning more.
This is what they wrote about back in 2004
https://www.haaretz.com/2004-05-20/ty-article/founded-in-1850-recognized-by-the-state-in-2004/0000017f-dc32-db22-a17f-fcb37aa40000
Derijat – March 12, 2024 Read Post »
I’ve had to take a break from the news – Just the fact that the terrible situation of the poor Gazans could be relieved if only the hostages would be released. I think of the girls who are in their fifth month already, the 134 hostages – how many are still alive – and I can’t bear fighting the ignorance, the indifference, the blind hatred. Sure, we have done so many things wrong I can’t begin to count them, but we were the ones attacked, we were the ones too stunned to figure out what to do at first, and now we’re getting blamed for all the troubles in the world. This is a great country and it deserves all the defence it can get, but I need time out. I’m going out to the desert tomorrow for the day.
too much – march 11, 2024 Read Post »
