At last we’re back at the beach. I’m sure you’ll agree this is the best place to be. 
beach – april 28, 2023 Read Post »
In her memory I tried to translate a poem of hers to Hebrew and to English and kept finding it much more difficult than other poems in other languages until I realized that her poem has to be in Yiddish because it is about writing in Yiddish. Here’s what I came up with:
A word
The words wait
until they cannot wait
and reveal a tear
uttered in the silence of night,
a plea.
Lord God, hear what these words say
hours hence,
years hence,
as if the soul would speak
in a nocturnal language
to be heard, understood.
A word should be like a kiss
given alone.
Then it brings morning
Sheltered from sun –
May the word to the morning
bequeath a poem.
rivka bassman z”l – april 27, 2023 Read Post »
In 1966, I first came to Israel as a student at Hebrew University. I had not particularly wanted to be in Israel, but once I arrived, every detail interested me.
One day, I was on the 52 bus in Jerusalem with my friend Jamal, and we were sitting in front of two middle-aged ladies who were speaking in Arabic. “What are they saying?” I asked Jamal when I saw he was grinning as he listened. “One said, ‘Look at how the Jews are building and rebuilding the city!’ and the other replied, ‘Let them build, let them build. It’s just a matter of time before it becomes ours.'” Now I’ve been hearing that line from Palestinians again – that all they have to do is sit back and watch us destroy ourselves.
The line frightened me, and I turned to Jamal and asked – “Is this true?”
He answered, “Let’s try to make it a mutually creative experience, something good for all of us.”
When I came back to Israel, I looked for Jamal, but was told he was gone and I still don’t know if he is living somewhere else or he passed away.
Perhaps the concept of which we spoke has remained.
a matter of time – april 27, 2023 Read Post »
I’m sure there are millions of parties tonight and we have many reasons to celebrate, but I don’t have the energy to celebrate even the alternative event of the reading of the Declaration of Independence tonight. The museum has a big sign in its front window pointing out its relationship to the document. It has everything we need to be the basis of the Constitution. How did we not finalize a constitution in all these 75 years?
And I’ve got a cold – the weather keeps changing on me and I never notice until it’s too late. So I was standing at the bus stop on a windy corner with a whole bunch of soldiers, and they were talking about memorial day and their concerns about participating in ceremonies. It was clear that all were very patriotic, but they were worried – very worried – about getting their uniforms in order. You know that it is the responsibility of the soldiers to keep their uniforms clean and pressed – that’s why they go home every week with the laundry.
happy independence day – april 25, 2023 Read Post »
The most important basis of Democracy is education. It is imperative that the population is given the tools to think for themselves so that they can choose leaders wisely. And it is essential for fascism that people are weaned away from thinking for themselves. From what I can gather, despite the haphazard randomality of the education of my grandchildren, they have learned to think. But some less than more – they are happy when they can be told what to do. That’s why I rarely tell a child what to do. But lately I’ve been becoming a dictator. It’s much easier, even though it demands a fair amount of manipulation.
educations – april 24, 2023 Read Post »
When I have conversations with like-minded friends, we still find something political to argue about. One always takes a more pessimistic view if the other voices optimism and vice versa. It’s part of being liberal – we have to show that we know all sides of the issues.
But we never manage to blindly believe, and/or make ourselves feel better.
So uplifting to have friends of like minds.
Friends – April 24, 2023 Read Post »
