israeli politics

Only in the past few years have we begun to hear of the histories of so many of the previous generation.  The father of Benny Ganz, for example, began to write his memories only after he retired, and only recently were they made public.  My mother told of her escapes but my father rarely spoke until late in his life, and they never found out the details of the families that disappeared.  The internet has opened endless possibilities and created countless memories, but I have not been able to use it properly to discover the past.  And I have been afraid, I think, to look too hard.  

memorializing – april 18, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

The last of the survivors are telling the stories of their persistence, their tragedies, and sometimes their need to pass on what happened before they died.  Even I feel the need to relate what people long gone went through, responsible.  Last night I told my grandchildren how my parent escaped from Danzig just before the Nazis took over.  They are little children, and shouldn’t have to know the fact that they exist only because my parents managed to find a way out just in time.  And yet I told them, because if something happens to me before next year I have a duty to tell them.  I didn’t tell them that their great grandmother died in  Stuthoff, that most of my uncles and aunts and cousins disappeared in various concentration camps.  I didn’t tell them that my mother mourned the children she had to abort as much as she rejoiced in the children.  I don’t know if I will tell them when I am older.  I don’t know if I can continue to retell the histories of their fate.  I don’t know if I will ever find out all the histories at all.  The ones I know I have written in poems.

 

holocaust memorial day Read Post »

israeli politics

The demonstrations are becoming the new addiction.  The amazing high you get from being with hundreds of thousands of people who are screaming in unison “Democracy”  is amazing.  Who needs movies on Saturday night?  You buy a bagel on the corner, get a t-shirt with something political on it and a flag, and you can believe that the country can be saved.

Then we come home with the flags on our shoulders and our Arab neighbor says, “Independence Day?”  and I am wearing a shirt with “Democracy and Occupation Cannot Coexist” and she doesn’t even know what’s going on.  I’d explain a little more but she’s on the phone making plans for late Saturday night and has no idea that there is a demonstration much less that she should be participating in it.  

In fact, the only Arabs in the demonstration are the Ambulance crews waiting to take the injured to the hospital.

 

 

addiction – april 15, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

It was one of my favorite restaurants, Pastel, and we were surrounded by old friends, but one of my friends complained at every step.  The service (which I found initially charming, but foundered as the complaints rolled in), the fish (perhaps slightly undercooked, but not noticeably), the quantities (such small portions), and as her complaints piled up, the others began to chime in – the coffee, the dessert menu, the other guests.  None of us would have complained before she began her list, and I realized that none of us would have noticed or complained, even though every complaint was legitimate.  And since we’re off to demonstrate, I make comparisons.           

lousy lunch – april 15, 2023 Read Post »

israeli politics

As we near my mother’s birthday every year, I keep thinking about she was a refugee, determined to escape the situation – to save her life and the life of my father – despite the unwillingness of her family, the police, the government – often even my father.  

Once out, she worked on creating an identity in a foreign country strong enough to contribute in a significant way to the recreation of her people.  She worked on many fronts – the revival of Yiddish, the teaching of Hebrew, the promotion of creating viability in a safe area of the world – palestine.  

Did she think about the Palestinian people?  I doubt there was much room left for them in her mind.  Were she alive now, she would be adopting Palestinian children – teaching them to succeed in the world. 

palestinian people – April 13 Read Post »