One of the less noticed aspects of the new government is the facts that the ruling politicians now seem to be having a contest of ‘more Jewish than you,’ proposing more and more policies that show their devotion to the Jewish religion as practiced now. So there are calls to ensure there is no public transportation on the Sabbath, that funding will not be given to places that play soccer on the sabbath, etc. etc. We’ll probably get no tv on the sabbath next….
jewisher – jan 22, 2023 Read Post »
We’ve been planning to go to the demonstration tonight all week. We worked out the times, the route, where we would park and how we would walk to get to Habima.
And we thought to have our lunch with the kids early so we’d have time to clean up and rest.
But after our luncheon conversations and the clean-up I decided it was not a good idea. 1. I worked too hard cooking and cleaning and can’t walk the miles I thought we’d transverse with ease. 2. I’m not clear any more that we are not just deepening the gap between the sides. We’re certainly not opening any dialogues.
I have to rethink my approach to contemporary politics, as well as my approach to my children and cooking for them.
As if it will make a difference.
revolution at home – jan 21, 2023 Read Post »
in this case, it is post-sabbath we are preparing for – getting to the heart of the city before the traffic makes it essential to have a strategy, to leave early enough, and to plan an escape route. Our energies are limited and our standing ability is even more limited. And yet the hostile takeover of the courts makes opposition imperative. Even the university administration has sanctioned political opposition.
we usually entertain the vast family for lunch on Saturday – a lunch that lasts from 1-5, So then we’ll wait in town until it’s completely all over and we can get back.
Unless we chicken out.
We plan and we plan but we fear to enact our plans.
Time to cook.
preparing for the sabbath – jan 20, 2023 Read Post »
A lot of people with self-inflicted wounds running around the government today. Can they be healed? Minister of the Interior and of Health Deri was stripped of the right to hold the title of Minister and the government is tottering. It would seem to me that he was operating under the assumption that the devious wording of his promise to the courts that he wouldn’t return last time around exempted him from keeping the promise.
So the courts were more careful this time to close all doors to a convicted criminal. I know he’s a really good administrator and greatly beloved, but he’s been getting away with his version of ‘correcting’ the injustice to Sephardim for too long at the expense of honesty.
I understand that mentality – My father had a barber shop and when I was very small his clients included Jewish gangsters. Their idea was that the system is screwing them so they have to screw the system.
My mother used to do their nails – I remember those perfect nails and the cauliflower ears.
foot shooting – jan 19, 2023 Read Post »
I always write down the date before I sum up the day because the date is so critical. Tomorrow the world will be different …
Like the butcher. I stopped going to this butcher shortly after he opened his store here because although some others said he was nice, I always found him to be cold and bitter, and once I bought a roast from him that turned out to be half fat – but hidden. Today, I happened to need something suddenly and he was so helpful I changed my mind about him entirely – feeling I wasted all these years going to a butcher far away from my home.
And I began to think about politics that way too – maybe I just wasted my time thinking we could overcome the ignorance all around us, Maybe we should just make peace with the fact that no matter how we try, we’re never going to win, and maybe we’re wrong. Maybe we should get used to the way it was in 72 when I first came here – when there was no transportation on the sabbath and no shops were opened and cars were stoned for driving in certain neighborhoods. It’s just a question of mindset, right?
No. I’m just grasping at straws.
And that butcher is just desperate for clients now that the neighborhood is changing.
making minds up – jan 18, 2023 Read Post »
I really didn’t want to wake up today, and when I did, I was sorry. Not only did I have an exercise session, and a visit to the cardiology clinic lined up for the morning, but the news came on announcing that Deri didn’t care what the high court decided but it was up to Bibi to determine his fate.
So since authority itself has been determined to be a relative and changeable thing, I don’t need to listen to the Cardiologist at the hospital – I can choose who I want to give my heart to.
And I went off to Ichilov after a rather exhausting workout with a light heart.
Not really. I still wasn’t feeling like waking up, so I asked Ezi to take me to the hospital. But here’s where the story gets interesting. There was no room in the parking garage, and after a long fruitless search, I was running late for my appointment. So I jumped out of the car and ran the length of the hospital to the cardiac unit. This was no easy task – the hospital is more than a long block long and the garage is at one end while the cardiac unit is at the other end.
You may recall that the last time I was there, I entered by the nearest gate, and discovered the unit to be 2 flights up and the elevator to be broken. This means that any out-patient with a heart problem must overcome certain obstacles before he can be treated.
The worst part is that I didn’t really have to go there. I knew we would be parting ways – I really don’t need the operation that was thought to be imperative two years ago. And I apologized for taking his time just to show him the tests that show I’m fine. The doctor leafed through my tests and agreed. “So this means we won’t be meeting anymore,” I said, tragically, and then remembered that Ezi has warned me that not everyone appreciates my sense of humor. “Only at weddings and bar mitzvahs,” he replied. And I left satisfied.
What will happen with Deri? Sadly, we will see him again and again and again.
cardiology – Jan 17, 2023 Read Post »
All our troubles seemed so far away.
But we were fooling ourselves. WWIII seems to have begun last year and we’re just dealing with the details All we don’t know is “what rough beast, its hour come round at last, is slouching toward Bethlehem to be born?”
That’s why Yeats was drawn to fascism for a period, to control that “rough beast.”
We just have to make sure that the controls are not self-destructive.
yesterday – jan 16, 2023 Read Post »
