israeli politics

Ezi keeps remarking on how people in Japan kept their cars clean, and even washed off the tires.  And we came back to Israel in the middle of a dry dusty spell. Here’s a draft:

After the last dust storm

We drove to the car wash

To be made new again,

And waited in line by the grove

 

A boy was standing there on a trash bag,

And beginning his preparations for prayer,

Opening his ears and kneeling down

As we were moved on the grooves

To the showers and brushes.

 

When we emerged,

I looked for him

But he had finished his prayers

Disposed of his trash bag

And gone back to washing cars.

 

clean/dirty oct 27, 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

I keep asking children who they would vote for – thinking they must realize they’ll be living with the results for the rest of their lives.  But they know they don’t have the power to change anything and all they can really do is go with the flow, play a game, do a dance, and not think about what will happen.

We old people, on the other hand, are terrified.  We get phone messages all day from different parties, asking for our vote.  One of them really got to me.  “I’ll bet you are as scared as I am,”  it began.

In my case, it’s hard to decide whether to strengthen Lapid’s party or make sure that the other small parties get through.  When I told the kids at lunch they said, “Who will know whether you made a difference?”

elections for kids – oct 26, 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

On the way home, after weeks of traveling, we had become accustomed to receiving a blank response when we answered the question of where we were from.  Perhaps that was why I wasn’t prepared for the response in a shop in the Dubai airport.  They really didn’t have shoes in my size, but insisted on trying to fit my swollen feet into sleek runners.  We had a few good laughs about those clodhoppers of mine before they asked where we were from.  And I said without thinking “Israel.”  And they responded without thinking, “Palestine.”  Were we less off balance we would have expanded our answer, “Yeah, Palestine” with Ezi’s standard “Yes, I was born in Palestine.”  And maybe we would have continued the conversation.  But suddenly everything stopped.  The salesmen suddenly found new customers and we wandered away. 

Last night as I was unpacking I realized how unusual that conversation stopper was, how many times I had replied “Tel Aviv,” and how many times the questioner from an Arab country had replied “Israel? We are cousins,” or “I am from Nablus.” 

I don’t know why this particular conversation bothers me.  I want to go back just to talk to these guys.  

a moment in Dubai – oct 25, 2 Read Post »

israeli politics

Although it seemed every tourist we met in Japan was from Israel and where ever we went in the airport in Dubai we heard Hebrew, the joy in returning home is incredible.  Although we no longer kiss the earth, we all felt a strong sense of identification with home.  Even though we had complained about having to deal with the election mess here when we returned,  almost every day in Japan, none of us thought to miss these elections.  

They are just too important.

 

Kissing the Holy Land – Oct 23, 2022 Read Post »

israeli politics

First impressions: I want to go home. I dont like animations all that much and I’ve got the figure out why. I also don’t like dogs being pushed in baby carriages. I don’t like food simplified in pictures as substituting for a menu. It’s the simplification of life maybe I don’t like😒

Tokyo Read Post »

israeli politics

We are zipping through Japan, desert people in awe of the waters all around us and the attention to cleanliness and precision. Yesterday I got all wet in our rainy alpine hike, and I was sure it was curtains for me after the 6 k forest path, but somehow pulled through and enjoyed it. Today we travelled to Hakone, famous for its volcanic mineral baths and tried the waters – I think it would have meant much More to me if I had been Shinto and felt the power of the earth, But I’ve been spoiled by Jewish cynicism and all I could think of was the term in Yiddish goyishe naches

Hakone Read Post »