israeli politics

Everything doubled today.  The chances for war, the mess of our government,   the tasks I have to complete, and, surprisingly, my ability to actually complete them. 

It seems – for now at least – that the massive doses of antibiotics I’m taking are doing some good.  Take, for example, my mid-morning visit to the health clinic to get my heart monitor.  (Now, I have been spending at least one morning a week on medical tests for the past four months.  Most of the time they are anonymous and superficial at best – and I’m pretty sure the concentration on saving lives of covid victims has much to do with the lack of attention I’ve been getting.  But today I made it through an hour workout, the EKG, the monitor, a good visit with a friend, a month’s worth of food shopping, laundry, and I’m still ready to go even though it’s past my nap time. And much more that has to be finished today.  So if I don’t answer you that’s part of it.)  

Back to the crowded health clinic.  It is never a joyous occasion to go to the doctors, and the masks always make it even more uncomfortable.  But as soon as we realize the fact that we are all victims of this situation, and there are no enemies, everything becomes more pleasant.  So the nurse began by warning me not to bathe – except for ‘a french bath’ – she said, demonstrating with her hands.  ‘I get it,’ I respond, ‘lots of perfume.’  We continued exchanging pleasantries for the duration of my visit so that by the time I left with my monitor, everyone was smiling behind their masks.  

 

 

 

2-22-2022 – twosday – Read Post »

israeli politics

Whatever she said yesterday – Putin said today.   The nightmare and the force of it were just fading when I wrote about it yesterday, so maybe I didn’t include her rant about Ukraine being Russian and that Zelensky being a puppet who is told what to say through an earpiece (by Biden) and he’s endangering the millions of Russians living in Ukraine – which should be Russian…  Sometimes your nightmares come true.

But it might not have hit me so hard had we not just been on a webinar about immuno-suppressed patients.  I had been so sure that Ezi would be getting the new treatment, Evusheld, and we would be able to see the kids freely and go on vacation and all that.  But it turns out he’s not eligible.   The webinar itself was a nightmare because all the bigwig specialists admitted that they have no idea of what would be happening next with Corona.  

So it’s back to living for the moment.  I get another 24-hour heart monitor tomorrow and we’ll see how my moments are going.   Until then, I’m not even going to look at the local news and check up on whether Gantz is going to break up the government.

 

 

february 21, 2022 – Stress continued Read Post »

israeli politics

Sometimes you don’t know where it comes from.  You’re talking to someone, maybe about something simple, like poetry, or something more challenging, like war – and it transmutes into a volcano, then a bull charging directly at you.  I was talking to a Russian friend about shopping, and I happened to mention that whenever I get nervous about self-preservation I over-buy at the supermarket.  Like many people are doing in the Ukraine.  

And that’s when the volcano erupted.  How we in the west don’t understand Putin and how he is having the time of his life scaring us.  But there’s nothing to worry about.  Zelensky anyway is just a comedian, a puppet for the West who is making a fortune selling outdated weapons to poor Ukraine.

She moved quickly on to a criticism of  the world leaders in the West – blind colonialists, war mongerers…

In the best of times I hate arguing – I prefer working out a situation through dialogue after a presentation of facts.  But I just wanted to get out of there.   The worst part of the meeting was not even the possibility of war but the terrible emotions that blocked the possibility of dialogue.

  

february 20, 2022 – tension Read Post »

israeli politics

Because my brother mentioned Oifn Pripizhok in the middle of a rather glum talk and I went to look it up, I came across this version of oifn pripichok and couldn’t stop crying.  The video connects it to the holocaust even though the connection isn’t logical.  But there are more verses and they do indicate the same direction.

So i searched for a song that would make me feel better – and looked up Martha Schlamme’s Oifen eiven – over the hearth – that describes a girl sitting on the shelf above the fireplace, sewing. A boy comes by and pulls on the thread, and she pulls him up.  The song ends with both of them on the shelf above the hearth – and nobody is pulling or sewing.  There are lots of songs in Yiddish about lovers, but they are forgotten.  Like “Margaritkelach” which is about a one-night stand – well, a single- afternoon stand.

 

 

 

february 19, 2022 -yiddish songs Read Post »

israeli politics

The SIBO test took all morning yesterday, but at 11 p.m. the doctor sent the results with the antibiotics to be taken intensively for 2 weeks.  Today I began the treatment for an infection in my small intestine and I can already see that I’ve got a busy 2 weeks ahead.  3 pills a day with intervals of 4 probiotics. I’ll be busy and lonely, because I’m going to have to spend most of my time in the bathroom.  

Now this will be a problem if I’m going to have to go down to the shelter like my friends in Safed had to do today.  My neighbors will suffer.  

WHAT WAR? you ask?  Let’s see, we started yesterday with a rocket we shot at on the border and today another drone got shot down.  As my mother-in-law used to say about the kindergartener’s defense, “it all started when he hit me back.”  I’m sure the instability in the rest of the world is encouraging the bellicose atmosphere here.  

In any case from my experience, citizens must be in perfect health before an attack.  And with a good stock of accessible medications.  

The medication that Ezi has been following, Evushield, has just been approved for distribution in Israel, and he will finally be given the kind of immunization that works.  Of course, his doctors have not yet been informed about it yet, but we’ve informed them and we’ll be sure to be the first.

So good health and peace for this sabbath!

 

february 18, 2022 – getting Well for the war Read Post »

israeli politics

Because Alicia Ostriker and I have had many adventures together and I was remembering them during our interview yesterday (video to come soon) today I looked for some pictures of our past and found our visit to Naim Araidi.  

Naim meant so much to me, and the photos so warm, I had to share them with you.

Why did he mean so much to me?  Because he was working so hard to bring people together, and every moment I spent with him I believed that human beings can transcend the religious, cultural, and social differences they have.  His loss – 7 years ago – left a gap in the cultural world we have not overcome.

In addition to countless poems of his I translated, I interviewed him in, Jerusalem Review, no 8. 2015, 210-12.

Notice I am the one trying to hang on to him – he was trying to keep up the religious imperative of no touching.  I only realized it now when I saw this photo.

 

february 17, 2022 – yesterday Read Post »

israeli politics

I was about to write an old friend, who now sees me as a leftist enemy, that I forgive him, But I knew it would only ignite him even further – I knew it would make him think I’m playing holier-than-thou and he’d hate me even more.  This is all because I invited my long-time friend, Alicia Ostriker, to speak with me about her long career in poetry.  

If I forgive him for repeatedly trying to make me look and feel like a traitor, who would I not forgive?  

And that leads me to the question of what forgiveness is.  I have so many enemies – some who would be happy to kill me, some who I have wronged, some who are simply resentful that I exist.  If I did not forgive the soldiers who smashed my cousins against the wall of their house, if I did not forgive the Nazis who made my mother’s life so dangerous she aborted two children with her own hands, if I did not forgive the guy who blew up my friend in the middle of the street – how could I live?  What kind of life would I have?

 

february 15, 2022 – forgiveness Read Post »