israeli politics

The country is buzzing with the news of the invasion of privacy by the police and the policy of programs that can invade the thoughts of an individual.   Me, I’m not worried,  There’s nothing there.  

Okay, maybe I lie a little about my weight.  Maybe I exaggerate about how sick I am.  My doctor isn’t impressed at all by my complaints, seems to take all my truth-stretching with a grain of salt, looks at my tests, and sends me on my way with a little twitch in my medication.  No privacy…

What about my political activity?  No one pays attention to them anyway.  So what if I demonstrated or signed a petition – it didn’t DO anything.

That’s why I was so excited when an ex-prisoner told me yesterday about being a ‘cluck,’ a prison whore, and how you can do a little dance in the shower out of range of the cameras.  That’s privacy.

 

 

february 7, 2022 – privacy Read Post »

israeli politics

later today I’m doing a lecture on why I write in Yiddish.  There have been so many mistakes on the way but now I think it’s going to be perfect, and I will now begin to write my next book.  I am overtired of the harvest I myself desired, as Robert Frost wrote.  

Fortunately the lecture is on zoom (link  is a few pages back) because we don’t have any hot water.  I was called out to pinpoint the gas link because I have the sharpest nose, but that was yesterday and nothing has happened.  So, unwashed and unshampooed, I will pretend that I am dignified and forge on.

february 7, 2022 – stand by Read Post »

israeli politics

What do you do when your loved ones are sick?  You run to them and feed them and hug them and comfort them.  But in our times we take another step back and wish them a speedy recovery.  So a few of my kids are sick – again – with covid or covid-results: strep, exhaustion, etc. And we are sitting home twiddling our thumbs.   I keep thinking about the people I would have kissed this week if I dared.  But this week has been the worst for serious cases and deaths since covid began.  

I’d love to write about other things, but nothing else seems to exist.  The price hikes don’t seem to matter much to my budget.  The announcements have come during the week that food prices will not go up but it looks to me that there is an awful lot of tricks being played on the consumer that disguise the real prices.  And the real prices – gasoline, taxes, electricity, etc.  are skyrocketing.  

february 4, 2022 – covid and more covid Read Post »

israeli politics

I keep putting the title ‘hair’ in this entry but obviously, the subject is too trivial to be written about because the word keeps disappearing from my page.  For me, hair hasn’t been significant for years.  Out of laziness, I have been getting my hair cut at the same place for decades.   But lately, I’ve been longing for the old days, when the hairdresser knew what he was doing.  I mean,  I spent years sweeping the floor in my father’s barbershop and I know what artistry is.  I used to drag my daughter to Sassoon in New York and was not disappointed in the legendary Violette in Tel Aviv, even though it meant sitting and waiting for hours with some very important people before the star stylist deigned to make an appearance.  

We shall not discuss my long fall into banality.  But the other day when I read that a well-known professional had closed up his salon on Kikar Medina (which I shun if only because of the parking) and is accepting clients in his garage, I became curious enough to make an appointment.  This is despite the fact that I have been butchered in Kikar Medina as well, even though it is considered to be akin to Rodeo Drive by many.  

The garage, it turns out, is an open-air upscale hair salon, with heated floors, bright but flattering lights, stately order, and a very professional haircutter – Amir Mizrachi.  The place was classy and so is my haircut. 

I’d forgotten what it was like to be in a place where the staff whispers to each other and the concentration is on the client and not the angry squabbles of the employees. 

We didn’t even talk politics. 

february 4, 2022 – Read Post »

israeli politics

I always loved Amos Oz, and tonight, when I saw the program on channel 12 about his daughter’s book and her accusations against him, I even watched the commercials.  I kept hearing his wonderful voice – and his terrible pain – so much greater than his daughter’s revenge.  Rena, you who were his student, know the greatness of his heart.  It wasn’t a mask, and when he didn’t win the Nobel prize I lost my admiration for the prize. 

What he wrote to her, that even an empty pail that refuses to be filled at the well, is filled again, that has to happen to his daughter.  I too had problems with my mother that I understand through the years.

A person must be larger than anger – even if it was carried with that person from infancy.  Think of the poem by Taha Mohammed Ali, “Revenge.”    

February 3, 2022 – Amos Oz Read Post »