israeli politics

haven’t seen all my kids yet, haven’t even been down to the grocer yet.  But I did get my hair cut.  And it was my welcome back to Israel.  Walking there without a mask, breathing fresh air, listening to conversations that are not politically correct… 

I suddenly realize in retrospect that I felt very confined in Manhattan.  It was not just an issue of masks and the rising covid rate.  It had something to do with the extreme poverty on the streets, the crime, and the pretension of the museums to woke.  It also had to do with the fact that we were confined to our room for a week.  So I’m not that objective…

Tomorrow I should be out much more and will be able to report on things that are wrong with being home…

may 25, 2022 – home Read Post »

israeli politics

Okay I am jet-lagged, okay I’m so confused that I messed up an appointment today at the cardiology clinic in the hospital.  Still, when I saw this headline in CNN that there is new evidence indicating that Israel  targeted the Palestinian journalist,

I jumped.  I listened to the piece carefully, watched the video, and saw no evidence.  You tell me, what indicates proof Israeli soldiers shot her, and what shows they did it on purpose?  Am I completely stupid?  I can’t see it.

may 24, 2022 – Read Post »

israeli politics

In Kenneth Brannaugh’s film, Belfast, there is much  discussion of the family moving from Belfast to England – primary because of economic necessity.  As a child of refugees and perhaps a refugee myself, the one sentence in which the grandfather tells the boy that he will be looked after by his parents, his extended family, his neighbors and his society, struck me with both fists.  That’s the way every child should grow up, but in contemporary society few get that opportunity.   

One of the reasons that drew me to Israel in 1972 was the idea of community  – the fact that many people who had lost their families or were displaced for other reasons remembered the need for society and worked together to recreate that.  My next door neighbor was Iraqi, married to an Uzbecki, and she and our other Polish neighbor family created a group with me that was my first experience of families.  

My own parents when I drew up had either lost their families or found themselves far apart geographically after the holocaust, and spent their energies trying to survive and to help the survivors.  

The society of the first decades of my life was one brought together by tragedy and necessity, and one abandoned by the next generation who needed to blend in with a greater world.  Perhaps this is true of the next generation of Israelis as well.  Scattered all over the universe they find their personal space and others who share their intellectual needs elsewhere.  Also of course, their financial needs. 

Few people get rich here.  As is was always said, the way to making a small fortune in Israel is to come here with a big one.  

But the sense of community has become far more complex in the past decades.  Politicians worked on dividing the peoples far more than bringing them together.  And I pledge, more and more, to continue to find ways to bring as many of the communties here possible together as much as possible.

I got back yesterday, and am very severely in need of sleep, groceries, laundry, and a haircut,  but this is more on my mind than ever – finding ways to create communities, to widen the concept of community  We’ll see how far I get.

 

 

 

may 24, 2022 – society Read Post »

israeli politics

People are moving all over the world, willingly and unwillingly, eagerly and tiredly – the result is that there is no manpower.  Our trip from Israel to the US through Britain was a terrible trauma.  Workers are not trained to move the numbers of peoples, to take responsibility for human beings, to recognize problems, individuality.  The management of flow in Heathrow was tinged with hysteria and ignorance.  And I was almost happy that they made it so difficult to go back, to rebook, to prove that Ezi was ‘fit to fly’ that we turned in desperation to El Al, which was far more simple and kept us from a total breakdown.  Were we to listen to GB, and the doctors who were trying to follow Britain’s orders, we would have been able to leave only on Wednesday, even though he has been healthy for well over a week.

may 23, 2022 – moving People Read Post »

israeli politics

my only remark about flying is that from the moment we changed to El Al from British, my tachycardia diminished.  i know I will be speaking with tough people, but reasonable people, not bound by unreasonable rules.  We are off now – and I promise to read all the papers properly, not just headlines.

may 22, 2022 – flying Read Post »

israeli politics

unwilling to free himself from the instructions he received two weeks ago, Ezi was going crazy trying to get permission to fly British.  So today we went to a clinic on broadway – they messed us around for an hour or two, examining the insurance and the papers, and then informed us that the date of the papers would have to be three days later than we needed.  Despite the repeated apologies I had the feeling we had been taken,  and despite the promises that we would not be charged I have major doubts.   This may be the first time I feel I have been worked on in new york.

and now I have been proven wrong.  my test results were mailed to ne.  Never say evil when stupid will suffice.

may 21, 2022 – health clinics Read Post »

israeli politics

how can anyone possibly keep a government going with every member behaving like a ball in the air and Bennet is managing as many as he can?  But he keeps dropping LEFT balls and not RIGHTs balls so left balls are begiing to disappear.  it’s a matter of conscience.  But can the few left wingers get together and create an alternative that can piggy back on someone else?  we’ll see.  in the meantime, we’re still far away, with a lot of dirty laundry and a longing for zion….

may 20, 2022 – in the air Read Post »

israeli politics

Now we come to the good part – I mean the part that seems like a Seinfeld episode.  Part 1, almost two weeks ago, when Ezi got his prescription for paxlovid, I asked that it be sent to the CVS near us, even though the place looked suspicious to me, nothing like the CVS I used to know. 

I came up to the counter, passed the paper to the pharmacist and waited as he examined it, then sent me over to the head pharmacist.  The head pharmacist examined the paper carefully and said to me – “come back one hour.”  I came back an hour and a quarter later, and the pharmacist told me it wasn’t ready, to come back in an hour.  “But he promised me one hour,” I pleaded, knowing there was a chance I’d come back and the pharmacy would be closed.  He went over to the head pharmacist, who without looking at me, said “ten minutes.” 

I spent the 10 minutes nudging the guy with the keys to the shampoos all locked up on the shelf, took one, returned it, took another – enjoying his opening up the glass door, locking it, opening it open again, as a little revenge on the head pharmacist.

Didn’t think I’d have to go back there, but when I did, with my own prescription, the guy with the shelf keys saw me and moved to another part of the shop.  Anyway, I was headed for the back where the pharmacy is, so he had nothing to fear.  I gave in my prescription and was sent again to the head pharmacist, who peered at the paper and said, “tomorrow morning.”

The next morning I waited until he had plenty of time to get organized, but when I went there, the pharmacist said it was “on hold.”  The doctor, she said, must have changed her mind.  Since I couldn’t reach the emergency room, despite many efforts, and the pills were time-sensitive, Ezi and I took a taxi over to NY Presbyterian.  When I told them the problem in Emergency they sent me to the waiting room.  But after half an hour I had had enough.  I grabbed one of the tiny doctors and she immediately said, “follow me,” and stopping in the middle of a long hall, slipped into a room.  I waited in the hall, thinking that any minute a note would appear that said “drink me”- it seemed so much like Alice in Wonderland.  But then the doctor emerged and disappeared down the hall like the white rabbit.  But no, a woman resembling a caterpillar came out after her. “Oh, I’ve been looking all over for you,” she said.  “I’ve called and called.” She showed me a slip of paper with a number remotely resembling mine – but with all the numbers confused. “The pharmacy couldn’t identify your insurance and wanted to know if you would pay.” Of course I’d pay – I’d get it back from the insurance, and if not, the fear of a stroke mid-flight urged me to swallow whatever they told me. 

We walked back cross-town to the pharmacy and back to the head pharmacist.  “Yes, I have spoken to your doctor.  Will you pay?” …”Come back one hour.”

After an hour the line was long, but I was persistent, and when I was told the prescription wasn’t ready, went looking for the guy with the keys.  But someone back there took pity on me, and within fifteen minutes I was out of there.  With an expensive shampoo. 

Then I took the pill. 

It feels wrong.

I think they made a mistake.

I think I want to go home.

 

may 20, 2022 – wonderland Read Post »