israeli politics

after years of trying to figure out what ever happened to the children of my aunt Batya who was either murdered by the Nazis in Lida (according to the Lida Memorial book), or died later in Auschwitz with her husband (according to Yad Vashem records).  My mother had claimed that they had 3-4 children but only one is mentioned as having perished (in the Lida book).  So what happened to the others?  The name Berenzyk or Baranchik could be spelled many different ways, and only one child that I know of would have been old enough to know his family name anyway. 

My brother copied the names of some of my mother’s nephews from the ’30’s when my mother left Lida.  Motl Baranzik was probably the eldest and in his early teens by the time of the Holocaust.  Anyone have any ideas how to progress?

 

january 28, 2021 – looking for cousins Read Post »

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This is the holiday of the new year of trees, and is usually celebrated by the planting of a sapling.  Since we have planted all our saplings, and can’t see our kids yet to plant with them, what I’ve decided to do is show my appreciation to my favorite tree.  

Both of us need a hug.   This tree has been through a great deal this year. Before the Covid 19 lockdown the entire street was renovated and many changes made – most of them pretty, but stupid.  This poor tree was knocked about by mistake at least 3 times, and lost many of its limbs. I watched in horror while branches were broken off by accident, and no attempt was made to even out the broken edges to prevent disease and allow for further growth.  Nevertheless it has survived, and it is due to blossom soon. 

january 28, 2021 – the new year of trees – tu b’shvat Read Post »

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Even though we have the highest percentage of vaccinated people (close to 3/8ths of the population as of today), we are also suffering a high percentage of deaths from corona, and a lot of younger people infected.   The big problem is the situation of the hospitals, suffering terribly from budgetary problems.  A friend suggested we turn the hospitals into yeshivas and that way the funding problem would be solved.  But seriously folks – this situation can’t go on.  For years we’ve seen the halls of the wards crowded with beds filled with seriously ill patients and the medical staff fighting to accomodate every one.  it couldn’t continue like this, and after almost a year of this I’m sure we’ll have many more deaths just because there aren’t enough nurses to keep an eye on those monitors that can totally change in seconds.

Somehow I was thinking of this today while I sat with a friend in the warm sun and watched the beautiful flowers and vegetables on the window sill.  Tonight there will be a storm and I wonder which plants will suffer, which survive.  It is my job to keep watch and try to protect them.

And to add to this strange combination of thoughts – I watched the Palestinian workers building a luxurious house down the street, and have learned since there are tens of thousands of workers who cross the border daily – not only to build houses, but also to work in hospitals.  They are rarely tested and the vaccinations haven’t yet arrived there.

This train of thought may seem to you to be only the musings of a poet, but I see it as essential to a politician as well…

january 27, 2021 – before a storm Read Post »

israeli politics

Obliteration

 
–It is…virtually impossible to find the full photographic record of any concentration camp.
Sybil Milton (1999)
 
Sometimes all you can see is a document,
Sometimes what you perceive
is only what someone else wants you to see.
The greatest tragedies are offstage.
But sometimes you can peek
into the details, beyond the frame,
around the corner, inside the eyes,
even behind the shutter.
And only then you know
what was really there.

january 26, 2021 – on the eve of holocaust day Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv

After more than 24 hours without internet, and much work on the part of Ezi throughout, we went online and received our green passports.  Theoretically this will allow us to go to concerts, museums, and who knows what – once they open.  But in actuality we have no idea if the vaccine works on Ezi, who is full of ritoximab that lowers resistance, and if it works on the new mutations.   So, theoretically, we are in a better place.  But, practically, nothing has changed.

At this moment, I’m actually much happier that Ezi managed to get new equipment and reconnect our internet.  I might have had to start to clean and cook had not my distraction returned.

january 26, 2021 – green passport Read Post »

blog, israeli politics, my life in tel aviv,

When i first started reading about the fact that we haven’t shared our vaccines with Palestinians, I thought it was understandable that we would take care of one population after another.  Now I’m beginning to wonder.  It would not only be legal but also the moral imperative to share with people for whom we have claimed responsibility, even though Abu Mazen has taken responsibility for getting the Sputnik vaccine to the west bank.   

There was also another reason that occurred to me this morning as we were walking around our neighborhood.  I watch the houses going up and realize that at least in one of them the builders are not from here.  I may not know Arabic well, but I seem to be able to distinguish different dialects and the one I heard today is not from any place I’ve been to in the past forty years.

  

january 25, 2021 – why we have to vaccinate palestinians Read Post »

israeli politics

Our internet stopped working after weeks of blinking on and off.  Ezi has been working on this for a few days but now he’s stumped.  It happens that I, like almost everyone else in lockdown, have become addicted.  almost all my reading is online, almost everything I do is online.  And now it’s gone.  How will I check the latest side-effect of the vaccine?  How will I see who likes my poems?  How will I live…

january 25, 2021 – internet issues Read Post »

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The New York Times inspired me to finally write about this

when I saw the inauguration last week I kept myself from crying – the way poetry was part of the message of models of faith for the future.  Models FOR faith, not in faith.  HOW to believe in the future and how to be the kind of people that could make it happen.  

The poetry itself seemed more spoken word than poetry to me, but Amanda Gorman did an amazing job in fulfilling the hope that we can change our lives, the direction of our politics.  And Biden’s reinforcement of that kind of belief in his quotation from Heaney’s poetry, something that was characteristic of empathic presidents before him – from Kennedy to Clinton to Biden, made me believe. 

And it made me see the contrasts between our leadership in Israel and the hope for the future in the U.S. government.   When Shimon Peres would quote a line from poetry, you knew he read the poem and chose it himself.  When Bibi – or any of the other politicians in the country – quote a poem, you know they’ve had some speechwriter who had combed the web for famous sayings…  

Thanks to Linda Streit for pointing out this op-ed to me

Please let us hear more encouraging words that shape and enable a better society in the future.

january 24, 2021 – politics and poetry Read Post »