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I watch him the way I watch a poisonous snake who has made his way into my house and slowly infects every single resident.  Everyone runs in a different direction and we can’t imagine what to do.  The middle-left is finished.  One of my last hopes was the blue and white party.  It’s gone.  But now there is the final block that Bibi hasn’t managed to break.  After all, he pushed through a law that made the Arabs second class citizens.  Why should they be a target for him?  He doesn’t really need to do much there to separate them – all he needs to do is bring in a little doubt here and there, grab a few votes and he’s got them divided.  Never mind the fact that he never keeps his promises.  He wins.  We lose.

january 3, 2021 – divide and conquer Read Post »

blog, poetry

what do I know about socialized medicine?  i don’t have much inside knowledge but I know that the system has been vastly underfunded, understaffed, and underpaid and that what keeps them going is a determined dedication to their task.

i also know that they are as organized as possible under these circumstances.  maybe my gp doesn’t have more that 5 minutes to give me in a visit, but if i write him with a specific question he answers me, sends me the prescription i need, and refers me to a specialist if i need it.  he’s got all the information he needs to treat me most of the time, and if not, he calls me in.  he knows i’m a stubborn bitch and works with that.  he is also in charge of the ward i was hospitalized in last summer and made sure i got out of there as fast as possible. 

my daughter is a therapist in the system and since all of us are going crazy now she’s working long and painful hours.  her kids are home and she’s at the clinic comforting strangers.    And people really need it! 

 

January 3, 2021 – socialized medicine 2 Read Post »

blog, poetry

Who gets the credit for the million vaccines given here in the past weeks?  First place goes to the medical system we have – all that’s leftover from the socialistic politics we once had.  Second place goes to Bibi who was willing to pay double and triple prices to buy those vaccinations in the hope that as soon as we’re finished with covid we’ll vote for him and keep him out of prison.  The last place goes to the Israeli population who have not behaved very well until now.     

january 2, 2021 – socialized medicine Read Post »

blog, poetry

As I baked and cooked and kept making mistakes because I was distracted by the newspaper I really wanted to sit down and read, I remembered my mother’s warning, “The food of a cook who sits on her ass, stinks.”

instead of making me get up and baste the chicken, I started looking up a song in Yiddish from my mother’s nostalgia.

one reference – and the versions were in Hebrew, and they were censored.  The song is a mother-daughter dialogue, common to many languages.  Where have you been, daughter dear.  But this is about the socialist-zionist movement in Poland, and the daughter was in a camp in preparation for joining a kibbutz.

in yiddish the girl tells about eating ‘burnt kasha’ and i almost burnt the kasha today.  but it doesn’t exist in hebrew.  the best part is the last verse.  Where did you sleep, my dear daughter?  In the loft in the hay, with two halutzim.  Mother, it was greaat.

טאכטער געטרייע (מילים בשפת המקור – יידיש)

וווּ ביסטו געווען
וווּ ביסטו געווען
זאגשע מיר טאכטער געטרייע?
– אויף הכשרה,
אין קיבוץ קליאסאווא,
מאמע, ס’איז געוועזן א מחיה!

וואס האסטו געטאן
וואס האסטו געטאן
טאכטער מיינע, געטרייע?
– געט אסקעט האב איך שטיינער,
צעטראסקעט מיינע ביינער,
מאמע ס’איז געוועזן א מחיה!

וואס האסטו געגעסן
וואס האסטו געגעסן
זאגשע מיר טאכטער געטרייע?
– קארטאפל פון דעם וואגן,
א תל געמאכט דעם מאגן
מאמע ס’איז געוועזן א מחיה!

וואס האסטו געטרונקען
וואס האסטו געטרונקען,
זאגשע מיר טאכטער געטרייע?
– א שווארצע קאווע, טיי,
איז געווען אז אך און ויי,
מאמע ס’איז געוועזן א מחיה!

וווּ האסטו שפאצירט,
וווּ האסטו שפאצירט,
זאגשע מיר טאכטער געטרייע?
– אויף קלעצער און אויף באלקעס,
מיר זענען געווארן קאליקעס,
מאמע ס’איז געוועזן א מחיה!

און וווּ ביסטו געשלאפן,
און וווּ ביסטו געשלאפן,
טאכטער מיינע געטרייע
– אוף א בוידים היי, היי,
מיט חלוצים צווי, צווי,
מאמע ס’איז געוועזן א מחיה!

עברית  Кириллица  Latin

 פרטים נוספים

בתי, בת חמודות (תרגום מיידיש- חנה רביד)

הֵיכָן זֶה הָיִית?
הֵיכָן זֶה הָיִית – ?
סַפְּרִי נָא לִי בִּתִּי, בַּת חֲמוּדוֹת.
– הָיִיתִי בַּהַכְשָׁרָה,
בְּקִבּוּץ קְלוֹסוֹבָה (מלרע );
הָיָה זֶה מְחַיֶּה נְפָשׁוֹת.

מַה זֶה שָׁם עָשִׂית?
מַה זֶה שָׁם עָשִׂית – ?
סַפְּרִי נָא לִי בִּתִּי, בַּת חֲמוּדוֹת.
– אֲבָנִים גָּרַרְתִּי,
עַצְמוֹתַי שִׁבַּרְתְּי;
הָיָה זֶה מְחַיֶּה נְפָשׁוֹת.

מַה זֶה שָׁם אָכַלְתְּ?
מַה זֶה שָׁם אָכַלְתְּ – ?
סַפְּרִי נָא לִי בִּתִּי, בַּת חֲמוּדוֹת.
– תַּפּוּחֵי אֲדָמָה אָכַלְתִּי,
קֵבָתִי קִלְקַלְתְּי,
הָיָה זֶה מְחַיֶּה נְפָשׁוֹת.

וּמַה זֶה שָׁם שָׁתִית?
וּמַה זֶה שָׁם שָׁתִית – ?
סַפְּרִי, בִּתִּי, סַפְּרִי בַּת חֲמוּדוֹת.
– קָפֶה שִׁחוֹר, תֵּה קַר –
טַעַם רַע וָמָר,
הָיָה זֶה מְחַיֶּה נְפָשׁוֹת.

וְהֵיכָן זֶה טִיַּלְתְּ?
וְהֵיכָן זֶה טִיַּלְתְּ – ?
סַפְּרִי, בִּתִּי, לִי בַּת חֲמוּדוֹת.
– עַל קוֹרוֹת וּמָרִישִׁים
שֶׁהֲפָכוּנוּ לְנֵכִים –
הָיָה זֶה מְחַיֶּה נְפָשׁוֹת.

אֵיפֹה זֶה יָשַׁנְתָּ?
אֵיפֹה זֶה יָשַׁנְתָּ – ?
סַפְּרִי נָא לִי בִּתִּי, בַּת חֲמוּדוֹת.
– בַּעֲלִיָּה עַל שַׁחֵת,
עִם שְׁנֵי חֲלוּצִים בְּיַחַד,
הָיָה זֶה מְחַיֶּה נְפָשׁוֹת.

עברית  Кириллица  Latin

 פרטים נוספים

january 2, 2021 – lost yiddish songs Read Post »

blog, poetry

Now that we have reached the 1 million mark of the first stage of vaccinations, new questions can be raised. 1. Now that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, people seem to have lost all patience with the tunnel, and can’t bear the lockdown.  How can they be brought to have the patience to endure the final round? 2. Now that many of the older people have been vaccinated, the younger people are hungering to get their chance at the jab.  Since many of the Arab towns have surpluses because the population has opposed the vaccine, should the Jews go there for their jab?  If you go to the centers in the city early in the morning and register for the leftovers, and then come back around nine at night, you may have a chance – even if you’re just 40, because of the reluctance to waste the doses.  Is this fair?  Is it necessary?  4.  What will be the final situation – so many people who have lost their shops, their jobs, businesses that cannot be recovered?  Can we begin to determine how to reconstitute our livelihoods, our culture, our friends?

   

january 1, 2021 – 1,000,000 vaccinations Read Post »

blog, poetry

so what’s new? 

we thought something would change at midnight.  I stood on the balcony with my granddaughter, waiting for illegal fireworks to mark the revolution of the year. 

but nothing happened.  

she had been exercising at rehearsal all day, preparing for the Japanese Olympics in 2021, and she was still recovering from an exhausting cold that turned out not to be corona.  She should have been in bed but it was particularly important for her to greet this year in which so much was going to happen for her. 

And there was no sign.  No difference.

let’s pray this doesn’t mean anything, that the new year will be a truly new beginning.  I know that the date of the new year is accidental, that it used to be the Ides of March for the world, and that it’s the first of Tishre for us, and all that, but – come on – right now January 1 is our big date now.  Brexit is not the only thing that’s happening today.

For us it was a regular Friday.  I tried answering some of the letters from the guests at the IAWE Zoom end of year party, but couldn’t even get to all of them.  Should you wish to get on our mailing list, let me know.  

 

 

january 1, 2021 – happy new year Read Post »

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If I leave this year with no other prayer, it has to be this:  may we have the strength to overcome our separate worlds and our individual quirks and be as supportive of others as we possibly can.

Last night I had nightmares like I cannot remember having before.  All about friends misunderstanding each other and betraying each other and quibbling over their misunderstandings and betrayals.  There was also something about shifting and disappearing – I left my purse in some guy’s apartment and when I went back up the stairs to get it, the door was still there, but the apartment itself was moving like a train.   When we get back to some kind of society  I hope we can get through the idiosyncrasies we’ve acquired from living our narrow lives and be there for others.

My own incredible limitation that has been honed during this period has been that even though I pretend not to react to positive feedback, I brood over negative comments.  Sometimes I can learn from criticism, but not always is it meant to be constructive, and that hurts.   I want to be the kind of person that people learn from and that brings people together – and whenever that doesn’t work, I feel like I lose something valuable.

 

 

december 31, 2020 – peace among friends Read Post »