israeli politics

The end of the holidays is particularly joyful for me. I think I’m making my deadlines, can get back to my doctoral students at last, and have finally washed some floors. Three days babysitting a puppy has left me delighted with my empty home and the silence. And from tomorrow, it’s all fun and games. At least until the weekend.

As soon as I said that I knew I was all wrong – that I’m living in a political environ,ent and there is no way to avoid my responsibility.

israeli politics

According to the long list of orders for the care of the puppy, we are supposed to tie up the dog next to our bed every night so he won’t pee in the house. It is the only rule we are incapable of following.

But this leads me to another issue. Our sukkot reading last night was peppered with Jewish ritual that I knew well but didn’t want to participate in and felt suddenly that it was imposed upon me. Suddenly I remembered again why I gradually left religion after I moved to Israel. In the diaspora it is a deliberate choice, one I made every day. Here it is foisted upon me.

september 27, 2021 – erev hag Read Post »

israeli politics

Because we’re babysitting my grandchildren’s puppy, and he’s learning fast, but has to be taken out 6 times a day until we get it right, I could barely get anything done today – The only zoom I could do was our IAWE’s annual sukkot ‘ushpizin’ where we welcome everyone in for a reading. it will be on youtube soon, but right now i’m regretting not having warned you in advance.

With all that is going on in the world, we broke the ice by talking about puppies and dogs. I was asked which was my favorite and I thought of Mocha. Why? Because he taught me how to treat him. I have to keep remembering it – that we learn to live with others by their teaching us.

september 26, 2021 – puppies and poetry Read Post »

israeli politics

Taking care of everyone.

Here we are – with three vaccines – and hoping that Ezi has some kind of immunity that can’t be tested – and the majority of seriously ill corona patients are anti-vacciners. This means that there are people who are overloading the hospitals who could have been saved simply by taking the vaccinations. This means that there are people who can’t get the care they need. There aren’t even statistics on how many people died because they couldn’t get treatment in time.

The blanket is too small. we keep hearing that phrase in many public spheres. My doctor hasn’t seen me, much less measured my blood pressure, in ages. He much prefers messages and no-question prescriptions – after all, he’s got an emergency ward to cover. And my son-in-law the doctor looks like he deserves a vacation.

And that’s nothing compared to my cousin who works in law enforcement.

Even I, with all my doctoral students, my own research deadlines, and the IAWE, have taken on more than I can bear.

september 25, 2021 – taking Read Post »

israeli politics

You’re supposed to see the stars from a sukkah – that’s one of the only rules. And you’re supposed to invite everyone. So we are spending a good deal of our time visiting and not getting to all the people we loved in time. And we’re too old to build a sukkah and invite everyone (Come to think of it, we’ve been too old for a long time). So we’re having a large portion of the kids over tonight. They’re all green – one set is out of lockdown.

I like the idea of ushpizin – of bringing people together, and I like the idea of placing oneself under the stars. And I like the idea of connecting with the idea of transience, not clinging to places or buildings. Says the person who chose to live in Israel half a century ago.

september 24, 2021 – sukkah Read Post »

israeli politics

The last days of warm weather = last days of holidays. And as soon as the holidays are over the children go back to school. And as soon as the children go back to school, we old folks who are vaccine-challenged can start going out to museums and maybe even shopping. Of course, the kids will start catching the usual diseases including Corona. But we will start going out…

Yes, this is heartless, but it’s also heartless that we old people will be last in line in the hospital to be put on ECMO machines, to get treatment at all – so let’s be heartless for a minute.

And while we’re on the subject of medical treatments – we got flu shots today. I asked the guy who poked me to give me a written reprieve from cooking for a few days and I swear the needle shook as he tried to keep himself from laughing.

september 23, 2021 – Read Post »

israeli politics

The sun kind of fell into the sea today around six-thirty. It was hard for me to tell the exact time because I was very busy with my first beer and almost missed it. And I didn’t even take a picture of the first autumn moon. It was a little weird anyway, some pieces of the circle hidden by clouds and making it look like someone was taking little bites out of the sides. It was even a bit chilly, for the first time since we started coming here regularly this summer, and I realized all over again that the whole ritual of sitting in the sukkah is kind of our last chance to mark this unique change of seasons.

There was a man at the beach with a lulav and etrog, and Ezi refused his request to bless them. “I’ve had enough of blessings, of having them forced on me,” he said, speaking for so many liberal Israelis. But I felt blessed all the same.

September 22, 2021 – Fall Read Post »

israeli politics

I keep getting letters and pictures from all around the world – friends who are traveling, or who found new homes far away. One sends a sukkah from a monestary with a cross in the background, another from a field of pomegranates in Majorca with a message from Buddha. And yet it is about sukkot. how inclusive this holiday is, how it incorporates the world and all religions.

The Sukkah

After the gates of heaven close

leaving us alone

facing an unknown year

three fragile walls

invite us in

sheltering from the world

and opening a connection

with the sky.

Yes, yes, the frail hut says,

we are all wanderers

in our precarious havens.

Let us make this transience holy

september 21, 2021 – sukkot moving around Read Post »