israeli politics

To make sure we get to the doctor at 5 we left at 4.  It should be a 12-minute ride, but traffic has become impossible lately.  We’re usually last-minute people, but I’ve been planning to get to Tel Aviv an hour earlier and if the traffic is okay we wind up sitting in a cafe and relaxing.  I like this way better, but I really don’t appreciate the motorcycles, bicycles, and other moving vehicles with 2 wheels moving in and out of the lanes.  I’m sure if you have driven in Tel Aviv you know what I mean.  No one escapes this fear.  Even pedestrians…  my friends have been run over – even my grandson was hit.

HERE ARE MY CYCLE TRAFFIC RULES:

  1. Licensing of every 2 wheeled vehicle
  2. traffic infractions enforced with tickets like automobiles
  3. Extra fines for hit and run
  4. mandatory insurance on all vehicles.
  5. enforcement of helmets 

october 21, 2021 – traffic Read Post »

israeli politics

It has been becoming clear to me why so many Arabs here know Hebrew as well.  Arabic is so much more complex than Hebrew – more letters, more sounds.  It must be a cinch to simplify…  I don’t know yet if there are more words – but it has taken me months to learn letters, and as far as sounds are concerned = well, remember, I’m tongue-tied and can barely pronounce words in English.  If it weren’t so important for me to learn Arabic, I’d have found a simpler hobby.   And with our isolation, I never get a chance to speak Arabic with anyone.  Hell, I barely get a chance to speak English….   

october 20, 2021 – Arabic Read Post »

israeli politics

You probably have heard this elsewhere, but in case you haven’t, the Energy Ministry put out these rules in case of an earthquake:

 

1. Go outside

 
Those inside buildings should go outside. If this is impossible, head to a bomb shelter with the door and windows opened, or head to the stairwell to go down to the exit. If this is still not possible, hide under heavy furniture. 

2. Stay away from dangerous structures

 
People who are outdoors should avoid standing close to buildings, bridges and electricity pylons. 

3. Leave the beach

 
Some earthquakes could cause a tsunami, so it is advised that one stay away from the beach.

4. Stop driving

Drivers should pull their vehicles over, turn off the engine and get out into the open but it is important to keep clear of bridges or interchanges.

october 19, 2021 – earthquake rules Read Post »

israeli politics

Okay, it finally happened.  I was electrified by a concert.  For years I’ve been going to the philharmonic waiting for the feeling of being totally enchanted.  Tonight I went with no expectations, worried that having to wear a mask for two hours is going to be a life-threatening experience or someone will breathe viruses onto us, or some other tragedy.  But Pinchas Zukerman played Bartok’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra with a virtuosity I can’t remember encountering, and the orchestra was so wonderful with Tschaikovsky’s Symphony #4, I didn’t mind the intellectual games Ligeti played in”Atmosphere.”  So if you are able to get to Tel Aviv for this concert, do it.  

And oh yes there was an earthquake today.

I’m still fluttering.

october 19, 2021 – pinchas zuckerman Read Post »

israeli politics

Oh, come on, it was everywhere: high school pressures, strangers on the street. Sometimes I wonder of any of those guys are still alive and feeling regretful.

But when I got out of school and into the world, it was horrendous.  I sat with Ezi yesterday and started counting the number of editors, professors, doctors, employers, and just people who wanted me to do things – sometimes for a job that I didn’t get because I didn’t behave…  So when I think of sexual abuse I think of how my career suffered from a lack of acquiescence and a sense of unworthiness as a result.

 

 

 

october 19, 2021 – sexual abuse in the seventies Read Post »

israeli politics

I must say this every year – certainly I think it.  The week before Rabin was murdered, we were going home in the evening and we noticed a very large group of religious girls with long jean skirts walking down the street next to ours, having come from the bus station.  And we wondered to each other what they could be doing in our boring neighborhood.  Oh, said someone, they’re probably going to demonstrate in front of Rabin’s house.  And we laughed.  He lived down the street, and we were used to it…

Why did we think it was such a trivial event?  That people felt they had the right to demonstrate in front of his house, to interfere with his life?  That the growing violence was okay? 

And yet today when I watch the memorial service and see that Bibi – who was the main instigator against Rabin – the man – is not present, I remember the tumult he created, the violence he called for.

And that violence continues today in a straight line since that terrible event.  We’ve just degenerated since Rabin’s murder.

 

october 18, 2021 – Yitzhak rabin z”l Read Post »

israeli politics

shimon peres

Complaints about Shimon Peres and sexual abuse have been coming in for  weeks since Colette Avital first confessed that he assaulted her.  It’s so strange to me, because I spent those years being assaulted by so many people of authority, but never by Peres.  

Maybe he had no opportunity and maybe I wasn’t attractive enough for him…  But I found him such a wonderful, brilliant man – with a great need to be loved.   I’m not defending him, but I am separating what he might have done sexually from what he wanted to do to save the country, to save the world. 

october 17, 2021 – Read Post »

israeli politics

 

 

They say that public violence has increased dramatically in our society.  It’s understandable that after 19 months of distancing and terror of illness, we would be suspicious of everyone and untrusting.  Still, I personally have no greater reason to be nasty to others than before Corona.   A friend lost her lover to cancer, another lost all her money in a nasty investment, a third hasn’t been able to find a job because who wants to hire an older man.  I don’t have any of those problems.  I am just realizing I put my poetry life on hold for the past year or so.  Maybe others feel that way too.  Maybe that’s enough to become violent….

  

october 17, 2021 – evil mood Read Post »