israeli politics

a poem in Yiddish

my grandson likes to quote poems – a while ago he picked up a Russian nursery rhyme from me and I recorded it.  he can still quote it at the drop of a hat, and last week he did an English poem – with great humor and emotion.  Today he asked me to give him a Yiddish one – and i know he needs something short and funny.  So i wrote one.  

דער קאטער שלאפט זיך אפן דאך

ער גייט ארויס אין הגאס ביי נאכט

ער טומעלט זיך ארום א סאך

און שלאפט גאנצענע טעג אך דאך

too late to give it to him, but i’ll bet he learns it fast.

in English it would be

The cat sits on the roof

he goes wandering at night

he raises such a ruckus 

so he sleeps all day on the roof

 

 

 

january 10, 2021 – Read Post »

israeli politics

Ronny Sommek

 

Zoom

 

I count the bears on R’s pajamas   

From twelfth grade listening

To me reading a poem

About ballet shoes.

The teacher T’  in the next square

Missed a hair above the left eye

When she tried to be exact

Plucking her eyebrows

The beard of Teacher Y’

Is more manicured

Than the Gardens of Luxembourg

And the cat on the lap of  H

Deserves an embrace.

D’ judging by his shirt is a member

Of the Nature Conservation Group,

And the flowers in the vase behind him

I identify as permitted to pick.

K’s turtle-neck sweater is black and, she

Looks like the raven in the old Scottish ballad,

And I hope that T doesn’t fix that eagle nose

That really complements her,

And while we’re on the subject of the nose:

The fact that P’ is the ideal

Of painters of Aphrodite

That N’ is freckled

And H’ is too close to the camera.

 

She’s the last to turn off the video

And my eyes suddenly munch on my own

the screen that fills

with squares of chocolate.

 

translated by Karen Alkalay-Gut –

all rights reserved

January 10, 2021 – poem by Ronny sommek Read Post »

israeli politics

Today at my brother’s weekly Mishna lesson we got to this: 

Mishnah 5:18.  Whoever causes the multitudes to be righteous, sin will not occur on his account; And whoever causes the multitudes to sin, they do not give him the ability to repent. Moses was righteous and caused the multitudes to be righteous, [therefore] the righteousness of the multitudes is hung on him, as it is said, “He executed the Lord’s righteousness and His decisions with Israel” (Deuteronomy 33:21). Jeroboam, sinned and caused the multitudes to sin, [therefore] the sin of the multitudes is hung on him, as it is said, “For the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he caused Israel to sin thereby” (I Kings 15:30).

The responsibility of a leader is great.  I don’t know what I would do, how I would sleep at night.   The fact that our leader was supposed to come up for a criminal trial this week, but managed to get it postponed, seems to me to be a very bad example to set.  “It doesn’t matter what you do, but whether you get caught”  is not a good rule to follow.  

 

And to my mind, the responsibility of choosing a leader is no less great in a democracy.  

 

january 9, 2021 – Mishna lesson Read Post »

blog, poetry

we’ve got 2 weeks of lockdown for sure, and maybe a bit more.  People around here blame the weddings and schools in the religious sector and the Arab sector and say that if Bibi wasn’t so scared of losing their vote, we could have had a partial lockdown of these areas alone.  Had we not had agreements with Dubai, we might not have let people go in and out of the airport without testing.  The number of people who came back from Dubai with Corona was very significant.   Even more significant is the fact that the lockdown has enabled a postponement of the trial of Bibi.  It is pretty clear that the lockdown is the result of this final factor and the government easily led us to this.  We’ve been in such isolation anyway, so it’s hard to see much of a difference.  But the number of unemployed, the number of businesses that have closed, the number of people in financial ruin, has been so high and the current situation has finished them off.

january 8, 2021 – why are we in lockdown Read Post »

israeli politics

The last time I was in New York,  well over a year ago, our friends told us that the coup attempt we are watching now in the Capitol was inevitable given, the rhetoric of the president.  

Wasn’t anyone else aware of the possibilities of the results of such inflammatory language?  It’s impossible for me to comprehend that there was no back-up plan in case this kind of situation occurred.

 And it’s impossible to believe we will be able to stem these events in the near future.

I’m looking at the steps of the Capitol and remembering the first time I saw those steps.  A photograph of my father standing with the NY state senator.  Incredible pride in my father’s face that his case for Israel was being heard.  I have to find that photo.  It made me proud to be an American….

january 6, 2021 – it had to happen Read Post »

blog, poetry

In case you haven’t noticed, today is the day when we celebrate the Hebrew language.  How did I find out?  My 8-year old granddaughter learned about it in school and told me on facetime that she had learned about Haim Nachman Bialik today and his significance in the development of the language. 

So I made a point of listening to Avshalom Kor and his praise of the complexities of Hebrew.  My own difficulties with Hebrew stem exactly from that – that as the language of the bible that was revived only a century ago, each word drops you into a world thousands of years old.  I love that but it scares me – the depth of Hebrew… 

january 5, 2021 – Hebrew language day Read Post »