Monday, December 27, 2010
Health Care lost in translation...
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The ugliest building on earth and ad hoc snapshots
Escanian speciality |
Kingdom of pork specializes in...I'll give you one guess. |
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Freedom forgotten?
We ALL owe God one death.
All of us. And I rather live free than in prison.
Anyone remember FREEDOM? Like that? In BOLD LETTERS? It wasn't that long ago, people. I remember.
Pictures and stories
Someday I'll try to write something on Israeli architecture. For now I'll just say that it's comprised of an interesting hodge-podge of super modern and strange and horribly ugly and beautiful. Below some representative pics.
My adoptive family. Well, or something of the like. I've been very, very fortunate in founding a family like that of Rabbi Nissim. His door is always open like that of Abraham Avino, and he always have time for a cup of coffee, some Torah study and a cigarette. I'm there several times a week, studying, eating and just hanging out. We only communicate in Hebrew as his English actually is worse that my Heeb. His kids are a wonderful, noisy, happy and polite bunch. As soon as they get a chance they steal my cell phone and run away with it to take photos. These photos are usually not much, but a few of the (where I figure) are at least workable:-)
Orthodox Jewish families and child rearing. While I have heard stories of orthodox authoritarian families, I have never seen them. On the contrary. The happiest, most harmonious, most childish, most polite and kindest children I have ever met, I have met in Orthodox families.
The sand storm finally passed. It too a good few hours to clean out all the sand flour from the apartment, that had stuck to everything everywhere.
Monday, December 13, 2010
A very short comment on Islam
Most practicing and believing Muslims are not jihadists. And basically the largest part of immigrants from the Muslim world are not practicing or believing Muslims. However.
Islam has serious problems in facing the modern world. It is a conquerors religion which has no room for honorable compromise – the world is in the eyes of Islam divided in Dar-al-Islam (House of Islam) and Dar-al-Harb (House of War). Period. No grayish, boring middle ground. The exceptions to this outlook (they do exist) remain an extreme minority, aggressively disregarded by mainstream Islamic practice and theory as formulated in Mecca or Cairo.
The only ones who can change this picture are peaceful religious Muslims in the West. And so far they aren't doing it. As long as they leave the interpretative privilege in the hands of preachers and theologians in the Arab world, nothing will happen. There is a misconception among religous Muslims in the West that this is not their problem, and that they can go to Mosque on Friday and listen to the same hate sermons, or political apologetics for hands-on jihad, as do the crazies, and somehow be home free because they don't kill anyone. I blame this to a large part on an Arab culture of conformism, lethargy and obedience to authority and authoritarianism. Another misconception is that ever so many Intellectuals from the Muslim world can bring about any change. They can't. They are secular. They have as much a say in the direction of Islam as has Barak Obama. It is only and solely the religious Muslims who can.
Hamas teaching the young. |
To be even clearer: Another, and even much more blood soaked religion, like Islam, spawned from Judaism, 2000 years ago. And it took the Christians some 1700 years to at least partially get their shit together and abandon their barbarism and blood thirst. Problem is though, our modern fast-paced age does not have this kind of patience. Nobody, meaning nobody, will accept another 200 years of Muslim suicide terrorism, before religious Muslims - in word an deed - loudly start asking themselves what the hell they are doing and what their leaders are saying.
It may be considered unfair that the Christians were given a longer grace period for their barbarism. But then again, the crusaders and inquisitors did not have the material privileges of today, such as the Internet, cell phones or computer. Nor the Atom Bomb.
Left wingers will no doubt claim the suicide bomber in Stockholm was a madman, possibly provoked into a psychotic state by the Islamophobia rampant in Europe (Islamophobia is indeed rampant in Europe). The fear-mongering racists will paint this as a reason to lash out at every Muslim, and portray the would-be mass murderer as the first soldier of the invading armies of suicide bombers. The liberals will be somewhere in between, stuck between a rock and a hard place, for fear of saying anything that can turn into an argument for either of the previous two. But whether suicide bomber was mentally ill or not, he would not have killed himself the way he did if he had been a Buddhist or Sikh. And as long as nobody will discuss why 100 % of all suicide bombers are religious Muslims, and as long as this will not also be intensely discussed among religious Muslims, Islamophobia will keep growing, and Islam will continue to produce martyrs.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sand storm pics...
Clear weather view from my window.... |
...and sand storm view from my window. |
Get smart or die trying...from slipping on the muddy tiles.
So sure enough, when I now 6 hours later came back from a diagnostic Hebrew test for another round of Ulpan, the plentiful water outside his door still hadn't dried up, seeing as Beer Sheva is not only windy, stormy and sandy, but also cold. What had happened though, obviously, was that more sand had blown in from the desert of our dreams and longings, turnings the 20 or so wet mopped meters outside his door into a bleeding, slippery mud swamp, part of which has by now entered all our apartments via our shoes. Thanks, dimwit. If I ever see you again wet mopping the tile floor in the sand storm, I shall kick you in the behind. Hard.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Mashiv HaRuach....
There are basically three weather phenomenons that can magically make whole pieces of a city disappear. The first and most common to westerners is fog. Slightly less common is smog. The first time I witnessed the magic power of air pollution was when I had already spent a week in Santiago De Chile, capital of Chile. After a night of heavy rain I stepped out on the porch and do my amazement fount that the whole city was surrounded by the most brilliantly shining and beautiful, snow-capped mountain range, crystal clearly visible agains the clear blue sky. The rain had cleared the smog. Two days later the mountain range was gone.
Santiago on a clear day. |
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Chief Rabbi's and Stir-Fries and the latest from The Negev!
* Spent Shabbes with my Rabbi, eating his wife's good food and drinking his booze and playin with his kids and discussing Torah. As it's Chanukah leave most of the family was gathered as his older sons had vacation from their yeshivot. We had a good time and it's striking how easy it is in this country to combine a frum life with a modern one. I'm amazed that so few people here choose not to.
* Wednesday last week I was invited to my FB friend Shaul Boaz who I've never met IRL before, as he and his girlfriend was taking the opportunity to celebrate their Eruzim (engagement) on the first day of Chanukah. So I went to Jerusalem. It was a very nice crowd that gathered but I felt a bit out of it as all his friends were 25 year old Americans. It made me feel a bit old, as well as badly anti-social. There is something with college-age middle class Americans that I can't deal with. They seem to be competing in the art of saying the most amount of words per minute. They are usually very likable, I just never know what to say in their company. I did however have a couple of interesting conversations with the guitar guy (all parties have one and I used to be one myself) and with a Sofer who was actually older than me and who left almost immediately.
Jerusalem, if I forget thee.... |
Chanukiya outside Jaffa Gate |
Woke up in a..... |
counterpart to..... |
Nytorget in Stockholm.... |
Très Chique.......Meh. |
* The Vibe has moved in to the apartment. This truly likable man spends his time in Ulpan, or in the apartment listening to The Matrix Soundtracj at high volume in the speakers he has bought for his cellphone. He is still having conversations with his spleen, and even with the intestines of a few clients. But his vibes are good and he is a great guy. Last week I had dinner with him at Beer Shevas best kosher stir-fry place.
The Vibe enjoying his toothpick, post stir-fry orgy. |
* Speaking of Americans - how do they stand moving here? The slightest hint of state involvment in the US is greeted with hysterical claims of the immediate advent of Communism. But do believe this – Israel is the DDR. If you change address, phone number or scratch your head, you can expect some non-name bureaucrat to show up and demand the you identify yourself and sign a bunch of papers. Last week one of them called on my cell phone and demanded that I give her my ID Card number. WTF?? I was seriously tempted to ask her : "If you DO have my cell phone number, how can you conceivably NOT HAVE MY ID NUMBER DUMBASS???". ID's are - after all - issued by the state....so the state shouldn't call me and ask for it. But it's Israel, no point in arguing, so I gave it to her...
* What's in a name? After long deliberation I decided to change my name to my Jewish name, fair and square, instead of going with one of the compromises I've been considering. I am who and what I am in any case, a son, a brother, a friend. I'm not my name. And if I'm gonna live here, I might as well have one that Israelis will know how to spell.
* The Kotel (or as the xstians horribly call it, the "Wailing wall"). So I was in Jerusalem, but I didn't really have the energy to go to the Kotel. In any case I ended up in The Old City anyway, and so I went down there to say Aravit. The place was almost empty except for a minyan in the one corner. I started davening, and I noticed the Shaliach Shibour (The Prayer Leader), was using a microphone. After a while I looked to him, and Lo and Behold! - the dude leading the prayer was the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Amar! I managed to snap a few (bad) photos when he and his bodyguards left. An amazing experience no doubt.
Rav Shlomo Amar leaving after... |
...leading Aravit prayers by the Kotel. |
Wall Newspapers in Meah Shearim |
Leaving the din of Ir HaKodesh... |
And going home to the Negev....seated on the entrance stair after a short shouting match who didn't want to let me on the over packed bus. |
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Full body cameras and voodoo
Flying was always one of the safest activities you could experience. Even during the roaring 70's, when the PLO and other crazies hijacked anything they could lay their hands on, flying was still immensely more safe than driving your car to work, having a shower or simply taking a nice stroll in the local park. The risks of having to endure a highjacking was exceedingly low even in a time when getting a gun onto an airplane was a fairly easy thing to pull. So why is it that our security concerns surrounding air traffic is bordering on hysteria? Many reasons might be cited, such as the feeling of being out of control when on an airplane, as opposed to the decidedly false sense of security and control when driving your car. But the truth is, non of these reasons are rational.
There are hundreds of "soft" targets for terrorists to attack, even in a country like Israel, obsessed as it is with security. Trains, concert and sport venues, political gatherings such as demonstrations or sit-ins, company workshops, malls, the list is endless. And no matter what we do, this will always be the case. Because if we imposed the kind of security strictures on all human mass activity as we do on air traffic, the world as we know would come to a halt. And the terrorists would have won. Airports have become voodoo shrines where we sacrifice our personal integrity and honor to unknown deities, in a vain attempt to appease our fears and our sense of insecurity, caused by our being mortals in an insecure world. Rationality is thrown to the dogs when we install full body cameras that can only reasonably uncover hidden arms, something metal detectors have already been doing for 50 years. But the truth is, that any security we may hope for, lies in your fellow human beings. The overwhelming majority of the human race is not prepared to commit mass murder for any political goal, faith or idea, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or geographical background. And no matter how much security we put in place, this will always remain the main reason why terror attacks are so relatively rare.
Now, I'm not saying we should do away with airport security. I too feel safer knowing that all passengers have to pass metal detectors and that intelligence organizations are keeping tabs on crazies, political fanatics and self appointed world saviors . But I am saying enough is enough. I do not want pictures of my privates or those of my wife to be on display for some bored college drop-out, nor saved for posteriority together with millions of others in ever growing data archives (Yep, I know what they say. They are lying. Security organizations always save their finds, with or without the explicit consent of their governments. And if they didn't, from where do these pictures leak in the thousands?). These cameras are an insult. Period. Enough is enough.
the girl from the lost and found department
she comes to me in dreams
i hear the echoing whispers of her sneakers in the
old abandoned storage building
dusty cardboard boxes, coffers and long since forgotten luggage
destinations never reached
in times since long ago committed to memories in black and white
i find her by a desk going through an old ladies white leather handbag
the black bakelite desk phone looks like it hasn't rung for eons
she lifts here gaze and says: welcome to the lost and found department
of Long Lost Railroads, how may I help you?
when I don't answer, she turns back to the handbag, pulls out a handkerchief
i am about to ask her if she works here when she says: you shouldn't be here
this late
if you stay too long, you stay forever, it's time for you to leave
I say: what about you? she says: I lost me a long time ago, i already left
I want to ask her if she recognizes me, but as she dials a number on the phone
i hear the lower east side harbor din and distant christmas carols
bowery
the multicolored snowflakes swirling in the biting ellis island onshore wind
on Delancey Street, a bearded face, pointing toward the rusty bridgehead, he says:
that is where you're headed, see you on the other side
I see her still sometimes in lonely allies and in dreams
she's always in a rush, pushing the white handbag close to her
she never sees me
and we never speak