So now we've had the week of horror at "nothing to eat" because of no kitniot, the other posts about how yom tov is "too much food" and today the endless complaints about rain in the spring, and yes, I get that it's fun to complain, but if I may be pardoned a rant of my own a few days before Yom Hashoah.
Barukh Hashem we have matza and wine and fresh fruits and veg and eggs and meat and fish for those who eat them and nuts and quinoa for those who don't. We are free to openly celebrate Pesah and have access to enough food that we and our families have the choice of what and how much to serve, safe in the knowledge that no one will either arrive or leave the yom tov meal starving. We have choices and bounty that even pre-Shoah Jews in comfortable communities would be in awe of.
Even in our days of comparitive comfort though there are families who cannot afford enough food for Pesah, and Barukh Hashem we live in communities where people donate and contribute and volunteer to help those who need it and invite those with nowhere to go.
It's true, the last few days in Israel have been unseasonally cold and wet, but please remember that every bit of rain is a brakhah that sustains life in this arid region. We are not so rich in water that we can complain about an extra "windfall" of rain so late in the season, especially after so many years of drought. And it isn't as if we didn't have plenty of days of sun to enjoy the beautiful Israeli spring before the weekend's cloudburst.
I'm not saying one can never complain (I would appear to be complaining right now) but please people, some perspective, some hakarat hatov.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Elections
OK, some Israeli election facts for folks abroad who asked:
25 parties competing
120 seats in the Knesset (Israeli parliament)
Threshold required to enter the Knesset 3.25% of the vote
25 parties competing
120 seats in the Knesset (Israeli parliament)
Threshold required to enter the Knesset 3.25% of the vote
The third largest party in the Knesset is now Arab (United Arab List)
This Knesset has the highest number of Arab MKs of any Knesset. The new Knesset also has more women MKs than ever.
Head of the Central Election Committee: Supreme Court Justice Salim Jubran
When the official tally is in the president (whose position is mostly that of ceremonial head of state) will give the head of the party he considers most likely to be able to form a majority government of at least 61 Knesset members the opportunity to create a coalition. If they cannot do so in the allotted time the president can suggest the head of another party to try.
As for why Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu won?
I think many Israelis consider him a relatively safe pair of hands. Even if he isn't their favourite person he seems to be able to keep the Israeli ship on an even keel, negotiate the perilous region reasonably well. Not that he isn't without his mistakes, misteps and miscomments. Israelis are wary of experiments though, burned by the Oslo peace talks which erupted into the bloody Oslo intifada, waves of terrorism and the poorly handled Second Lebanon War during the government of Ehud Olmert (in which Tzipi Livni was also foreign minister).
Head of the Central Election Committee: Supreme Court Justice Salim Jubran
When the official tally is in the president (whose position is mostly that of ceremonial head of state) will give the head of the party he considers most likely to be able to form a majority government of at least 61 Knesset members the opportunity to create a coalition. If they cannot do so in the allotted time the president can suggest the head of another party to try.
As for why Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu won?
I think many Israelis consider him a relatively safe pair of hands. Even if he isn't their favourite person he seems to be able to keep the Israeli ship on an even keel, negotiate the perilous region reasonably well. Not that he isn't without his mistakes, misteps and miscomments. Israelis are wary of experiments though, burned by the Oslo peace talks which erupted into the bloody Oslo intifada, waves of terrorism and the poorly handled Second Lebanon War during the government of Ehud Olmert (in which Tzipi Livni was also foreign minister).
Netanyahu proved himself capable but cautious during last summer's conflict with Gaza. He did not rush in to military action except as a last resort when there were no other options and Israel had to act in self-defense. He kept a realistic view of what the aims of that war should be, he did not shoot his mouth off with bombastic statements, focusing on getting the job done and protecting Israelis from Hamas rockets and terror. No one is under any illusions that he is perfect, but so far his has done a reasonable job.
One other reason I think people voted Bibi. Tzipi Livni has been in charge of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority in the outgoing Netanyahu government. Despite her willingness for compromise there was no deal to be had. Obama's pressuring of one side, ie Israel helped to entrench Abbas' view that he could dig in and reject Livni's offers because time was on his side and more could be squeezed out of the Israeli negotiating team.
One other reason I think people voted Bibi. Tzipi Livni has been in charge of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority in the outgoing Netanyahu government. Despite her willingness for compromise there was no deal to be had. Obama's pressuring of one side, ie Israel helped to entrench Abbas' view that he could dig in and reject Livni's offers because time was on his side and more could be squeezed out of the Israeli negotiating team.
The outgoing Netanyahu led government released large numbers of Palestinian terrorists convicted for violent offences, including multiple murders, took the groundbreaking measure (for a Likud led government) of freezing construction over the Green Line, including the (for a Likud led govt) unheard of step of freezing construction in Jerusalem itself. Livni's negotiating team did all it could to go the extra mile. Yet the end result was complete rejection on the part of Abbas and more unilateral moves on his part to fight Israel on the international stage with BDS, the Hague and more. This is the background to Bibi's comments about 2 state solution and this is why many Israelis felt that Bibi and Livni had done their best but there was no deal to be had, so the best option was electing a "manager", someone like Bibi who would make the best of maintaining the "status quo" as it is.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Jerusalem's everyday kindness
Today in Jerusalem riding a very slow bus through Shivtei Yisrael/Haneviim through to the centre of town had plenty of time for people watching:
1) Bus couldn't pull in to the stop due to parked cars, older Hareidi man was getting off the bus and noticed a frail elderly lady having trouble walking from the bus shelter to the bus, he stretched out his hand, offered her physical support and let her lean on him to get off the curb and up on to the bus and into a seat.
1) Bus couldn't pull in to the stop due to parked cars, older Hareidi man was getting off the bus and noticed a frail elderly lady having trouble walking from the bus shelter to the bus, he stretched out his hand, offered her physical support and let her lean on him to get off the curb and up on to the bus and into a seat.
2) Heavily pregnant lady was having trouble getting on the bus with her heavy bags. Young Hassidic guy walked up to her and lifted her bags on to the bus, took them to his seat near the front and offered her his seat while he moved to the back of the bus.
3) Pair of tourists dressed in skimpy vests and tight jeans buying falafel at a kiosk, Hareidi man behind the counter serving them with a smile and good humour.
4) Man in a large knitted kipa, peyot and beard guiding a blind Arab man on to the bus.
5) Young Hassidic couple walking in the street, she in pink blouse and headscarf and light grey skirt, their similarly attired young daughter between them each holding one of her hands and swinging her while the three of them walking down the street laughing and chatting together.
Every time I go in to Jerusalem I see scenes like this and I feel like dropping a note to the world, not because the problems of this city aren't just as real, but to remind folks, especially those outside of Jerusalem and Israel that this is also part of the reality of life here, it is far from just modesty signs and disputes and tensions. Gmilut hassadim, loving kindness to one's fellow human being, is still very much alive and part and parcel of everyday life and coexistence in the city and that is what gives me hope for our nation, our future and the Middle East.
Alone in this crazy, combustable region of the world Jerusalem still manages to keep Isaiah's vision of peace and brotherly love real and tangible. Not through great projects and initiatives and politics (though there are many worthy individual engaged in such work), but through the simple practicality of throwing so many different people together in a patchwork city and creating a situation where they have to mix and mingle and cooperate in order to keep their city functioning, in order to live, and through the simple act of everyday living even the most polarised ideological foes have to experience the humanity of the other. I am not so naive as to believe that this will bring real peace tomorrow, but I do know that it is a great deal closer to realising that dream than just about any other city in the Middle East.
Every time I go in to Jerusalem I see scenes like this and I feel like dropping a note to the world, not because the problems of this city aren't just as real, but to remind folks, especially those outside of Jerusalem and Israel that this is also part of the reality of life here, it is far from just modesty signs and disputes and tensions. Gmilut hassadim, loving kindness to one's fellow human being, is still very much alive and part and parcel of everyday life and coexistence in the city and that is what gives me hope for our nation, our future and the Middle East.
Alone in this crazy, combustable region of the world Jerusalem still manages to keep Isaiah's vision of peace and brotherly love real and tangible. Not through great projects and initiatives and politics (though there are many worthy individual engaged in such work), but through the simple practicality of throwing so many different people together in a patchwork city and creating a situation where they have to mix and mingle and cooperate in order to keep their city functioning, in order to live, and through the simple act of everyday living even the most polarised ideological foes have to experience the humanity of the other. I am not so naive as to believe that this will bring real peace tomorrow, but I do know that it is a great deal closer to realising that dream than just about any other city in the Middle East.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Loopy for lupins
This spring we have made several visits to the wonderful Tel Sokho nature reserve, site of the biblical and Talmudic era town of Sokho. The reason to visit this site right NOW is to see the glorious amazing lupins, great swathes of them spread over the ridge and down some of the slopes, one of the greatest seasonal wonders of central Israel.
A flower trip with the our family has to involve a critter safari so here, along with some of the wonderful flowers are some of the more interesting reptiles and bugs we met (the butterflies were too elusive to capture on camera, but we saw some beauties my daughter declared to be courting couples)
A flower trip with the our family has to involve a critter safari so here, along with some of the wonderful flowers are some of the more interesting reptiles and bugs we met (the butterflies were too elusive to capture on camera, but we saw some beauties my daughter declared to be courting couples)
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Uri Orbach, may his memory be for a blessing
Today Israel lost one of her finest, children's author, journalist, politician and finally government minister Uri Orbach z"l.
Many leading rabbis, politicians, journalists and public figures have written tributes to this special man, people who knew him well and less well, who worked with him, appeared on tv and radio with him, served in government with him.
I am by no means one of those, I barely knew him personally, but what I did know of him was that every sterling testiment to his goodness you'll read in the press is 1000% true.
Uri Orbach prayed at our local synagogue. He sat a couple of rows behind my husband's seat. A leading public figure but he sat in a regular seat in a middle row pew just like any ordinary synagogue goer, not special honours, no place of privilege. He greeted everyone with the same genuine smile and shabbat shalom.
My oldest child has always loved his books; from kindergarten onwards they were some of the Jewish themed stories she liked to take to synagogue with her. One Friday night Uri Orbach noticed that she was reading a book he had written. Without revealing that he was the author he asked her about the book, whether she liked it, what she liked or didn't like and all with a gentle humour and smile that put the little girl at her ease.
This became a sort of ritual, he'd see her with a book, often one of his, ask her about it, she'd chat a little about the book, he'd wish her shabbat shalom and that was it. He never let on that he was the author of some her books.
Only later did another congregant let alone who the man who liked to talk about books was. And she was thrilled, a real live author of some of her favourite books who prayed in the same synagogue as her.
Many leading rabbis, politicians, journalists and public figures have written tributes to this special man, people who knew him well and less well, who worked with him, appeared on tv and radio with him, served in government with him.
I am by no means one of those, I barely knew him personally, but what I did know of him was that every sterling testiment to his goodness you'll read in the press is 1000% true.
Uri Orbach prayed at our local synagogue. He sat a couple of rows behind my husband's seat. A leading public figure but he sat in a regular seat in a middle row pew just like any ordinary synagogue goer, not special honours, no place of privilege. He greeted everyone with the same genuine smile and shabbat shalom.
My oldest child has always loved his books; from kindergarten onwards they were some of the Jewish themed stories she liked to take to synagogue with her. One Friday night Uri Orbach noticed that she was reading a book he had written. Without revealing that he was the author he asked her about the book, whether she liked it, what she liked or didn't like and all with a gentle humour and smile that put the little girl at her ease.
This became a sort of ritual, he'd see her with a book, often one of his, ask her about it, she'd chat a little about the book, he'd wish her shabbat shalom and that was it. He never let on that he was the author of some her books.
Only later did another congregant let alone who the man who liked to talk about books was. And she was thrilled, a real live author of some of her favourite books who prayed in the same synagogue as her.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
We shall overcome
I've heard a lot of people today saying that today's horrific synagogue slaughter is "too much", an attack too far, an act of such barbarity that something will have to change.
The sad thing is that it isn't "too much", we've all "been in this movie before", last time around when there was a surge like this in attacks and Palestinian rantings about "the Jews and Al Aqsa" it got way worse before it got any better and we lost a lot more people. I pray that this time will be different but there is a certain pattern to the insanity here, the way it surges and wanes.
This is not an easy reality to live with, especially as parents to young kids, but painful as it is Israelis have been living and dying with it for decades, most recently during the Oslo intifada years of the early 2000s.
We are a nation suffering collective PTSD, no doubt, but we will find a way to live with it, we always do, whatever they throw at us, however many they kill and hurt, we will hug our kids and grit our teeth and keep going because this is our home and we are the Jewish people and it's never been easy to be a Jew and there is always someone trying to kill us in every generation, בכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלתנו והקבה מצילנו מידם
The day breaks, your mind aches
Back in the bad old days of the early 2000s I had nightmares about mornings like this, we had so many of them. Terror bursting in to what should have been the mundane morning routine and turning it blood splattered and broken, Israeli lives once again destroyed by murderers motivated by unfathomable hatred.
It's been feeling a lot like November 2000 lately, Palestinian terror striking down so many Israelis week after week, a new wave of attacks that echo the early violence of what became known as the Second Intifada or the Oslo War.
How I prayed that those days were over. Days whose evil imprint marks the soul of all of us who lived through them. Days when you lost count of just how many terror attacks there had been, could no longer keep track of the places and dates and names because there were just too many and a new part of the daily routine was simply wondering if you or someone you loved would be the next person to be struck down commuting to work or doing the groceries or taking the kids to school.
That old familiar dread returned again with a vengence this morning as I was sorting socks. My husband was standing in the bathroom, reading the news updates on his phone as he brushed his teeth. Suddenly he stopped, gasped, fell silent. I knew it was going to be bad.
Attack on a synagogue during morning prayers.
In the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Har Nof.
I would have felt that too familiar pang of dread on hearing of such an attack anywhere, but Har Nof, Hashem Yishmor, Har Nof, the neighbourhood we once lived in, where we have relatives, friends, former neighbours, acquaintances, so many people, so heartachingly familiar, so many good good people.
It's been feeling a lot like November 2000 lately, Palestinian terror striking down so many Israelis week after week, a new wave of attacks that echo the early violence of what became known as the Second Intifada or the Oslo War.
How I prayed that those days were over. Days whose evil imprint marks the soul of all of us who lived through them. Days when you lost count of just how many terror attacks there had been, could no longer keep track of the places and dates and names because there were just too many and a new part of the daily routine was simply wondering if you or someone you loved would be the next person to be struck down commuting to work or doing the groceries or taking the kids to school.
That old familiar dread returned again with a vengence this morning as I was sorting socks. My husband was standing in the bathroom, reading the news updates on his phone as he brushed his teeth. Suddenly he stopped, gasped, fell silent. I knew it was going to be bad.
Attack on a synagogue during morning prayers.
In the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Har Nof.
I would have felt that too familiar pang of dread on hearing of such an attack anywhere, but Har Nof, Hashem Yishmor, Har Nof, the neighbourhood we once lived in, where we have relatives, friends, former neighbours, acquaintances, so many people, so heartachingly familiar, so many good good people.
A place of happy memories, of simple kindnesses from neighbours, walks in the woods and being stranded in the snow. A neighbourhood packed with synagogues and yeshivot and hesed organisations and charities, Torah, mitzvot and good deeds. Har Nof.
Har Nof, now a place known in all of Israel as the Jerusalem neighourhood where terrorists ripped in to a group of pious Jews at prayer, wrapped in their tallitot and tefillin as Palestinian murderers attacked them with guns and axes, killing and maiming, soaking the synagogue in Jewish blood.
All morning I had kids to prepare for kindergarten and playgroup, lunch to prepare, chores and projects to do, activities to organise, children to pick up and drop off. Routine to keep my mind from thinking or checking the news or wondering with terror what names I might hear.
This afternoon though lunch had been eaten, kids were busy playing or at youth group, laundry folded, time to check the news, see the photos and choke back the tears.
One of those murdered today was Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg הי"ד the father of a childhood friend from London. Not someone I'd met often, but someone who made an impression on me, a living embodiment of Torah Ve'Avodah, a pious Jew, who made a point of both working for his living and learning Torah regularly. A mensch in every respect. A good person.
My mind refuses to comprehend such a person being taken from this world with such utter barbarism, murdered during morning prayers, wrapped in his tallit and tefillin. May Hashem comfort and care for the family.
Har Nof, now a place known in all of Israel as the Jerusalem neighourhood where terrorists ripped in to a group of pious Jews at prayer, wrapped in their tallitot and tefillin as Palestinian murderers attacked them with guns and axes, killing and maiming, soaking the synagogue in Jewish blood.
All morning I had kids to prepare for kindergarten and playgroup, lunch to prepare, chores and projects to do, activities to organise, children to pick up and drop off. Routine to keep my mind from thinking or checking the news or wondering with terror what names I might hear.
This afternoon though lunch had been eaten, kids were busy playing or at youth group, laundry folded, time to check the news, see the photos and choke back the tears.
One of those murdered today was Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg הי"ד the father of a childhood friend from London. Not someone I'd met often, but someone who made an impression on me, a living embodiment of Torah Ve'Avodah, a pious Jew, who made a point of both working for his living and learning Torah regularly. A mensch in every respect. A good person.
My mind refuses to comprehend such a person being taken from this world with such utter barbarism, murdered during morning prayers, wrapped in his tallit and tefillin. May Hashem comfort and care for the family.
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