A friend of mine got a last minute phone call yesterday.
"We desperately need you to staff our trip which begins tomorrow, what do you think?"
Long story short, he was supposed to go home in three days, do some work and then head to a conference which he partially planned. They offered to change his Israel and domestic flights, plus pay him a stipend and he would only staff half of their trip. He told them to call me.
I'm staffing my second Taglit-Birthright Israel trip of the summer...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Do we need any milk?
The phone rings.
"Hey, I heard something went down, I just wanted to check and make sure that you are OK."
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks...have fun in Tel Aviv."
Check jpost, haaretz, cnn.com. Another renegade bulldozer.
A few more phones ring.
"Yeah, we're all fine, take care."
A few outgoing calls are placed.
"Is everyone there OK?" "Good."
Check for updates on jpost and haaretz, the injury toll has risen in the last hour from 2 to 16.
The phone rings.
"Do we need any milk?" "Yeah pick some up on your way home, see you in five."
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Get out of town!
On Thursday I caught a bus to Tel Aviv. I have a friend from camp many summers ago who lives in Herzeliya, which is a 15 minute drive north of Tel Aviv. The first thing I thought in the bus station in Jerusalem was "Geez, I haven't done this in a long time" Traveling, going somewhere new, exploring the sights etc. I feel less like I'm traveling when I plan to stay in one place for the year. For some reason it feels different than when I lived in Spain. I'm not traveling in Israel unless I go somewhere outside of Jerusalem.
My Israeli friend disagreed with me when I expressed my jealousy of his fast approaching post army trip to South America. I'm so jealous that he gets to see a new place and try new foods and have crazy stories. He pointed out that I'm traveling in Israel for this whole year. But for some reason it doesn't feel the same to me. I've participated in Taglit-Birthright Israel 3 times now in some capacity and I feel like I've seen the sights. This time around felt even a little like overkill. So when I went to Tel Aviv this weekend and I pulled out my guide book, I realized I had already seen and done the suggestions in the book.
I decided to wander around while I waited for my Israeli friend to finish work. I found an Ethiopian restaurant (there are lots of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, but Tel Aviv is the only city with any significant Ethiopian culture, ie. good food) and enjoyed myself for two hours. It's pretty difficult to eat a meal for two hours by yourself. I ordered something which turned out to be not what I expected (but definitely still good) and then I watched a large party that was sitting behind me.
Half their table was Ethiopian and the other half a mix of English speakers. The Ethiopian half was definitely the most interesting. I watched what they ordered and how they ate it. It's possible that the reason I like Ethiopian food so much is because you traditionally eat with your hands. There is a special bread that you use to scoop up the bits of meat and vegetables (which are spread out on a plate of the same bread, about the size of a large pizza) and then you just shove it in your mouth. The food is quite tasty, with a lot of different spices and I thoroughly enjoy it. (Apparently I have to give Indian food a second chance, but don't keep your fingers crossed)
After they finished eating they got the waitress to put on a traditional Ethiopian CD and one of the guys started dancing. All of the other patrons in the restaurant were quite entertained and he started to teach the English speakers at his table how to dance Ethiopian style. All I can say is its a lot of shoulder popping. While I watched the dancers I noticed I had a huge smile on my face. As a side note, it's difficult to travel by oneself, I guess something about shared experience and the human condition. But the good time that this group was having radiated itself throughout the restaurant and had everyone enjoying themselves.
After that I walked to the beach where I sat in the sand staring at the almost full moon until my friend picked me up.
It was interesting to spend Shabbat with an Israeli family. It was just a weekend for them. They ate lunch all together on Friday because they were all home. They did their own things on Friday night. His mother lit candles at some point, but when we sat down to eat our pita and hummus, he was surprised when I asked for wine. "But wine doesn't go with hummus!" I questioned him further on his Jewish observance. He doesn't go to synagogue, not even on Yom Kippur. He doesn't even fast, although his family does. I made a comment that he would have to raise his children in Israel, because if not they wouldn't even be Jewish. Many Israelis (the secular kind) take Judaism for granted. They are Jewish because they are Israeli and that is that. They don't understand liberal Judaism and why it has such an important place in the diaspora. I asked if he had enjoyed services when we were at camp and his response was "those weren't services, they were a concert" I think it's interesting that in order for Judaism to be engaging for a vast majority of American Jews it has to stray from tradition, or at least reinvent it.
Going away for the weekend illustrated another point which I'll have to check out as I interact with more Israelis. Throughout the weekend when we would drive somewhere, the Israelis would put their things in the trunk as a safety precaution. This is normal in my opinion, especially when you are traveling in another country. However, at one point on Saturday, we went to the Tel Aviv art museum and when I requested to put my bag in the trunk I was told, "Why? There are no Arabs here." I started a conversation about this.
It appears to me that while there is a lot of ethnic diversity in Israel, these ethnicities are pretty segregated. Ethiopians generally hang out with Ethiopians, Russians definitely with Russians, Filipino with Filipino, Arabs with Arabs and so on. The thing that these ethnic groups have in common is that they are generally poor. The Arabs however, are the only group that aren't recent immigrants. I understand that people are segregated by social class in the US, but it just seems like there is a lot more cross over. I just spent a year working at a university with every imaginable ethnicity you could think of. If you wanted to make friends who were not just like you it was totally possible. And now I understand what Muslim-Jewish dialog is really about. How can you understand the other side if you never interact with them on a personal level? The person selling you your vegetables or driving your cab is not the same as the person you hang out with at the beach or go the movies with. If you can't see them as real people who are very similar to you, then they will always be just "the other."
It was eye-opening to spend a few days outside of Jerusalem and with some Israelis. Hopefully I'll continue to see new things and get a clearer picture of what Israel is really like. And maybe if you're lucky I'll even sit down and write about it!
P.s. I took my friend back to the Ethiopian restaurant because he had never tasted Ethiopian food before, and he told me he thought it was the next new trend. He even planned to bring his friends because it was so good and he was sure none of them had ever heard of an Ethiopian restaurant let alone tried the food, despite the large Ethiopian community living in their backyard!
My Israeli friend disagreed with me when I expressed my jealousy of his fast approaching post army trip to South America. I'm so jealous that he gets to see a new place and try new foods and have crazy stories. He pointed out that I'm traveling in Israel for this whole year. But for some reason it doesn't feel the same to me. I've participated in Taglit-Birthright Israel 3 times now in some capacity and I feel like I've seen the sights. This time around felt even a little like overkill. So when I went to Tel Aviv this weekend and I pulled out my guide book, I realized I had already seen and done the suggestions in the book.
I decided to wander around while I waited for my Israeli friend to finish work. I found an Ethiopian restaurant (there are lots of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, but Tel Aviv is the only city with any significant Ethiopian culture, ie. good food) and enjoyed myself for two hours. It's pretty difficult to eat a meal for two hours by yourself. I ordered something which turned out to be not what I expected (but definitely still good) and then I watched a large party that was sitting behind me.
Half their table was Ethiopian and the other half a mix of English speakers. The Ethiopian half was definitely the most interesting. I watched what they ordered and how they ate it. It's possible that the reason I like Ethiopian food so much is because you traditionally eat with your hands. There is a special bread that you use to scoop up the bits of meat and vegetables (which are spread out on a plate of the same bread, about the size of a large pizza) and then you just shove it in your mouth. The food is quite tasty, with a lot of different spices and I thoroughly enjoy it. (Apparently I have to give Indian food a second chance, but don't keep your fingers crossed)
After they finished eating they got the waitress to put on a traditional Ethiopian CD and one of the guys started dancing. All of the other patrons in the restaurant were quite entertained and he started to teach the English speakers at his table how to dance Ethiopian style. All I can say is its a lot of shoulder popping. While I watched the dancers I noticed I had a huge smile on my face. As a side note, it's difficult to travel by oneself, I guess something about shared experience and the human condition. But the good time that this group was having radiated itself throughout the restaurant and had everyone enjoying themselves.
After that I walked to the beach where I sat in the sand staring at the almost full moon until my friend picked me up.
It was interesting to spend Shabbat with an Israeli family. It was just a weekend for them. They ate lunch all together on Friday because they were all home. They did their own things on Friday night. His mother lit candles at some point, but when we sat down to eat our pita and hummus, he was surprised when I asked for wine. "But wine doesn't go with hummus!" I questioned him further on his Jewish observance. He doesn't go to synagogue, not even on Yom Kippur. He doesn't even fast, although his family does. I made a comment that he would have to raise his children in Israel, because if not they wouldn't even be Jewish. Many Israelis (the secular kind) take Judaism for granted. They are Jewish because they are Israeli and that is that. They don't understand liberal Judaism and why it has such an important place in the diaspora. I asked if he had enjoyed services when we were at camp and his response was "those weren't services, they were a concert" I think it's interesting that in order for Judaism to be engaging for a vast majority of American Jews it has to stray from tradition, or at least reinvent it.
Going away for the weekend illustrated another point which I'll have to check out as I interact with more Israelis. Throughout the weekend when we would drive somewhere, the Israelis would put their things in the trunk as a safety precaution. This is normal in my opinion, especially when you are traveling in another country. However, at one point on Saturday, we went to the Tel Aviv art museum and when I requested to put my bag in the trunk I was told, "Why? There are no Arabs here." I started a conversation about this.
It appears to me that while there is a lot of ethnic diversity in Israel, these ethnicities are pretty segregated. Ethiopians generally hang out with Ethiopians, Russians definitely with Russians, Filipino with Filipino, Arabs with Arabs and so on. The thing that these ethnic groups have in common is that they are generally poor. The Arabs however, are the only group that aren't recent immigrants. I understand that people are segregated by social class in the US, but it just seems like there is a lot more cross over. I just spent a year working at a university with every imaginable ethnicity you could think of. If you wanted to make friends who were not just like you it was totally possible. And now I understand what Muslim-Jewish dialog is really about. How can you understand the other side if you never interact with them on a personal level? The person selling you your vegetables or driving your cab is not the same as the person you hang out with at the beach or go the movies with. If you can't see them as real people who are very similar to you, then they will always be just "the other."
It was eye-opening to spend a few days outside of Jerusalem and with some Israelis. Hopefully I'll continue to see new things and get a clearer picture of what Israel is really like. And maybe if you're lucky I'll even sit down and write about it!
P.s. I took my friend back to the Ethiopian restaurant because he had never tasted Ethiopian food before, and he told me he thought it was the next new trend. He even planned to bring his friends because it was so good and he was sure none of them had ever heard of an Ethiopian restaurant let alone tried the food, despite the large Ethiopian community living in their backyard!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
What counts as terrorism?
Yesterday morning I was minding my own business and enjoying the Jerusalem market place (Machane Yehuda) I met up with a friend around 1pm who promptly asked me if I had heard about the bull dozer. I hadn't heard, but I had seen some commotion off in the distance from one end of the market.
According to this article in the Jerusalem Post there is a debate on whether the driver of a bulldozer, who ran through traffic and into a bus, killing three people and injuring many more is a terrorist or just a regular old murderer. The family of the man and their attorney are arguing that he had no ties with terrorist organizations and that in general he was just your average joe schmo with a criminal record.
Why would the family be so adamant as to their loved one's status? I don't think having a murderer for a son is any less shameful than a terrorist.
Ironically, it is the policy of Israel to bulldoze the homes of suicide bombers from the West Bank. The construction worker, who was an Arab resident of East Jerusalem (not the West Bank) falls into a grey zone. State officials want to crack down on Arab residents of Eastern Jerusalem (who currently have access to all parts of the city) due to this incident as well as the Yeshiva shooting back in March (also carried out by an Arab resident of East Jerusalem), which could make for even more tenuous relations between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem.
So how do you decide if this 30 year old man is a murderer or a terrorist? Does it matter what his intentions were? He clearly provoked terror in the hearts of Jerusalem residents, not to mention my own mother who began her day frantically checking for messages from me. Was he simply a deranged resident who just happened to be Arab and just happened to crack one day while he was at work? Were his actions influenced or encouraged by past and more traditional terrorist attacks? Would he have suffocated his urge to kill if he had thought about the consequences for his family and the larger Arab community of Jerusalem?
An article from the New York Times seems to be the most comprehensive (many articles contradict each other on some of the details) but it doesn't address whether the man should be considered a murderer or a terrorist. What do you think?
According to this article in the Jerusalem Post there is a debate on whether the driver of a bulldozer, who ran through traffic and into a bus, killing three people and injuring many more is a terrorist or just a regular old murderer. The family of the man and their attorney are arguing that he had no ties with terrorist organizations and that in general he was just your average joe schmo with a criminal record.
Why would the family be so adamant as to their loved one's status? I don't think having a murderer for a son is any less shameful than a terrorist.
Ironically, it is the policy of Israel to bulldoze the homes of suicide bombers from the West Bank. The construction worker, who was an Arab resident of East Jerusalem (not the West Bank) falls into a grey zone. State officials want to crack down on Arab residents of Eastern Jerusalem (who currently have access to all parts of the city) due to this incident as well as the Yeshiva shooting back in March (also carried out by an Arab resident of East Jerusalem), which could make for even more tenuous relations between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem.
So how do you decide if this 30 year old man is a murderer or a terrorist? Does it matter what his intentions were? He clearly provoked terror in the hearts of Jerusalem residents, not to mention my own mother who began her day frantically checking for messages from me. Was he simply a deranged resident who just happened to be Arab and just happened to crack one day while he was at work? Were his actions influenced or encouraged by past and more traditional terrorist attacks? Would he have suffocated his urge to kill if he had thought about the consequences for his family and the larger Arab community of Jerusalem?
An article from the New York Times seems to be the most comprehensive (many articles contradict each other on some of the details) but it doesn't address whether the man should be considered a murderer or a terrorist. What do you think?
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
My first piece of wisdom
Doors that can be locked and unlocked exclusively with a key are dumb.
I'm currently stuck inside my friend's house because I don't own a key to the front door. I'm left with the decision to wake a roommate (who was working at a bar until late last night) or find an alternate escape route.
The most pressing question in my mind however: Does Israel ignore fire safety?
I'm currently stuck inside my friend's house because I don't own a key to the front door. I'm left with the decision to wake a roommate (who was working at a bar until late last night) or find an alternate escape route.
The most pressing question in my mind however: Does Israel ignore fire safety?
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