June 9, 2013 Bad Kharma Taxi Ride

June 9, 2013 Bad Kharma Taxi Ride in Tel Aviv.  We were trying to go from Independence Hall to the Palmach Museum for the 3pm presentation in English.  While waiting for a bus, it became obvious we would never arrive on time unless we took a cab so the seven of us got into two cabs and we took off.  Our driver did not know where the Palmach Museum was although we told him it was near the Israel Museum and Rabin Square, both well known places whose whereabouts he didn't know although he had lived in Tel Aviv for 20 years. That alone should have warned us.

 Finally he followed the other cab whose driver thought he knew where to go; but he was going south and we knew we should be going north.  I even knew the Hebrew for north and told him we were going wrong.  Stan showed him the map--the driver didn't have his reading glasses.  Stan told him to go north on Ibn Gabriole Street, one of the main north/south boulevards.  Then he handed us his phone and wanted us to type the name of the street.  It turned out the other cab driver was headed south toward Palmach Street which is on the side of town away from the Palmach Museum. 

By that time it was around 3:30 and there was no hope of getting to the museum.  So 45 minutes and 49 Sheckles later, where were we?  By Independence Hall where we had started. We got out of the cab.  Stan and I had planned this for a long time and we were angry, hot, exasperated, and disappointed.

So what do you do when you are angry, hot, exasperated, and disappointed in Tel Aviv?  We walked to the beach.  Next time try the bus.  It's an easy ride with Egged Bus Company from the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and back.  We were thinking of taking the train back to Jerusalem but it takes longer and it was 7 pm.  One nice thing about Jerusalem is that it is at 4000 feet and cools off at night. As did our tempers.

June 17, 2013: CLARINETIST GIORA FEIDMAN

June 17, 2013:  CLARINETIST GIORA FEIDMAN

Giora Feidman gave a free concert, part of a series of live concerts on Mondays at 5 pm.  It was broadcast live on Voice of Israel (Kol Yisrael).  The problem was we couldn't get there early and by the time we arrived, all seats were taken.  He is a very famous  klezmer clarinetist who began his career with the Israel Philharmonic.  Anyway we stood outside the doors of the concert hall for the first half.  We could hear the clarinet but not the back--up band, the Gitanes Blondes (Blond Gypsies) from Berlin.
During intermission Stan found 2 seats in second row center.  OK they had handwritten signs in Hebrew probably saying reserved.  But some nice people in the third row said no one sat there during the first half.  So we sat down.  As the intermission was ending, a man who worked at the hall came over and spoke to us in long Hebrew sentences.  Stan apologized for not understanding Hebrew.  The man went away and we stayed.

Feidman is a 76 year old who was born in Argentina and immigrated  to Israel many years ago.  He  morphed from a fantastic classical clarinetist to a marvelous klezmer clarinetist about twenty years ago.  If you saw the movie "The Comedian Harmonists" and remember the wedding scene (the baritone and the statuesque blond) he was the star of the music for the wedding.  If you didn't see the movie, it's worth getting on NetFlicks or at Video Droid.

His technique, musicianship, and showmanship are terrific.  The band was wonderful.  At one point they told the string bassist to play a solo.  He stood up and began bowing a waltz in a minor key on the top two strings of the bass without an accompaniment.  Then the guitarist left his instrument and stood behind the bassist with his arms around him so that he could plunk out a bass part (1-5-1-5) on the two low strings.  Then the violinist leaves the violin but keeps his hand on the bow; he lay down at the foot of the bass and bows beats two and three and some counter melody on the strings below the bridge. 

The endeavor ended with the accordionist picking up the violin to pluck the last note.

Maybe you have to be there.  I couldn't stop laughing.

June 3, 2013 Comedy Tonight

June 3, 2013 Comedy Tonight
When you go to Jerusalem, don't miss comedian David Klimnick, Saturday nights at 9:30 or 10pm at a tiny club called, Off The Wall, near Ben Yehuda Street.  25 Sheckles -- about $7.
He's very funny.  He talks about life in the US and in Israel, the differences and similarities and his experiences coming from New York City to live in Israel.  There are usually two other comedians.
We took Stan's 12 year old granddaughter and her parents--We all laughed.

June 26, 2013 CHARGES OF APARTHEID

June 26, 2013  CHARGES OF APARTHEID
I have ridden the light rail from one end of Jerusalem to the other--the entire route.  Both Arabs and Jews are on it.  You can identify the Arab women and the religious Jewish women by the type of head scarf each wears.  It's more difficult for a foreigner to distinguish Jewish from Arab men if they wear regular clothes. 

We went to the Zoo.  There were Arab and Jewish families and school classes of Arab and Jewish school children.  We rode the buses.  There is no "back of the bus" for Arabs, dark-skinned people, or women. 

The women in the police and army at the Western Wall were racially diverse:  White European/Russians, Dark Ethiopians, Black Africans, Arab, East Indian.  This year Miss Israel is a woman of Ethiopian descent.

At Liberty Bell Park, a few blocks from our rented apartment, many Arab families barbecue, especially on Fridays. Jewish and Arab children play in the playground.  Stan says the father does all the work of the barbecue while the women talk.

One of the signs of apartheid is different laws for different people.  In Israel there are two laws:  one establishes a way of marrying in the Muslim tradition and another exempting Israeli Arabs from serving in the armed forces. 

Israeli Arabs attend universities based on merit only and enter many professions including medicine, nursing, and especially pharmacy which is a mostly Arab profession acc to Stan's cousin.  Are things perfect?  No, but what country is ideal in this area?

When people make charges as serious as Apartheid, they should also look at the Arab nations.  This is where one can objectively apply this label.

Walking around in Israel whether in Jerusalem , Tel Aviv , or any other small cities one can appreciate the diversity of the people and just marvel how well it works for such a short period since statehood.

JUNE 26, 2013 FOOD IN ISRAEL

JUNE 26, 2013 FOOD IN ISRAEL

BREAKFAST at a hotel is a buffet with lots of variety: juice, fresh fruit, salads (see other meal description), two kinds of herring, dry cereals, cheeses including cottage cheese, cheddar, swiss, lebaneh (a smooth soft white cheese the consistency of sour cream often served herbed with fresh dill).

Warm dishes: berekas (filo dough stuffed with potatoes and herbs, or mushrooms, or cheese); eggs cooked in various ways ie omelet, soft boiled, easy over, and my favorite shaksouka which is eggs poached in a sauce. I've had 2 different kinds—chopped spinach with herbs with a little cream and fresh tomato sauce with garlic, onions, and paprika.

Breads: many whole grain, often warm, pita, sour dough and butter, margarine, jams, Nutella, and peanut butter. There are usually some kinds of cake as well.

TYPICAL MEAL IN A RESTAURANT begins with small dishes of many kinds of salads (“salatim” which is Hebrew for salads): the ubiquitous Israeli tomato and cucumber in a light vinaigrette with herbs, grated carrots with ginger, beets, eggplant with peppers, eggplant with tomatoes, eggplant mushed with herbs and sesame; hummus (garbanzo spread) on warm bread or pita, cabbage salad, occasionally lettuce with lemon juice, olives, pickles, hot peppers. Details and recipes vary.

Main Course: grilled meat or fish including chicken marinated and served on spear, lamb or chicken kabobs (in Israel and the Mideast this means ground meat clumped on a spear or a cinnamon stick—shashlik would be chunks of meat (not ground). Meat is either marinated or herbed and very tasty.

Dessert at one restaurant was a tart lemon sorbet with a tart mixed fruit compote spooned over the sorbet—very refreshing on a hot day.

Beverages: Pitchers of lemonade and orange juice and flasks of water are on the table. Coffee or tea brewed with mint followed. Ice Coffee is a delicious drink of coffee and vanilla ice cream with a little extra vanilla and whipped cream—don't expect plain coffee over ice.

Israel produces wonderful wines. I especially liked the cabernet sauvignons which are grown from the Negev Desert to the Golan Heights. Very smooth. Great bouquets. Restaurants do not need a liquor license. They either are or are not certified kosher; this means closed for Shabbat, undergoing extensive preparation for Passover, and serving either meat or mild foods but not both. Fish goes either way. No pork or shellfish is kosher. Most Jerusalem restaurants are kosher; most Tel Aviv restaurants are not. This seems to reflect a north to south geographic divide between religious and secular populations of Israel.

Stan's Experience with Women of the Wall

June 9, 2013 or in Jewish calender 1 Tammuz; The first of the month is a special day in Judaism called Rosh Chodesh or the head of the Month which traditionally has been a time of special prayers for women. In Jerusalem women have been meeting on Rosh Chodesh to pray at the Kotel (AKA Western Wall). However they have met with much difficulty over the last 30 years. This day was going to be the first since court orders provided security  and chances were things were going to happen. Roberta and my daughter decided to go with my encouragement  as history was being made. Below are our separate stories of this Kotel experience.

Stan; Security was very heavy and one main entrance was closed. At 7am  thousands of people were already there. After Roberta  and Allison finally got into the women's section I looked around and saw many Haradi (AKA Ultra-orthodox) men holding a sign which read "Provocation Women". So much for English education of the Haredi.  The next line said " If you want to start a new religion build your own Wall."

So I went up to the man  holding the large banner and asked him if he had built that wall pointing to the Western Wall? He said no, so I said, "Then that is a silly and stupid sign." That started a long discussion with him, then 10 and then 100 of his yeshiva buddies. The second person who tried to convince me of the errors of my idea was smoking.  So I said, "I can't believe you are smoking when Moses said one must take care of one's body."  I wouldn't let up on him until he dropped his cigarette on the plaza and crushed it with his foot.  Then I told him, "It's a disgrace to throw it on the ground, desecrating the Western Wall plaza." He refused to pick it up despite my continual requests.

Many of the Haredi Yeshiva students were angry, yelling and getting too close to me. I tried to tell them that Judaism has always changed--after the Second Temple, during the Talmudic period, and even with the Shulchan Aruch written by Rabbi Josef Caro in 1500's. The Hassids changed things in the 1700s and then they changed again.  Ok, so women's role didn't change then, but why not now? I told them that these women, some of whom are Orthodox, most Israeli, keep kosher and want to be holy, just as men do; as Moses says all Jews want to become holy. Their response kept getting louder and more were talking at one time. Then with my back turned to one half, I got shoved. I turned around and said, "That's going too far.  Don't push me.  What I should have added was, "That's cowardly--to push someone when he's not looking.  Is that what Haredi (ultra-orthodox) do?"  But alas I only thought of it later.

Meanwhile  the situation continued to become more tense as waves of the crowd began to get closer to me and I was pushing back.  Then two strong young men got between me and the crowd of Haradi and separated the crowd from me.  The crowd became even more agitated whereupon I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned around to see an army officer beckoning me to leave immediately and follow him which of course I did.  He led me to another enclosure between the Women of the Wall and the plaza with the angry Haredi mob.  This enclosure had only non-Haredi men in normal dress and  in fact most were praying Rosh Chodesh festival prayers in sync with the Women of the Wall.  Others in this enclosure were reporters and photographers (there were lots) working feverishly to get their story and photos. 

So I joined them in prayer while at the same time thinking about my recent experience.  At no time did I feel in danger but trying to talk to these Ultra-orthodox young men was unproductive but I felt it was worth it.  Interestingly there was only this one group protesting against the Women.  There were thousands of Haredi men praying in the men's section not involved with protesting.  Unfortunately I did not get the name of the Haredi Yeshiva whose students were attacking me.  Later the same group was actually running after two men in regular clothes who were trying to escape from them. They got away too.

I could see Roberta with her distinctive hat and Allison in the middle of hundreds of Women praying and this made me very proud.    At the end of the service as the Women were leaving I was able to join with Roberta and Allison in a very emotional greeting.  We all knew that they had taken part in an historic event demonstrating that women have rights at the Western Wall and can express their Judaism as they determine by themselves.  This time the army had to protect the Women but hopefully in the future this will not be necessary.  All in all it was a very exciting, moving, and important morning.

June 7, 2013 Women Of the Wall

Allison (Stan's daughter) and I went to the Western Wall to join the Women of the Wall who come there monthly for the past 30 years to celebrate the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh), a traditionally women's holiday. The women pray in their own style which is much opposed by the ultra-Orthodox

who make it a tense situation; in their tradition, women are neither seen nor heard in religious observance (not that the Western Wall is a synagogue although they debate this); consequently few orthodox women even go to synagogue services—which may be the desired effect. The Women of the Wall wear tallitot (prayer shawls) and some wear tefillin and non-traditional head coverings. They pray and sing aloud and read the torah from a book—they have sometimes used a scroll but this time did not; in these ways they break with ultra-Orthodox tradition.

The ultra-Orthodox, both men and women, become so crazy that security is dense—made possible by an Israel Supreme Court decision that Women of the Wall have the right to congregate there. The Women come from all other strains of Judaism—reform, conservative, reconstructionist, orthodox.

Today, the Women were bussed in; we did not know this so we almost couldn't get in. We finally followed two women who after speaking with several people found a man in uniform who said, “I'll take you in.” He did. We later found out he was the police commander.

The service lasted 1 ½ hours. We all stood. Even at 8am it was hot. There were 200-300 women there so it was also crowded. I am not religious and don't wear religious garb. But I was there to support religious expression and diversity.

For those who haven't seen the wall: there is a large section for men. On their right are opaque wooden separators and then the women's section, which is much smaller. The Women of the Wall stood to the right of that women's section separated by barricades attended by women police and soldiers. By the way, the uniformed women had an array of skin colors including black, Ethiopian, Arabic, and blond European. Just to the right of the Women on the wooden covered staircase which goes to the Dome of the Rock/Al Aksa Mosque area were police observers communicating with those on the ground. Between and behind the Women and the plaza were non-ultra-orthodox men who support the Women of the Wall. Stan was with them. They tried to coordinate their prayer service with that of the Women. Occasionally ultra-Orthodox school girls would hold up a sign, “Provocation women—you are making a new religion.” (Secular education is not an emphasis in their religious schools—hence the poor use of the first word—you want the Women to correct this? Small joke.)

At the end of the service the Women sang “Hatikva” (“The Hope”, Israel's national anthem) and walked out together. That point was very tense. Suddenly the number of police and army women seemed to greatly increase at the barricades. We were joined on the way out by the section of supportive men. All in all the authorities did a good job of crowd control. I don't think it's always been this way. In an ugly earlier part of this process, Women of the Wall have been arrested. The Ultra-Orthodox threw things at them. Justice and the court system intervened in a positive way.

Most of the action was in Stan's section—You'll have to read his part of the Blog when he writes it.