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.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
May 31. 2013 Visit with Alan Zeffren
We had a very nice day wit Alan Zeffren, a old high school friend from University Senior High in University City, Missouri where I grew up. Alan moved to Israel 40 years ago after getting a Ms from Yale in Classics. He then decided he would be most happy in Israel rather as a high school teacher than a professor in The Us. He and his wonderful wife Nomi live in Ashkelon on the coast only 8 miles from Gaza. he is retired now but does volunteer work teaching seniors English and helping high school students improve their English so they can get into an University here ( this is the big stumbling block for students as the Universities using English exam results as a main criterion for admission. Alan has an excellent grasp of the political and foreign issues here and it is a pleasure to talk and learn from him. He also studies Talmud with a group. He walked around and had lunch at Rimon on the fabulous Mamilla mall( because of the sculpture art not the high shops) , which has a wonderful vegetarian buffet. We got him on the light rail train going down the main street Jaffa now pedestrian only for his first time.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
May 29; Lunch with Ela Greenberg; Meet Ela at Paridisio. Ela is the daughter of my mentor at Michigan, G.R.Greenberg or Bob to everyone. He was an incredible scientist who should have gotten the Nobel prize for his work on the pathway for producing the purine base used in DNA and ATP. the energy converter in all cells. Anyway, his daughter made aliya , got her Ph.D. at Hebrew University with dissertation on education of girls during the the British mandate period and has been published as a book. Estelle (z''l) and I were good friends with her mother too. I visited Ela and family in 2008. She works for Rabbis for Human Rights as fund raiser and is passionate about justice or the lack of it for the Arabs in Israel and in the territories. Israel isn't perfect in many aspects and this is one of them. This organization gives lectures on Human Rights from a Torah and Rabbinical views to soldiers, students at many Universities, and a different sites by Rabbis from Conservative, Reform and even a few Orthodox rabbis. We had a very interesting discussions on many key issues. Her husband is a lawyer and their 2 daughters goes to a school with Jews and Arabs where the students learn Hebrew and Arabic. The students are really mixed and friends formed with all. Ela drives her daughters to many Arab areas for play dates. However in 6 th grade the kids split in separate schools.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
May 30 A trip to 3 sites involved with the 1948-9 war of Independence
We traveled with a group from PARDES to 3 sites involved with the Jerusalem battles starting in March 19948 2 months before Israel declared its Independence and Statehood on May 14, 1948. The Arabs had attached Jerusalem from 4 sides cutting off all road traffic from the west at Tel Aviv and all the Jewish towns to the west. This was the critical fight of the war because even though Jerusalem was going to be an International city under the UN agreement, which the Jews had accepted but the Arabs rejected, the survival of the 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem was paramount. The best the Israelis could hope for was a finger like projection of the west leading to Jerusalem. The planned to attack from 3 sides in stages to open a supply route intoo Jerusalem that was cut off for food and even water. The first attach was on a hill in the northwest area 3.5 miles from the Old City on a hill top Arab village called Nebi Samuel. This name means the site where the Prophet Samuel was buried or so the legend has it. The story begins actually in the Bible where many things happened on hill tops described in the Books of Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Macabees where Samuel, Saul, Jeremiah and Judas Macabee respectively all were all here identified perhaps by its height and and location to the Temple. So when the Crusaders came here in the 1099 traveling from Acco they fell to their knees and wept in joy. They built a fortress and had the bones they thought were Samuel's brought from Ramla near present day Tel Aviv brought here and reburied. Jews and Muslims still believed the tomb is Samuel's and the Sephardic Jews pray here 24/7. Muslims pray here also. There are ruins of a Arab village from 12 C have been uncovered. The Muslims destroyed the Crusader stuff and built a Mosque on the site , which was destroyed in 1917 in a big battle here between British and Turks that England won, starting the mandate period. To get good will of the local Arabs, England rebuilt the Mosque for the few families that lived here and in fact 20 Arab families still live here. They new Jewish towns are a few mile to the north. The Shas party of Sepharic Jews control many religious sites including this one.
Meanwhile in 1948, the Jews attacked here and lost the battle resulting in that this area although in West Jerusalem(!!) was in Arab hands till 1967!!
Second site was The Castel National Park located 10 miles due west of Jerusalem. So since Jerusalem couldn't be resupplied from the northwest, due west was the only option. Opening a supply route was critical and Ben Gurion gave the order that this hilltop, which once had been a French Crusader castle , hence name 'Castel'. Of course the Castle was long destroyed by the Muslims. Many Jews died taking and defending this hilltop over 5 days of fierce fighting. After this there were other battles to open a new road to bring in convoys that stretched 17 miles bringing food and water to Jerusalem, where people were starving and fighting at the same time. Before the road was finished 300 men carried heavy packs of food thru a goat trail 12 miles every night to supply Jerusalem. It was heroic times of truly Biblical dimensions.
The third site was 'Machal' , which stands for 'Volunteers from Abroad' not too far away which is an honorarium and memorial to the 4500 volunteer fighters that came from 49 countries to help Israel survive. Many died and about a hundred names are on a wall, including Roberta's camp counselor, Leonard Cohen (he didn't die). He was one of 40 men who made up the Navy of Israel. A big concrete memorial with the 3 letters of Machal in Hebrew in a flame shape representing a yahrzeit candle is in front. It was very moving to think that so many men who had fought in WW2 left their homes to come and fight again so the Jews could survive this war of Independence; but more importantly losing would have unleashed a second (or continuing?) genocide of Jews.
All in all in was a very informative and moving day and anyone who thinks miracles don't happen needs to rethink, of course many Jews had to die and get wounded ( 2% of the population ) for this miracle and the survival of the Jewish people of Israel to happen!!
We traveled with a group from PARDES to 3 sites involved with the Jerusalem battles starting in March 19948 2 months before Israel declared its Independence and Statehood on May 14, 1948. The Arabs had attached Jerusalem from 4 sides cutting off all road traffic from the west at Tel Aviv and all the Jewish towns to the west. This was the critical fight of the war because even though Jerusalem was going to be an International city under the UN agreement, which the Jews had accepted but the Arabs rejected, the survival of the 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem was paramount. The best the Israelis could hope for was a finger like projection of the west leading to Jerusalem. The planned to attack from 3 sides in stages to open a supply route intoo Jerusalem that was cut off for food and even water. The first attach was on a hill in the northwest area 3.5 miles from the Old City on a hill top Arab village called Nebi Samuel. This name means the site where the Prophet Samuel was buried or so the legend has it. The story begins actually in the Bible where many things happened on hill tops described in the Books of Samuel, Kings, Jeremiah, Macabees where Samuel, Saul, Jeremiah and Judas Macabee respectively all were all here identified perhaps by its height and and location to the Temple. So when the Crusaders came here in the 1099 traveling from Acco they fell to their knees and wept in joy. They built a fortress and had the bones they thought were Samuel's brought from Ramla near present day Tel Aviv brought here and reburied. Jews and Muslims still believed the tomb is Samuel's and the Sephardic Jews pray here 24/7. Muslims pray here also. There are ruins of a Arab village from 12 C have been uncovered. The Muslims destroyed the Crusader stuff and built a Mosque on the site , which was destroyed in 1917 in a big battle here between British and Turks that England won, starting the mandate period. To get good will of the local Arabs, England rebuilt the Mosque for the few families that lived here and in fact 20 Arab families still live here. They new Jewish towns are a few mile to the north. The Shas party of Sepharic Jews control many religious sites including this one.
Meanwhile in 1948, the Jews attacked here and lost the battle resulting in that this area although in West Jerusalem(!!) was in Arab hands till 1967!!
Second site was The Castel National Park located 10 miles due west of Jerusalem. So since Jerusalem couldn't be resupplied from the northwest, due west was the only option. Opening a supply route was critical and Ben Gurion gave the order that this hilltop, which once had been a French Crusader castle , hence name 'Castel'. Of course the Castle was long destroyed by the Muslims. Many Jews died taking and defending this hilltop over 5 days of fierce fighting. After this there were other battles to open a new road to bring in convoys that stretched 17 miles bringing food and water to Jerusalem, where people were starving and fighting at the same time. Before the road was finished 300 men carried heavy packs of food thru a goat trail 12 miles every night to supply Jerusalem. It was heroic times of truly Biblical dimensions.
The third site was 'Machal' , which stands for 'Volunteers from Abroad' not too far away which is an honorarium and memorial to the 4500 volunteer fighters that came from 49 countries to help Israel survive. Many died and about a hundred names are on a wall, including Roberta's camp counselor, Leonard Cohen (he didn't die). He was one of 40 men who made up the Navy of Israel. A big concrete memorial with the 3 letters of Machal in Hebrew in a flame shape representing a yahrzeit candle is in front. It was very moving to think that so many men who had fought in WW2 left their homes to come and fight again so the Jews could survive this war of Independence; but more importantly losing would have unleashed a second (or continuing?) genocide of Jews.
All in all in was a very informative and moving day and anyone who thinks miracles don't happen needs to rethink, of course many Jews had to die and get wounded ( 2% of the population ) for this miracle and the survival of the Jewish people of Israel to happen!!
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