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Images of Israel – An Embedded Dream

Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 5:39 pm 
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Images of Israel – An Embedded Dream

by Jerry Waxman
Sderot Israel

It’s been difficult, but enlightening; trying to show Malka what I see in this place – why I came to Sderot – why I stay in Israel. To her, my home should be in America, where my family is.

On the surface there is nothing to make the case that I belong here – neither in Sderot nor in Israel. I knew nobody in this town when I came here. I hardly knew anybody in the country. I have not found a job,so there’s been no income. The prices on everything here are really high, especially with our financial straits.

Israel
In comparison to what Malka is used to, the people here are rude. Some are scary. And of course, there is always that constant danger looming at Israel’s borders. Malka’s images of Israel are not too complimentary.

Malka’s question begs an answer. It’s a good question. In a day when people worldwide are talking about boycotting Israel’s products, freezing Israel’s building, and generally using any reason to criticize Israel, I cannot blame Malka for not seeing what I see – images of the real Israel – glimpses of a 3300 year old dream. We have always said, “Next year in Israel.” Now that we are here, maybe we have the responsibility to our ancestors, to live the dream that they couldn’t.

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Jerusalem Day is coming soon. Today I happened to see some “Life Magazine” photos of Israel in 1948. There are pictures of people escaping the Arab Legion. There are pictures of Jewish refuges both from Jerusalem and frome Europe.

It’s an amazing story! We are part of it. WE – who feel a deep connection to the struggles of our own people. We cannot expect others to feel the same connection. It hasn’t been stamped in.

There are more photos of Israel in 1948. There is the destruction of Jerusalem when it was surrendered; how it burned; how the Arabs looted and destroyed homes where Jews had left. The Arabs came and conquered, but they never really had a connection to this land like we have.

Last night Malka told me that she is starting to like this place. She took a walk around some remote parts of Sderot, where it is even quieter than where we live. And she said, “I feel like I’ve been here before.” Could Malka be awakening to a sense of coming home? Is Israel finally starting to grow on her like it did me several years ago? Maybe she is beginning to feel she is just aa much a part if this “image of Israel” as I am.

Keep a smile on your face and a dance in your feet.

Partying North Africa Style

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm 
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Jewish Wedding in Morocco, 1841

Jews from Morocco built Sderot.  They came here in the early years of Israel’s statehood.  So it’s no surprise that Moroccan culture is part of living in Sderot.

The Karaoke Guy, for example, sings Mizrahi songs with the familiar high pitched nasal quality of North African tastes.

In this neighborhood, even when the Karaoke Guy isn’t singing, there is often music.  Drums, mostly.  The kind you play with your hands.

Actually that is just about the only kind of music I hear; drums and tamborines and the “Moroccan cheer.”

I call it the Moroccan cheer. Only women can do it.  They warble their tongue around while letting out a loud and prolonged yelp.  “li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li-li.”  They use it in celebration.

If you look out my window, you can often see where these little parties – little processions with drums, tamborines, and Moroccan cheers – go.  I have always figured they were celebrating weddings and such.

I found out I was almost right.  They celebrate the pre-wedding.  A friend told me that the little building outside my window is a mikva – a place for a ritual bath.

You’d think the bride would want to do this quietly.  And so far as I know, most Jewish brides do.  But I guess the Moroccans like a celebration whenever they can have one.

So they bring the bride to the mikva in loud processions with cheers, drums, and maybe dancing — to let everyone know the bride is going to take a bath.

Do they take pictures, too?

Don’t Blame Obama

Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 3:10 am 
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“Don’t Blame Obama”

Recently, news sources reported a rally in Jerusalem. Demonstrators protested President Obama’s policy to freeze settlements. The intent of the rally was supposed to send a message to PM Netanyahu that the people who elected him to office were extremely uneasy with any suggestion of selling or otherwise negotiating away any part of the Land of Israel.
Speakers at the rally roused up the crowd with rhetoric not about President Obama’s policies but about President Obama himself. More on that later, but for now — well, those speakers were wrong… I mean plain WRONG! for more than one reason. They should have studied the facts before speaking.. They should have looked more closely at the Jewish observance of Tisha B’av which was today.
Tisha B’av is a special day on the Jewish calendar. It is not a holiday, and not a day of celebration. The opposite; it’s a day of fasting and mourning in remembrance of awful things that have befallen Jews on this particular day. In one way of looking at the Jewish calendar, the month of Av is the 11th month. Tisha B’av then is the 9th day of the 11th month, or 9/11.
Not to diminish what 9/11 – the 11th day of the 9th month – means to Americans, Tisha B’av has been the host to the most immense pain and loss that the Jewish people have suffered repeatedly throughout history. As the U.S. 9/11 is characterized by the falling of two towers, in Jewish tradition Tisha B’av is most remembered for the destruction of two great and holy structures – the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. That destruction of the two temples occurred centuries apart is less significant than that the destruction occurred at all.		 Titus Besieging the Temple of Jerusalem


Titus Besieging the Temple of Jerusalem

At the time of the destruction of the Temples, thousands upon thousands of Jews lost their lives, and those who survived would face being captured, being enslaved, eventually being exiled from the land and dispersed throughout the world. The 2000 year Jewish diaspora has not been a good time for the Jewish people. But never, never in the literature or the litany have Jews focused on blaming Nebuchadnezzar or even Hitler for their troubles.
Although evil leaders have caused great pain and suffering that has perpetuated even up to today in the Jewish experience, on Tisha B’av we have a very typical Jewish response; Not revenge. Not violence. Not even trying to talk with our enemies. On Tisha B’av Jews look inward as a nation and attempt to answer the questions: “Where did WE go wrong?” “What did we do wrong to invite this disaster upon ourselves?”
At the rally in Jerusalem, the speakers were wrong to point fingers at anyone. Yes, some U.S. emissaries have shown anti-Israel leanings, and Jews should rightfully demand that they reconsider their positions before they come to Israel And yes, President Obama has put pressure on Israel to abide by policies that would be detrimental to Israel. And yes President Obama has been wrong about this issue. BUT so has Israel; the people of Israel, including Jewish people wherever they live.
A former Member of Knesset, a Rabbi Eliezer Waldman called Barack Obama a rascist. (I hope these comments will fade into obscurity quickly. Nevertheless here is the story – for more context. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132612 )
His remarks were not about U.S. policy. They were leveled at the U.S. president and they were confrontational. His remarks drew cheers from the crowd the same as radio talk show hosts in America draw cheers when they say something outlandish.		 The Romans Led by Titus Take Jerusalem and Burst into the Holy of Holies in the Temple


The Romans Led by Titus Take Jerusalem and Burst into the Holy of Holies in the Temple

Rabbi Waldman was wrong. And so were those who cheered.
For a Jewish leader to publicly call Barack Obama a rascist not only is a blatant falsehood which serves no positive purpose whatsoever, it has the great potential to incite the wrath of anti-semites worldwide. As if all we need now is for the world to point fingers at us – Jews – for insulting, without reason, a very popular world leader.
Rabbi Waldman was wrong, and his statements should be denounced by more learned rabbis and more savvy leaders.
As it turns out, a few days before the rally – but largely unreported – President Obama was reconsidering his policies in the Middle East, particularly in Israel, and was considering changing some of the personnel involved in middle east affairs. Obama reportedly was easing off on some of the things he had said earlier regarding Israel’s right to build in Jerusalem.
I think the U.S. president is someone who will listen to reason. I believe it will take a long time, but that with a proper approach, President Obama will come to agree that the settlements are not the real issue, and not at all a blockage to peace. The operative phrase is “proper approach.”
Confrontational words and gestures are not a proper approach. Reasoning and negotiating would be more effective. Looking within ourselves as a nation, and reflecting on how we got ourselves into our present predicaments, would serve us much better than false and inflammatory remarks.
30 July 2009

Sderot Israel