A Tale of Two Cities
Once upon a time there were two editors — one edited Time Out Tel Aviv and the other edited Time Out Beirut.
This is the story of two men, one from Beirut and one from Tel Aviv, who met less than four months ago and formed an instant friendship. They believed that the things they had in common were far more significant than politics – until the twisted reality of the Middle East interfered with that conviction.
Not Just Rescuing Cats From Trees
EB from OneJerusalem.com pays tribute to some of the unsung heroes of the war — the firemen.
Battles are not always fought with bombs and guns. They may also be fought with water, and a variety of chemicals, often dumped or sprayed from small aircraft. If you’re wondering who these ‘unsung heroes’ are, they’re Israel’s fire fighters. Though fires to buildings are not as common in Israel as they are in most Western countries, Israel’s fire brigades are still kept quite active, fighting fires in residential and commercial properties, occasional industrial accidents, multitudes of traffic accidents; and of course, fires breaking out or being set in Israel’s grasslands and woodlands.
The attacks on Israel’s heartland by Hezbollah launched missiles, have resulted in so many alarms being received by fire brigade stations that volunteers have had to assist from stations all over Israel to cope with the abnormally heavy incidences of resulting fires to personal and commercial property as well as to forests and other open spaces….Fire brigades have always been one of the first emergency units to arrive at the scene of a serious terror attack, and their duties have often been to help assist wounded victims as well as fight resulting fires. Using a variety of equipment, they often have to face very dangerous challenges like going into burning buildings to rescue trapped people inside. They often work long shifts with little time to rest before the next alarm goes off. One firefighter commander, Moshe Moscow, was recently quoted that “every ketusha attack results in fire at more than 90 % of the time. And what is going on in the north has created hundreds of fires.”….“Many new recruits have no idea what to expect when joining our units,” said Yossi, who had just gotten off a 20 hour shift. “I just wish more people would begin to appreciate the job we are doing. And it’s not just rescuing cats from tall trees!”
Business Isn’t Just As Usual, Sometimes It’s Good…
Ouriel takes note of the recent wave of mega-acquisitions of Israeli companies, despite the dicey security situation. The latest news is the purchase of M-Systems, the company that invented the Disk on Key. Despite, the war, he notes that:
Israel high tech is really rocking lately.
Do I Get Two Days Off, Too?
A bustling and busy house full of family and guests, or sitting in a medical clinic, listening to explosions in the distance? Which is more peaceful? For Doc’s Wife at the Rock of Galilee blog – apparently the latter.
Shabbat was very noisy, so yesterday I took the day off and went with the doc to work and sat in an airconditioned office and heard muffled booms, after that I really did feel more relaxed.
To-day there is an eerie silence, most of the people here have left so there is not the usual traffic and people noises, it is weird. 48 house off. Do I get 48 hours off too? Or are they importing more weapons and re-grouping at my expense? Am I a sitting duck??
Sad But Not Surprised
Israelis who were sad and horrified — but not surprised — by the pictures of the children who died in Kfar Kana yesterday. Among them was Civax.
Before anything else, I must state this clearly: I was very sad myself for the lost of lives in Kfar Kanaa yesterday. In fact, I’m sad for all the innocent lives lost in Lebanon. Our fight is not with all the people in Lebanon, but only with Hizbollah and their supporters. There is no “but” or “whatever” or anything. The lost of lives on both sides is not right and should be avoided.
I’ve seen myself the pictures of the kids taken out of the building yesterday and as a medic myself I can tell you I was very sad and very touched.But such an incident was unavoidable. Be it Kanaa or any other place. When civilians are caught in a battle zone, they get hurt. Innocent or not. The hizbolla is using civilians as human shields through out this war everywhere and this thing was expected to happen. They WANTED it to happen. Hey, don’t take it from me, I’m an Israeli after all, right? Take it from the UN – Jan Egeland, UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, has clearly blamed Hizbollah for blending with the civilians on purpose
Melly wrote from northern Israel:
No matter how you look at it, it’s horrendous. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about – the terrible tragedy in Lebanon.
Whether I accept the IDF’s position of the 6 hour discrepancy between the air force bombing of the building and its final explosion and collapse, or whether I accept the quick world judgment and condemnation of Israel, it matters not. It doesn’t matter to those who died, I’m sure.
It’s a war and people die in wars and that’s exactly what is so dreadful in a war. And yet, there still seem to be people who can’t, won’t, understand that.
Finally, anyone who hasn’t yet seen novelist Naomi Ragen’s impassioned piece in Ha’aretz should go check it out.
Playing In the Bomb Shelter
Haifa resident Shai Spieler has uploaded video of his daughter Amit playing during a rocket attack in their bomb shelter. Peek-a-boo, Amit. (there’s no audio) You can check her out in a subsequent attack reading a book in this video. You have to wonder what she’s going to think when she gets older and sees these videos…
Don’t Tell Her Parents
Sarah is heading north — and she’s not worried. At least she’s trying not to be.
Sometime in the next very few days, I’m scheduled to go to Tzfat (Safed) on a work assignment. Ironically, this is not even for a journalism assignment, but rather a PR assignment for an organization that is doing humanitarian efforts in the north. I’ll be driving around Safed with their “peeps,” going from bomb shelter to bomb shelter, watching them giving out meals and spreading some cheer (and, I hope, spreading some cheer myself). Normally I would not endanger my life for a PR job, but I must admit that all the instincts I developed in those Journalism School classes are kicking in, and I’m very curious to go up North myself and see what’s happening with my own eyes (and, of course, to blog about it). I’m taking a friend’s suggestion and bringing a change of clothing, in case for some reason I can’t get out once I’m in. And,of course, my camera and a notebook.
While I consider myself a successful freelance journalist and writer, this is the first time I’ll ever have deliberately entered a danger zone for my work. When Professor Blood, my Reporting I and II instructor, offered to sit shiva for me after I win my Pulitzer Prize, I decided that I’d rather stick to more mundane and happy topics, and stay alive long enough to see my work in print. I am more than happy to watch reporters braver than myself earn their Pulitzers. So, I must admit that last night and this morning I had a bit of a panic attack about these plans I’ve made. But then I realized that:
a) More than half the time I’ll be in bomb shelters.
b) When I’m on the road, if a rocket comes our way, we’ll get a bit of warning and can duck into a shelter (I hope)
c) Ergo, I can put “dying in Safed” in the same “freak incident” category in my brain as “being hit by an Egged bus in Jerusalem” or “having a brick fall on my head in Manhattan.” Not for lack of Hezballah’s TRYING to kill me, you understand, but because, Thank God, Safed has a sophisticated and expensive early warning system and plenty of bomb shelters.
At least, this is what I am telling myself so that I will not have more panic attacks.
Close to Home
There’s nobody in the country untouched by the war at the moment. Imshin writes about the ways in which she is connected:
The son of close friends of Our Sis has been badly wounded in battle. I remember him when he was about three years old. That was, like, yesterday.
Two people who work closely with Bish were called up for reserve duty today. One of them is getting married next week. The other is already married, with children (and tickets for the Depeche Mode concert this week). Someone from Bish’s evening classes, a woman, was also called up. I guess there’s more, but I haven’t been speaking to anyone. Suddenly everyone seems to have a son or two or three in the army.
Wartime Ice-Breakers
Sarah writes about a very unusual social event for Israeli singles:
So this past Shabbat (sabbath) the religious singles community in Katamon, Jerusalem hosted about 10 or 20 of our peers from northern Israel. It was a chance to give them a little respite, and a chance for all of us to meet new people.
The first thing I want to say about this weekend is that, despite my notorious “Shabbaton From Hell” series of 2 years ago (link to come when I get around to it), the singles events I attend in Israel are MUCH nicer than the ones I attended in New York. The people tend (with the exeption of those at that infamous Shabbaton in Tiberias) to be very normal, very nice, and very friendly. Unlike the events I attended in America, the singles events here tend to have an even number of men and women, more or less; men will talk to the women even if they are not interested, because they are being friendly; and there isn’t a sense of competition between the women to be the most well-coifed, the most well-dressed, the best manicured, the skinniest, etc. There’s an undercurrent of cruelty at Orthodox singles events in the States (and perhaps those of other communities as well, but I couldn’t say), and that edge is lacking here. The atmosphere is much more relaxed and just, well, friendly. It may not lead to any more dates, but whereas in the States I almost always came back from singles Shabbatons feeling worthless and unlovable, I come home from the Shabbatons here (again, with that one horrible exception) feeling that there is hope in the world for finding someone – but this time just wasn’t my time. It’s still disappointing, but not as emotionally brutal.
My guest this weekend was a lovely 31-year-old woman from Acco (Acre), S. Her family has refused to leave town during the constant attacks, and until recently she refused to leave her family, so she’s spent most of this crisis in and out of bomb shelters, losing her mind. Since the war started, she’s been able to go to work only twice. (A man at the Shabbaton, from Haifa, said that his office was open only two days; the second day, a rocket hit the building next door, at which point the boss said “that’s it. Everybody go home.”) A few days ago S. decided to spend a few days in Rehovot with a friend, then come to this Shabbaton. As of last night, she was planning to go back to Rehovot for another few days and then return to Acco. I loaned her a John Grisham novel and three Agatha Christies (her English is fluent enough), since she said the worst thing about the bomb shelters is that it is so incredibly boring.
Friday night, all the guests and hosts ate together in the social hall of a local synagogue. One of the organizers got up and thanked everyone for coming. He thanked the woman who had arranged the housing, and everyone clapped. He thanked the woman who had arranged the catering, and everyone clapped. He thanked the man who would be hosting “seudat shlishit” (um, sort of a traditional Saturday afternoon meal) at his home the next day, and everyone clapped. He thanked the synagogue for allowing us to rent the social hall for free, and everyone clapped. Then he said “there is one more person we have to thank for bringing us together this weekend . . . ”
Someone called out “Nasrallah!” to scattered laughter, and a little bit of people looking at each other trying to decide whether it was OK to laugh.
(Gallows humor, people, it’s gallows humor, laughing at our tragedies has kept the Jews alive for thousands of years, so please do not flame me. Thank you.)
During dinner, I managed to follow the conversation even though I was the only English-speaker at the table. For most of the evening, the conversation was typical singles -events fare, but I noticed two things that were unusual:
Just before the meal started, someone dropped a box with something heavy, such as silverware, and it came down with a crash. Everyone from the north jumped about six feet. Talk about being on edge. I felt so bad for them.
Then, as the meal began . . . well, normally the conversation between singles goes like this:
What’s your name?
Where do you live?
What do you do?But this time, it was:
What’s your name?
Where do you live?
How many rockets have you been getting?
How many minutes of warning do you get?Talk about surreal.
Live From a Canadian Hotel Room
Eugene has made it from his Haifa bunker all the way to Canada. He’s working his way through the culture shock.
Waking up in a hotel room in Toronto was very different from waking up back home. For one thing, no sirens. Walking around outside occasionally hearing fire trucks in the distance, the sounds are similar but nobody runs for cover. I’ve been here a few days now and the only time I’ve heard anything about Israel was in a 30 second blip on the news following one about the heat. “The Heat” is 28c, which is pretty much standard in Israel but apparently warrants a warning in Canada.
It’s a strange sensation how life goes on unaffected elsewhere, I think I really got used to the state of affairs in the last two weeks. Going to see fireworks made me think about it again, is this shell shock or am I being overly dramatic?
What’s really interesting here are people my age. Cultural differences work against my humor, but more importantly the people I’ve met have little to no idea of what’s going on. That’s my experience is like so far, if it’s not accurate feel free to shed more light on this in the comments.
In others news, Nasrallah went on TV saying “when did you see two million Israeli’s going down to bunkers for 18 days?” trying to somehow put a positive spin on that. First of, it’s one million, secondly I bet you didn’t see it coming did you? That’s right a million of us dutifully live with sirens and bunkers for almost three weeks to let the IDF get it’s job done and I’m sure by the time I get back they will be doing it. If your still wondering if were going to break first remove that doubt once and for all. I didn’t get a chance to watch his speech but from the transcript it’s pretty clear that he’s getting very worried. He even acknowledged that for Israel there is no alternative (he calls it life or death) course of action and that it’s actions are designed to pressure the Lebanese into taking some actions of their own. He then appealed to the Lebanese to send beside him, I think he’s getting a little desperate, let’s hope most Lebanese are sane and that plea will go ignored.
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts