Juuuust behind the times
Israel’s Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community values tradition over progress, believing that anything new is inherently suspect. With the community’s impoverished state, the internet age has opened many avenues of telecommuting income for Haredi families, so the rabbinical leadership has treated computers and telecommunications with kid gloves. The result is a grey area for a sector of Israel’s population not known for being allowed much room for individual thought.
Sure, many Haredim have secret TVs behind closed doors (even if they decide for themselves that it’s okay, their neighbors might not understand), and even more watch moving images on their computers. There’s a mega-earning Haredi film industry, with CD-ROMs containing movies that have zero actresses and Torah-friendly messages:
The plots are usually convoluted melodramas, most of them tear-jerkers that are loaded with edifying messages and Haredi cliches: There will always be a goy (or a secular Jew) who discovers his Judaism; and twins separated at birth, one of whom grew up with goyim (or secular Jews) and returns to his origins. And an ancient copy of Psalms will always find its way to its owner.
But even this scene is banned by many rabbis, its key players operating semi-secretly – even though it’s known that families often own computers just to watch these productions.
During a recent visit to a used cellphone retailer near Jerusalem’s Davidka Square, a corner that’s situated on the border between the super-black Makor Baruch neighborhood and the spaghetti-strapped downtown, I overheard a Haredi man asking the salesman which of the phones he offers are “kosher.” Puzzled, I asked him if he intended to eat his phone, whereupon it was explained to me that some phones allow for streaming video (which might be lewd) and some do not (rendering them kosher).
Video is clearly a point of contention. A recent Haredi ban differentiates between mp3 players (good, because they can be used for Torah study) and mp4 players (evil, because, they are capable of displaying video, which may lead to sin):
Even though MP4s are sold at several stores in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Geula neighborhood, the anger was directed at this particular store because it dared advertise its wares in a Haredi newspaper. Unsigned posters reading “Prepare for the great campaign to stop the corruption” have appeared throughout the neighborhood in recent weeks, denouncing the store for openly advertising “reviled devices that drag all who touch them toward danger.”
These types of verdicts are strangely almost keeping up with the times, only confirming their reactive grounding – simply not based on any guiding doctrines, but rather trying to maintain control over the ever-elusive buffer zone between mankind and our temptations.
The old adage that “guns don’t kill people; people do” comes to mind: Technology doesn’t unto itself cause people to enjoy sinful modes of entertainment, but it makes it a whole lot easier. In these parts of Israeli society, morality isn’t meant to be a matter of individual but rather what’s pronounced from above – in public anyway.
Flickr photo by whodisan215.
B-bye bourekas
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, Food, General, Israeliness
Chef Erez Komorovsky, the founder of Israeli sourdough heaven Lehem Erez, says “there is no logical reason” for Israelis, who “live in a land of abundant olive oil, to go anywhere near trans fat, unless they are locked into a conference room for most of the day. ‘And then their situation is not all that great,’ he says.”
Komorovsky is quoted in a Haaretz article about saying b-bye to bourekas, those layers of filo dough slathered with margarine, as well as rugelach (yes, including Jerusalem’s famous Marzipan bakery in Machane Yehuda) and other popular pastries that Israelis love, yet are smothered in trans fat, read margarine, canola or soy oil.
I’m chuckling over Komorovsky’s conference room comment, since it’s simply so right on the mark, given the Israeli penchant for putting out plates of potato bourekas, chocolate wafers and sesame-studded pretzels, along with water and soda at pretty much any conference room gathering, whether it be at the Knesset or a venture capital firm boardroom. Okay, maybe Herzliya venture capitalists are sticking to fresh fruit and sparkling water these days. But every bakery slides out its trays of vegetable- and cheese-filled bourekas each day, along with cinnamon and chocolate rugelach, and people buy them by the box and bagful.
“Israelis’ affection for bourekas and manufactured pastries, along with the long work days that lead to snacks of this sort, are liable to have disastrous results. Another risk factor is the widespread use of margarine in Israel – in part due to kashrut considerations – since margarine is entirely trans fat,” according to the Haaretz article. And while “the good news for Israelis is that restaurants here are better than in the United States. Even McDonald’s in Israel stopped using trans fats as far back as 2004, and switched to canola oil,” we’re still a country that likes its trans fat in plenty of products.
I’m hooked on these concepts right now because I’m reading Barbara Kingsolver’s excellent new book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life”, and contemplating finally starting my compost pile and growing some more vegetables in our garden. Don’t know whether that will actually happen. But I’ll tell you this much: No more bourekas in this house.
Disgruntled at Duty-Free
My husband had just gotten off the plane from a two-week work trip in the States, and before I could bundle him into the car at the airport and whisk him back home — I was waiting outside while he was gathering his baggage and duty-free treats — he suddenly stopped answering his cellphone — horrors! — and all I could think of was, ‘Has he been stopped by Customs?’
Of course, he had. After some 20 years of living in Israel, and making the Israel-U.S. trip many a time, with more than a few electronic treats in his bags, Daniel made the cardinal error of buying a new microwave in duty-free and bringing back a few birthday presents — all electronic — in his bags. But it was the big DeLonghi box sitting on his cart that alerted the bored customs crew, who immediately set their sights on him and demanded that he open all bags. There, to their delight, were three unopened boxes, including two cameras and an iHome, all birthday presents for family members back here.
After paying 850 shekels in fines and VAT, Daniel was set free, albeit disgruntled, and made his way over to our car. Now, of course, we also had to pay NIS 20 for parking, since we’d overstayed our 20-minute free parking. On the way home, we engaged in a step-by-step dismantling of the scenario, from the decision to buy a microwave in duty-free (where you don’t have to pay the 15.5% VAT that is paid on most consumer items in Israel), to not doing a better job of hiding the cameras in the suitcase.
It’s a funny thing, though; it’s not that duty-free shopping is such a bargain. It’s simply very easy to spend the time before boarding buying some things that you’ve needed to get, and then leaving it at the airport to bring home at the end of a trip. An Israeli innovation, you could say. But there are the downsides; whether it’s when the appliance arrives broken and you have to deal with the company’s less than satisfying customer service, or when you buy several bottles of whisky duty-free, only to find out that you’re only allowed to bring in one liter of liquor or two liters of wine. (That happened to friends of ours who were stocking up on whisky before their daughter’s wedding.)
So, did it pay to buy the electronics in the States, smuggle them home and then pay a fine? Well, yes. It’s still cheaper over there, and the range of choices are much wider. It would have been much more frustrating if they’d succeeded in making Daniel pay a fine on his two-year-old laptop that was also in his bag, and which, they pointed out, doesn’t have a Hebrew keyboard, which could mean that it was also bought in the States. But they let him slide on that one, and in fact, after a whispered consultation, decided to lower his total bill from NIS 1150 to NIS 850. And so, in the end, another bargain at the airport.
Too many shades of Green?
The smell of elections is certainly starting to penetrate the air we breathe with new political parties being formed as well as current member of the Knesset who are looking to bolt their party for other parties with better chances in the next election. Israel is known for it’s lesser known – and eclectic – parties that always come out of the woodwork. We’ve got the man’s rights party, cab drivers party and the pensioners party (who managed to get a substantial amount of seats in the last election). I’m sure a few more fun ones will come about.
The people are angry with the government. They are fed up with the same old politicians serving their self-interests and are sick and tired of the corruption. Many parties are poised to fill the void and speak for the people but they of course must garner enough support to break the threshold in order to get into the Knesset. There exists a substantial protest vote and that is how the pro-marijuana Green Leaf party almost made it in a few elections ago and it was that same protest vote that brought the pensioners party into the Knesset.
However this time there might be a bit more confusion. Currently there are three parties all with the word Green in their names. There is of course the Green Leaf party, the Greens and now a Green party spin off called (as of right now) the “Green Movement.” From Haaretz:
Over the past few weeks, the new party held a series of discussions that culminated in a foundational document entitled “Green Movement Vision.” The document says a “green movement” does more than preserve the landscape; it has a broader political and social agenda.According to the document, the new party will focus on building an economy that takes into account environmental and ecological needs.
It will work for tougher legislation to deter polluters, expand local authorities’ power to intervene in environmental matters, and initiate a national project to make Israel energy-independent by 2050 by utilizing solar energy.
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the party supports a resolution based on the two-state principle, with security guarantees for Israel.
The party advocates preserving Shabbat as a day of rest free of business or commercial activity, but allowing public transportation to operate and entertainment venues to be open .
As for the character of the State of Israel, the movement states that the Hebrew language and the Jewish identity are the country’s essence.
However, it adds that Israel’s Arab citizens suffer from discrimination, and that they must be allowed to fulfill their right to develop their cultural heritage.
“The Arab school system is entitled to teach and promote Palestinian and Arab culture and history,” according to the document, “alongside a shared core curriculum that reflects values common to every citizen in the country,” it states.
I fail to see the difference between this agenda and the agenda of the original Greens. Time will tell and I think success of either of these groups is contingent on what “name” they each get to top their list. With environmentalism all the rage (and the disappointing actions of the pensioner party) I can’t imagine those who voted for the pensioners as a protest vote not supporting a party who actually has an agenda that might be somewhat altruistic. Time will tell.
Weird Wednesday – Joker the dolphin
There’s a dog who lives in Eilat called Joker. Everyone there knows him. He’s a hairy mutt. Cute, but pretty smelly to be honest, and he’s not that keen on human company. But there’s one thing very special about Joker – he’s adopted a pod of dolphins.
In fact, he probably thinks he is a dolphin.
Five years ago Joker found his way to Dolphin Reef, a beautiful beach on the south side of Eilat where people swim and dive with dolphins. He trotted down to the wooden piers that jut out into the sea, and gazed at the dolphins swimming below him. It was love at first sight.
The staff chased him off. But the next day Joker was back, and the day after that, each time spending hours staring at the dolphins as they swam by. One day he summoned up his courage and leapt in.
The dolphins, being curious creatures, were fascinated by their new four-legged companion, and after a few weeks of daily swims began to accept him as one of their own.
Since then, Joker makes the trip to the Dolphin Reef, a few kilometers away from his home, every single day. At first he used to walk the distance. In recent years he’s started hitchhiking.
He stands by the road in Eilat until someone recognizes him and picks him up and drops him at the beach. On the way back, he begs another lift from the staff, following them from the reef and then leaping in as they open the car doors.
“I have a blanket in my car specially for him,” admits Nir Avni, the founder and manager of the beach. “I can’t refuse him.”
One day he took a trip with the wrong person, however, and ended up 100 kilometers away at a kindergarten in Kibbutz Yotvata. Avni put an advert in a national paper for a missing dog, and finally after several weeks absence Joker was reunited with his dolphins once more.
You can see Joker whenever you visit Dolphin Reef. He pads about the place as if he were the owner, sitting on the pier for long hot hours in the baking Eilat heat gazing at his friends in the clear blue water below. When the mood takes him, he dives in, and starts to play with his dolphin family.
If you see him, you can try to call him over. But he’ll probably ignore you, unless you’re offering him a lift. He’s only really got eyes for his dolphins.
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