Report From the Nave
NOTE: This was written on Friday but I was only able to post it today:
I am sitting in the center of the world, sort of. Where I am is a booth whose design is inspired by the walls of Jerusalem, located right smack in the center, the nave of the Rimini Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples 2008, the annual pow-wow of Communion & Liberation.
CL, as it is popularly known here in Italy, is a Catholic faith-based movement founded by Father Luigi Giussani that came to the fore both in response to the student riots of 1968 and in reaction to the ossified Catholic establishment, to affirm that “the Christian event, lived in communion, is the foundation of the authentic liberation of man.” Since then, the movement has grown in size and scope, with communities all over the world.
Work and self-sufficiency is essential to being, according to CL. Over the years, as the movement grew and students became professionals, they established CdO, a network representing the small and medium-sized enterprises that wield enormous economic clout here in Italy where SMEs – particularly family-owned ones – comprise a large part of all businesses.
Some people stop by this booth because they want to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Others want to do that, but would like to do business as well – and there’s no contradiction in terms, as far as CL is concerned. Because the Holy Land as a living, breathing modern entity is also integral to CL’s belief, it established CdO Jerusalem, headed by my significant other, Jonathan Sierra. Which is how I got to this desk and WiFi hookup here in the middle of everything.
And there is quite a lot to see. The Rimini Fiera exhibition center comprises six halls, hundreds of booths and pavilions on 460,000 square meters of grounds that include an on-site railway station and a helicopter landing pad – the better to serve the numerous leaders from across the political and religious spectrum arriving on a daily basis to make pronouncements at the Meeting. I am telling you, this event is a very big deal.
The theme of this year’s Meeting is “O Protagonisti, O Nessuno” – this unfortunately translates literally as “Either Protagonists or Nobodies” – which I am assured is as opaque in Italian as it is in English. In any case, the intention is to have visitors reflect on the concept of the person. (Click here for a better explanation).
You wouldn’t think that a heavy topic like this could be made fun for the masses, but CL has done it in a sort of mass city-cum-country-fair. There are lectures, literary cafes, kiddie shows, sing-a-longs, shows, and numerous didactic exhibitions — one I liked in particular was about finding spiritual redemption while in the bonds of physical imprisonment, sponsored by a prison baking collective.
Plus, there are also important visitors to the Meeting, ranging from then Pope John Paul II to author Chaim Potok, Polish union leader turned President Lech Walesa to modern dance pioneer Martha Graham, inspirations such as Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama to literary lights like Eugene Ionesco. Each year, Israel’s Ambassador to the Vatican – yes, we have one and his name is Motti Levi — pays his respects, and several important Israeli encounters with the Arab world have taken place at the Meeting.
On Tuesday night, prizewinning Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld spoke — gave his testimony, as they call it here — to the Meeting about The Beauty and Positivity of Life.
It is quite interesting to observe a Catholic audience in the 21st century listening to a Jew speak about his near escape from destruction. Appelfeld, known for works such as Badenheim 1939 and Story of A Life, told the listening audience – numbering in the hundreds — he would “present a series of sensations, images and emotions which molded me and my generation” — referring to the time “when Jewish children were condemned to death”, himself included.
Coming to pre-State Israel at the age of 13 where, he said, “the Jewish past was regarded as a curse from which one had to escape” had no healing effect. What ultimately reconstituted his soul was his discovery of the Biblical narrative that informs his writing, and the resurrection of Hebrew, “the language that bound me to my grandparents… I, who came from Hell, needed a primordial language like that to speak for me. The Hebrew language not only opened my heart, it also connected me to my ancestors and their ancestors.” There is a full video recording of Appelfeld’s speech online and someone has kindly posted a transcript as well.
Whew! I didn’t mean to get all heavy just there. But that is the nature of this event – it moves from the material to the spiritual and back again – the sort of discourse that we are so accustomed to in Israel as well.
Better than Paul?
With Beatlemania belatedly in full swing in these parts, ahead of the September 25 appearance in Tel Aviv of Paul McCartney, the $130 tickets are being gobbled up at a rapid pace.
I’ve been underwhelmed at the prospects of seeing Sir Paul with 69,999 other aging Beatles fans. Sure, if I was presented a ticket on a silver platter, I’d be there without a moment’s hesitation. But aside from hearing maybe 8 or 10 Beatles classics, one of them probably being “Michelle”, the only clunker on Rubber Soul, the rest of the show is going to be… well, Paul’s solo career.
Let’s face it, the legends that claim an imposter took over after Paul was killed in that 1966 car crash, may not be too far from accurate. Sure the fake Paul mustered on with stellar work through the White Album and Let It Be, but by the time his solo career was launched, he was plumb out of ideas. There have been occasional moments of that old Beatles magic in “Band on The Run”, and, uh… er.., well, some of those songs with Elvis Costello in the late 80s like “My Brave Face” were pretty punchy. But is anyone going to be happy listening to his latest offerings off Memory Almost Full, albeit his critically lauded latest album?
Pondering these issues, I took the wife and younger kids to see a Beatles tribute band on Thursday night in Jerusalem’s Safra Square at an end of summer free show for the city’s residents.
The Magical Mystery Tour Band has been together for seven years, and man, are they good! Not only do they sound as close to The Beatles classic sound as is humanly possible, they also play with the enthusiasm of the Fab Four on The Ed Sullivan Show.
It was one classic after another non-stop, from “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “All My Loving” to “And Your Bird Can Sing” and “Back in the USSR”. Even though these guys are native Hebrew speakers, their vocals are dead on, and their harmonies were fantastic.
As much as seeing Paul McCartney up on stage, even if he looked like a postage stamp in size, would be a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, for reliving the magic and wonder that was The Beatles, the Magical Mystery Tour did just fine.
Flipping presence
As of today, the Jewish month of Elul has begun, which means that thousands of post-high school American yeshiva and seminary students are beginning to arrive in Jerusalem in droves. Just as the main international tourism season has wound down, and a few weeks before the autumn holidays bring a new batch of American family pilgrims, the influx of teenagers who have left their parents’ homes for the first time ever, here on a spiritual quest, can be felt everywhere. More English is spoken on buses and on streets, and the pubs are packed with young people getting sloshed in public for the first time.
The influx of yeshiva kids is a bona fide phenomenon when it comes to the Jerusalem leisure and urban atmospheric scenes, but it’s even more of an attention grabber when it comes to the sociological impact that such years of study have on the individual Jews involved as well as on the communities who spawn and send them.
Published by Yashar Books together with Yeshiva University, Modern Orthodoxy’s seminal institution, Flipping Out? Myth or Fact: The Impact of the ‘Year in Israel’ tackles these very issues. Named after a song by Blue Fringe that self-mockingly recounts the experience of becoming observant to the extreme in Jerusalem, the book meditates on the experience of yeshiva study as a rite of passage that changes the student’s outlook on religious life, and it also questions the impact of this phenomenon on American Orthodox Judaism, which is said to be moving steadily towards the Right.
In its review, The Observer, the YU student paper, asserts that “This book is a brave attempt to begin answering the plethora of questions that students, parents and observers raise about the seeming dramatic effects of the experience.”
But Miriam Shaviv over at The Forward disagrees, focusing on how the empirical backbone of the study betrays its moniker:
But you cannot properly discuss “flipping out” by looking at how many halachic stringencies students, on average, adopt. “Flipping out” is a minority sport that has as much to do with emotional and psychological factors as with halachic ones. Students who are affected may have trouble relating to their family; become obsessive and dogmatic about some aspects of religion, and shed central parts of their old personality. These are all harder to measure, but without addressing these issues substantially, the book cannot be said to be about “flipping out” at all.
So is the “year in Israel” experience essentially one of measurable spiritual acculturation or is it an ephemeral rite of passage? It doesn’t matter. They’re on their way regardless. Flipping aye.
Tel Aviv is the new Miami
The Tel Aviv municipality has launched several information points for tourists – except you might have a tiny bit of a problem locating them since they are mobile!
Our friends at Green Prophet report:
The unique, colorful Segways can be found on the streets of Tel Aviv seven days a week from 13:00 – 19:00, particularly in areas of concentrated tourist traffic such as the Tel Aviv Port, the boardwalk or tayelet along the seashore, Jaffa, the Neveh Tzedek neighborhood and Rothschild Boulevard. The stewards on the Segways offer tourists general information and details about events and special happenings in the city, and distribute maps, flyers and promotional material that will help the tourist make the most out of his time in the city.
It seems like Tel Aviv has finally warmed up to the huge potential the city has a tourist destination and the potential revenue that such a destination can bring. The Association for Tourism Tel-Aviv-Jaffa has also recently launched a new website promoting tourism to Tel Aviv (though the video on launch is a huge web design no-no). The site features events, nightlife, restaurants, free walking tours, bus tours and of course Tel Aviv’s incredible and accessible beaches.
Foto Friday
Head to Holon, Israel’s new cultural mecca, to view the photographs of Meir Paz, and what he sees in the peeling bark of the eucalyptus tree. The trees aren’t native to Israel, but were planted in great numbers at the turn of the century because of their ability to drain swamps, create shady forests and supply wood.
These elegant trees lose their bark gradually over time, and as a result, comments Paz on trekearth, one can see naturally carved shapes on their trunks — kind of like images in the clouds — that can look like people, animals and other abstract forms. Paz was so fascinated by this when he discovered the phenomenon that he goes back “again and again to spend hours near them in order to photograph and commemorate their special appearance.”
“Face of the Eucalyptus” will be shown at the Holon Theater, Yad Lebanim, 11 Kugel Avenue, Holon, opening September 4.
Motion or lack thereof in stop motion
Recent developments in the world of Israeli comics and animation have begun to make experts wonder just how big the scene is here, and how much potential it has for growth.
The retro-animated 1982 Lebanon War-themed documentary Waltz with Bashir, which spent four years in production in Israel, Germany and France, turned many heads at Cannes this summer.
Next month, Waltz with Bashir screens at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival, as does $9.99 (pictured), a feature film debut for director/animator Tatiana Rosenthal with Geoffrey Rush serving as voice talent. The movie is based on an Etgar Keret story, the author’s canon having inspired many successful film projects lately.
One blogger wonders if the hype might be nothing but hot air:
There are no animated features produced in Israel. So how could it be that two of the first animated theatrical features made in Israel in over four decades are now getting their premieres at the Toronto Film Festival?
For those not in the know, it may seem that Israel is an animation empire, but the ironic fact is that the two animated movies to be shown next month in Toronto are actually almost the only animated features ever produced over here and their simultaneous premiere is nothing short of a cosmic fluke.
But there’s simply too much going on in the field to consider the buzz completely unwarranted.
Earlier this month, a major Animation, Comics and Caricatures Festival, the eighth such event, took place at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, drawing international industry guests.
Alternative retailer The Third Ear launched its own comics publishing house recently. Domestic popularity and output of graphic novels seems to be growing. Even smaller arts institutes like Sderot’s Sapir College are impressively getting into the animation education game. Aiming to serve as a YouTube for animation that also offers industry connections, Israeli startup Aniboom has recently hosted high-profile campaigns like the band-sanctioned Radiohead In Rainbows video remix contest.
With “flukes” like these, who needs proper trends?
Shutaf
I’m a proud sister today; I just visited Shutaf, the inclusion keytana (daycamp) that my sister Beth, and her friend, Miriam, created for kids with special needs and their typically-developing peers. Held at the Ein Yael Open Museum, a great outdoor space that combines archaeology, ancient crafts, theater, music and dance — as well as some goats and horses — the kids have been attending camp for the last three weeks, doing the typical daycamp activities, from swimming and water gun fights to baking pita and feeding the goat.
Like many programs of this kind, Shutaf was created because both Miriam and Beth have special needs kids; Miriam’s 12-year-old daughter, Adina, and Beth’s son, my 11-year-old nephew, Akiva. They were both frustrated with the lack of appropriate programming for their kids during the various vacations, and got Shutaf off the ground a year ago, adding week-long Shutaf programs during the Chanukah and Pesach vacations.
Now it’s a fact on the ground, albeit requiring a lot of organization, fundraising and planning. But they’re doing it, and they’re doing it well. They have teen volunteers as well as vocational training for young adults with special needs; they have a dedicated staff of twentysomethings who also undergo training session to work at Shutaf.
We sent my 11-year-old stepdaughter to the Pesach camp and many friends are sending their kids to Shutaf as well. Not just because they want to support Beth and Miriam’s efforts, but because it’s a great camp, and one in which special needs and typically-developing kids hang out together, without really thinking about it. What’s great is that it works.
Bumper car wimps
With summer winding down, we decided to treat our seven-year-old to a day at Superland. Situated among the sandy expanse near the Rishon Lezion beach, Superland is your typical outdoor amusement park, even sprawling by Israeli standards.
With some prime attractions like the obligatory roller coaster, a frightening looking bungee-style drop built for three, and a log water slide, there’s plenty to do, and because it’s spaced out, there’s not a huge line for any ride.
And of course, what amusement park could be complete without the bumper cars. Matan and his friend Nir, were too young to ride their own, so my wife joined Matan and I partnered with Nir, as we ran out onto the game floor with a mixture or kids, adults, teens – both Jews and Arabs – jostling for the right car.
We all know the clichés about Israeli drivers – how reckless, aggressive and unsympathetic they are on the roads. And we all know that it’s 100% true. But when the bell rang, the cars started moving, an amazing thing happened – the Israeli driver became a wimp!
Given the chance to legally bash into each other, without any ramifications, most of the drivers pussyfooted around the perimeter, actually trying to avoid each other. Meanwhile, I was telling Nir, who had control of the steering wheel, to ram everything in sight.
When he did so, we got looks from the other drivers like, we had somehow ran into them intentionally on the road. Hello! That’s the point of the ride! Slowly, they began getting into the spirit of things, and by the end of the three minutes, most of the drivers were behaving like they were passing cars on blind curves on Jordan Valley road at 100 km. an hour.
Now that’s the Israeli I know and love.
Dena’s married
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness
Another rite of passage for my family. My oldest niece, Dena, born when I was a senior in high school and couldn’t imagine that I was old enough to be an aunt, got married on Sunday night. She’s not just my oldest niece, or the first grandchild; she’s also our first Sabra, and even though she’s known as “Dena-with-a-resh” by her friends, because for some reason she doesn’t roll her resh in Hebrew, (probably because of her Long Island-bred and Brooklyn-born parents), I came to the conclusion the other night that she really is Israeli, or maybe we are, whatever that means in this land of ours.
Proof? Well, she’s the child of Americans and she married a guy from her neighborhood, whose family originally hails from Spain and Turkey. They’ve got deep black hair, we’re more dark brown to light brown, and from there, the traditions and customs are mixed.
Before the ceremony, we fressed on thin slices of sinta steak, lamb kebobs wrapped around cinnamon sticks and dainty bowls of mixed Jerusalem grill at the kabbalat panim, sweating in the humid, stick air of the shfela, and surrounded by voices speaking in English and Hebrew with a mix of Israeli, American, Russian, British and South African accents.
There was a procession — she’s watched a lot of American TV in her time — and prompted by ‘his’ side, we all clapped as each person walked down the aisle. They were married by a childhood friend who’s now a Chabad rabbi, but they played James Brown’s “I Feel Good,” at the end of the ceremony.
The band was Israeli, the dancing was fun, joyful and all about the bride and groom, until it switched to Israeli rock music and then a DJ later on in the evening, for a bit of trance. The program? Short and sweet, including a video montage about the couple made by their friends, and an Israeli folkdance, performed by the bride’s aunts, uncles and cousins.
In short, a fabulous party and a great event, and through it all, it was hard to believe that the next generation is already heading into this part of life. What’s more, they have their way of doing it, mixing and matching what they’ve learned from the family, from home and from their surroundings. The melting pot in action.
Whistling in the dark
It’s been a year and a half since my daughter began her two-year obligatory army service, and was placed in the Israel Police. Sure has gone by quickly for me.
For her, I’m not so sure. While she’s accepted her responsibilities with poise and a remarkable sense of maturity, it’s clear that she’s mentally tearing the calendar page away a day at a time as her long countdown begins to her release.
We’ve been lucky, because her patrol route and home base are relatively close to home, enabling her to sleep in her own bed, instead of staying in a police barracks.
It’s become routine in the house – Adina returning home at 5:30 am after a 12-hour all-night shift, and sleeping all day. If we’re home, we try to keep things quiet, but in the summer, with the younger kids on the TV and computer constantly, it’s not always possible (not to mention the remodeling taking place by our downstairs neighbor).
And when she’s on a day shift, she gets home in the early evening, takes a nap, showers, and heads out to see her boyfriend or her high school friends. We’re happy to be her welcome berth, providing her with food, shelter… and privacy.
Occasionally she’ll tell us about something that happened on her shift – which involves usual police stuff like burglaries, roadblocks to check for drunk drivers, and sometimes, heading into Arab villages to back up army troops on a mission. But usually, she just says everything’s fine, and doesn’t go into detail.
That leaves us with a false sense of security that she’s leaving to go to work like any of us, to sit at a desk or computer – not that she’s leaving home and entering a danger zone where her life or well being could possibly be put in jeopardy at any time.
Once in a while, on the rare occasions we’re both at home and not preoccupied with human doing stuff, I tell her I’m proud of her, and appreciate the sacrifice she’s making for her country, when she’s at an age when many kids – at least in the US – are more focused on where the next keg party is going to be. On Shabbat, during the prayer for the soldiers defending Israel, I put in a good word for her, and ask that she return home safely from all her tasks which put her in harm’s way.
Then the new week starts, and those thoughts return to back part of my mind once again. Still, when I hear her roll in at 5:30 am, I roll over in my bed, and in hazy between sleep and awake state, I pretend to smile to myself.
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