Nostalgia Sunday
Filed under: Business, General, History and Culture, Israeliness
While handing my cabdriver some change the other day, I noticed, at the last second, that one of the coins was an old 10 agorot piece. For those who’ve never seen one, or never had a jarful in their house, the 10 agorot coin looked like this:
It was first issued in metallic gold-tone, but as hyper-inflation took hold in the early 80s, it was subsequently issued in silvery cheap crap and then done away with altogether. That is, until now. The Israel Government Coins & Medals Corporation is offering this lovely item for your refrigerator door.
I don’t mean to burst the Coins & Medals Corporation’s bubble, but I’ve been making these by myself for years with some magnets, contact cement and that jar of old coins.
For serious numismatists, the Bank of Israel website is the place to go. Their Banknotes and Coins Catalog has pictures and information about every banknote and coin since the Anglo-Palestine Bank series was issued in 1948.
I was a little disappointed that the central bank hasn’t updated the catalog to include our latest innovation, the plastic 20-shekel note, first introduced into circulation in April. According to the Bank of Israel press release: “In light of the advantages offered by polymer, its use is growing throughout the world, and currently twenty-six countries use it in the production of their banknotes, including Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore. Israel thus becomes the twenty-seventh country to adopt polymer banknotes.” We’re number 27! Yeah!
The bank goes on to explain, “The design on the polymer notes is the same as that on the paper notes, except for small changes in the security features. The most notable of these is a transparent window in the polymer notes, as shown below, which is easily recognizable by the public. The window has the number ’20′ embossed on it.”
And in case you’re still not sure what it is you’re looking at, they include a picture:
The bank concludes by saying, “Some operators of automatic machines have not yet completed the process of adjusting them to the polymer notes; they are expected to do so in the next few weeks.” Last week, I tried — as I have several times — to buy a train ticket with one of these, and was once again cruelly rejected by the machine. The central bank’s expectations, it would seem, have yet to be realized.
The one where Harry chats with Shaul Mofaz
Well Shaul Mofaz lost the Kadima primary to Tzipi Livni who is now lined up to be our next prime minister. It’s not clear how long her tenure will be since its most likely new elections are just around the corner. It all depends on the strength of the coalition she can muster up. But that is not what I am here to talk about. I was hoping that Mofaz would win. Not because I support his agenda or anything like that but because you see, Mofaz and I go way back….
1998. My advanced tank training was held on the southern Golan Heights. We spent about 90 percent of our time out in the shetach (field). Upon returning to the base on Sunday we would drive our tanks through military only areas of the Golan, passing decimated and rusted Syrian tanks that are now used as target practice. Advanced tank training consists of obstacle courses spread over several kilometers. Each week, we would ship out to a different part of the Golan, training on different types of terrain. This week we happened to be near the city of Katzrin, the only city on the Golan Heights, sitting about 12 kilometers northeast of the Sea of Galilee. It was a good place to be, because we knew the chances of receiving an “after,” (free time) in the city was fairly high. Now, Katrzin isn’t a city per se, but it had a couple of cafes, mini-markets and shwarma joints. More than we had on the volcanic rock of the Golan where we spent most of our time.
On Wednesday morning we woke up shivering as usual, anxiously waiting for the sun to rise to rewarm our bodies. Our morning rituals of cold water shaving, eating crappy food, putting away our sleeping gear and preparing the tank for the days activities was done in silence. Everyone too tired from the previous night’s events. After breakfast we were told by our commanders that we’ll be having a special guest today – the new IDF Chief of Staff, Shaul Mofaz. It was his first week in his position and he was going around to random units to meet with the troops. He would be arriving at 11:30, so we’ll need to straighten up the area, put up some new flags and choose a representative to tell him about our unit.
Mofaz and his entourage of advisers, security and photographer arrived promptly. Eitan, a born leader who we chose earlier to speak about our unit spoke eloquently and intelligently about who we were and what we were doing. Mofaz then spoke briefly to our unit about the importance of the armored corp and upon completing his short speech asked if there were any questions. A few of the guys had some questions – though nothing too serious. Mofaz then said “Anyone else?”
I happen to be sitting dead center in the group and foolishly looked to my right and my left to see if anyone had their hands up. No one did. And that was my downfall.
Mofaz looks directly at me and says, “You there! The one looking around, please stand up.” I was so nervous that I thought my heart was going to explode through my chest and I immediately broke out in a heavy sweat.
There was a collective “Oh sh*t” among my commanders and the officers. The guys in my unit all tried to mask their smirks because they knew this conversation was going to be awesome.
I was a good soldier, but as you can imagine, a bit of a jokester. Now, this is the chief of staff of the IDF, so I wasn’t planning on messing around. But sometimes, things just happen. My Hebrew wasn’t all that great. Good enough to understand orders and converse with the boys but I couldn’t have a intellectual conversation about Kant’s categorical imperative. all my answers below are translated in English directly from the Hebrew I used.
I stood up and saluted the highest ranking officer in Israel.
“What is your name?” Mofaz asked.
“Harry Rubenstein” I answered with an intentionally strong accent.
From Vision to Reality
Here, in Jerusalem’s Old City tourist traps, they sell those T-shirts bearing an image of a fighter jet and the title ‘Don’t Worry America, Israel is behind you’.
I guess they could add a new version now saying ‘Don’t Worry Israel, Hollywood is behind you’.
Thursday night’s gala celebration of Israel’s 60th birthday – titled marquee style ‘From Vision to Reality’ – which took place at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, brought out a bunch of A-lister, some oddities and some perennial friends of Israel in a show of strength for our humble, little country that could.
Folks from the ‘hood like Warren Beatty and his wife Annette Bening (looking more like Diane Keaton every day, no?), Seal, tennis star Serena Williams, Jason Alexander, and music producer David Foster, mingled with Israeli Consulate officials and helped to honor the evening’s guest of honor (besides Israel), movie producer Arnon Milchan, who received a lifetime achievement award from the Citizens’ Empowerment Center in Israel, a nonprofit that promotes democracy and civic involvement.
According to an AP report, the Israeli-born former fertilizer salesman Milchan, who has produced films like Pretty Woman and LA Confidential, originally declined the offer, then reconsidered.
“I realized for Israel, you can’t say no,” he said.
Milchan brought out Williams during his acceptance speech, a connection evidently forged years ago when the Hollywood mogul helped the young tennis star broker an endorsement deal with Puma.
Adam Sandler, rumored to be a possible MC for the event, was a no-show, but his comedy cohort Howie Mandel sent in a video presentation in which he discussed a recent vacation to Israel. Former Seinfeld star Alexander also praised the country and disclosed that he’ll be making a visit here next June, and for the first time bringing his sons. Fans should look for him registered, of course, as Art Vandelay.
Foto Friday
It’s the season for selihot, the penitential prayers and poems that are recited in Sephardic tradition in the pre-dawn hours during the 40 days between the new month of Elul until Yom Kippur. Ashkenazim customarily begin saying selihot on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah.
But in Jerusalem, you’ll find more than a few Ashkenazim who partake in this Sephardic tradition, and I can hear the men in the Sephardic shul next to my house on some early mornings, vying with the call of the muezzin from the nearby Arab village. It’s a curious mix of traditions, which could be why there are Selihot and Ramadan walking tours in the Jewish and Muslim quarters of the Old City during this time of year, as well as Nachlaot, a neighborhood in downtown Jerusalem that’s a mix of the ultra Orthodox, candles and sandals types and some others thrown in for good measure.
A few photos from this spiritual period of year…
Locked and loaded
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, War
With record-setting percentages of women in our parliament, a landmark female prime minister back in the Seventies and today’s female politicians primed to rise the ranks of leadership, it’s easy to make the case for Israel as a gender equality global leader.
The same is true for military integration, the War of Independence representing a landmark in the annals of warfare thanks to unprecedented proportions of ladies in combat roles. And since then, the IDF hasn’t looked back, drafting post-high school teenagers of both sexes to years of obligatory service – the only army in the world to do so.
Sure, jokingly referred to as “mattresses” and coffee getters, young women in the IDF are excluded from some combat roles, but in the big picture, we’re talking about an exceptionally co-ed army.
A landmark 1995 Supreme Court ruling opened up the Air Force’s prestigious pilot’s training course to women, with 11 women currently serving as pilots today. According to IDF sources, 14 percent of female reserves served in combat positions in the Second Lebanon War two summers ago, and about 20 percent of the individual combat roles open to women are occupied by them. However, some 90 percent of the IDF’s various occupation tracks are officially co-ed.
The manner in which the IDF leadership uses its female manpower is an object of scrutiny, but, as with other IDF matters, this scrutiny is rarely given access to the inner workings of the military’s decision making, data archives and leadership culture. But now an international conference is offering an honest look at the experience of women in the “integrated” IDF in the context of the role of military women around the world, and the Women’s eNews website’s interest has been piqued.
The Israeli Defense Forces gathering this week drew representatives from 11 countries–including India, Austria and Colombia–who take an active part in integration of women in militaries and defense ministries. Organizers said it was a chance to highlight Israel’s experience while emphasizing integrated women’s service in militaries across the globe.
“We have a lot of things in common,” Brig.-Gen. Yehudit Grisaro, advisor to the chief of the general staff on women’s issues, said during the sidelines of the conference. “Whoever discusses women’s service in the army needs to deal with similar challenges that involve culture, stereotypes, gender perceptions, social issues, religion and state.”
….”We have a clear picture of what areas we need to make progress on, at what pace and how we will move forward,” Grisaro, who supervised the conference, told Women’s eNews, adding that not all suggestions will be carried out quickly.
So, yes, women in the Israeli military: Just like any other distinctly Israeli phenomenon, a case of polar dichotomies. Ancient ways and progressive approaches somehow both operating at full steam.
Image courtesy fejron from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
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