Spin Takes A Turn With ISRAEL21c
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Pop Culture, Sports
ISRAEL21c is now a contributor to SPIN Earth, a new web video initiative from SPIN Magazine. The first video up: a profile of the Israel Parkour Team, who use the sidewalks and walls of Tel Aviv as their training ground.
Give and drink
Here’s a good offer to take advantage of, in this time of Passover shopping and giving.
Crossroads, a Jerusalem-based social service in Israel that helps troubled teens turn their lives around, has put together a fundraiser that matches donations and Israeli wines. Purchase wine made in Israel and donate a portion to the Crossroads Center, through the Israel Wine Company. The founders of the two organizations, Caryn Green (a social worker who created Crossroads) and Ari Erle (a winemaking consultant who created the Israel Wine Company), have been friends for years, and developed this parternship in which ten percent of all proceeds will be donated to Crossroads, with an additional $75 donation for every new wine club membership created through the partnership.
The Israel Wine Company aims to bring the best of Israeli wines — and its more than 100 boutique wineries — to North America. There are currently 20 Israeli wines on the list, including Erle’s own label, Erle, (non-kosher) wines crafted in California and Israel, in the vineyard located near his home in Moshav Givat Nili, which is in the Zichron Yaakov area.
So, you can do some good, drink some good wine and do it all in a blue-and-white way. Just enter the name CROSSROADS in the notes area upon check-out from Israel Wine Company, so that they receive your generous contribution.
Hassidism at Boombamela
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture, Profiles, Religion
A long-time disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and a seasoned grassroots organizer, Michael Golomb used to spend his efforts marching against the Vietnam War. But since moving to Israel along with many of Carlebach’s Hassidim as part of that community’s mid-Seventies exodus from Haight-Ashbury, Golomb has busied himself with spreading a message of love at gatherings, encounter events and festivals – even mainstream, teenybopper-y ones like Boombamela, Shantipi and Beresheet.
Golomb and his crew have helped to organize Tents of Love and Prayer at several of these festivals, with the sub-camp serving as a festival within a festival for many party-goers. According to a statement released this week by director Guy Peleg, Boombalema’s planners love Carlebach-style Judaism because of its emphasis on happiness and love of mankind, making Golomb’s contributions key elements to the eye-opening, pan-spiritualist experience Peleg is trying to forge.
At the festivals, the Tent of Love and Prayer offers kosher food (which is even harder to come by during Passover), prayer services, meditation sessions, low-impact lectures and the like.
But it’s not always easy to keep one’s mind on lofty ideas when corporate sponsorship banners are flying high and scantily clad perky young ones are doing the same. And the mainstream festival circuit has received plenty of criticism in recent years about these trends from the hippie hardcore populace that first provided their critical mass about a decade ago. But Carlebach-style outreach was never afraid of “elevating the sparks” (as the Hassidic masters might have put it) out from the ditches. As The Chicago Tribune did put it back in 2007:
…Carlebach was one of the first emissaries of the Lubavitcher movement, a Hasidic group that pioneered outreach to disaffected Jews in the 1950s. Carlebach found himself particularly drawn to lost souls: drug addicts, runaway young people, the homeless.
Golomb carries this torch proudly, dancing while carrying a Torah scroll into the throngs of drum circle, sunset-hailing revelers at the opening evening of each festival. And it’s nice to see Boombalema’s leadership, which essentially represents the ultimate in the crossroads between mainstream pop culture and new-age (which usually means post-Jewish) spiritualism, appreciating his efforts.
This year’s three-day Boombamela Festival on Nitzanim Beach is set to kick off on April 9, with plans for this year including utilization of solar energy to cut down on electricity waste by half.
Israeli fans of Yeah Yeah Yeahs get active
We’ve already reported that fiesty art rockers The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have signed on to open the big outdoor show of the season – the May 10th Depeche Mode show at Ramat Gan Stadium.
However, some of the band’s fans in Israel are not too happy at the prospect of having to pay Depeche Mode prices – NIS 400 ($100) and more – to see a short opening set. And undoubtedly, the multitudes of Depeche Mode fans aren’t going to be too receptive to anyone taking up the time before their favorites come on stage, especially since the band’s show is so anticipated following their cancellation in 2006.
So some enterprising Yeah x3 fans have started an online petition requesting that the band perform an additional show while they’re here.
“The band has been confirmed by sources to be in Israel for three days, so there is time for a concert, but we have to convince the promoters that there is a demand. This is an amazing live band, so let’s make it happen,” cajoled one fan.
Another fan, Jason Silberman, who’s prodding his friends to sign the petition, explained his reasons.
“I am a big fan of the band, and would love them to be able to play their own full-length show here, at a smaller venue and at a more reasonable price. If they are already here, and there is enough people to fill up a venue like the Barby in Tel Aviv, or maybe a Jerusalem venue like Yellow Submarine or The Lab, for a second show, then it’s a nice opportunity,” he said.
So far, the petition has hundreds of signatures. The question is, will the Yeah x3 say ‘yes’?
It’s in your hands
Filed under: Environment, General, Movies, Pop Culture, design
Well, if Rafael’s Bollywood advertisement made you give up hope that Israelis could ever do marketing, then hopefully this advert will make you think again.
Created free by the ad agency, Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Young & Rubican for EcoOcean, a non-profit organization dedicated to marine education, it’s a touching but simple advert that gets its environmental message – about saving Israel’s turtles – across cleanly and powerfully.
The Hebrew message at the end: “Life is in your hands.”
No baby turtles were hurt during the shooting of this video.
Sabra happiness
Prickly, but generally satisfied
Anyway. According to the poll, those Sabras surveyed with higher income tend to be happier, particularly if they are anticipating a rise in income. But while being married tends to increase happiness, at the same time, married people have to share their income increase with their spouse, and therefore have less of a “happiness boost” when their family income increases. Which made me think about the article I read this morning, discussing the fact that those living in Israel’s Dan region, aka, the greater Tel Aviv area, have been hardest hit by the recession that supposedly hasn’t yet hit Israel. These are the folks that used to have higher incomes, but now have lower or no income. Which, in theory, would make them unhappy. Unless they’re married.
Another surprising result from the survey is that immigrants to Israel are more likely to be happy than Israelis born in Israel, as being born in Israel reduces the probability to be happy by 8%. That result, says the JIMS, is very unique, given that immigrant populations are usually less happy than native populations because they have less of a social network and struggle with cultural differences in their new country. But the survey found that the more voluntary the immigration, the happier the immigrant. Olim from Western countries are the happiest, and are, on average, 13.5% more likely to be happy than Sabras. Which should make me happy. I think it does.
Nostalgia Sunday – Sali Ariel’s Tel Aviv Bauhaus
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Nostalgia Sunday, Travel
As Tel Aviv’s centennial gets underway and the weather warms up, more and more festive events will be held to celebrate the occasion. One of these happened last night, when the Rozin Center Gallery opened the season with an exhibition of works by painter Sali Ariel.
Originally from the States, Sali was a long-time Jerusalemite who made the move to Tel Aviv over a decade ago. As she got to know her new home, she noticed it was changing before her eyes. “I started seeing the Ramat Gan business district going up and all the big tall buildings on Rothschild Boulevard and while I don’t think that’s bad, I was afraid we would forget how Tel Aviv looked. I also felt inevitably, Tel Aviv had to change but I didn’t know if it was for better or for worse. I wanted to document it for people in the future so they would know how Tel Aviv was in our time.”
Ariel feels she looked at Tel Aviv as an outsider, “because I had just moved from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv seemed to have a bright happy fun look about it. And maybe for that reason I didn’t see the trash and crumbliness, because I was comparing it to the serious and the grayness of Jerusalem, which I also love and think is beautiful, but very different.”
Ariel started out wandering Yarkon Park and trying to sketch the natural surroundings. “But whenever I started to paint trees there were buildings peeking out form behind. And when i started to paint buildings, shockingly, a lot of what i saw was green leafy stuff — they was sort of inseparable, the two.”
Ariel was not a Bauhaus aficionado when she started working on this theme. “I was just doing buildings that looked nice to me. And then i was offered an exhibit at the Bauhaus Center and have had several exhibits since then. It also turns out that many of the building that I like are Bauhaus — but not all. Some of them are the older buildings in what’s called oriental or eclectic style.”
More works can be viewed at Sali Ariel’s website and the current exhibit will be on display at the Rozin Center Gallery in Ramat Aviv until April 22.
Palestinian kids and Holocaust survivors face the music
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Music, War, coexistence
The Strings of Freedom Orchestra (AP)
It happened last week in Holon, as part of ‘Good Deeds Day,’ an annual event run by an organization connected to Bank Hapoalim heiress and billionaire Shari Arison. The 13 musicians, aged 11 to 18, belong to ‘Strings of Freedom,’ and the survivors are patrons of Holon’s Holocaust Survivors Center.
According to the Associated Press, most of the Holocaust survivors did not know the youths were Palestinians from Jenin, one of the more extremist terror strongholds in the West Bank, and the youths had no idea they were performing for people who lived through Nazi genocide — or even what the Holocaust was.
Some 30 elderly survivors gathered in the center’s hall as teenage boys and girls filed in 30 minutes late — delayed at an Israeli military checkpoint outside their town, they later explained.
Some of the young women wore Muslim head scarves — but also sunglasses and school ties.
As a host announced in Hebrew that the youths were from the Jenin refugee camp, there were gasps and muttering from the crowd. “Jenin?” one woman asked in jaw-dropped surprise.Conductor Wafa Younis, from the Arab village of Ara in Israel, then explained in fluent Hebrew that the youths would sing for peace, prompting the audience to burst into applause.
“Inshallah,” said Sarah Glickman, 68, using the Arabic term for “God willing.”
Glickman, whose family moved to the newly created Jewish state in 1949 after fleeing to Siberia to escape the Nazis, said she had no illusions the encounter would make the children understand the Holocaust. But she said it might make a “small difference.”
“They think we are strangers, because we came from abroad,” Glickman said. “I agree: It’s their land, also. But there was no other option for us after the Holocaust.”
Younis said the main mission of the orchestra, formed seven years ago to help Palestinian children overcome war trauma, was to bring people together.
“I’m here to raise spirits,” Younis said. “These are poor, old people.”
However, back home in Jenin, the event drew strong condemnations from refugee camp leaders and political activists, who accused the organizers of exploiting the children for “political purposes.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, Adnan al-Hinda, director of the Popular Committee for Services in the Jenin refugee camp, said that the participation of the children in the concert was a “dangerous matter” because it was directed against the cultural and national identity of the Palestinians.
He accused “suspicious elements” of being behind the Holon event, saying they were seeking to “impact the national culture of the young generation and cast doubt about the heroism and resistance of the residents of the camp during the Israeli invasion in April 2002.”
Ramzi Fayad, a spokesman for various political factions in the Jenin refugee camp, also condemned the participation of the teenagers in the Holocaust event, saying all the groups were strongly opposed to any form of normalization with Israel.
“There can be no normalization while Israel is continuing to perpetrate massacres against our people,” he said.
Leaflets distributed in the Jenin area over the weekend also attacked the event and accused the organizers of exploiting the children. The leaflets also warned the Palestinians against participating in similar events in the future.
Sources in the camp said that the political factions in Jenin have also decided to ban an Israeli Arab woman who helped organize the event from entering the city.
Fatah activists in the city also filed a complaint with the Palestinian Police against the woman under the pretext that she had misled the children by taking them to the Holocaust event. The activists also sealed an apartment that had been rented out to the woman in the refugee camp.
So, just like most attempts to draw people together here, the Jenin-Holocaust survivors summit seems to have ended on a sour note. But let’s hope the youth orchestra returns to play again, and that some day, a group of young Israeli musicians might even be able to go to Jenin and play some music there, without having to fear for their lives.
The Simpsons to bring peace to Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, History and Culture, Politics, Pop Culture, Travel, coexistence
Like most existential quarrels, the Arab-Israeli conflict is a nuanced and tricky beast. Those on the outside often take a paternalistic, “Oh, those silly Middle Easterners, why can’t they just realize that coexistence is the way to go, put their weapons down and start getting along?” attitude.
In the minds of most Israelis, I’d wager, this perspective is naïve and can lead to disaster. Many have argued that Bill Clinton’s personal need to end his presidency on a positive note led to over-simplified tactics at Camp David, which in the end backfired and brought about the Second Intifada.
I’m not sure that that thesis is itself sufficiently nuanced, but diplomacy analysis aside, a similarly paternalistic outsider’s view that has informed many tongue-in-cheek pop culture Mideast peace comments. And these comments also come off to us locals as either refreshingly naïve (as in the case of the dreamy conclusion of Tom Robbins’s Skinny Legs and All) or as not necessarily adding to the discussion but amusing nonetheless (especially when they are aimed at exposing the hypocrisies and general lack of vision among our leaders, like when Bruno stopped by last summer).
And our beloved Simpsons, probably one of the greatest TV shows of all time, if not the greatest, has a dodgy track record when it comes to understanding cultural nuances from an insider’s perspective. It’s all part of being an irreverent, edgy comedy.
According to Ha’aretz, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie are headed our way in the coming months:
Multiple media sources have quoted the show’s executive producer, Al Jean, as saying that America’s number one animated family will head to the Holy Land next year.
“I think we’re going to do one next year where they go to the Holy Land as we haven’t been there yet. The premise will be that the Christians, the Jews and Muslims are united in that they all get mad at Homer. It’s the only thing they can agree on,” Jean said.
Sometimes the international ethnic and otherwise-sensitive communities don’t manage to take The Simpsons with the appropriate grains of salt. Racial stereotypes as regular characters? But of course. Accusations of homophobia? You got it. And then there are the recurring episodes where the family travels internationally, ripping apart the cultural and ethnic mores of China, Italy, African banana republics, Ireland and Japan. They’re exceedingly funny, but sometimes people get offended. When the Simpsons traveled in South America in a 2002 episode, the Tourism Board of Rio de Janeiro reportedly seriously mulled a lawsuit against the Fox Network for libel. Or slander. Or something.
The episode that kicked off this recurring series is 1996’s “Bart vs. Australia,” which supposedly had Aussies in such a tangle that letter writing campaigns and public censuring ensued. But a closer reading of that episode reveals that it’s all tongue-in-cheek – its very plotline focuses on the Americans’ laughable lack of understanding of anything non-American, which is carried out throughout as the starting point of many quality jokes. The family barely escapes (pictured) with their lives.
So just because the Simpsons talk or act in a certain way, doesn’t mean that the show’s writers or producers want its audience to follow suit. But when it comes to Mideast peace, why not? Sometimes a little naïveté is what we need to break out of our most self-perpetuating, defeatist grooves.
Supermarket scavenging
Just back from a food shopping trip, which is an unusual event for me, as I generally dislike supermarket experiences. (Not counting Eden Teva Market.) It’s not just that food shopping in Jerusalem can be a third world experience, but the supermarket on Thursday nights offers a sensation of the world coming to an end, or at the very least, the sense of impending war with Iran, as all shoppers fill their carts to overflowing and checkout lines are long, very long. And that’s without mentioning — although I will — the search for a shopping cart, and then seeing if you have one of the plastic tzuptziks that you need to ‘rent’ the cart, unless you keep a supply of five-shekel coins.
But what is fun about food shopping in Israel, and particularly in the chain stores, is the search for unusual products, ones that you wouldn’t expect to see in your neighborhood Supersol Deal, Rami Levy or Mega Bool. I’m talking about the excitement in sighting ShopRite Brown Rice Crispy Rice cereal, a new Ben & Jerry’s flavor, or a package of Aspen Products Cool Shades paper plates in “4 assorted colors.” It’s finding the Czech beer you like amid all the Goldstar and Tuborg bottles, discovering that scallions can be purple, spotting decent-looking tuna steaks in the frozen foods section and — this is a major one — seeing that American-style brown paper lunch bags are now available.
To those of you from the real western world, these kinds of discoveries are ho-hum, and happen all the time in the local supermarket. But for those of us here, on the Middle Eastern front, it can often be a wondrous occasion, and not one to pass off flippantly. It explains why so many local Israeli papers have a consumer products section, briefing readers about food news. Consider Greer Fay Cashman’s Market Wise column in the Jerusalem Post business section, as well as Eva Ben-David in other sections of the paper. It’s always sort of funny to read those columns, because does one really care if Strauss has a new ice cream flavor? Then again, I always make sure to skim those columns.
It’s not that there aren’t great offerings from the local manufacturing industry. There are. I’d say it’s more about the thrill of the scavenger hunt, finding those unexpected treats during what is often a mundane chore. Happy hunting.
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