Israel Independence Day
Filed under: Blogging, History and Culture, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life
Benji and hummous -two Israeli institutions
As the smells of barbecued meats permeate the country, let’s keep in mind what’s special about Israel – besides everyone barbecuing on Yom Ha’atazmaut.
One of the funniest – and most astute – lists has been written by Israelity contributor and stand up comedian par excellance Benji Lovitt – You can read the whole list of ’61 More Things I Love About Israel’ here.
But a few of my favorites are:
31. I love that my cab driver offered me a peach and that I accepted it. That will happen in America when falafel balls fly.
43. I love words like “teetchadesh” that neither exist nor make sense in the English language. “Wow, cool shirt! Enjoy using your new thing!” Nice try.
57. I love the superhuman Israeli hearing which allows them to pick up the “beep beep beep” of the news even while someone is using a jackhammer three feet away.
Whatever way you celebrate Israel Independence Day, may your celebration be joyous.
Day of Remembrance
Remembrance day. Oddly enough, this is the one “holiday” that I always feel thoroughly connected to. Not sure why. I’m just not really a spiritual fellow. Ever since I was a little boy I had dreams of serving in the IDF. For years it was just fantasy and of course the first time I ever fired a gun as a soldier the reality of what being a soldier really meant sunk in.
I was lucky enough to serve in the IDF during a “quiet” time – relatively. It was before Israel pulled out of Lebanon and a few years before the second intifada started. I knew some guys who were seriously wounded in Lebanon, one guy in my unit killed himself during basic training (at home on a weekend off) but other than those instances, I didn’t personally know any soldiers who died.
So what do I usually think about during the sirens? I think about my friend who lost five of his former soldiers in a horrible brush fire in Lebanon during a firefight with Hezbollah, just a week after he was discharged (I’d met one of the guys the week before at my friend’s army release party). I went with him to two of the funerals. I think about the father of an old roommate who was killed by a sniper as he got out of his tank during the Yom Kippur War just hours after the ceasefire was declared. My roommate was 11 months old at the time. And I think about the history of my unit, the Seventh Brigade, and the sacrifices they made as they fought to protect our borders from our enemies in every single one of Israel’s wars. Victims of terror is another story all together. Some good friends have narrowly escaped with their lives (but with both physical and psychological scars), others I’ve known did not.
Photo courtesy of kodak agfa from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
Israeli film takes over New York City
A scene from 'A Matter of Size'
Here’s Heeb’s look at some of the most notable:
Defamation (Hashmatsa) — Yoav Shamir’s documentary examines anti-Semitism in today’s world. From the Anti-Defamation League’s attempts to keep it in check to Norman Finkelstein’s theory that it’s being exploited by the Jewish establishment, Shamir throws himself in the middle of the debate.
A Matter of Size (Sipur Gadol) — An underemployed chef in Ramla becomes fascinatied by sumo wrestling while working as a dishwasher in a Japanese restaurant. He and three friends escape their weight-loss group to learn the art of the sport in this light-hearted comedy.
Partly Private — Israeli-born director Danae Elon explores the cultural, religious and medical issues surrounding a quick snip as she decides whether or not to have her son circumcised.
Rachel — A documentary by French director Simone Bitton about Rachel Corrie, a 22-year-old American member of the International Solidarity Movement who died trying to prevent an Israeli army bulldozer from knocking down Palestinian homes in Gaza.
Seven Minutes in Heaven — A year after surviving a bus bombing that claimed the life of her boyfriend, a woman tries to piece together the events of that day. Debut director Omri Givon deftly blends narrative threads and moods as the film plays like part mystery, part drama and part metaphysical thriller.
Clearly, not all these films are going to present a positive image of Israel – especially Rachel, which with a French director and its title surely has no chance of presenting a fair portrayal of the subject matter. But the breadth and scope of the topics is testament to the vibrancy in our culture and in our democratic values which enables us to reflect on ourselves – warts and all.
Bauhaus travels
If you can’t make it to Tel Aviv this year to celebrate its centennial birthday, there’s a great traveling exhibit by a favorite photographer of mine, Yigal Gawze, showing his collection of Bauhaus photos, Fragments of a Style. The exhibit opened in Chicago, recently moved to San Francisco, and will then be moved to Europe, including the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, Germany, as part of the 90th Anniversary of the Bauhaus school.
What’s really lovely about Yigal’s photos in this exhibit is that he hones in on the details and sunlit curves that we all see in Tel Aviv, but in a much gentler light on the normally harshly sunlit buildings.
In his explanation of the photos, Yigal writes:
“It was during the winter season, when the normally harsh outdoor light was softer and more easily tamed, and the white facades stood out against the backdrop of the deep blue sky. I was a tourist in my hometown, and my eyes developed a new sensitivity to my surroundings.
I chose to work in color (in contrast to the historical documents and the modern photographic work done on the subject), in order to better convey the character and the atmosphere created by the local light. The shadow of the palm tree falling on the white facade represents the special encounter that takes place in Tel Aviv between a building style originating in Europe and the Mediterranean glare.From the start, I chose to focus on the fragments. I felt that I could capture the spirit of this architecture by focusing on an essential part of the structure, which carries within it the genetic code of the whole. It was also an attempt to convey something of the utopia of the years which saw the building of the ‘White City’. Only in the last part of the work, did I step back to deal with the whole building and its relationship to the street as part of the city.”
Nostalgia Sunday – Hagana Archive 1947-8
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, War
The Ministry of Defense’s Hagana Photo Archive is an online treasure trove of the State of Israel’s history from the people who defended it. The collection is so rich, it’s hard to make a selection. Here are a few gems in honor of both Memorial Day for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers, which begins Monday night, and Israel Independence Day, which commences on Tuesday.
This image, from Mandatory Palestine, is of the illegal immigration ship, the Chaim Arlozorov, captured by British soldiers.
The British army withdraws from Palestine.
The tense moments as the UN voted on the resolution to establish a Jewish State.
The Jewish settlement comes under attack and the War of Independence begins. This is Jerusalem under mortar attack:
Jerusalem blockaded.
The conquest of Jerusalem’s German Colony by the Hagana. (The militia was later consolidated into the Israel Defense Forces).
Tel Aviv celebrates the establishment of the Jewish State.
This selection doesn’t begin to represent the amazing collection of photos, dating back to 1880, that exist in the Hagana Photo Archive. For anyone interested in Israel’s history, it’s a must-see.
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