When bayit becomes home
Last week marked the third year anniversary of the aliyah of my sister, brother-in-law and three nephews, Beth, Ira, Natan, Gabe and Akiva. It’s hard to believe that three years have passed, particularly since we — the rest of my family — waited so long for them to move here. And what once seemed like an impossible dream [natch, Don Quixote] actually happened. We are all, that is, my three siblings and their families, and my mother, in Israel.
It’s a somewhat bittersweet anniversary given that my father, the original Zionist among us, died this summer after a long illness. In fact, he was diagnosed just one day after their arrival. But I’m still going to take this opportunity to look back on their three years, which I see as a real triumph, attesting to their sense of adventure, flexibility and unique personalities.
When they came, my nephews were 16, 13 and 9 years old. Akiva, the youngest, who has Down Syndrome, was the easiest to place in a framework and ended up going to the Feuerstein School, which has been a fairly good fit for him. Hebrew has also proven to be an easyish transition, as he’s got a knack for languages and now relishes using the vocabulary that he’s learned. Gabe is now 16 and as a former homeschooler back in Brooklyn, had a few false starts before he ended up at the Democratic School, a place where you may not do much formal learning, but where he’s learned a mean game of ping pong, made many friends and become a skateboarder. Natan, now 19, has probably had the sharpest learning curve, having started at Reut, a local middle/high school, spent his senior year learning ‘externi’ and then entered the army last fall as a ‘jobnik.’ He had a few false starts, including writing a blog for which he was reprimanded and had to stop writing, but he’s pretty happy, having ended up with a likable Druze commanding officer and a job that has its moments.
As for my sister and brother-in-law, they’re also finding their way, with the expected ups and downs of a major move when in your 40s. They both started out taking ulpan, which my brother-in-law has continued with, although I suspect he does so more for seeing his ulpan friends than for improving his diction. My sister has embarked on many a project, as is her penchant, including starting Shutaf, a ‘kaytana,’ the local word for daycamp, for special needs kids and their regularly-developing friends, which meets three times a year, on Chanukah, Passover and summer vacations.
Life isn’t perfect, in case I’m being too cup half-full. They have a tough landlord (“What’s wrong with a twenty-year-old faucet?”), the ongoing challenges of an extremely special needs son, professional travails and missing the very good chevre they had back in Brooklyn, as well as my brother-in-law’s family.
But I’m pretty sure they’re happy with their decision, and that if pushed, they’d do it all over again. Their new place has become home, despite the ongoing challenges of life in Israel. As my nephew Akiva likes to say, “Let’s go home to the bayit/house.”
IDF chief of staff confined to quarters
Filed under: A New Reality, Crime, General, Immigrant Moments
When I was in basic training in the IDF many years ago, I had a leave cancelled because while cleaning my M-16 rifle, I lost a little internal pin. Apparently, I wasn’t the first, because the pin even had a name – the Shabbat pin – because if you lost it, it meant you stayed on the base for Shabbat.
I flashbacked to those days when I was reading last week that a revolver was stolen out of the Tel Aviv office of IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. The thief, a young soldier on guard inside Ashkenazi’s inner sanctum, also stole his credit card data which was used by a third party to purchase NIS 2,000 worth of items. The decorative handgun was a gift to Ashkenazi from a US military counterpart.
According to Ha’aretz, the investigation into the incident exposed serious lapses in the arrangements for protecting Ashkenazi. Along with the security provided by the General Staff Security Unit, a number of positions on the office’s security perimeter are still being carried out by regular troops assigned to guard duty. These troops are not required to go through rigorous combat training, nor are their backgrounds substantially screened. The Military Police’s investigation revealed that the suspect had been involved in fights and a stabbing, and had piled up debts to underworld figures.
So, I was wondering, what would be the appropriate punishment for Ashkenazi for the breach of security? If I got confined to the base for a weekend for losing my Shabbat pin, I think he should at least have to do a couple shifts of guard duty at the Kirya, the IDF headquarters where he sits. However unlikely that scenario is, it somehow makes me feel better about my army service.
Foto Friday – Olga Dragunsky’s Forgotten Heroes
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Life, Profiles, War
Americans know that Jews fought in the US Army in World War II but many are less aware of the Russian Jews who fought equally as valiantly against Hitler. According to the Center for Jewish History: “An estimated 500,000 Jewish men and women served in the Soviet military during WWII… in every branch of the armed forces and on every front… More than 100 Jews held the rank of general, and in many important battles of the eastern front, Jewish generals held key commands.”
“Jews ranked fifth among the ethnic groups, or ‘nationalities,’ who received the highest military accolade of their country, ‘Hero of the Soviet Union.’ About 150 Jews received this prestigious award for their bravery on the battlefield. Altogether, about 160,000 Jewish soldiers received medals and honors of one kind or another, making them the fourth most decorated nationality in the USSR.”
Olga Dragunsky, whose family came to Israel following the fall of the USSR, began photographing elderly Russian war veterans, “because I was interested in the history of the country where I was born. I heard a lot of stories during my life and I decided to know more.”
Dragunsky turned her personal interest into a magnificent final project when she graduated of the School of Photographic Communications, Hadassah College Jerusalem.
Since graduating, Dragunsky has been working as an official photographer for Taglit-birthright Israel. She also self-published a book with personal stories from each veteran.
In May 2005, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, the Center for Jewish History launched a fascinating website, Letters From the Front: Jewish War Heroes, dedicated specifically to honoring the heroism of those who gave their lives in the fight against fascism. The site presents postcards, letters, medals and other materials from the Blavatnik Archive , a unique private collection whose mission is to share with the public previously unknown historic documents and memorabilia. Definitely worth a look.
Dudu Topaz, the King of comedy, ends his life
Filed under: A New Reality, Crime, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture
Waking up this morning to the news that disgraced entertainer Dudu Topaz had ended his life by hanging himself in his Ramle jail while awaiting trial was an inevitable end to his sorry saga.
Topaz was going to be tried for initiating a series of violent attacks on top Israeli TV executives who had spurned his ideas for TV vehicles for himself. It was a case of the worst of Israeli society, with Topaz hiring goons to bash in the execs. A judge at an initial hearing for the case today described Topaz as a public menace.
It was a huge fall from grace for the comic who dominated television in the 1990s when the Israeli cable industry was getting on its feet. His unsophisticated, often vulgar humor made him a ‘people’s’ entertainer, however he was never fully accepted by the the intelligentsia.
I remember soon after my aliya watching him host an Israeli version of The Dating Game. My wife and I would guffaw as Topaz blurted out non sequitors and insults – like a combination of Don Rickles and Howard Stern. But you could tell that there was something about his delivery that showed that it wasn’t all in good fun.
And his mean streak was noticeable long before attacks. In 1995 he publicly attacked a television critic and crushed his glasses following a bad review. In 2003 he was accused of sexual harassment and indecent acts, although the two cases collapsed for lack of evidence. That same year he bit a female Latin-American soap star on the arm for no apparent reason during a live broadcast.
Despite his knack for controversy, Topaz had all but disappeared from TV screens recently, as younger hosts and reality shows took over what was once his domain. I don’t know if there’s a uniquely Israeli angle to this story, as former celebrities missing the spotlight and resorting to crime can happen anywhere.
But because we’re such a small country, there’s a sense of familiarity here with celebrities – they’re not in some ivory tower – they still go to the same restaurants and makolets, and pay the same mortgages (albeit a little easier than the rest of us).
I don’t think any of the victim’s of Topaz’s unbalanced cruelty would have wanted to see this ending to the story. They would have preferred that he suffer in prison. However, now the country will be spared a long trial filled with gossipy details of the attacks and the personalities behind them. It may be the most compassionate thing Topaz ever did for his viewing audience.
A bloody summer in Israel – who’s to blame?
Murders take place everywhere, and thanks to Herzl’s wish that Israel develop a modern society like all other nations, we have our share of homocides. More than our share, if you’ve been reading the news the last couple of weeks.
Some of the lowlights – A 60-year-old man enjoying a walk near the beach in Tel Aviv with his family was accosted by a gang of youths from Jaljulya and beaten to death; Two dismembered female bodies have been found in seemingly separate incidents; and yesterday, a Jerusalem tenant who had been terrorizing his neighbors for weeks, stabbed and killed his landlord.
However, despite the gruesome horror that these murders evoke, and the increasing feeling that senseless, unmotivated murder is on the rise, the statistics show that there’s been no increase in murder this year over any other year.
According to the stats released by the Israel Police, who have been the targets of media scorn during the current murder spate, seventy-two people were murdered in Israel from the start of 2009 until August 15. During the same period in 2008, 73 murders were recorded, and 79 murders were recorded over the same period in 2007. In 2006, 92 people had been murdered by August 15.
In 2008, 122 people were murdered. While that represents a rise from 2007, during which 116 were murdered, 2006 saw 147 murders. In 2005, the total stood at 162, while in 2004, 168 murders were recorded by police.
So despite the sensational aspect of the August murders, we’re on par in 2009 for the decreasing annual rate of murders. What sets August 2009 apart, however, is that the media has chosen to focus on these hideous crimes because it’s a slow news month – not much happening on the Israeli-Palestinian front, either on the ground or at the negotiating table, impending conflict with Hizbullah is still on hold, and we’re not ready to attack Iranian nukes quite yet.
So what are you going to fill that air time and pages up with? According to the old newspaper adage, ‘if it bleeds it leads.’ What I find annoying besides the huge headlines and photos touting an escalation in violence, is the condescending attitude of the TV news broadcasters toward the police. ‘Why aren’t you doing more to prevent these murders,?” they accusingly ask top police officials, when the question is all wrong.
The real question is when Israeli society is going to change, and people are going to start educating their children to be non-violent. And when is the government going to allocate a budget to education that will prohibit the current norms of having 40 pupils in a classroom with one teacher? Those are the questions that should be asked, not what is the police doing about it? It’s time to take responsibility ourselves. And newspapers blowing things out of proportion with huge bloody photos doesn’t seem to be a helpful step in the right direction.
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