Foto Friday – Parks, Recreation and Firefighting

July 30, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Picture of the Week, Travel 

It’s only Friday and already Sunday’s massive forest fire has all but disappeared from the headlines. To recap: about 450 acres of forest (this figure according to the Keren Kayemet Leyisrael -Jewish National Fund) in the Ora-Aminadav area went up in flames.

The fire started at two separate points. 100 KKL-JNR staff, nine fire trucks and five firefighting aircraft participated in the extensive operation. The fire spread towards nearby Hadassah Hospital where 23 vehicles in the hospital parking area were burned.

Roads were blocked for hours and some Ora and Aminadav residents were evacuated but returned during the night after the fire was successfully controlled and put out. All in all, it could have been much worse. One month earlier on June 29, the country experienced its most severe wave of fires since 2008. Which was the worst since 2006. And so on.

Like many arid regions, Israel’s hot, dry summer weather is an easy target for wildfires set both by accident and on purpose. KKL-JNF has become increasingly vigilant about protecting Israel’s forests, stating that it invests more than $5 million annually in fighting forest and field fires. This includes maintenance and operation of 22 firefighting vehicles with off-road capabilities, dozens of fire fighters on duty 24/7, communications systems and 30 fire watchtowers — also manned ’round the clock.

KKL-JNF also operates a forest fire risk forecast service, co-manages an aerial firefighting fund, conducts forest fire investigations and implements their conclusions. Because afforestation is what they do. Over the past 100-plus years, KKL-JNF has planted more than 200 million trees covering over 225,000 acres of land. So there is every hope that the Aminadav trail – seen here in its pre-fire state – will be that way again one day.

In addition to planting trees and protecting them from fire, KKL-JNF also develops regional parks and recreation areas, restores historical sites, rehabilitates springs and rivers, and builds roads and trails for hiking and biking. If you can’t get to Israel right away, there’s plenty to see on their YouTube channel, like this movie about the Ilanot Forest, a wheelchair accessible park and “Tree Museum”.

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Patriotic Pride

July 30, 2010 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Life, Politics, Religion, Social Justice 

Some 3,000 people marched from Jerusalem’s Independence Park to the Knesset in yesterday’s annual Gay Pride parade. My daughter Merav and I were there to support the community.

It’s been a long time since I was at a gay parade – I used to regularly join the massive San Francisco event in the 1970s when I was growing up. That parade attracted hundreds of thousands of merry-makers. I wrote about it here.

The march in Jerusalem is much smaller, of course, it also has an added religious dimension. There were as many police than participants on hand Thursday; they were on guard against attacks like the one three years ago by an ultra-Orthodox man who stabbed three people.

This year, the protests included right wing groups holding cardboard cut-outs of donkeys, calling the event a parade of “bestiality.” The protesters had originally asked for a permit to bring live donkeys, which the police rejected.

That same religious element cuts the other way too, though – towards tolerance – and it’s part of what makes the parade in Jerusalem so unique. There were many men sporting kippot (yarmulkes) on their heads as well as women dressed in uber-modest Orthodox garb (long sleeves & skirts, tightly covered hair).

Other participants wore t-shirts reading “I’m proud to be religious” or carried signs indicating which religious high schools they attended including Jerusalem’s prestigious Orthodox Horev and Pelech schools.

The message was clear: don’t exclude us from any community, including the religious. It’s in keeping with a statement released this week by 150 Orthodox rabbis and educators including Rabbi Benny Lau and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin stating that “Jews with homosexual orientations or same sex-attractions should be welcomed as full members of the synagogue and school community

The parade was accompanied by a marching band with drum and bagpipe as it wound its way toward the Wohl Rose Garden overlooking the Knesset where a large stage was set-up for speeches and song.

But the mood turned somber as speakers recalled August 1, 2009, the day a shooter entered the Tel Aviv Bar Noar gay and lesbian youth center and killed two members, wounding 15 others. This year’s parade in Jerusalem was delayed several months to coincide with the anniversary of the Tel Aviv tragedy for which the assailant has yet to be found.

As Merav and I prepared to leave, we passed several booths selling souvenirs. Merav bought a multi-colored bracelet to show her support. But she also had her eye on a dog tag necklace with an Israeli flag, which I gladly purchased for her. After all, isn’t that what patriotism is all about: supporting equality for all Israelis no matter which shade paints their rainbow.

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A doctor, a lawyer and an NBA star

July 30, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Pop Culture, Religion, Sports 

Let’s hope he doesn’t take in a movie during his visit to Israel and sit in front of you. Otherwise, there’s no downside to the disclosure that NBA superstar Amar’e Stoudemire is here and basking in his Jewishness.

The former NBA Rookie of the Year and current New York Knick recently disclosed that his mother was Jewish, and has publicly embraced his roots – peppering his Twitter updates with Hebrew and now visiting the country with his girlfriend Alexis.

“The Holy Land has always been high on my list of places to visit, and when this opportunity arose, I wasn’t going to push it off any longer,” Stoudemire told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, adding that he was “so excited to be here, see all the important historical sites, learn Hebrew and to get a better understanding of my heritage.”

Stoudemire, who spent the first eight years of his career with the Phoenix Suns, joins Joining New Jersey Nets’ point guard Jordan Farmar and Sacramento Kings’ forward Omri Casspi, Israel’s favorite son, as the NBA’s only Jewish players.

“The holy land. Learn about it,” he wrote on his Twitter feed, adding, “ze ha’halom sheli” – Hebrew for “this is my dream.”

“I don’t really consider myself to be a religious person, but rather a deeply spiritual individual,” Stoudemire told the Post. “I have been aware since my youth that I am a Hebrew through my mother, and that is something that has played a subtle but important role in my development.”

“I have never hid my spiritual roots,” he said. “They just weren’t something that came under the spotlight. I am proud to be a Hebrew and embrace my Jewish background.”

Stoudemire also said that he was hoping to learn some Hebrew on his visit here. Perhaps it could even help his upcoming NBA season. He could pick up some of the local colorful curse words and throw his opponents off guard in the middle of a game, as he swoops past them toward the basket. Score one for the Jewish guy!

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You’re late, Netanyahu!

July 29, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Social Justice 

One of the great equalizers in Israeli society is the army. Of course, I’m talking about those segments of society that actually serve in the IDF – not the ultra-Orthodox haredim, nor the far-Left draft dodgers, nor the Israeli Arab citizens for whom an obligatory national service still hasn’t been invoked – but for the rest of us…

Oh, all right, let’s restate that and say for the small majority of Israelis who actually serve in the IDF, the institution is a great equalizer. Just look at the names and hometowns of the air force men who died in this week’s helicopter training accident in Romania – a 48-year-old father from Modi’in, a young kibbutznik, another from a moshav, a Rehovot resident. When a tragedy like befalls the country, we all feel it, because the victims are not just faceless soldiers, but somebody’s neighbor.

Another way that the army evens things out is in its lack of favoritism in its treatment of soldiers. That even goes for soldiers who happen to be the son of the prime minister.

Yediot Aharonot reported today that Yair Netanyahu, the son of PM Binyamin Netanyahu, was recently handed a 10-day detention sentence after showing up late at the IDF Spokesperson’s Office headquarters, where he serves. After the young Netanyahu appealed his sentence, a senior officer at the base lopped two days off the punishment.

Military officials told Yediot that Netanyahu was being treated just like any other soldier. “He was tried for an incident for which any other soldier would have been tried and received adequate punishment,” one source said.

Yair should be applauded for not throwing his family name around and receiving special treatment, not that it would help in any case. However, given his intense schedule and shoulder-dropping responsibilities, it’s a surprise that the elder Netanyahu hasn’t taken his son’s hint and blown off a couple meetings. After all, who’s going to ground him?

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Hadassah bedside manner

July 28, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

So there we were, my wife and I, right on time for my electromyography (EMG) test at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. The EMG is a technique using slight shocks for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles.

This is the test which I wrote about earlier, with a five month waiting list. And thanks to good old Israeli protekzia, I got it whittled down to three weeks.

Someone was already in the examining room of the professor who conducts the test, and he went a bit beyond the scheduled time of my appointment. No problem.

When the patient did leave, instead of calling me in, the professor made a phone call, which I heard through the door, which had been left ajar.

He began a conversation, apparently with a travel agent. Evidently, from what we could glean, he had booked a two-week trip to some European destination, and was upset over fees that the agent had added beyond the cost of the trip.

My wife and I shared glances at what seemed to be an appropriation of work time for a personal matter, but we went back to listening.

It seemed pretty straightfoward, but the professor kept going over the points again and again, getting more blustery as he went, as the person on the other end of the conversation apparently wasn’t backing down like he expected. This went on for 20 minutes!

Meanwhile, another patient for the slot after me had arrived, and was now waiting along with me. I looked at him, smiled and shrugged, as we could hear the professor’s agitated voice wafting out of the open door.

My wife finally turned to me and said, “Can you imagine a clerk at a store, or someone in customer service ignoring a client or customer for 20 minutes and making a personal call? What gives a medical professional the right?”

I was more worried that he was going to be in a bad mood when he finally finished the call, and he was the guy in charge of the shocks being administered to me.

He finally did hang up, I went in, and he was out in 10 minutes. His bedside manner was on par with his phone manners, and I left realizing you can have a title like professor attached to your name and still have no idea what’s going on.

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