Gilad Schalit’s brave new world

October 17, 2011 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, News, Social Justice, Technology 

Robert De Niro learns about the world in 'Awakenings'

One of my favorite films is Awakenings with Robert De Niro and Robin Williams, in which De Niro’s character wakes up after many years in a catatonic state. During his temporary return to the present, he has to relearn all of the history and relationships that carried on while he was somewhere else.

I suppose that’s a little like what Gilad Schalit is going to go through beginning on Tuesday when he’s expected to return from five years of captivity in Gaza. While not in a catatonic state, it’s likely that Schalit also has no idea of any event – in the world or in his family – that has taken place during his imprisonment at the hands of Hamas (or that he’s even held a conversation with another person during those five years).

Jeff Barak, in his column in The Jerusalem Post, alluded to the Facebook campaign launched by Yediot Aharonot that’s urging readers to join and write a note/letter to Schalit welcoming him back. The irony being, he wrote, that Schalit doesn’t even know what Facebook is – five years ago, it was still a college dorm novelty.

Another paper, Ma’ariv, published a long story listing all of the events that have taken place during the long five years that have changed the complexion of Israel and the region – from the relatively recent Arab Spring, to the tent protests, the Moshe Katsav rape conviction, the resignation of prime minister Ehud Olmert, and a dozen other headlines.

Surely, in his first few days of freedom, the Schalits will be concerned with reconnecting with each other and creating a safe, warm environment for their son. But eventually, the history lesson will begin, and Gilad will learn not only of the events that went on around him – but also of the efforts made by his parents and the countless other people involved in the Campaign to Free Gilad Schalit. He’ll learn about the tent set up outside the Prime Minister’s residence where his parents spent most of the last two years in a tireless effort to keep his plight in the public – and government’s – eye.

While it won’t erase the five years in captivity, it might offer some solace to him, knowing that even though he thought he was all alone in a darkened room, he really wasn’t.

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Celebrating life

October 16, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Politics 

Like most Israelis, Gilad Shalit was a big part of the discussion at our Shabbat table this past weekend. And like most of the country, our conclusions were neither easy nor clear cut.

As the parent of a soldier currently serving in the IDF, and another one who will be drafted in less than a year’s time, of course we want to be 100% confident that our government will go to whatever means possible to not leave anyone behind. It is the unwritten contract that enables us to send our children to the frontlines.

Yet, at the same time, as the family of Marla Bennett, a 23-year-old student who was murdered in 2002 in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem, I’m not at all sure how I’d feel if her killers were on the list of those to be released (they aren’t, but the question is far from hypothetical for many in Israel).

And from a strategic perspective, will the release of 1,000 terrorists, including some who have committed truly heinous crimes, result in more Israeli deaths? By one estimate cited by Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon (who voted against the swap), the mass prisoner release in the 1985 Jibril Deal led directly to 178 additional murders. If that number is correct, how could the release of one soldier possibly be justified? And yet, again, how can we call ourselves a moral army if we abandon one of our own?

I read through all the arguments in the weekend newspapers, but one spoke to me the most: how can we be sure? That is, if we are able to rescue Gilad Shalit, that’s one life saved for certain vs. the possibility that more Israelis will be killed. It’s an opinion which, argues Jerusalem Rabbi Benny Lau, must take precedence in such a painful debate.

The army generals who spoke in favor of the swap added that, with modern tracking technology and the IDF’s continued operation in the territories, we’ll have a much better chance of ensuring that the released terrorists will not return to their previous activities.

That doesn’t seem so likely. Can we really keep on top of what every one of the newly freed men is doing? In Gaza, where our intelligence wasn’t good enough to free Gilad Shalit through military means? And are those other countries slated to receive these murderers so trustworthy that they won’t suddenly “lose track” of their “productive” new citizens? Perhaps the terrorists exiled to Turkey (one of the reported countries on the list and not exactly a great friend to Israel these days) will join up with Al Qaeda. That doesn’t sound like such a great plan.

At the end of the day, though, in our home at least, the case for bringing our soldier home alive today won out over the potential danger going forward. The words of Kay Wilson, who survived a terror attack last December near Beit Shemesh where her friend Christine Luken was killed, resonated: “Emotionally, it’s healthier to celebrate life, rather than to get stuck with loss,” she said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Barring any last minute snags, all of Israel will be soon celebrating life. And that trumps it all.

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Nostalgia Sunday – It’s antiques harvest season!

October 16, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: education, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, News, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, Sports 

For the third year running, national park Gan Hashlosha-Sachne will be holding its annual collectors’ fair. Israel is a young country so this is no “Antiques Roadshow”. Nonetheless, it is an opportunity for those passionate about the country’s industrial-age artifacts to view some rarely-seen collections. The theme for this year’s collectors’ fair is “Sports”; in parallel to the exhibition there will be special activities for the whole family.

The exhibition features items from the personal collections of Israeli sports legends: basketball coach Ralph Klein z”l, soccer player Avi Cohen z”l, who died tragically only last year, and a collection of walking shoes courtesy of the still very much alive and kicking race-walker Professor Shaul Ladany — including his shoes from the 1972 Munich Olympics when 11 of his teammates were killed.

There is also a collection of fencing swords (including one from in the 1930s owned by Israel’s first fencing coach, who happens to have been a woman), trading cards, sports magazines, banners, trophies, matchboxes and even a special exhibit of matkot — that annoying beach-paddleball game played primarily by scantily-clad women and their banana-hammock wearing partners.

The display also includes a large collection of bicycles, courtesy of the privately owned Alon Wolf Bicycle Museum.

The question is, will they also have a place for the latest in Israeli sports memorabilia: this cereal box, recently spotted, featuring basketball player Omri Caspi. If I were a collector, I’d buy a gross of these…

Gan Hashlosha is a natural water park fed by underground springs. On the premises is the “Footsteps in the Valley” museum, subdivided into three branches dedicated to historical aspects of the Jewish State.

These include the archeological branch that deals with regional and Mediterranean archeology, presenting findings from Greece, Persia, Egypt and the Beit Shean area, the heritage branch, site of the Homa u-Migdal (Tower and Stockade) museum, a reconstructed site of the early settlement; and the water and environment branch: that includes walking routes along the stream, and among the gardens and orchards.

And of course, this week there’s the festival, where there will be special activities and sports for the whole family (including discus and spear-throwing, for those inclined), workshops and guided tours of the park and the exhibition. For more information click here.

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Foto Friday – Decorated Sukkot

October 14, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: design, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Picture of the Week, Religion 

For those of us who grew up in chilly northern climes, building a sukkah was a complicated affair. Late September or early October meant cold weather, frost and sometimes the occasional freak snowstorm. This in turn meant a quick kiddush under the open sky before dashing into warmth and shelter. Upon moving to Israel, however, it dawned on me that the timing of the holiday, with its traditional move outdoors into the sukkah, fit the seasonal change exactly.

At first, after a lifetime of sturdy plywood, the typical nylon fabric-draped Israeli sukkah seemed rickety and a bit disconcerting, but I came to realize that cloth is probably closer to the way our forefathers did it. What they didn’t have — and we do — is fancy yardage imprinted with seasonal motifs, like the Seven Species — wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (or honey) — listed in the book of Deuteronomy as special products of the Land of Israel.

Pomegranates are a particular favorite at this time of year.

I love these brightly colored sukkah fabrics and am particularly enamored of the ones celebrating not only the holiday but aspirations for the Jewish people, like the heavenly Jerusalem — Yerushalayim shel maala — the Holy City as it will be in the time to come.

However, eating before the Western Wall may be carrying the idea a bit too far!

There are any number of companies in Israel selling Sukkot gear — Sukkot Netsarim, Suka LaNegev, Sukot Yerushalaim, Sukkot Nehalim — including reusable bamboo roofs and storage/carrying cases. But what’s really important is what goes on inside the sukkah, a gathering of family, friends and community under one roof beneath the sky. May it be a happy holiday as we all look forward to bringing in one more very much wanted guest, whom we expect will be coming home next week.

All photos, with the exception of the first, which is courtesy of Wikipedia, are from the online catalogs of the sites listed above.

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Birds and planes coexist over Israeli skies

October 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, Environment, General, Israeliness, Science, Social Justice, Technology, Travel 

When an Israel Air Force F-15 recently took off from the Tel Nof Air Base for a routine training flight, it was more than luck that enabled to land safely.

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Once airborne, according to a report in Yediot Aharonot, the crew spotted a flock of pelicans flying in their direction and changed their course so not to collide with the birds. Unfortunately, five pelicans still hit the aircraft, with some hitting the F-15′s engines directly. The jet’s right engine sustained some damage but remained operational, while its left engine caught on fire and malfunctioned. The crew was able to land safely at Tel Nof.

The crew’s awareness of the dangers of flock of pelicans represented was due to the lifelong research of Yossi Leshem – the ‘birdman of Israel.’ The 63-year-old Leshem – an award-winning Israeli ornithologist and Israel Air Force veteran – is a world-wide expert on the subject of reducing collisions between aircraft and birds

Armed with the slogan “Migrating birds know no boundaries,” Leshem decided to study migrating flocks for his PhD thesis at Tel Aviv University in 1980, focusing on the 500 million birds of 300 different species who fly through Israel on their way to and from Africa, Asia, and Europe.


Leshem later founded and still directs the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration – and his latest book – a children’s book titled The Man Who Flies describes how he helped the IAF sharply reduce its bird strikes, During his research,
Leshem discovered that the problem was especially severe in Israel because of the unusually high number of birds and planes sharing the country’s tiny airspace. Upon his advice, IAF bases have been using border collies for the past eight years to keep flocks away from airstrips. This and other tactics have reduced collisions by 75 percent – and saved an estimated $750 million – since 1984.

There are still going to be incidents like the pelican flock and the F-15, but thanks to Leshem’s work, coexistence between planes and birds over Israeli skies is now the norm.

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