Ya’akub’s Ladders

September 17, 2006 - 8:49 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

Ya'akub's ladder
Workman whitewashing cupolas of Jaffa’s historic “hamam.” The four ladders rising to the right suggested to me the cross-cultural name for the photograph. (Photo: Dave Bender)

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Striking photography for – and against – Israel

September 14, 2006 - 10:39 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

TrekEarth (along with its sister sites, TrekLens, and TrekNature) is a very active, well moderated photographic site for amateur-level to pros wanting to feature their original photograph.Israel is well represented, and updates several times a day.So are the Palestinian territories, as well as our neighboring countries. Although most of the imagery is simply peer-reviewed and enjoyed, many if not most of those about PA area shots are accompanied by agitprop, in a sort of “soft-propaganda” exploitation, unfortunately (no surprise, right?).

So, I recommend clicking over and getting am eyeful of great (…and, umm, almost great) photography – and also learning something of why the basic assumptions against Israel abroad, vis a vis, say, the West Bank and Jerusalem security barrier are so prevalent (read the comments below the pic).

(Cross-posted at Israel At Level Ground)

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Apparently, this is a catblogging Friday…

September 8, 2006 - 2:40 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, Life 

(Just cross-posted the following over at Israel At Level Ground, and then saw Allison and Brian’s entries lower down)

Awright, allayouse’ catbloggers out there. Go take a looksee over here: Famous Cats of Jerusalem. They’re selling pics from the photographic project they are doing on Jerusalem’s street cats.

From the site:

The Famous Cats of Jerusalem is a photographic art piece by the collaborative art team Gordon & Gordon. From November 2005 through January 2006, we photographed 248 cats, and then distributed the photographs around the city for people to find.

We photographed the cats as we saw them. Some preened for the camera and followed us almost begging to be photographed again, while others were skittish and ran from the camera as soon as they heard the shutter click. The piece is the collection of one photo of each of the 248 cats, in order of appearance. They are numbered chronologically – we made no aesthetic decisions regarding the cats or their setting. They are all in there – beautiful, ugly, sweet, sickly, funny, garbage covered and urban pastoral.

We are dedicated to producing art in public spaces that is accessible and fun. You can help support us and our work by making a cash donation.

And then go visit Rachel’s feline brood.

Anyway, Squeak, Noodles ‘n’ me say Shabbat Shalom, and have a great weekend.

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Kids, hot soup & ‘Occupied Territories’

April 18, 2005 - 9:32 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Food, General, Holidays 

I’ve been tele-fundraising from Israel to the UK in recent days for a small, but very intensive Jerusalem-based charity (http://www.ezranet.com) that distributes food baskets, clothing and related aid to the really poverty-stricken throughout the country; 2,500 baskets weekly, 10,000 by Pessach in a special campaign.

Several of those I spoke with in Great Britain – Jews, mind you – in London and Manchester were, and although a minority, quite adamant in their refusal to donate food to near-starving Israeli children… until Israel “changed its policies in the Occupied Territories.”

Now, while on-line with them, I bit my tongue and stayed professional and on-message, clarifying that the donations were totally non-political (as is the organization), non-sectarian and were meant, as in the Passover passage, “Kol Dichfin, y’tee v’uchal – “May all who are hungry come and eat.” Lot of good professionalism did for these kids.

One woman I spoke with (and I now wonder if she ever carried a child in her arms OR her womb) – insisted, despite my repeated attempts to sway her to understand that we were discussing hot soup for a cold and hungry child, and not politics – that “everything was politics.”

Another I spoke with opened the conversation with a hearty chuckle, and, “I’m not sure you understand just how un-sympathetic I am.” (Sigh). Talk about a callous heart.

I guess what struck me the most was the obsessive, near-gleeful, meaness of their attitude; hungry kids be damned – politics first!

And while we cavil about high-level academic snubbing of Israelis at UK universities and the like, in-duh-viduals like these are really ok, “quite fine thank you,” in the local parlance, I suppose with poverty-stricken Jewish children going hungry – as long as their noxious ideological appetite get a good meal out of it.

I suggest we show them and their ilk where we stand: please go over to http://www.ezranet.com, click onto the donations page in the upper right-hand corner of the home page and send a kid a few hot meals for this coming Shabbat and Pessach. They accept dollars and UK pounds, with over 90 percent of it going toward real food and it’s a tax-deductible donation in the US and UK.

May we all, the House of Israel and her supporters worldwide have a healthy and happy Passover festival.

(Cross-posted at http://betbender.blogspot.com)

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