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Waiting Games

The big news story coming out Israel today is, of course, the arrival of President Bush. The mainstream media and the local blogosphere have been all abuzz, and my inbox has been inundated with emails from the Government Press Office and Foreign Ministry, detailing not only every aspect of his itinerary, but also providing members of the press with logistical details such as contact information, photo opportunities, and a multitude of other resources.

While the role of the journalist is to cover such visits, and only a select “lucky” few are have been given approval to cover the various functions taking place, I have to say that I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes, as the name of the game for the duration of this visit is “the waiting game”. Gideon Lichfield over at fugitive peace is in full agreement, and shows his readers why.

“11:55 – Official reception at Ben-Gurion International Airport… entry via Terminal 1 by 09:00… MBU’s [ie, mobile broadcast units] to enter… by 07:00;

Thursday:

Meeting and Press Conference of the Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with President of the United States of American (sic), George W. Bush… Press conference will begin at 11:30 a.m… All Press MUST arrive at the Press Gathering Point BEFORE 06.30.

Friday:

08:10-09:40 – Visit Yad Vashem…. Pool members at PM’s Jerusalem Office by 06:00”

At 6am, I’m usually rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, stumbling down the dark hallway towards the kitchen, silently cursing my son for wanting his morning hot chocolate at such an ungodly hour of the night. I can barely open the container of chocolate powder, let alone be coherent enough to gain entrance into any venue where heads of state can be found.

Read the rest of Gideon’s post here.

Focus: Israel

Lately I’ve been noticing that a number of our local English-writing bloggers have opted to write theme-based blogs, with each one focusing on different aspects of Israel.

Designist Dream is a blog written by Ziva, who defines her blog as being the place where art and design and the Holy Land meet”. Her entries cover everything from “architecture and industrial design to print media and photography to jewelry and handmade crafts”.

Israeli wine is a hot topic these days, as wineries seem to be popping up all around the country at an alarming rate. HaKerem: The Israeli Wine Blog, serves as an excellent one-stop shop for all things wine-related in Israel, from links to most local wineries to wine reviews to current events in the world of Israeli wine.

Looking for information about the Israeli job market? Check out JobMob. This site provides a treasure trove of information about the local market, offering a veritable plethora of tips and tricks and sharing links to timely, relevant job-related topics.

Check ‘em out, folks!

Israel’s Newest Immigrants

Several months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting with people who had recently been in Iran. It was a fascinating conversation, and I remember feeling distinctly “reporterish” as I asked question after question about what life was like there, touching on subjects that were both serious (what is it really like to be Jewish/female in Iran – difficult) and lighter (there are, apparently, at least two sushi restaurants in Tehran).

In the months since that discussion, I’ve often found myself thinking about the Jewish community in Iran, imagining the life described by the people I’d met, and wondering about the courage required, both to remain as part of the community as well as to leave it behind. For those of us lucky enough not to have to dwell on such decisions, the choice must seem easy, but for those Jews still living under the Iranian regime, the decision is much harder.

On Tuesday, Israel’s 40 newest immigrants landed in Israel, joining a community that has anywhere from 75,000 to 135,000 Persian Jews. They came from Iran via a third, unnamed country – the largest group to come from Iran since the fall of the Shah in 1979. This year alone, 200 Iranian Jews have made aliya, more than doubling the total number who came to Israel in 2006 – an impressive feat given the difficulties, the bureaucracy and the secrecy that must be involved in such an operation. According to an article on the Haaretz website, “the immigrants, from Tehran, Shiraz, and Isfahan, each received a $10,000 grant from international Jewish organizations.

Relatives screamed in delight and threw candy at the newcomers as they emerged into the airport reception hall after a long bureaucratic procedure. Two brothers, Yosef and Michael, said they were glad to be in Israel. They declined to give their family name in order to protect relatives.”

Welcome to Israel, my Persian friends. “Chetori! Halet hubeh?”

Read the rest of it here.

Rites of Passage

One of the most (if not the most) deeply ingrained rites of passage in Israel involves sending one’s children to the army. I imagine that the feelings of parents run the gamut, and the only thing I can think to compare it to at all would be the emotions that American parents get when they send their children off to college (though obviously, the dangers inherent in sending one’s child to the army are usually far greater than those involved in sending children to college).

If teenagers today are anything like teenagers were in my time (oh dear – I’m dating myself with a statement like that…), I’m guessing that this event probably has a more profound effect on the parents than on the children (who are probably more concerned with keeping Mom and Dad from making fools of themselves in front of their peers). If I were to hazard another guess, I’m going to assume that the occasion is even more alien for immigrants, parents who missed out on the army experience themselves, parents who don’t know exactly what to expect from the situation. A Soldier’s Mother began her blog shortly before her eldest son went into the army earlier in the year. She writes,

“”Bye, Ima,” Elie called out as he passed the window with his backpack strapped on. That’s all. Too much for a 20-year-old to give his mother a kiss or hug goodbye. It’s not the done thing at all, and sure enough, no other boys did either. At this hour and at this location, it is all business, all movement, and no time for sentiment. They all walked into the big building and disappeared. I sat for a second watching other parents drop off their sons, watched the boys walk to the building, pull out their security passes and enter as the parents drove away. It was my turn and I pulled out, leaving behind other parents to take my spot.

For some reason, the sight of all of these young soldiers touched me and my eyes filled with tears as I stopped at the first light, my mind still seeing these soldiers and their backpacks enter the building.”

I loved this post. Check out the rest of it here.

Try it! You’ll like it!

Believe it or not, when I was growing up in the US, I had no idea that sufganiyot (jelly donuts) were a Chanukah treat. Everyone I knew had latkes (potato pancakes). Latkes with sour cream, latkes with apple sauce, and especially, latkes with latkes. Sure, I’d certainly had my share of jelly donuts, but no one ever let us know that sufganiyot were the main Chanukah snack in Israel.

Of course, that all changed when I came to Israel for a year after high school, and discovered the joys (and perils) of the sufganiya. Dripping with jelly (if you were lucky), glistening with oil and sinfully caloric, the sufganiya quickly replaced latkes as the culinary star of my festival of lights.

Over the years, I’ve cheerfully (though not without a certain modicum of guilt) joined in sufganiya fest, debating the virtues of the various flavors (my favorite filling is caramel) and bakers (Roladin seems to be everyone’s perennial fave), and thanking G-d that for the miniature sizes that allowed me to feel marginally less guilty.

Fast forward to Chanukah, 2007. My sufganiya habit is more or less under control, and I’ve managed, with one exception, to avoid the latkes. I wasn’t doing too badly, when suddenly, it all came crashing down. Somehow, it took me sixteen years in the country to come face-to-face with Sfinge. Sfinge is the Moroccan answer to the sufganiya. Despite the fact that it has no filling (though it’s often dipped in syrup), it’s just as tasty and just as oily, and I have the distinct misfortune of having a neighbor who can feed my habit.

Sadly, the internet seems to have a serious dearth of information regarding sfinge, so I suppose you’ll just have to make due with one of the pictures I took. Needless to say, the photos are all I have left, following a little sfinge binge…

As my grandmother used to say, “try it! You’ll like it!”

I’d Like to Thank the Academy…

Anyone who spends considerable time wandering around the blogosphere is aware of the veritable plethora blog award competitions, whether it be the general competitions like the Bloggies or the Weblog Awards, or those competitions of a more specific nature, such as the JIBs (Jewish & Israeli Blog Awards). Some of the competitions are akin to popularity contests, with nominees and finalists badgering their friends and readers to vote for them again and again, while other competitions rely upon a panel of judges to make the final decisions. Israeli blogs can often be found in these competitions (as Stephanie pointed out here), and some of them even do quite well.

What is the current blog award competition du jour? Why, it’s the Fourth Annual Brass Crescent Awards, “honoring the best of the Muslim blogosphere”.  However, not only does this competition honor the best of the Muslim blogosphere (and many of the finalists are truly excellent), but it also has one category for the best non-Muslim blogs, and Israeli Jewish blogger Lisa Goldman, whose blog took first prize in this category last year, is once again in the running. Goldman, who writes “posts about her life and experiences in Israel and other parts of the Middle East” says, “I think the nomination (and last year’s win) shows that there is no contradiction between taking pride in one’s Israeli identity and being respectful of the religion practiced by the majority of the countries that are currently defined as Israel’s enemy states. I also give much credit to the Brass Crescent Organization for its willingness to nominate an Israeli blogger for a Muslim bloggers’ contest. I would like to think that, if there were a similar award offered for Jewish and/or Israeli bloggers, there would be a category for non-Israeli bloggers that included a Muslim blog.”

Go on then. Check out the Brass Crescent Awards. You know you want to…

Everybody’s Doin’ It

I’ve always found the Israeli blogosphere to be a fascinating, complex place, comprised of a variety of sub-groups that often have very little to do with each other, and for the most part, broken down according to language. While I can’t vouch for the local Russian or Arabic language bloggers, it’s interesting to note that the Hebrew and English language bloggers not only have very little knowledge of the other group, but to some extent, each group sees itself as the “Israeli blogosphere”.

I admit that I rarely read blogs written in Hebrew, and the only one I read with any degree of regularity is one written by a close friend (who is, incidentally, also an amazing writer). I just don’t have as much time as I’d like to delve into the Hebrew language blogs, though I do try to keep my eyes open for new blogs of interest.

This morning, I discovered blogs written by channel 10 police affairs reporter Sharon Gal and channel 10 political reporter Chico Menashe. The blogs, written in Hebrew and hosted on channel 10/Nana’s Israblog portal, are just two of the blogs being written by various channel 10 news personalities, and primarily contain behind-the-scenes tidbits about life as, well, a channel 10 news personality.

Gal, who just began writing his blog yesterday, describes his blog as being “your podium and mine. From me you’ll receive spicy stories about crime matters, primarily from the backyard of the police and behind the scenes of the criminal underworld. You’re invited to respond, to criticize, to get angry, and to become enraged. The important thing is that it should be interesting.”

And it is. In his first post, aside from the usual “what this blog is for” yada yada, Gal begins by lamenting the fact that fellow blogger Menashe gets to write about behind-the-scenes goings on on the Prime Minister’s airplane, while he will rarely have the opportunity to share such stories about flying with any senior officials, given the nature of his reporting duties.

“And I, a police affairs reporter, how much can I tell you about the behind-the-scenes goings on while flying with some senior individual. But then I remembered, I do have a similar story: On the plane with (Zeev) Rosenstein. But that was a while ago. No worries. It’s still interesting. Away from the intense scrutiny that followed his return to Israel from Miami, not really a super story from behind the scenes. Aside from the fact that Olmert is also suspected of crimes and is meeting frequently with criminal investigators. Rosenstein also met frequently with criminal investigators. And the truth is that lately Olmert has been meeting with investigators a lot more than Zeev Rosenstein, who’s imprisoned in the solitary confinement wing. So we’ve got a common denominator, and also a strong first story for the blog. “Experiences from a flight with a high-ranking official (in the world of crime). Chico, I can do it too!”

And, while Gal doesn’t actually ever getting around to telling us about his flight with a crime kingpin (having felt that he’d already written enough for his first entry, he promises to write about it next time), his entry is interesting enough that I think I’ll be back for more. The same goes for his pal Chico’s blog, which promises its readers stories that didn’t make the editorial cut, small stories, and perhaps, most intriguing of all, colorful stories. “A combination that may better explain the background of events happening here, giving the feeling that everything in the political realm is stuck, and not going anywhere.”

Foreign Seniors Need not Apply

Elderly relatives coming for a visit? Planning to take them out to see the sights and sounds of Israel? Don’t expect any discounts. When my pensioner parents came to Israel during the summer, we were surprised, no, wait, make that downright shocked, to discover that they weren’t eligible for senior citizen discounts at the sites we chose to visit. Apparently, only senior citizens residing in Israel and in possession of valid senior citizen cards are eligible for these discounts, and when I demanded to know why, I was told at each site that “it was the law”.

Not being too keen on that answer, I decided to dig deeper. Following extensive correspondence (and one telephone call) with various, helpful individuals working in Israel’s Tourism Ministry, not to mention a perusal of legislation regarding senior citizens (sent to me by one of the lawyers working at the ministry), I’ve come to the conclusion that only seniors with Israeli citizenship are eligible for a veritable plethora of mandated senior discounts.

Frankly, I wasn’t impressed. One individual with whom I corresponded drew my attention to the fact that the same laws apply in other countries as well (though certainly not in all, as I discovered). And, call me biased, but I’d like to think that Israel isn’t just like any other country. I think of the committed supporters of Israel who not only send their money, but also visit with great frequency, proud of their connections to the Holy Land. Mostly, I think of the elderly relatives of those who moved to Israel from abroad, the ones who come to visit not as tourists but simply as parents coming to see their children and grandchildren. These are not your run-of-the-mill visitors, tourists on vacation, having picked a random location to explore. These are people who come to visit their loved ones, loved ones who have chosen to make Israel their home, loved ones who serve in the army and serve their country.

Hell, my parents don’t even particularly enjoy coming here anymore, but they do, because we are here. And, because they come for several weeks at a time and we’d probably kill each other if we stayed home and did nothing for the duration of their visit, we go sightseeing. While I’m sure we’ll continue to use this plan in the future, it will not be without some modicum of bitterness and frustration, because even though my parents have given the state of Israel one of their most precious possessions (not to imply that I am merely a possession, of course), the state can’t even be bothered to thank them for the gift.

Leave them Teachers Alone!

Several days ago, my colleague (and most excellent pal) Stephanie wrote a post on a subject that’s taken the local English-language writing world by storm lately – the possible creation of a freelancers union. The pros and cons have been discussed on the local independent writers list and debated ad nauseum on the especially lively local technical communicators list. While I’m still not sure where my feelings lie on the subject, there’s a brand new union that I support wholeheartedly.

According to this article on the Haaretz website, a group of more than 100 kindergarten teachers – all women – have made their mark on history by forming the first ultra-Orthodox labor union. The decision to create the union came about four years ago, after the ultra-Orthodox educational network, in a bid to cut costs, began sending dismissal letters to all teachers with more than 25 years of seniority.

“The kindergarten teachers shattered a taboo in ultra-Orthodox society – fighting for one’s rights. These women are all their families’ sole wage earners, some are widows, and others are single parents. All have large families and worked devotedly for many years, when suddenly they were faced with the threat of dismissal, as if the rug were being pulled out from underneath them. Creating the labor union was a real fight for survival.

The initiative came from a group of several dozen kindergarten teachers who were determined to influence the decisions made under the recovery program (required by the Education Ministry). After they realized that the Agudat Yisrael’s teachers union – where they had no representation whatsoever, as women and as kindergarten teachers – did not intend to help them, they decided to take action. The network argued in court that it is not halakhically acceptable for women to be elected and to represent workers, and therefore it is ignoring the organization. But the kindergarten teachers obtained rabbinic permission to form their union, and within a few weeks, more than 100 kindergarten teachers, both young and old, had joined their ranks.”

I’m always impressed by women who stand up and fight for their rights, even more so when the women in question are forced to take on a battle that won’t necessarily be perceived as acceptable within the confines of the society in which they live. Way to go, ladies.

Smokers’ Paradise

I’m not a smoker, though some of my best friends either are or have been in the past. I’m not the annoying type of non-smoker – while I would obviously prefer that no one did it, I realize that it’s not my decision, and you won’t find me preaching to those who choose to do so. Too much cigarette smoke makes me ill, and back in the days when airlines still allowed smoking on planes, a kindly flight attendant called at least too long non-smoking breaks on a flight to the US. The flight was full and they’d screwed up my ticket, placing me in the smoking section. They were only able to switch me to a seat that was one row in front of the smoking section, which, as I’m sure you can surmise, made no difference whatsoever. I suffered. Boy, did I suffer. Headaches, sore throat, congestion, and so on. I was miserable, and everyone could see it, hence the mandated no smoking breaks.

No one was happier than I when the airlines decided that all flights would be non-smoking, which couldn’t have gone over to well among the Israeli smoking public. With few exceptions, current smoking regulations in Israel are barely enforced. Doctors in hospitals will light up while standing under “No smoking” signs, shoppers light up in the malls. Most restaurants have yet to create separate, enclosed smoking areas. The situation is indeed dire, though it’s certainly better than it once was, which should give you an idea of just how bad things were here for non-smokers at one time.

Laws aside, many smokers (though certainly not all) here are rather inconsiderate. People light up while riding escalators or climbing stairs, requiring all those who follow in their wake to inhale. While making my way through the underground tunnel at the train station, by the time I’ve reached the end, I often feel as though I’ve just smoked a cigarette, given the way smokers light up as soon as they step off the train. Many of them prepare beforehand, rooting around in their bags for cigarettes, and popping one into their mouths before they’ve even gotten off the train.

As opposed to San Jose, Israel is indeed a smokers’ paradise. Tali Aben over at Israeli VC on Sand Hill Road laments,

“When I read articles like today’s in the SJ Mercury News, where smoking will be illegal in San Jose parks, as well as city sidewalks, including people smoking inside their cars, it makes me miss Silicon Valley even more.”

I’ve never been to San Jose, but if this is the way they deal with smoking, I’ve got to say that I miss it too…

Check out the rest of Tali’s post over here.

 

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