Hebrewman
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture, coexistence
Marwa Abdel Karim sings a song by Sarit Haddad (photo: AFP)
There are nearly no Jews left in Iraq, but modern Hebrew is still being taught at Baghdad University to some 150 students, according to a recent AFP story. Never mind that learning the language was banned from the 1930s, there is a Hebraic department in the university, and in addition to learning the language, they recently held a festival of Hebrew songs and poetry.
The AFP reporter who wrote the story told of Marwa Abdel Karim singing “Filled With Love” (or Ahava Betochi), a Sarit Hadad song, to her fellow students. She found the song online, and is also somewhat bemused by her choice of language. But despite her friends’ ridicule and parents’ disappointment, she plans on continuing her studies in Amman and then wants to teach at her alma mater.
At one time, Hebrew-speaking Iraqis could get a job with former president Saddam Hussein’s intelligence services. But now that terrorism is the country’s major security concern, those jobs are much harder to find. Ahmed Saadun, another student of Hebrew, said he would check out the foreign affairs ministry and newspapers when he graduates. Still, he told the AFP reporter, he’s aware of the ironies in his situation.
Here’s the real thing, by Sarit Hadad:
Contemplating Costello’s cancellation
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, General, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture, coexistence
Elvis Costello’s cancellation of his two shows in Israel in June and July due to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians has caused unbridled emotion to surface in blogs, talkbacks and columns.
The dumbest comments claim that Costello is a has been, an anti-semite and a talentless hack – or all three. Obviously we are hurt, dismayed, betrayed, confused and angered at Costello’s decision to renege on his two shows scheduled for June 30 and July 1 at the Caesearea Amphitheater.
It’s especially disheartening because it wasn’t a rash decision and Costello isn’t a vapid pop star – he’s thoughtful, well-read and intelligent. He told me when I talked to him last night on the phone that his dilemma over whether to appear in Israel had been part of a 30-year conundrum from him, and that the issue had come up many times.
What I take away from the affair is not the desire to burn Elvis’s CDs as so many talkbackers threatened to do just like Christians burned Beatles records in 1966, but the desire to try to understand how Israel’s enemies have managed to present such a convincing argument consisting of half-truths, distortions and lies, that a wordly – albeit liberal – artist like Costello could be convinced to boycott us.
That Costello is letting himself be used by those that would want to see Israel harmed is alarming, indeed. But, that Israel has not successfully been able to sway world opinion that her cause is just is no less alarming.
Elvis has left the building before even entering
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Life, Music, Politics, Pop Culture, coexistence
Say it ain’t so Elvis.
Only two weeks after one of the greats of rock & roll, Elvis Costello told me that the only answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is through “dialogue and reconciliation,” he decided to take himself out of the equation by cancelling his two shows scheduled for June 30 and July 1 at the Caesaerea Amphitheater.
Formerly great hip hop poet pioneer Gil Scott-Heron also recently cancelled a Tel Aviv show soon after it was announced saying that he and his band “didn’t like wars.” And Santana, due to pro-Palestinian pressure or some other reason, also nixed a show here in the early stages. But Costello’s blow is the mightiest, because it’s the most- thought out.
Costello posted an announcement over the weekend explaining his decision to join the boycott of Israel. “There are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent,” he wrote.
Saying he couldn’t imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, Costello wrote, that since the complex subjects involving the conflict “are actually too grave and complex to be addressed in a concert, then it is also quite impossible to simply look the other way… sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static and so an end to it.”
Costello was set to make his Israeli debut with his new folk/bluegrass band The Sugarcanes, and in his engaging phone conversation with me two weeks ago, he eloquently explained that he had given much thought to playing in the country, but decided that he was against efforts to boycott performances.
“I know from the experience of a friend who is from Israel and from people who have worked there that there is a difference of opinion there among Israelis regarding their government’s policies. It seems to me that dialogue is essential. I don’t presume to think that my performance is going to be part of the process,” Costello said.
“The people who call for a boycott of Israel own the narrow view that think performing there must be about profit and endorsing the hawkish policy of the government. It’s like never appearing in the US because you didn’t like Bush’s policies or boycotting England because of Margaret Thatcher.”
It’s unclear whether the announced show by Costello’s wife, vocalist and pianist Diana Krall, will go on as planned on August 9 at the Ra’anana Amphitheater. But for the thousands of Costello fans who sold out the first Caesearea show neccessitating the addition of a second show, listening to “What’s So Funny ’bout Peace, Love and Understanding” will never again sound the same.
***
Hummus wars heats up northern border
Filed under: A New Reality, Food, General, Israeliness, Life, coexistence
Lebanese chefs prepare the record-breaking hummus. (Photo: Reuters)
For the second time in a year, Lebanon has wrested from Israel the Guinness World Record title of making the largest plate of hummus. Earlier this week, more than 300 Lebanese chefs spiced up a more than 23,000-pound plate of hummus, which more than doubled the Israeli record set in January in the Israeli Arab town of Abu Ghosh.
The chefs reportedly used 8 tons of boiled chickpeas, 2 tons of sesame paste, 2 tons of lemon juice and 154 pounds of olive oil for their hummus – an effort aimed at proving the claim that hummus is really a Lebanese dish that that Israel stole. Several years ago the Lebanese trade industry even considered filing a hummus lawsuit against Israel for claiming ownership.
While the traditional Middle Eastern dish made of chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic does indeed likely have Arab origins, Israelis have adopted it as their own and have gone to great lengths to perfect it.
Abu Ghosh, where the Israeli record was set in January, breaking the then-Lebanese held record, is a magnet for hungry diners on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, and boasts a dozen scrumptions hummus joints that prepare variations on the hummus theme, each one topping the other.
Israelis acknowledge that their Arab countrymen are the masters at preparing the dish. According to a recent survey in Haaretz, the top two most popular hummus restaurants in Israel were Arab-run bistros located in Jaffa and Acre.
The rivalry between Lebanon and Israel (good natured on Israel’s side and hopefully the same on the Lebanese side) has certainly raised the profile of the tasty paste, according one of Israel’s top hummus experts, Hummus 101 blogger Shuki Galili has pointed out.
“Owning hummus is like owning a folk song,” Galili told The Christian Science Monitor, meaning it now belongs to everybody. And ultimately, it doesn’t really matter where it originated, as long as people are still searching for the perfect hummus.
Will Israeli chefs now respond to the challenge and attempt to top the Lebanese world record? Stay tuned for the next chapter of the Hummus Wars.
An Israeli prize for a Canadian author
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Politics, Social Justice, coexistence, education
We’ve got royalty visiting Israel this week – at least royalty of the literary kind. Famed Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood has arrived to receive a 2010 Dan David Prize, an award from Tel Aviv University that promotes “the scientific, technological and humanistic achievements that advance and improve our world.”
Founded in 2002, the prize is awarded in three categories: Past, Present and Future. Atwood is the recipient in the Present category, which “recognizes achievements that shape and enrich society today.” She, along with the other ‘Present’ recipient, Indian-Bengali novelist Amitav Ghosh, will receive a $1,000,000 prize.
An outspoken human rights activist and head of the writers’ human rights organization PEN, Atwood had received pressure from pro-Palestinian groups to boycott the ceremony this week and refuse to accept the prize, but Atwood, whose books include The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Oryx and Crake (2003), and The Year of the Flood (2009), said that she wasn’t interested in boycotts.
“We don’t do cultural boycotts,” Atwood told Bloomberg News’ Gwen Ackerman before the awards ceremony on Sunday. “I would be throwing overboard the thousands of writers around the world who are in prison, censored, exiled and murdered for what they have published.”
When asked if her visit to the region might inspire a new novel, Atwood responded: “You never know what may happen. The thing about creativity is that your mind does have to be open, because otherwise nothing will come into it. It certainly is a crash course in the very complex Middle East political situation. It is like being heaved into it.
“A lot of people with no vested interest just turn it off. They feel there is nothing they can do. They don’t understand it. They want people to resolve it, and they wonder why that isn’t happening: Why can’t there be a breakthrough?”
Welcome to the neighborhood, Margaret.
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts