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Nostalgia Sunday – Canaan canines

Right off the winding road leading up to Jerusalem are the Shaar Hagai Kennels, home to the Canaan dog, a semi-feral dog that is Israel’s national breed. The history of these dogs and the modern State of Israel are intertwined as today’s Canaan was bred by request of the Haganah, the forerunner of today’s Israel Defense Forces.

According to an essay on the Shaar Hagai website, having decided to set up a canine unit, Haganah commanders turned to Dr. Professor Rudolphina Menzel, “a noted cynologist with a considerable reputation in her native Austria in the field of animal behavior… She quickly discovered that the European breeds with which she was accustomed to working, German Shepherds, Boxers, Dobermans, suffered greatly from the severe climate and difficult terrain and had a hard time functioning effectively.

“She began to observe the local pariah dogs living on the outskirts of settlements and with the Bedouin in desert and wilderness areas, and decided that this was a true breed of dog that had adapted to the conditions. She began a program of re-domestication, collecting puppies and adults from the pariah groups.”

“The Canaan Dog has survived for thousands of years on its own, living by its wits, and surviving in the wild and on the fringes of civilization by hunting and scavenging. Often puppies were captured, raised and used, especially by the Bedouin tribesmen, as guardians of the flocks and the tents. Like other wild or feral residents of the area, only the strongest, healthiest, cleverest, and most fit survived to breed and pass on their characteristics.”

Prof. Menzel called the breed the Canaan Dog after the Biblical Land of Canaan. Canaans have been part of the local landscape since time immemorial. The American Kennel Club history of the breed cites “Drawings found on the tombs at Beni-Hassan, dating from 2200 to 2000 B.C., depict[ing] dogs that show an unmistakable resemblance to the Canaan Dog of today.”

An essay posted by the Canaan Dog Club of America states, “As a breed the Canaan Dog proved highly intelligent and easily trainable, serving as sentry dogs, messengers, Red Cross helpers and land mine locators. During World War II, Dr. Menzel recruited and trained over 400 of the best dogs for the Middle East Forces as land mine detectors, and they proved superior to the mechanical detectors.”

“The Canaan is also one of the very few breeds known that has successfully adapted to a desert environment,” the Shaar Hagai essay notes. “Studies done at Tel Aviv University and Ben Gurion University of the Negev have shown an astonishing ability in this breed to adapt to extremes of temperature and lack of water. The breed has developed physiological adaptations to prevent waste of fluids and overheating.”

Prof. Menzel was responsible for gaining recognition for the breed; her breed standard was accepted by the La Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) in 1966, where it is classified in FCI Group 5, a subgroup of primitive dogs. She exported the first Canaans to the US in 1965 and to Germany shortly after. (An interview with Prof. Menzel about her work by noted naturalist Dvora Ben Shaul makes for fascinating reading). In 1970, Shaar Hagai Kennels joined in the development and breeding of the dogs, carrying on Prof. Menzel’s work after her death in 1973.

Over the years, urbanization and cultivation have led to the gradual disappearance of the Canaan’s natural habitat and there is a danger that the wild dog, which is the original breeding stock, could disappear. Added to that is a new threat: after 42 years, the Shaar Hagai Kennels have received a notice of eviction by the Israel Lands Administration (ILA), which holds title to the property. Such a move could mean the end of their breeding program and consequently endanger the breed overall.

Myrna Shiboleth, who has run the Kennels for 42 years, now finds herself in an unusual plight and has been actively lobbying for public support. She has successfully recruited 38,505 signatures (so far) on an online petition that will be submitted to the ILA. 50,000 signatures are needed, so sign the petition, join the Facebook page, and pass the word on.

I should mention my personal interest in this story; when we adopted her two years ago, we couldn’t figure out our dog Nili until we learned about Canaan dogs. Then it all made sense: she may be part Canaan in breed (check out those giant ears) but she’s all Canaan in ‘tude: highly intelligent, very loyal but never blindly obedient. All in all, a true Israeli sabra.

Made in Israel

It’s getting to be that time of year again – where the national holidays come fast and furious. Holocaust Remembrance Day just passed and this week we have Memorial Day and Independence Day right on top of each other as Israel prepares to celebrate its 64th birthday.

While there’s no shortage of subjects to be worried, fearful, skeptical or angry about, I would say that overall, the country’s in pretty good shape. But if the Iranian threat, the political situation, the social welfare crisis and the glut of TV reality shows are getting you down, take a couple minutes and check out this clip that ISRAEL21c’s Nicky Blackburn and Viva Sara Press have put together.

In addition to providing some surprising information about just what Israel has achieved in the past 63 years, it will undoubtedly raise your morale and have you whistling a happy tune going into the coming eventful week. Happy Independence Day Israel! We’re proud of you.

Nostalgia Sunday – Holocaust Remembrance Day 2012

A few weeks ago, in advance of the upcoming Holocaust Remembrance Day, a new tree was planted at Yad Vashem. The sapling was a special one, sprouted from a chestnut tree that Anne Frank wrote about in her diary. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam donated saplings to Yad Vashem and other institutions when the tree became sick and collapsed in 2010.

Anne wrote about the tree three times in her diary, the last time on May 13, 1944, noting, “Our chestnut tree is in full bloom. It´s covered with leaves and is even more beautiful than last year.”

The Yad Vashem sapling was planted near the Children´s Memorial and International School for Holocaust Studies, in the presence of Hanna Pick (pictured), Holocaust survivor and childhood friend of Anne Frank.

How ironic that such a fitting memorial should be followed, only a few days later, by the outrageous news that the Berlin branch of Madam Tussaud’s had inaugurated an Anne Frank tableau, meant to inspire “optimism”.

If the Berlin waxwork is a fitting memorial, it is not to Anne Frank’s memory, but to Madame Marie Tussaud herself, who gained notoriety during the French Revolution as a maker of death masks. Put that in your nostalgia pipe and smoke it.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is not nostalgic, “nostalgia” being a sentimental or happy recollection of times or things past. It is a day for recalling the most unpleasant aspects of human nature, for honoring the memory of people we may or may not have actually known and hopefully, a day of self-examination and learning about a terrible chapter in Jewish history.

For over half a century, Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, has been committed to what it terms the four pillars of remembrance: Commemoration, Documentation, Research and Education.

Of those four, it is the last one that has become most critical as older generations pass away. In fact, its fair to say that the first four provide the foundations upon which education can stand; the Yad Vashem website provides a wealth of downloadable materials, educational programs and lesson plans for educators, as well as an online photo and document archive and YouTube channel of documentary films, survivor testimonies and historical lectures.

Visit the Yad Vashem website this week – there is always something to learn there.

Foto Friday – T-Market Tel Aviv 2012

We are back from the T:Market Tel-Aviv Passover 2012 and are now all kitted out for summer. The event, which has been going strong for almost a decade, gathers the city’s independent t-shirt designers together under one roof (it’s more of a tent, really) for a 3-day long festival of fashion, accessories and music.

T-shirts, according to a lengthy Wikipedia entry, are a form of personal expression. Fortunately, for those who have difficulty in expressing themselves, (or perhaps, in forming coherent thoughts), since the 1950s there have been manufacturers willing to fill the echoing gap and Israel has long been a part of that trend (check out my Entebbe Raid tee from 1976). Over the past few years, however, there has been an explosion in underground manufacturers using the t-shirt as a canvas to post artistic, social and/or political commentary and/or humor.

Their messages aren’t everyone’s cup of tea (or is that tee?) and the humor of today’s Israeli youth might not be accessible to all. For example, last year I did not get why a picture of a jihadist Smurf caused gales of laughter among the 12 year-old set, and you have to know who Uza the duck from Educational TV is to understand the Rambo-like image of “Uza and Uzi”. Similarly, you must be familiar with the wandering boy Marco from the children’s cartoon series The Heart to understand why he’s searching Google for “mother”.

This year, Passover was the theme for the T:Market’s promotional photo shoot, with matza anad gefilte fish playing an important part of the styling.

Photo by Ben Palhov

This karate chopping matza-mauling cutie sports a top by TwentyFourSeven…
Photo by Ben Palhov

Fashion house Chop Shop offers more conventional wares in an unconventional setting…

Haifa-based GhosTown were selling off their Winter 2012 collection, featuring designs by Broken Fingaz Crew…

Hand to Hand, based in Paris and Tel Aviv, offer a glimpse into their screen-printing process and, if you visit their Facebook page, into the ink drawing process as well.

Gelada Studio express their Russian origins with a nod and wink to Soviet realism…
Photo by Ben Palhov

And judging from the many Press & TV clips on their Facebook page, their Socialist-styled themes have resonated with the Israeli celebrity set!

There are another 30-odd exhibitors at the T:Market, which continues running through the weekend, with a full exhibitor list available at Dice Marketing. If you can, get on over there and if not, check out the T:Market page on Facebook.

I’m posting early as today (Thursday) is the eve of Passover’s second holiday. Chag Sameach to all!

Salami Seder

While most of my family spent Seder night around an overloaded table of food, groaning with the weight of delicacies lamb, fish, meat, chicken delicacies as well as all the traditional Passover foods (love that eggs in salt water), my daughter was having a Seder with her soldiers along the border with Egypt.

She had just finished 12 hours of patrols and assignments, and was able to relax and enjoy herself, with a spread, although not quite as sumptuous as ours, still featured a respectable chicken soup and matza balls and roast beef.

She was much luckier though, than soldiers in the Kfir Brigade, who according to reports on Israel Radio and Channel 2, had to make do with salami and matzah for their Seder meal.

Evidently, a chef on their base heated up the planned Seder food after the holiday began, rendering it unkosher according to strict Jewish law, and thus army rules, which follow the laws of kashrut. The kashrut supervisor on the base didn’t hesitate to throw away the entire batch of food, leaving the hungry soldiers, who had also just returned from a mission, only the salami and matza to eat.

Now, I’m one of the first ones to love the fact that when you’re in the army, or you go to a government office, or a sanctioned hotel, you can be assured that the food is going to be kosher – it’s one of the great aspects about Israel.

But, perhaps there are instances when a little common sense is required? I’m not sure what percentage of those Kfir soldiers keep kosher, but couldn’t they have been given the option – after an explanation of what happened – to decide for themselves whether they wanted to eat the heated food or not? After all, it’s not like the food isn’t really kosher – it was just heated up (by somebody else).

My wife says that this would have made the religiously observant soldiers feel especially bad, seeing their fellow soldiers feasting on Seder food while they were stuck with salami. What do you think?

I just know that if it was my daughter who had been served salami on Seder night because of an oversight by an army cook, I would have thought that we’ve lost track of what’s really important in our society.

 

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