Religious ruptures
Ultra Orthodox demonstrators rioting against the opening of a parking lot on Shabbat. (Photo credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)
The riots were reportedly peaceful, but as one coworker of mine commented, “How peaceful is it to head to a riot after shul on Shabbat?”
Can’t argue with that. I personally like to head home for some whisky and olives on Shabbat afternoon.
According to a survey taken by Hiddush, an NGO promoting religious freedom and equality in Israel (and headed by Rabbi/lawyer Uri Regev, who used to head the Reform movement in Israel), 76 percent of Jewish Israelis – and 93% of secular Israelis – believe haredi rabbis are spearheading religion-inspired conflicts in an effort to advance partisan haredi interests, and only 24% of the 500 polled believe that recent riots are inspired by love of Israel and the wellbeing of society.
This isn’t the first time that an Intel factory in Israel is working on Shabbat, but it is a newly revamped Jerusalem Intel plant that is manufacturing a certain kind of chip, which requires non-stop production. Given that Jerusalem is a city lacking jobs and industry, the presence of Intel is a boon, and one that clearly, no one wants to lose. At the same time, it’s not too pleasant dealing with religious hatred on a regular basis.
And so, against this background, I happened to end up at the Haredim photography exhibit in Beit Avi Chai, originally shown at the Eretz Israel Museum, with photos by Menahem Kahana of Haredim in all walks and situations of life, from synagogue rituals and family gatherings to celebrations, funerals and yes, demonstrations, from over the last ten years.
The curator is Alex Levac, winner of the Israel Prize for photography. Worth seeing and thinking about.
Shalom Haver
Bill Clinton speaking at the Saban Forum (Photo: AP)
Then I remembered that the Sixth annual Saban Forum was taking place from Saturday to Monday in Jerusalem and Ramallah, and among the guests were former US president Bill Clinton and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
During the two-day forum, dialogue between senior officials from both countries on US-Israel relations and Middle East strategic issues such as the Iranian threat, Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, are being held. On Sunday, the delegates to the conference were travelling to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.
Founded in 2004, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy has been working to promote independent policy dialogue between Israel and the US. Founder Haim Saban called the timing of the event “a critical moment in US-Israel relations.”
And even though neither Bubba nor Ahhnold were out strolling on the Mamilla Avenue mall, their presence during their visit is being felt.
Clinton, speaking to the conference on Saturday, urged Israel and the Palestinians to end our conflict, saying we cannot escape our common future.
“We are either going to hurt each other or we are going to help each other. Divorce is not an option,” AP reported Clinton saying.
“In the last 14 years, not a single week has gone by that I did not think of Yitzhak Rabin and miss him terribly,” he said. “Nor has a single week gone by in which I have not reaffirmed my conviction that had he not lost his life on that terrible November night, within three years we would have had a comprehensive agreement for peace in the Middle East.”
Clinton has remained hugely popular in Israel, where his “Shalom haver,” eulogy at Rabin’s funeral forever struck a chord in Israelis’ hearts. Despite some who believe Clinton’s hastiness and recklessness at achieving an Israeli-Palestinian accord led to the Second Intifada, Clinton’s still a star here. Welcome friends, and block the traffic as much as you want.
Foto Friday – Israel through the IR filter with Yariv Drory
Winter is upon us, more or less. Last week, the rainy season began in earnest, then backtracked for a week of unseasonably warm weather. Now, they tell us, it is now due to return with some serious cold, wet weather. It’s too early to tell if there will be snow this year but this series of images by Yariv Drory brings the thought to mind.
Drory has a particular interest in infrared cameras and his images of the Israeli summer landscape through the IR filter are almost hallucinatory.
In real life, the trees are green and the skies are blue but through the IR filter, the trees turn a feathery pink, the skies are black, the seas white, and spiky brush and weeds turn cottony and soft.
According to Wikipedia, which has a very nice entry about infrared photography, “When these [IR] filters are used together with infrared-sensitive film or sensors, very interesting ‘in-camera effects’ can be obtained…false-color or black-and-white images with a dreamlike or sometimes lurid appearance… mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow.”
Also, according to Wikipedia, “…other attributes of infrared photographs include very dark skies and penetration of atmospheric haze… compared to visible light.”
More photos by Yariv Drory are on view at his website.
A free offer that’s too free
It happens every year at this time like clockwork. I get a call from a “private number” according to my phone’s caller ID. I answer, expecting to hear a plea for funding from a new charity. Instead, it’s the Haaretz newspaper offering me a free gift: a two-week trial of the English print edition of the paper along with the International Herald Tribune.
How can I resist? Never mind the fact that virtually the entire daily and weekend Haaretz is online and I can (and do) read it regularly, and that by having the paper delivered to my door I am contributing to who knows how many extra trees that must necessarily be felled because of my greedy acceptance.
Still, growing up in a newspaper family (my father worked as a reporter for The San Francisco Examiner for 35 years), there is nothing like the feel of fresh newsprint at the breakfast table (and later in slightly less fragrant parts of the house).
We subscribed to both the morning and afternoon papers, which turned out to be somewhat of a problem as I felt compelled to clip out any and all articles of interest. Several years ago, when my parents moved to a retirement community, leaving the home in which I grew up, I had to wade through the 31 boxes of “stuff” I’d stored in my old bedroom. A majority of those boxes were filled with my obsessive newspaper snips.
My kids will never have the same “opportunity” to take scissors to paper. Within a few years, publications will be online only (you think it will take longer…bookmark this article and read it again in 2015). As a result, anything even vaguely resembling the current newspaper form factor will be consumed on a portable reading device like the large screen Amazon Kindle or the upcoming “Que” from Plastic Logic. My 31 boxes of data could fit on a generously sized disk-on-key.
When my two-week free trial of Haaretz ended this week, I waited for the inevitable follow up call. But it never came. In fact, the nice salesman who made the offer in the first place didn’t call last year, or the year before either.
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the point of freebies to hook the recipient into purchasing something they really don’t’t need? Perhaps Haaretz isn’t bound by the natural laws of marketing. Is it possible that the newspaper was truly giving me a thoughtful gift out of the goodness of its icy corporate heart?
You want to know the most ironic part of the story? After two weeks, I was feeling like I might actually enjoy a daily subscription! Oh well, back to the Internet where the bytes still roam free.
An Israeli king of Kings
When Omri Casspi became the first Israeli basketball player to make the NBA this year with the Sacremento Kings, it was a pretty big deal. And for most, it was the end all – even if he never gets to play and is cut after a year, it was still an accomplishment.
Who would have thought that, just a few short weeks into the season, the 21-year-old Casspi would spark the Kings to become a respectable NBA team, coming off the bench to score three-pointers, grab rebounds and generally play with more fervor than just about anyone else on the court? Probably only a few people, including Casspi and his coach, NBA great Paul Westphal.
“There’s nothing like the passion of a rookie. And from what I’ve seen, there are few rookies as passionate as Sacramento’s Omri Casspi,” wrote NBA.com writer Drew Packham this week in ranking Casspi as the seventh top rookie so far this season. Westphal even said,
“He’s going to make it in this league. He’s going to have a long career.”
The 6′ 8″ Yavne native has earned a strong following among Kings fans and a huge following among Israeli basketball fans in averaging almost 10 points per game. He’s also helped fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, his old club where he averaged 12.8 points and 4.6 rebounds forget about the scandal unfolding following the suicide of team manager Moni Fanan.
More importantly, Casspi has proven to be a huge image booster for Israel. Fans wave Israeli flags at his games, and NBA fans who don’t know Israel from India are suddenly discovering a connection close to their hearts.
And he’s become a darling among sportswriters, with the natural angles of an Israeli making it in the NBA and his already well-known prediliction for hummus. The Salt Lake City Tribune recently ran a profile of Casspi, calling him a combination of Jackie Robinson and Kobe Bryant, a pioneer, and Israel’s greatest player.
“[Maccabi Tel Aviv] is the biggest team in Israel,” Casspi said. “As soon as I reached my goals there — I was a starter and one of the main players — I decided to give the NBA a shot. … I was fortunate to be drafted and I’m fortunate to be here.”
“Everybody in Israeli is following me,” he said after the Kings’ shoot-around Saturday morning. “They are showing the games over there. So it’s great.”
Isn’t carrying the hoop dreams of an entire country a bit of a burden?
“Nah, it’s OK,” Casspi said. “Everybody is really supporting me. I’m enjoying it. I’m just happy that everybody is happy for me.”
Here’s one story that everyone, except for Casspi’s NBA opponenets, can all be happy about.
Stage mom
Our director, Eran Riklis
Set in Jerusalem, and based on the 2004 A.B. Yehoshua book, The Mission of the Human Resources Manager, it’s about a human resources manager in a big Jerusalem bakery during the dark days of the second intifada. A Russian worker dies in a suicide bombing attack and when no one claims her body, he has to take her back to Russia.
Filming is taking place in Jerusalem and Romania, and we were part of the Jerusalem filming, which was set in the ghost-town like atmosphere of the Schneller Army base, in the Geula neighborhood. Our boys’ film father was Mark Ivanir, a Russian-born actor who came to Israel in 1972 and now splits his time between Israel and the U.S. Eran Riklis, the director and a big bear of a guy, was genial enough with the babies, although a tad confused about what 12-month-olds are supposed to be doing. He wanted them to crawl, but also sit quietly in an infant seat; start working at 4:30 in the afternoon, and go strong until 8 pm. And when I questioned whether a 12-month-old sitting in an infant seat perched on a chest was realistic (and safe), I could see the word balloons next to their mouths, saying “Overprotective American mother!”
We worked it out, the boys cooperated for the most part, and now we just sit tight and wait for the movie premiere, with Ziv and Lev’s names in the credits. And it’s probably safe to say that I’ll never do this again, but you never know.
Music downloads? Israel goes CD retro
As more and more people are downloading music on the Web and choosing Ipods over CD players, where can you find the good, old fashioned mega-CD stores? In Israel!
True, Tower Records has taken a hit here, with its Jerusalem flagship store closing down last year, but instead of throwing in the flag, other outlets have taken up the slack.
Whenever I’m in Tel Aviv – like yesterday – I try and make it over to the Ozen Hashlishi (Third Ear) on King George St. It’s the closest you can get in Israel to imagining you’re at one of those sprawling vintage CD/vinyl shops in the Village in New York, where the clerks wear Black Flag t-shirts and look like they’d just as soon stab you as take your money.
Tons of used and new CDs, vinyl, DVDs, books, featuring ample sections of niche music like ‘Israeli indie’ and ’60s Psychedelic,’ the Ozen is one of the few places you can pick up a copy Television’s landmark Marquee Moon CD – and at a bargain price. They’ve also got a club which at night hosts eclectic Israeli rockers for intimate unplugged chats with fans.
But Tel Aviv doesn’t corner the whole market for the discerning music lover. In the nation’s capital, Hatav Hashmini, a music store that began more than a decade ago by importing CDs at cheap prices and has since grown into a massive chain with its own music label, recently opened a massive, 340-square-meter store. They claim it’s the largest music CD and DVD store in Israel.
According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, the store features ten listening stations that allow visitors to sample virtually any CD in the store, one of them in a room dedicated entirely to classical music and opera.
During the grand opening last Thursday, Hatav Hashmini’s stated commitment to “music you can hold in your hands,” as opposed to downloadable MP3 files, was in strong evidence, as several big names on the label’s roster assembled for brief impromptu concerts.
Hatav Hashmini’s label boasts such artists as pop performers Micha Sheetrit, David Broza and Shlomo Gronich, as well as jazz saxophonist Danny Zamir. The store promises to host its artists for small-scale performances in the future. The venue is certainly spacious enough.
While it’s unlikely to replace the Ozen in my heart as THE place to shop for music in Israel, I’ll be certainly giving Hatav Hashmini every chance to prove itself in the coming months.
A year with CNN
Late last year, ISRAEL21c began working with CNN to produce video material for its highly successful and long-running program, CNN World Report.
Since our first video went up at the start of this year, we’ve had 10 feature stories appearing on the thrice-weekly program hosted by Guillermo Aduino and on the CNN website.
We don’t often toot our horn – in fact we’re so busy we barely even raise our heads long enough to chart our achievements – but, sometimes we really have to stop and say “wow”.
Ten of our stories showing the other side of Israel – the innovation, creativity, and culture – have gone out through CNN, to millions of viewers worldwide. This is a vital step in showing people everywhere about the unique value that Israel brings to the world.
In our last video feature for CNN, about Windows of Peace – a coexistence project bringing Jewish and Palestinian teenagers together to make a music video – CNN made a special effort to interview Nitsana, the reporter, about the project and about what it means to her and to the children taking part.
Nitsana makes some interesting comments about peace, not least that what surprised her the most was how she couldn’t tell these children apart. Something I’ve thought about often since moving here goodness knows how many years ago.
Below, you can also find some of our other CNN videos. They’re well worth watching. You can also see more on our YouTube site.
Fat is fabulous – re-educating the fashion industry.
Saving the bees.
And the birds too.
Picture of the week: The long goodbye to Rabin
There can’t be many people on the left or the right in Israel who don’t still wonder what would have happened if former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin hadn’t died the night he was shot by religious fanatic Yigal Amir.
Would we have peace now? Would the second intifada have been avoided? Or would everything have unfolded in much the same way? We’ll obviously never know.
What amazes me most is that it was 14 years ago, but the memories are still painful for so much of Israeli society. It’s an open-wound that as David so rightfully pointed out in his post, Have any lessons been learned , hasn’t yet been resolved.
I was at the rally the night Rabin was assassinated. We didn’t know about the shooting until after we left, when we visited friends on our way home and found them glued to the television. Even then it was clear, history had just taken a completely different route.
Israel’s president Shimon Peres addressing the crowd on Saturday at the 14th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in Tel Aviv. Photo by Liron Almog/Flash90.
Emma Shapplin crashes and burns in Haifa
Usually, when touring musical acts make their way to Israel, they rise to the occasion and put on a stellar show. Just look at Paul McCartney, Faith No More, Leonard Cohen – despite the lofty price tags, they delivered with consumately professional concerts that left audiences thrilled.
But there’s another kind of concert thrill – the train wreck. Even more surprising is the train conductor in this case – French pop soprano Emma Shapplin, who launched a world tour last week with two shows, in Haifa and Tel Aviv.
Now we’re not talking about someone who you’d expect to be erratic, like grungy Pete Doherty. Shapplin has a distinguished track record of dazzling performances featuring spine-tingling vocals. Her 2003 show in Caesarea was so outstanding that she released it as a live album and DVD.
However, she’s had a few years between albums, and when I talked to her a few weeks ago, she seemed somewhat hesitant about rushing out to perform her new album Macadam Flower ahead of time.
“When we received the offer to do these two shows, I thought, ‘well, it’s a bit premature. The album isn’t finished yet, we haven’t started rehearsing,’” she said.
It turns out that Shapplin’s apprehensions were well justified. According to a review in The Jerusalem Post of the first night’s show by my colleague, Amanda Borschel-Dan, Shappelin was like a deer in the headlights.
Aside from obvious technical difficulties with microphones, etc., Shapplin was confused, forgetting words and musical phrases, once to the point of restarting a number twice and waving away the accompanist who was playing “a different arrangement… why did Shapplin decide to perform a series of classical soprano arias when she was obviously under-prepared?
While the concert-goers were justifiably unsatisfied with the performance, I found myself thinking that it was refreshing to see someone screw up in public. We’re so conditioned to perfection that any blemishes are considered to be horrible miscues and an affront to art. On the contrary, false starts, flubbed cues, and unreached notes are performance art at its most riveting.
Shapplin may have had an off night, or maybe she’s fallen off of her pedestal and is just showing her humanity. Rather than booing her, audiences should be embracing her flaws as well as her talent.
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