Vacationing with the amcha
Filed under: Food, General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Travel, coexistence
Part of the crowd, in matching t-shirts, on a hike in the region
First, there was just the sheer mix of people, or amcha, loosely translated as ‘your fellow citizens.’ There was the gamut of religious and secular types, lots of Russian Israelis — who I feel are very skilled at doing the rounds of the whole Dead Sea dipping-sauna-steam room-Jacuzzi thing — many Druze families and, of course, German tourists (they get significant discounts from the German government to spend time at the mineral-rich Dead Sea and take care of their psoriasis).
In that situation, Shabbat takes on a slightly different cast, as you can’t help but be affected by what’s going on around you. My feeling is you need to just go with it, while attempting to create your own atmosphere.
So, we enjoyed doing our own Shabbat services as a family, but poked our heads into the ‘Ritch Ratch’ lounge, where two singers performed Shabbat medleys, a la kindergarden favorites, on Friday night after dinner. And then there was the optional Shabbat lunch by the pool, where, accompanied by INCREDIBLY LOUD music, one could be served a menu of cholent, kishka and ptitim. For those of us who are more accustomed to eating our cholent in a Shabbat-like setting at home after shul, it’s an ironic turn of events.
I’m sure our fellow hotel guests were also amused by us, a group of 22 ‘Anglos’, wearing matching turquoise tee-shirts that said “Dorothy’s 80th birthday weekend” (and on the back, “I’m not 80, I’m 29 with 51 years of experience.”)
But we all got along fine, because, hey, who’s not happy to be hanging out by the pool and being fed at regular intervals? Happy birthday, Mom.
An excellent jobnik
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, coexistence
Natan at his desk
So, Natan, my 19-year-old nephew, who made aliyah with his family just three and a half years ago when he was 16, and entered the army last year, was nominated to receive the Presidential Excellence Award, the highest honor you can receive in the IDF.
Natan is a ‘jobnik’ in army parlance, which means he has a desk job. In his case, he works out of a large army base near Tel Aviv, where he does several things, including troubleshoot computer issues and teach English. He fell in with a great commanding Druze officer and a good crew of fellow soldiers, and despite worries at the start that the army would be a huge adjustment for this NYC-born and bred boy, he’s done just fine. His commanding officer and fellow soldiers sometimes don’t know what to make of Natan, who’s into musical theater, choral music and making bizarre flavors of ice cream, among other things, but it’s a testament to him and his mostly easygoing character that they all get along really well, and even came to see him perform Shakespeare.
Anyway, I wasn’t really surprised that Natan was nominated for the award, which includes getting pinned by President Shimon Peres in a public ceremony. He already knows that he’s not receiving the award, but will be receiving a lower level excellence award with a less public ceremony, and, a new uniform, which he’s pleased about. But what he talked about most, besides the intense interview that he underwent at a Herzliya hotel, was the food at the hotel, which was “out of this world,” compared to his now lowered army food standards. Hey, there are benefits to lower level excellence.
How ’bout those apples?
Filed under: History and Culture, Politics, coexistence
Just wanted to make sure you all caught that news item about Israel resuming its regular export of Golan Heights-grown apples to Syria. The idea is to allow Israeli Druze farmers in the Golan Heights — the controversial northern region of Israel that was wrested from Syrian control in 1967 — to market one of their main crops in Syria.
The Druze apples will be shipped in Red Cross trucks through the UN-patrolled border at Kuneitra, offering a diplomatic and economic solution for the Druze, Syrians and Israelis. For the Druze farmers and Syrians, it’s an important connection to the motherland, despite their settlement in Israel. For Israel, it shows the possibility of free trade with Syria, something that’s still quite hard to imagine.
The Druze say their apples are tastier than the Israeli apples, despite the fact that Israelis produce more apples, thanks to their more generous water allocations from the Israeli government. What I know about Israeli apples is that they often spend months in cold storage, leaving them somewhat tasteless once they cross the supermarket counter. And I also know that I’ve tried many tasty and/or quality Druze products, from Savta Gamila soap to the cured olives sold at the labane and fresh pita stands that line the road up the Hermon ski resort.
But hey. If we can make peace over a basket of apples, then I like them apples.
A very Druze Knesset
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Politics, Religion, coexistence
The Israeli Druze are a mysterious and interesting people. They are known to eat raw meatballs. They find their spouses on the internet (okay, we do that too). Although it can be argued that they know no borders, they are historically extremely loyal to Israel, fighting as part of our military since the War of Independence and even teaching in our universities.
About a year ago, some alarming news reached the public when Israel’s National Resilience Survey results claimed that Israeli patriotism among the Druze was dropping rapidly. Balad party Member of Knesset Said Naffaa had harsh words to say to YNet on the matter at the time:
“Israel had always viewed the Druze as some type of domesticated beast, but now this previously docile animal is fighting back,” said Naffaa.
Moreover, Israel has taken quite a bit of heat recently when the government decided last month to ban two Arab parties from the upcoming election (Yes, Balad is one of them), given their track records for anti-Israel sentiment, rhetoric and actions.
With polls opening in a number of hours and election fever in full swing, one aspect to the situation that has unfortunately not been emphasized is the potential for this upcoming Knesset to be the most disproportionately Druze-represented than any ever before. How’s that for tolerance and diversity? Even extremist Yisrael Beitenu party has a Druze on their candidate list.
Haaretz did the math for us recently, revealing that a total of five Druze candidates were likely to garner seats:
According to the government’s statistical yearbook for 2008, Israel has about 120,000 Druze citizens, constituting 1.6 percent of the population. Five Druze lawmakers would be 4 percent of the Knesset’s 120 members, 2.5 times more than the proportion of the community within the national population.
And the best part is, the candidates hardly seem interested in only representing their small ethnicity:
Deputy Foreign Minister Majali Wahabi (Kadima), a Druze, said yesterday that his community cannot be expected to vote en bloc: “The large parties have to understand the importance of our community. I personally plan to represent my people faithfully, but also anyone who voted for my party, no matter what sector they come from. I believe in our involvement in Israeli society, not in separate parties.”
Tomorrow, Israel has much to decide and crystallize. At least there’s a good chance that our legislative body will be far more diverse and far less “special interest”-focused than we’re led to believe.
Image of a Druze man in the Golan courtesy tierecke from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
I’ll eat anything.
I’ve been living in Israel for quite some time now and have pretty much eaten my way through the country. I’ve eaten everything from turkey testicles (delicious if you can get past the fact you are eating balls) to a raw meatball of sorts prepared by Druze in the north to calf’s foot soup in the inner depths of Meah Shearim. It is incredibly rare for me to come across an item of food that I have never eaten. Last week I had to go to the Licensing Bureau to renew my license. The closest branch to my home is in Ramle so I took a ride over with dreams of either Indian food or hummus in mind. After the arduous process of basically waiting in line for an hour and running back and forth between numerous windows and locales I took a detour on the way back to my car via the shuk. I had plans to stop by at Hummus Khlalil for lunch but while walking through the shuk the smell of something being fried immediately caught my olfactory system. I asked the young man what he was frying and he told me they were samboosaks. Now sambooksaks are common throughout the middle east and are readily available in Israel as well – though I had only seen them baked – never fried. The young man explained to me that they are stuffed with mashed chickpeas spiced with garlic, paprika and other flavorings. The verdict is that they were incredible. Crispy, delicate, flavorful and deliciously oily. Yes, I know, deep fried anything isn’t so healthy, but everything in moderation.
Walking further through the shuk I came upon a bakery that was selling my absolute favorite Bukharian bread. I had only known of one place in the shuk in Jerusalem that sells it (and it always sells out rather quickly early in the day). After noshing on the samboosak and gnawing on the bread I actually headed over to Khalil for some hummus. I waddled back to my car, unbuttoned the top of my pants, drove home and took a nap.
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