An Israeli short story
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life
Read this wonderful, Tel Aviv-based story by U.S. author Joan Leegant. Titled Displaced Persons, it traces the timelines of many different people in Israel, Ashkenaz, European types, Holocaust survivors, young Israelis looking to be anywhere but Israel, refugees from African countries, Americans finding themselves in Israel, and then touches on a myriad of issues sensitive to Israeli society. There’s the enduring pain of Holocaust survivors, the painful histories of African refugees and their seemingly resilient natures, the window on life in Israel, and more specifically, Tel Aviv. There’s the typical Israeli apartment home, cups of tea, motorcycles, walks on the beach, family dinners and a litany of familiar details that make this story all the more intimate.
It’s a window that’s been opening gradually for author Leegant, who has been dividing her time since 2007 between Boston and Tel Aviv, where she is the visiting writer at Bar-Ilan University.
Sigalit takes out a tissue and wipes her eyes. She is constantly weepy. Her 88-year-old mother is hanging on in an old age home ten minutes from our building, which Sigalit visits for two hours every day when she’s not bringing her mother to her apartment for meals. “It’s not rebellion.” She stuffs the tissue into her pocket. “He really likes German culture. And how can I argue with him? Look at what they produced. Bach. Beethoven. Thomas Mann. Not everyone was Goering and Himmler.” She waves toward my window. “You want to hear the irony? Out there, Ben Yehuda Street? My mother says they used to call it Ben Yehudastrasse after the war. Little German-run shops, tea houses where people sat all day discussing Max Weber. It was schizophrenic. On the one hand, Germany was totally taboo—the first Israeli passports were marked as valid for any country in the world but there—but then they replicated the society as closely as they could.” She pulls herself out of her chair. “I should relax, right? The Germans have been paying for their history for decades; reparations practically built this country.” She goes to the door, puts her hand on the knob. “And all those earnest young volunteers who come on atonement missions: the most apologetic people on the planet.”
For more of Leegant’s work, go to her website, www.joanleegant.com.
Becoming the belt
Filed under: Art, design, education, General, Life
I’ve been wondering about The Guild Tel Aviv for the last few years. Pegged as Israel’s school for shoemaking and accessory design, there have been quite a few shoemakers, bag designers and other accessory makers who have graduated from there in recent years — I’ve written about Guild graduate and shoemaker Kobi Levi several times in this spot — and many of the local designers, shoemakers and accessory designers teach there, helping develop this still-burgeoning industry.
Anyway, I’d been thinking about a four-week hat course for some time, but wasn’t sure I could really commit to four Sundays of making my way to Tel Aviv at the end of the day. (My ulterior motive was that I’ve been waffling over whether to continue wearing hat-like objects to synagogue each Sabbath, since it’s not feeling as exciting as it once did. I figured that new hats, made by me, in the style that I always seek in stores, would extend my hat-wearing, but it also didn’t make sense to base my shul hat gear on a Guild class.)
In any case, when my friend and I heard about a one-shot belt-making class, we knew it was for us. One Wednesday night, for just three hours, and with a NIS 99 price tag to boot, thanks to a special Guild deal being offered on Groupon. We gathered a group of friends who were also interested, including one serious vegan who verified that she could make a pleather belt, and reserved our spaces.
When the evening finally arrived last night, it was down to just the two of us again, after various family events and issues caused our friends to cancel. No matter. We got there within minutes of the start of class, and were immediately fitted out with our leather strips and hardware.
The teacher, a handbag designer, was warm and friendly, but could’ve offered a bit more instruction and direction. I experienced those familiar art class moments of, “Why am I here, I have no idea what to do with this strip of leather.” But after checking out what the three art teachers were doing across the table from me, I gathered my courage and started making holes. There was an incredibly satisfying feeling in pounding silver tools into the leather, creating my own stamped design along the belt’s length and figuring out where to place holes and loops.
Two hours later, with some rushing to finish things off at the end, I had a new belt, made by moi. I liked the fact that you walk out of just one class with a finished product, and at a price that’s a lot cheaper than buying one in the store.
I would try The Guild again, and maybe even consider trying my hand at millinery. And just so you know, most of the teachers speak English, if necessary.
Toronto’s “Slut” March Heads to Israel
Filed under: Environment, Politics, Pop Culture
Last April a writer from my personal blog Green Prophet asked: Should the Middle East Have More Sluts? Of course we wanted to attract our reader’s attention, and we did with thousands of readers, hundreds of “Likes” and dozens of comments. Although I am not a feminist, I do recognize a critical link between women’s rights and environmental values. Look at the women from Barefoot College in Jordan: Women are often the first ones to transmit these values to their societies and children, and women without basic rights are not empowered to do anything. I know that linking sluts and the Middle East is a tough pill to swallow in the ultra-conservative Middle East but we wrote this article to grab your attention. To make you think.
Readers and activists were listening. According to DIY Tel Aviv the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem will be organizing their own slut walks, starting next week. Read more
Driving in the fast lane
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Technology, Travel
The seven shekel sign
Why not indeed? We exited off Highway 1, right near the airport, veering around the curved road into the parking lot of the fast lane center, so to speak. This is where you can 1) Register for the fast lane (also doable online, but this is actually more convenient) 2) Park your car for free and take a free shuttle into Tel Aviv 3) Pay at the turnstile to enter the fast lane.
Luckily, as we were short on time, as usual, my friend had already registered for the fast lane on a previous trip. That left us the task of entering the two-lane turnstile in order to pay our seven shekels and enter the fast lane. The turnstile, however, did not make sense. If this fast lane is considered the most advanced in the world, why is it that it is impossible to get the car close enough to the self-serve turnstile without having to actually get out of the car in order to pay? And once you do start getting out of the car, a cranky man comes over to take you to task for not getting close enough. He appears to be a tollbooth operator, but not the kind that I’ve ever experienced in my toll booth situations.
Nevertheless, we paid the seven shekels — the price seems to be calculated based on number of passengers in the car and traffic on the road — and headed toward the fast lane entrance. As usual, signage was a little confusing but we figured it out and got on our way. Luckily, we didn’t need to get off at Kibbutz Galuyot, the first exit on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway, as the fast lane doesn’t allow you to exit there.
We arrived at our final destination, just off the LaGuardia exit, with minutes to spare. Were we saved by the fast lane? Probably. But I was not impressed by the system or service. Just to juxtapose it with our next transporation-related segment: We entered a parking lot only to find that all the spots were reserved for the various insurance companies in the building (why did they let us in if there’s nowhere to park?) We finally made our way to the exit, and the parking operator told us he had a parking spot just for us. Where? In the non-authorized spot behind his booth, between the entrance and exit lanes to the parking lot. Quixotic? Yes. But the car was waiting for us four hours and forty shekels later. At that point, we just drove home slowly.
Entrepreneurs at the tent protests
Guy Sharett
Some people see the housing tent protests that continue to sweep the country as a chance to change society and bring social justice to the strolling masses. Politicians have latched on as a way to score some electoral points. Others see it as, well, an entrepreneurial opportunity.
Guy Sharett fits into the last category. He realized that newcomers to Israel or those without “street” Hebrew, so to speak, might miss out on the nuances of the hundreds of signs and banners that line the tent cities and protest marches. So he put up an event on Facebook promising “a special Hebrew lesson through the slogans of the housing protest on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv.”
He goes on: “We’ll walk through the tents, read the signs, translate them, analyze the Israeli psyche and grammar, talk to the protesters and what not.” He encourages participants to bring a notebook to write down new words and a camera “so you can do your homework.”
The idea at first sounded a bit sleazy to me – making money on other people’s misfortune. But when I was a regular in Hebrew ulpan, the most interesting lessons were those that dealt with real world issues, whether it was reading the newspaper and listening to the radio news, or understanding a bill from the electric company or an advertisement for an air conditioner. Sharett is just following in a noble tradition…and one that will help recent immigrants better acclimate to the brave new world of social justice.
The price for one of Sharett’s tours is only NIS 40 for the tour (he doesn’t say how long it lasts) and some of the proceeds will go to supporting the Rothschild Tents Kitchen. The next one leaves tonight at 6:00 PM from the corner of Rothschild and Allenby. More details on his Facebook page.
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Science
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts