14 January 2006
Tel Aviv
In The Rhythm of Life
This week Liz and I got into a rhythm of living in Tel Aviv. We go to Ulpan five nights. Liz is now so good that she can translate between a woman who speaks French and a butcher who speaks only Hebrew. She does La Soba twice a week and we both go to Beit Noar twice a week. Other days are spent finding a museum or just setting up shop in a café and doing our Ulpan homework while we eat and drink. Food and coffee have definitely been upgraded here from 13 years ago. Life here today is a matter of so many cafes and so little time. I asked the rental agent to get us this place for four months (December through March) next year and am waiting for an answer.
Someone donated an old, beat up guitar to Beit Noar Kadima. It came with strings that were more rust than steel so I put on a new set. I've used the guitar to teach some kids an Israeli song in English (Bashanah Habaah – Next Year – a pop classic here). One of the kids was Orli, one of my girls from the talent show. Orli has a good ear and really should be getting music lessons. This may be something her family can’t afford and the local community center can’t provide. I’m going to make inquiries. Jeff’s backpacker guitar is great to travel with but having a full sized guitar just feels better. My ambition is to buy an airline proof guitar case and bring my Gibson. My guitar went to Woodstock and deserves a trip to Israel.
Football Shabbos
Becky came home from Marva for the weekend, bringing four friends from her base (two of whom were in Hatikvah with her). Plus Deborah who is working in a school in Acco came back for a second weekend, needing to decompress from dealing with troubled kids and having to do it in Hebrew. This all meant that Liz spent three days cooking chickens, brisket (a real adventure in using her Hebrew as no one at the Supersol knows what brust deckle is), noodle pudding, mandel bread, soup and lots of veggies. But mostly we are eating strawberries. Strawberries are in season here and they are delicious. Every time Liz passed another vendor in the shouk their strawberries looked better than the last vendor’s (and they would, of course, assure her that such was the case). So she came home with about four times as many strawberries as she set out to buy. This turned out to be a good thing as the feeding frenzy lasted for about a day and a half.
Becky regaled us with the tale of getting to fire an M-16 both during the day and at night (she couldn’t see the sights let alone the target). Also learning to crawl without putting any body parts up where they can be shot off. And lots of other good Army stuff. Her next assignment is to run a seminar about what they will encounter in the north. This would not be hard as Becky has written and given many Peulot (which I think is Young Judaean for educational programs). Only this time all the information is written in Hebrew and her partner is a lovely young woman from Spain who speaks no English (to go with Becky’s complete lack of Spanish). How this seminar gets done is a bit of a mystery but I think the concept is that one of Becky’s friends can read Hebrew (Thank G-d for Day Schools) while the Spanish girl’s boyfriend knows English. Well, the Army commander ordered this one up so we’ll see what happens.
Meanwhile, later tonight we get a bit of home right here in our Tel Aviv living room. The NFL playoffs are shown live on the European version of Fox Sports and something called METV. Last week I watched the Giants self-destruct. This week we get Washington and Seattle at 23:30 and, for insomniacs and the truly obsessed fans, Denver and New England at 03:00. Maybe if I get up early I can catch the last quarter.
Bibi and Robertson, Perfect Together
For the record, Israeli politicians are still holding off campaigning out of consideration for Sharon’s condition. In reality this means that they don’t openly impugn one another’s maternal heritage. Meanwhile, the campaigns are in full swing as various parties get their lists together or just implode before our very eyes.
Last Thursday was a fun day for Likudniks. First, Bibi once again ordered the four remaining Likud ministers to resign. Bibi wanted them out of the cabinet before the Likud Central Committee voted Thursday night to nominate the party list for the March elections. Silvan Shalom’s people (he was Foreign Minister) took a public shot right back and said that Bibi might be party chairman (a post he got by default after Sharon left (or was driven out) of the party) but he’s not the boss of the cabinet ministers. So Bibi had to sit down with Shalom and basically apologize. Shalom, in the interest of party unity, and also because he was already guaranteed the number 2 spot on the list, agreed to resign but on Friday, not Thursday. So Likud gave up the Foreign, Education, Agriculture and Health ministries. This allows Bibi to run as the leader of the opposition. He also gets the bullet proof Mercedes and the perks. His four former ministers will be lucky to get re-elected as MKs. Sharon’s people, also not actively campaigning, pointed out to any reporter who would listen (which is most of them as the Sharon story is getting to be dull – Ariel is unconscious and its unlikely his condition is going to change any time soon) that this is another example of Bibi being unable to take any pressure and quitting rather than standing up for his beliefs. Good thing the campaigns are in abeyance or this could really get nasty.
Before we leave Bibi, his people somehow got the Times reporter to deny that Bibi said that Bibi is the true inheritor of Sharon. The Times man says that he made the remark as part of his own write up of the interview. Well maybe yes and maybe no. I saw the CNN International interview that Bibi gave the same day and there’s no doubt but that he was claiming to be the real inheritor of Sharon. Given that Bibi’s people cut off Sharon’s microphone and literally drove him out of the Likud Central Committee this goes beyond farce to true comedy.
As long as we are speaking of sleazeoids, Pat Robertson rides again. First he tells his 700 Club audience that Sharon’s illness is a punishment from G-d inflicted as divine retribution for pulling out of Gaza. Israel’s response was to cut off negotiations for an Evangelical Christian center in the Galilee. Evangelicals are usually well treated in Israel. First, they provide strong political support in Washington, which translates into serious foreign and military aid. Second, they provide a lot of tourist dollars. Telling the Evangelicals that a $50 million dollar religious center won’t receive the necessary permits (or the land from the government) is serious business. Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network is one of a number of Evangelical organizations that are on board for the project. Faced with the loss of a new, major source of fund raising, its obvious that the other partners in the project prevailed on Robertson to do the Christian thing and apologize. Of course, his apology was in writing to one of Sharon’s sons, the Israeli Ambassador to the US and released to a bunch of newspapers, none of which Robertson’s hard core followers will read because Robertson has convinced them that any non-Christian news source is a cover for Satan, Communists, Liberals and other evil doers. What Robertson did not do was apologize on the 700 Club (at least no news report indicates that this happened). Also, he apologizes like Palestinians condemn terrorism. He says he’s sorry that ill-considered words caused pain to the family of such a wonderful friend as Sharon, but he doesn’t say that just maybe Sharon’s illness is not divine retribution for giving up a piece of Greater Israel. Meanwhile, it’s not clear that the Evangelical Center is going to go forward. Kadima controls all the cabinet ministries, thanks to Bibi, and those folks are still not happy. My bet is that eventually the center gets built but after the elections and a bit more groveling from Pat.
Israel and the Evangelicals have a relationship that should cause Jews to be more concerned than we are. Yes, Israel needs all the friends it can get but do you really want to be in bed with Pat Robertson and the rest of the Christian Right. Even the Bush White House is distancing itself from him. Also, the reason Evangelicals support Israel is the Book of Revelations. For those of you who haven’t made it that far in your biblical readings, Revelations goes into the details of what has to happen before Christ returns and the new, final Kingdom of G-d on Earth gets going. Before any of the good stuff, however, a whole lot of bad stuff goes on. Part of the action requires that the Jews return to Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular and re-establish the Jewish state. We will, when JC shows up, all admit our guilt and convert. This is not exactly what we Jews have in mind. In the meanwhile, the Evangelicals try to make themselves helpful and, times being what they are it’s hard to turn away the help. I think Malcolm Hoenlein, the Executive Director (I think) of the Organization of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations (don’t you love that name?), probably has the best take on the Evangelicals. Malcolm suggests that, for today, we need all the friends we can get in Washington (and some tourist bucks never hurts). When the Messiah comes, if it turns out that the Jews are right, none of this will matter. If it turns out that the Evangelicals are right, Malcolm will apologize.
Meanwhile several parties that once were able to influence government policy by joining or quitting a coalition seem on the verge of becoming irrelevant if not disappearing altogether. Among these are Shinnui, which used to be the main centrist party run by a former TV announcer named Tommy Lapid. Last spring Lapid, who for years whenever he was in the governing coalition had decried parties (usually Shas and other religious parties) that would black mail the Prime Minister for money for their pet projects in return for enough votes to adopt a budget. So, last Spring Lapid goes ahead and blackmails Sharon into cutting off funds for Shas projects and adding nearly a billion shekels to Lapid's favored activities in return for enough votes to pass the budget. You’d think someone so shameless would be rewarded with re-election. But Lapid’s party will be lucky to have any seats in the next Knesset and Lapid himself has lost so much support within his own ranks that he may quit the party and form his own party. If he leaves with a majority of current party MKs he gets to keep the party name. So Shinnui will split from Shinnui and run against Shinnui. Shinnui, by the way, means Change. How can you not love this stuff?
And, speaking of religious parties, the two religious Zionist parties, National Religious and National Union, have been told by every pollster they pay that if they unite they’ll get twice as many seats as they separately have now. If they don’t unite, they may not get enough votes to have any seats. So, of course, their unity talks have broken down over how gets to head the list (they resolved all the substantive policy issues). Actually, there is some poetic justice here, if not divine retribution (one would hope that G-d has a low tolerance for arrogant asses). The religious parties have over the years gained control of funding for religious education. They then put all the funds into their Yeshivas and leave nothing for public, secular schools. As a result they have raised a generation or two of Israelis who haven’t a clue why Israel is what it is or where it is. They get some inkling of this when they go into the Army as the Army is smart enough to know that you really do need to give an 18 year a good reason why he or she may have to do something that is likely to get them killed. But the sad truth is that the Jewish education of most secular Israelis isn’t even up to the sorry state of such education for too many American B’nai Mitzvahs. And it’s the religious who are a root cause of the problem.
While I’m ranting about the religious parties, the other problem they have caused involves the sorry records of failing to convert immigrants who are not Jewish under Jewish law (Halakah). Here’s the disconnect. Under the Law of Return anyone who would have been a candidate for a Nazi death camp may claim citizenship in Israel. This group is defined as anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent (the definition used by the Nazis). Halachically, a Jew is anyone with a Jewish mother (let’s not get into the Reform movement’s usage of patrilineal descent). The Orthodox have a monopoly on conversions done inside Israel and, by order of the Supreme Court and directions from the appropriate ministries, are supposed to be expediting the conversions of thousands of immigrants who came here, mostly from the former Soviet Union, under the Law of Return (to say nothing of their non-Jewish spouses who came as family members). The Orthodox do very few conversions every year because, instead of merely insisting on a Halachically correct conversion they want the immigrant to agree to adopt an observant life style satisfactory to the Orthodox. At this point most immigrants (many of whom come from places where it was illegal to live as Jews) just shrug and forget about it. So, Israel is taking in more people but fewer of them are actually Jewish. It’s a good thing we let the Orthodox call the shots, isn’t it?
Finally, the highlight of the week was a proposal from one of Sharon’s campaign managers that Sharon be kept in the first position on the Kadima list. Olmert would be announced as the party’s candidate for Prime Minister but Sharon would head the list. Setting aside the fact that Sharon has until February 7 to wake up and sign a declaration that he wants to run for the Knesset and accepts the first position on the Kadima list, just about everyone thought that this was not a constructive suggestion. The proposal was shot down as a flagrant attempt to play on the sympathy Sharon now gets because he is sick. Bibi’s people joined this chorus. Just one day after Bibi tried to do the same thing. Of course, the polls show that Kadima would probably still get 40 or more Mandates. Personally, I love the thought of Bibi losing the election to someone with the mental and physical capacity of a bowl of Jello.
And here is the rest of it.
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Saturday, January 14, 2006
Saturday, January 7, 2006
Pilpul Part III
7 January 2006
Tel Aviv
Contemporary Art and Cholent
Shabbos in Tel Aviv is a combination of contemporary art (the Tel Aviv Museum is open and has a really good Menashe Kadishman exhibit – some of you have seen Kadishman at places like MOMA or Storm King Mountain) and cholent. Kadishman has a thing for goats’ heads but really stands out with his outdoor sculptures of things like negative trees, torn washing hanging from lines, the binding of Isaac and, at Storm King, a huge rectangle, standing on end in the middle of what would be a good-sized fairway if Storm King were a golf course. The rectangle is broken about a third of the way up and the broken piece dangles at an angle and a weight distribution that is simply impossible within Earth's gravity.
Cholent is what you eat when you want hot food on Shabbos but cannot start an oven or stove or cut new vegetables. Cholent (which varies in content depending upon where your great grandmother was born but consists largely of beans, potatoes, mystery meat and whatever else did not make it into the Friday night soup) stays on a stove or in an oven until Saturday afternoon when it has congealed into a uniform mass that instantly expands upon ingestion. There are those who think this stuff is delicious. Batya, a restaurant near our apartment, makes an excellent cholent served with a chunk of kishke. Kishke is lamb or cow intestine (depending on what you had around to kill before the weekend) stuffed with bread, grease and G-d only knows what else. Those of you from in between the coasts who have had a knish or a kosher hot dog and think you have had Jewish food have been spared the real stuff. And, by the way, if your great grandmother was not from central or Eastern Europe you don’t get off easy. There’s jachnun and shakshukah. Jachnun is solid starch and grease mitigated with a hard-boiled egg or two. Shakshukah is egg and cheese in a tomato sauce. Now that I think of it, cholent does sort of go with Kadishman.
You’re In The Army Now
Last night, Friday 6 January, we had Shabbos dinner with the DeCastros (Maurizio, Nurit and Keren, our Yemenite daughter, the officer). Also with us are Deborah and Marissa, two of Becky’s Hatikvah roommates who are taking a break from their current locations. This middle part of YC is, for Becky’s group, the Israel Experience. Deborah is working north of Acco at a shelter/school for troubled and abused teenagers. Marissa is working near Modiin at an environmental/organic farm that runs education programs for schools in the surrounding area. We are also joined by Michal Zur. So we are having a grand old time eating this incredible Yemenite vegetable and chicken soup, ktzitzot (a sort of chicken latke – don’t even try to pronounce this unless you speak Hebrew or you will hurt yourself) and plenty of wine to wash this down. The Kiddush is familiar though done in a Sephardic melody.
My highlight of the evening was the call from Becky. Becky just finished her first week of Marva, a sampling of Army training. She her day (which began at 4:15 and, at 10:30 was not over) has been spent on guard duty, on kitchen duty, cleaning herself, cleaning her weapon, getting into trouble with her commander, cleaning her living area, standing at attention with her weapon while being lectured at and, at 01:00, going back on guard duty. I will directly quote the only quotable portion of the phone call:
Becky: So they get me up at f-----g 4:f------g15 in the morning and we have to run for an hour before they let us eat food that really s---s big time and then we have to clean the f------g tents and the f-----g area around the tents and then, from 10 until 2 for four f-----g hours I have to wash f-----g dishes and then, finally, they let me take a shower but then I have to clean up the f-----g area and stand at f-----g attention with my rifle while they give me a f-----g lecture until they finally let me eat more food that isn’t worth eating and at f-----g 01:00 to 01:30 I have more f------g guard duty.
At this moment I really missed my Father who would have loved the rant and started telling some of his “fond” memories of army life. After I stopped laughing hysterically, I assured her that she will survive this and she should just suck it up and stick it out. She wasn’t asking to come home. She just wanted to complain, like a real soldier. She did ask how I could have let her volunteer for this. I reminded her that I don’t let her do anything.
Seven Jews Are Talking
On 25 and 26 January Liz and Becky and I toured the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. The building alone is worth the trip. It is architecturally a masterpiece of symbolic and functional design. But the fun part, for us retired attorneys, is sitting in on a case.
The Israeli Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. It has a panel of 15 judges, all appointed by a panel of government ministers. They court usually sits in panels of three though the Chief Judge may appoint (on his own volition or on petition) a larger, odd-numbered panel. In Israel there are no juries. Judges determine the facts and apply the law. There is also no written Constitution, just a series of Basic Laws that get amended from time to time by the Knesset and get interpreted by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has two basic jurisdictions. One is that any case from a lower court can be appealed, creating a serious backlog. The other is direct jurisdiction over certain cases including Human Rights cases. A Human Rights case has a very broad definition here. Remember, there is no Article III and no Judiciary Act for Congress to fool with. The Supreme Court can pretty much take whatever cases it decides to take. For example, a case involving the provision of appropriate education to a learning disabled child or a case involving the separation of a farmer from his farmland by the security fence can both go straight to the Supreme Court. The Judges will listen to testimony, look at exhibits, take briefs on the law and hear argument. The fun part is that this can be an almost simultaneous event. For you New York lawyers, its much more like a wild morning in the Appellate Division than the formality of the Court of Appeals.
We sat in on two cases. One was a criminal appeal. We know because Becky caught the words vodka and hashish (and wouldn’t tell me why these two words just sort of jumped out at her). Liz heard kilograms, which is a heck of a lot of hashish. The other case had Army officers and several lawyers gesturing and talking about a map that was spread out on the Judges’ bench. Possibly a fence case or at least some dispute about whether the Army can take over someone’s land or put up a roadblock that stops someone from commuting to his or her business. In any event, every time a Judge asked a question or just paused to take a breath, one of the lawyers would launch into another long speech. This particular panel was being very patient with all this. Sylvia Ornstein recalls sitting in on a case when the Judge had had enough with a long-winded attorney and verbally whacked him upside the head. Ah, that's the courtroom I know and love. Anyway, for you lawyer types, the Supreme Court tour is a good busman’s holiday.
And speaking of a unique legal system. Has anyone been wondering just how Marwan Barghouti, a man serving five consecutive life terms for murdering Jews, is able to lead a faction within Fatah that has now gained control of the final Parliamentary list, with Marwan in the number one spot? And how he is able to release statements to the Palestinians apologizing for Fatah and the PA to date and asking for another chance? Or saying something diplomatic about Sharon’s condition? Isn’t this guy in prison? Well, yes, but prison here, like the Army here, does not work quite the way it works in the US. Here, prison officials, who ultimately answer to the political leaders of their agency, have certain amounts of discretion with respect to prisoners receiving visitors or making phone calls. Barghouti only speaks with those people who have been approved by the Warden and only communicates in designated rooms or on designated phones. Marwan has been allowed to participate in conference calls originating from the Warden’s office. Clearly, someone up the foodchain has decided that its better to allow Barghouti to become the next Prime Minister of the PA than just sit back and allow Hamas to grab it all. Besides, wouldn’t you like to be able to tape every key conversation between one of your most powerful enemies and his closest advisors (to say nothing of his wife)? Can you see Rumsfeld allowing Osama’s number 2 to call in from Guantanamo? And why wouldn’t that be a good idea?
Take The Aleph Train
What is new since my 1992 trip is that many of the major population centers and the main airport are now linked by Israel Railways. The trains are clean, modern, comfortable and run on time. Once again Israel destroys old stereotypes and replaces them with irony. The Army works, the trains run on time, it’s the education system and the government that are a mess.
But with the trains comes something that I never thought I’d see here. Israelis commuting to work from suburbs by train. You can see the cars parked in the station lots as you whiz by on an express. Try looking at that sight and humming Zum Gali Gali* to yourself.
YC Retreats from Hatikvah
The YC kids are not happy about this. They know that a major part of the experience was actually living in the neighborhood. But Hadassah is not going to put any kids at risk. So, after a series of break-ins, including the fellow who was just standing in the living room when one young woman came out of the shower, Hadassah has moved the current Hatikvah group to a hotel near our apartment. The kids get double rooms and two meals a day plus 20 shekels spending money and a bus pass. They commute to their volunteer jobs. The reaction from Becky’s crew was generally to say that this makes everyone look like wimps and takes away the real benefit of the program. By and large, the kids were part of the neighborhood, looked after by neighbors and merchants and generally made to feel at home. They were not treated like a bunch of prissy do-gooders from the outside. I’m certain most parents are happy with this arrangement. But I think the kids have got this right.
Last Word On Hanukkah
Its now way past Hanukah and I never did get around to my annual rant about Hasmoneans and the right wingers. My version of the Hanukah story was delivered just once at the Kiddie Service. Treasure and Cynthia have since carefully organized the services so that I am never left alone with the children. I take no offense at this. I have, however, decided to spare you my Hanukah story. At least for this year. Maybe you’ll get unlucky next year.
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* Zum Gali Gali is a sing-a-long whose only words are “Pioneers are for work. Work is for the Pioneers.” Its an early Kibbutz/youth group song that mostly lives on at US summer camps. I doubt anyone sings it while getting coffee on their way to their job for a nanotechnology firm.
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Tel Aviv
Contemporary Art and Cholent
Shabbos in Tel Aviv is a combination of contemporary art (the Tel Aviv Museum is open and has a really good Menashe Kadishman exhibit – some of you have seen Kadishman at places like MOMA or Storm King Mountain) and cholent. Kadishman has a thing for goats’ heads but really stands out with his outdoor sculptures of things like negative trees, torn washing hanging from lines, the binding of Isaac and, at Storm King, a huge rectangle, standing on end in the middle of what would be a good-sized fairway if Storm King were a golf course. The rectangle is broken about a third of the way up and the broken piece dangles at an angle and a weight distribution that is simply impossible within Earth's gravity.
Cholent is what you eat when you want hot food on Shabbos but cannot start an oven or stove or cut new vegetables. Cholent (which varies in content depending upon where your great grandmother was born but consists largely of beans, potatoes, mystery meat and whatever else did not make it into the Friday night soup) stays on a stove or in an oven until Saturday afternoon when it has congealed into a uniform mass that instantly expands upon ingestion. There are those who think this stuff is delicious. Batya, a restaurant near our apartment, makes an excellent cholent served with a chunk of kishke. Kishke is lamb or cow intestine (depending on what you had around to kill before the weekend) stuffed with bread, grease and G-d only knows what else. Those of you from in between the coasts who have had a knish or a kosher hot dog and think you have had Jewish food have been spared the real stuff. And, by the way, if your great grandmother was not from central or Eastern Europe you don’t get off easy. There’s jachnun and shakshukah. Jachnun is solid starch and grease mitigated with a hard-boiled egg or two. Shakshukah is egg and cheese in a tomato sauce. Now that I think of it, cholent does sort of go with Kadishman.
You’re In The Army Now
Last night, Friday 6 January, we had Shabbos dinner with the DeCastros (Maurizio, Nurit and Keren, our Yemenite daughter, the officer). Also with us are Deborah and Marissa, two of Becky’s Hatikvah roommates who are taking a break from their current locations. This middle part of YC is, for Becky’s group, the Israel Experience. Deborah is working north of Acco at a shelter/school for troubled and abused teenagers. Marissa is working near Modiin at an environmental/organic farm that runs education programs for schools in the surrounding area. We are also joined by Michal Zur. So we are having a grand old time eating this incredible Yemenite vegetable and chicken soup, ktzitzot (a sort of chicken latke – don’t even try to pronounce this unless you speak Hebrew or you will hurt yourself) and plenty of wine to wash this down. The Kiddush is familiar though done in a Sephardic melody.
My highlight of the evening was the call from Becky. Becky just finished her first week of Marva, a sampling of Army training. She her day (which began at 4:15 and, at 10:30 was not over) has been spent on guard duty, on kitchen duty, cleaning herself, cleaning her weapon, getting into trouble with her commander, cleaning her living area, standing at attention with her weapon while being lectured at and, at 01:00, going back on guard duty. I will directly quote the only quotable portion of the phone call:
Becky: So they get me up at f-----g 4:f------g15 in the morning and we have to run for an hour before they let us eat food that really s---s big time and then we have to clean the f------g tents and the f-----g area around the tents and then, from 10 until 2 for four f-----g hours I have to wash f-----g dishes and then, finally, they let me take a shower but then I have to clean up the f-----g area and stand at f-----g attention with my rifle while they give me a f-----g lecture until they finally let me eat more food that isn’t worth eating and at f-----g 01:00 to 01:30 I have more f------g guard duty.
At this moment I really missed my Father who would have loved the rant and started telling some of his “fond” memories of army life. After I stopped laughing hysterically, I assured her that she will survive this and she should just suck it up and stick it out. She wasn’t asking to come home. She just wanted to complain, like a real soldier. She did ask how I could have let her volunteer for this. I reminded her that I don’t let her do anything.
Seven Jews Are Talking
On 25 and 26 January Liz and Becky and I toured the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. The building alone is worth the trip. It is architecturally a masterpiece of symbolic and functional design. But the fun part, for us retired attorneys, is sitting in on a case.
The Israeli Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. It has a panel of 15 judges, all appointed by a panel of government ministers. They court usually sits in panels of three though the Chief Judge may appoint (on his own volition or on petition) a larger, odd-numbered panel. In Israel there are no juries. Judges determine the facts and apply the law. There is also no written Constitution, just a series of Basic Laws that get amended from time to time by the Knesset and get interpreted by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has two basic jurisdictions. One is that any case from a lower court can be appealed, creating a serious backlog. The other is direct jurisdiction over certain cases including Human Rights cases. A Human Rights case has a very broad definition here. Remember, there is no Article III and no Judiciary Act for Congress to fool with. The Supreme Court can pretty much take whatever cases it decides to take. For example, a case involving the provision of appropriate education to a learning disabled child or a case involving the separation of a farmer from his farmland by the security fence can both go straight to the Supreme Court. The Judges will listen to testimony, look at exhibits, take briefs on the law and hear argument. The fun part is that this can be an almost simultaneous event. For you New York lawyers, its much more like a wild morning in the Appellate Division than the formality of the Court of Appeals.
We sat in on two cases. One was a criminal appeal. We know because Becky caught the words vodka and hashish (and wouldn’t tell me why these two words just sort of jumped out at her). Liz heard kilograms, which is a heck of a lot of hashish. The other case had Army officers and several lawyers gesturing and talking about a map that was spread out on the Judges’ bench. Possibly a fence case or at least some dispute about whether the Army can take over someone’s land or put up a roadblock that stops someone from commuting to his or her business. In any event, every time a Judge asked a question or just paused to take a breath, one of the lawyers would launch into another long speech. This particular panel was being very patient with all this. Sylvia Ornstein recalls sitting in on a case when the Judge had had enough with a long-winded attorney and verbally whacked him upside the head. Ah, that's the courtroom I know and love. Anyway, for you lawyer types, the Supreme Court tour is a good busman’s holiday.
And speaking of a unique legal system. Has anyone been wondering just how Marwan Barghouti, a man serving five consecutive life terms for murdering Jews, is able to lead a faction within Fatah that has now gained control of the final Parliamentary list, with Marwan in the number one spot? And how he is able to release statements to the Palestinians apologizing for Fatah and the PA to date and asking for another chance? Or saying something diplomatic about Sharon’s condition? Isn’t this guy in prison? Well, yes, but prison here, like the Army here, does not work quite the way it works in the US. Here, prison officials, who ultimately answer to the political leaders of their agency, have certain amounts of discretion with respect to prisoners receiving visitors or making phone calls. Barghouti only speaks with those people who have been approved by the Warden and only communicates in designated rooms or on designated phones. Marwan has been allowed to participate in conference calls originating from the Warden’s office. Clearly, someone up the foodchain has decided that its better to allow Barghouti to become the next Prime Minister of the PA than just sit back and allow Hamas to grab it all. Besides, wouldn’t you like to be able to tape every key conversation between one of your most powerful enemies and his closest advisors (to say nothing of his wife)? Can you see Rumsfeld allowing Osama’s number 2 to call in from Guantanamo? And why wouldn’t that be a good idea?
Take The Aleph Train
What is new since my 1992 trip is that many of the major population centers and the main airport are now linked by Israel Railways. The trains are clean, modern, comfortable and run on time. Once again Israel destroys old stereotypes and replaces them with irony. The Army works, the trains run on time, it’s the education system and the government that are a mess.
But with the trains comes something that I never thought I’d see here. Israelis commuting to work from suburbs by train. You can see the cars parked in the station lots as you whiz by on an express. Try looking at that sight and humming Zum Gali Gali* to yourself.
YC Retreats from Hatikvah
The YC kids are not happy about this. They know that a major part of the experience was actually living in the neighborhood. But Hadassah is not going to put any kids at risk. So, after a series of break-ins, including the fellow who was just standing in the living room when one young woman came out of the shower, Hadassah has moved the current Hatikvah group to a hotel near our apartment. The kids get double rooms and two meals a day plus 20 shekels spending money and a bus pass. They commute to their volunteer jobs. The reaction from Becky’s crew was generally to say that this makes everyone look like wimps and takes away the real benefit of the program. By and large, the kids were part of the neighborhood, looked after by neighbors and merchants and generally made to feel at home. They were not treated like a bunch of prissy do-gooders from the outside. I’m certain most parents are happy with this arrangement. But I think the kids have got this right.
Last Word On Hanukkah
Its now way past Hanukah and I never did get around to my annual rant about Hasmoneans and the right wingers. My version of the Hanukah story was delivered just once at the Kiddie Service. Treasure and Cynthia have since carefully organized the services so that I am never left alone with the children. I take no offense at this. I have, however, decided to spare you my Hanukah story. At least for this year. Maybe you’ll get unlucky next year.
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* Zum Gali Gali is a sing-a-long whose only words are “Pioneers are for work. Work is for the Pioneers.” Its an early Kibbutz/youth group song that mostly lives on at US summer camps. I doubt anyone sings it while getting coffee on their way to their job for a nanotechnology firm.
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Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Our Daughter, The Officer
4 January 2006
Latrun
Today, Keren, our Yemenite daughter, became a lieutenant in the Israel Defense Force. The ceremony at which about 40 young women became officers in various armor units (Keren is an Engineer) was held in the fortress at Latrun. The symbolism of swearing in new armor officers here is obvious and compelling.
Keren was very happy today as she was told just a few days ago that her job will be in support but at her current base in the southern Negev (about 45 minutes north of Eilat). So Keren got to smile her wonderful smile as her Israeli and American parents, an uncle, some friends from West Orange and a bunch of her friends. After the ceremony we adjourned to Rishon Letzion to drink, eat and let the political conversation begin.
Keren, now 21, lived with us in Millburn for about six months during the 2003-2004 academic year. Keren fits in neatly between Molly and Jessica (who are a few years older) and Rebecca who is a couple of years younger. Her parents are Maurizio, whose family emigrated from Italy, and Nurit, whose family is from Yemen. Keren worked in our part of New Jersey as a youth ambassador (that's the best translation I can do of "Rishonim"). She worked mostly with Jewish teenagers, including the children of Israelis for whom she led a Hebrew-speaking scout troop. (Keren herself is a Young Diplomat.) Mostly she's remembered as a wonderful kid who, having earned her driver's license just three weeks before coming to America (and having learned to drive in Israel where highway fatalities are still the leading cause of death), was given a car and set loose at night in northern New Jersey. She never caused any physical damage and the damage to the three or four cars she went through was minimal. Nevertheless, she did build something of a reputation. So, when she went home and was drafted the Army made her an instructor in the civil engineers. Teaching Israelis how to drive heavy equipment and personnel carriers. No matter where you are the army remains the army.
Keren, being a smart kid, and personnel carriers not being items that wilt from simple fender benders (it helps to be made from armored steel and have no fenders to bend), was offered the opportunity to go to officers' training school. The first four months of the six months course was general training taken by hundreds of candidates, male and female. The last two months were training for specialized jobs, with the group divided into combat, support and non-combat jobs. The women still go to support and non-combat units.
Keren has been unhappy because, rather than the training position she thought she was heading toward, she was being trained to allocated troops and resources based on changing conditions in the field. This meant that if additional troops were needed to help move casualties, re-take a position, or set up roadblocks, Keren would be one of the people who selects the available soldiers and machinery and sends them in. This is a job that you can do perfectly but still know, every day, that another soldier may be killed or maimed. Also, you often get to do it in or close to area you would not want to drive through without your armored personnel carrier and a lot of guys with guns. Far better to decide who gets to train in "live fire" areas and who gets to drive the armored vehicle through the obstacle course. And do it on a Negev base well out of the line of fire.
Fortunately, her original base commander decided to get her back. She's not entirely certain what she will be doing but she won't be doing it in an unsafe place and won't be directly sending other young people into danger. All of her parents are relieved, though we know that this will mean that someone else's kid gets to step up and do a nasty job. This is the part of Israel that I admire the most and which definitely sucks the most.
Here's an example that is all too easy to pick out of the newspapers. During Hanukah, Israeli intelligence received a number of warnings about suicide bombing attempts. A prime target would have been the many public children's parties in places like Tel Aviv. Ori Binamo, a 21 year-old lieutenant, was ordered to take his squad and set up a surprise checkpoint inside the security fence but on the road to Israeli cities. Ori stopped a taxicab with Palestinian plates. Three passengers, strangers to one another, were sharing a ride. One passenger was about 18 or 19 and looked very nervous. Ori asked the kid to step out and pull up his shirt. The kid stepped out and detonated the bomb belt, murdering Ori, the cab driver and another passenger. Had someone not sent Ori to that spot, had Ori not done his job, the homicide bomber could have made it into Tel Aviv. The heavier-than-usual bomb and all the nails taped around it would have had an even more devastating effect if detonated inside a crowded room. Keren did not know Ori but Maurizio thinks she knows his girlfriend.
In the US, young people go into the Army and sort of disappear for long periods, especially if they get assigned overseas. In Israel everyone and everything is always close to home. The good news is you get to see your child at least once a month. The bad news is that's because the "front" is also your front yard.
A few days ago, on the train from Haifa to Tel Aviv (a beautiful ride on new equipment - Israelis have discovered how to commute by train - I'm not certain if this is a good or a bad thing though anything that keeps them out of cars is probably a good idea - soldiers in uniform ride for free), we sat across from a young woman with Sergeants' strips and an armor patch. Like one of my daughters (who shall remain nameless so I can go home and not have my throat slit), her acne has mostly but not entirely cleared up. In her breast pocket was a pink pen. She puts on her headphones and falls asleep. Probably on her way back to her base or post after a weekend at home.
The British built Latrun during the 1930s following Arab riots. It sits on a hill over the main route between Jerusalem and the sea. There was a time not so long ago when holding Latrun meant you could choke off Jerusalem's supply line from the west. After the UN partition, the British handled the place over to the Arabs who used it for that very purpose. The Israelis tried to take the fortress as part of their efforts to lift the siege of Jerusalem but, after suffering terrible casualties, failed and instead broke the seige by building the "Burma Road" to bypass the fortress.In 1967, the IDF took Latrun and the hills and vallies around it. Suffice it to say that no one thinks any of this is ever going back to the Arabs.
The fortress is now at the center of a memorial and museum to armored warfare. Surrounding the fortress (the walls of which still show holes and craters from artillery and rifle fire) are dozens of tanks, mobile artillery pieces and other mechanized war machines. The picture on the left shows Maurizio in front of a 160 mm mortar. He rode one these into Beirut in 1982. That's me on the right in front of a tank converted into a mobile bridge. Sharon used these to cross the Suez Canal in 1973 where he proceeded to disrupt the Egyptian supply lines and, crossing back, surrounded half the Egyptian army, forcing them to give up and go home. There are also tanks that are currently in use. These have low, sleek profiles and are packed with electronics giving them the ability to hide behind a hill and still hit a target on the other side of the hill. The collection also includes numerous examples of armor captured over the years. Which is how the Israelis have a German, WW II model anti-tank gun given up by Syrians who got it from the Russians who captured it from the Germans. Plus a number of other Russian, British and American built tanks used for and against the country. If you have an interest in serious military hardware, this place is a must-see and is easy to get to as you travel between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The final picture is Keren with her American parents.
Read more!
Latrun
Today, Keren, our Yemenite daughter, became a lieutenant in the Israel Defense Force. The ceremony at which about 40 young women became officers in various armor units (Keren is an Engineer) was held in the fortress at Latrun. The symbolism of swearing in new armor officers here is obvious and compelling.
Keren was very happy today as she was told just a few days ago that her job will be in support but at her current base in the southern Negev (about 45 minutes north of Eilat). So Keren got to smile her wonderful smile as her Israeli and American parents, an uncle, some friends from West Orange and a bunch of her friends. After the ceremony we adjourned to Rishon Letzion to drink, eat and let the political conversation begin.
Keren, now 21, lived with us in Millburn for about six months during the 2003-2004 academic year. Keren fits in neatly between Molly and Jessica (who are a few years older) and Rebecca who is a couple of years younger. Her parents are Maurizio, whose family emigrated from Italy, and Nurit, whose family is from Yemen. Keren worked in our part of New Jersey as a youth ambassador (that's the best translation I can do of "Rishonim"). She worked mostly with Jewish teenagers, including the children of Israelis for whom she led a Hebrew-speaking scout troop. (Keren herself is a Young Diplomat.) Mostly she's remembered as a wonderful kid who, having earned her driver's license just three weeks before coming to America (and having learned to drive in Israel where highway fatalities are still the leading cause of death), was given a car and set loose at night in northern New Jersey. She never caused any physical damage and the damage to the three or four cars she went through was minimal. Nevertheless, she did build something of a reputation. So, when she went home and was drafted the Army made her an instructor in the civil engineers. Teaching Israelis how to drive heavy equipment and personnel carriers. No matter where you are the army remains the army.
Keren, being a smart kid, and personnel carriers not being items that wilt from simple fender benders (it helps to be made from armored steel and have no fenders to bend), was offered the opportunity to go to officers' training school. The first four months of the six months course was general training taken by hundreds of candidates, male and female. The last two months were training for specialized jobs, with the group divided into combat, support and non-combat jobs. The women still go to support and non-combat units.
Keren has been unhappy because, rather than the training position she thought she was heading toward, she was being trained to allocated troops and resources based on changing conditions in the field. This meant that if additional troops were needed to help move casualties, re-take a position, or set up roadblocks, Keren would be one of the people who selects the available soldiers and machinery and sends them in. This is a job that you can do perfectly but still know, every day, that another soldier may be killed or maimed. Also, you often get to do it in or close to area you would not want to drive through without your armored personnel carrier and a lot of guys with guns. Far better to decide who gets to train in "live fire" areas and who gets to drive the armored vehicle through the obstacle course. And do it on a Negev base well out of the line of fire.
Fortunately, her original base commander decided to get her back. She's not entirely certain what she will be doing but she won't be doing it in an unsafe place and won't be directly sending other young people into danger. All of her parents are relieved, though we know that this will mean that someone else's kid gets to step up and do a nasty job. This is the part of Israel that I admire the most and which definitely sucks the most.
Here's an example that is all too easy to pick out of the newspapers. During Hanukah, Israeli intelligence received a number of warnings about suicide bombing attempts. A prime target would have been the many public children's parties in places like Tel Aviv. Ori Binamo, a 21 year-old lieutenant, was ordered to take his squad and set up a surprise checkpoint inside the security fence but on the road to Israeli cities. Ori stopped a taxicab with Palestinian plates. Three passengers, strangers to one another, were sharing a ride. One passenger was about 18 or 19 and looked very nervous. Ori asked the kid to step out and pull up his shirt. The kid stepped out and detonated the bomb belt, murdering Ori, the cab driver and another passenger. Had someone not sent Ori to that spot, had Ori not done his job, the homicide bomber could have made it into Tel Aviv. The heavier-than-usual bomb and all the nails taped around it would have had an even more devastating effect if detonated inside a crowded room. Keren did not know Ori but Maurizio thinks she knows his girlfriend.
In the US, young people go into the Army and sort of disappear for long periods, especially if they get assigned overseas. In Israel everyone and everything is always close to home. The good news is you get to see your child at least once a month. The bad news is that's because the "front" is also your front yard.
A few days ago, on the train from Haifa to Tel Aviv (a beautiful ride on new equipment - Israelis have discovered how to commute by train - I'm not certain if this is a good or a bad thing though anything that keeps them out of cars is probably a good idea - soldiers in uniform ride for free), we sat across from a young woman with Sergeants' strips and an armor patch. Like one of my daughters (who shall remain nameless so I can go home and not have my throat slit), her acne has mostly but not entirely cleared up. In her breast pocket was a pink pen. She puts on her headphones and falls asleep. Probably on her way back to her base or post after a weekend at home.
The British built Latrun during the 1930s following Arab riots. It sits on a hill over the main route between Jerusalem and the sea. There was a time not so long ago when holding Latrun meant you could choke off Jerusalem's supply line from the west. After the UN partition, the British handled the place over to the Arabs who used it for that very purpose. The Israelis tried to take the fortress as part of their efforts to lift the siege of Jerusalem but, after suffering terrible casualties, failed and instead broke the seige by building the "Burma Road" to bypass the fortress.In 1967, the IDF took Latrun and the hills and vallies around it. Suffice it to say that no one thinks any of this is ever going back to the Arabs.
The fortress is now at the center of a memorial and museum to armored warfare. Surrounding the fortress (the walls of which still show holes and craters from artillery and rifle fire) are dozens of tanks, mobile artillery pieces and other mechanized war machines. The picture on the left shows Maurizio in front of a 160 mm mortar. He rode one these into Beirut in 1982. That's me on the right in front of a tank converted into a mobile bridge. Sharon used these to cross the Suez Canal in 1973 where he proceeded to disrupt the Egyptian supply lines and, crossing back, surrounded half the Egyptian army, forcing them to give up and go home. There are also tanks that are currently in use. These have low, sleek profiles and are packed with electronics giving them the ability to hide behind a hill and still hit a target on the other side of the hill. The collection also includes numerous examples of armor captured over the years. Which is how the Israelis have a German, WW II model anti-tank gun given up by Syrians who got it from the Russians who captured it from the Germans. Plus a number of other Russian, British and American built tanks used for and against the country. If you have an interest in serious military hardware, this place is a must-see and is easy to get to as you travel between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.The final picture is Keren with her American parents.
Read more!
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