EMERGENCY ROOM

While we wouldn’t recommend spending a night in the emergency room of any hospital and certainly not on Friday night, our recent experience of doing so in Sha’are Zedek Hospital, certainly was an opportunity to study a microcosm of Israeli society.

THE CARDIAC AMBULANCE

Before you get anxious, all is now well, but just as we were about to make Kiddush last Friday night, Norman suddenly began suffering severe chest pains.  We called the Natali  ambulance service to which we subscribe and within less than the fifteen minutes, the special cardiac ambulance plus two doctors and the driver who was also a para-medic ,were unloading a lot of complicated equipment into our flat. The senior doctor, the silent type, was Russian, he appeared to be supervising and only spoke (or grunted) when the junior doctor, an Israeli, asked him to confirm an opinion.  The driver who was Arab was in charge of operating the equipment, he didn’t say much but kept giving me reassuring smiles while the junior doctor examined Norman.  The verdict was that there did not seem to be anything seriously wrong but that Norman needed to undergo further tests that could only be done in the hospital and so they insisted on taking us there.  Unbeknown to us, a heavy downpour of rain had started just before we left the house and Norman, lying on a stretcher, was soaked while the ambulance crew were getting the door open and loading him inside.  Off we went at great speed, siren blaring, dinner untouched and our Shabbat visitor unfed.  As we drove, me sitting next to the driver, I discovered that he spoke excellent English and was quite a psychologist when it came to reassuring anxious wives, he told me he had been doing the job for 20 years, loved it and the opportunities it gave him to help and interact with people.

OVERCROWDING

The Emergency room was packed, all the cubicles full so we had to join a number of other patients who were sitting or lying in the corridors, Norman was allotted the only bed that remained vacant.  I leant against it as there were no chairs to be seen when an Arab man, sitting by a bed in which someone who I presumed to be his father was lying, hooked up to an infusion, rushed to give me his chair and wished Norman well, brushing  aside my thanks.

Eventually a silent young woman (she looked Russian) appeared with an E.K.G machine and hooked Norman up to it, she apparently spoke neither Hebrew nor English but obviously knew what she was doing in the very complicated procedure of attaching Norman to the machine’s many wires.  Soon after that our assigned doctor appeared, his tag proclaimed him to be Dr. Ahmed, again an Arab, who spoke excellent English and who was kindly and helpful.  It appeared that he was not entirely happy with the results of the blood test that had been taken previously and so we had to remain for another 4 hours to have a further one done.  Not good news at 11 p.m. at night.  Our daughter and son-in-law came to the rescue, went round to our house, walked the dogs, gave them their supper and then came to join us, bearing a picnic supper as we had not eaten since lunchtime.

NEW ARRIVALS

During the time we were waiting there were many comings and goings, three American yeshiva students came in, one with a bandaged arm and blood all over his white shirt, he was very agitated and noisy and we suspected he was high on drugs or alcohol, his companions who were trying to calm him were obviously very fed-up with him.  A small child who had fallen and twisted his foot was followed by a Hassidic couple who looked like something out of a cartoon.  The man was exceptionally short and thin and wearing the biggest, tallest fur Shtreimel we have ever seen. His wife, swathed from head to toe in black, also seemed far too big for him.  Then came a young woman complaining of stomach pains and furious because she wasn’t attended to immediately.  As the night progressed, there were more cases that were not at all amusing,  mainly old people who were battered and bruised from having fallen down or with breathing problems, the Arabs among them were usually accompanied by large numbers of family members of all ages.  Some people suffered quietly while others yelled and shouted, demanding immediate attention.  Through all this the nursing staff went about their duties calmly and efficiently and treated everyone with patience and courtesy.

HOME AT LAST

Norman was exhausted by now but, thankfully, out of pain and finally the results of the second blood test arrived at 3 a.m. and Dr. Ahmed pronounced them to be satisfactory. Apparently something had shown up in the first test that indicated a muscular problem but, it had eventually been decided that it was nothing to do with Norman’s heart.

We finally arrived home, to an exuberant greeting from the dogs, at 4:30 in the morning and very gratefully went to bed.  It had not been the happiest of experiences but the outcome was good and we certainly experienced a slightly different slice of Israeli life.

Norman & Lola Cohen

A VISIT TO HAIFA

We had heard a lot about the wonderful new assisted living facility in Haifa, purpose-built for elderly and impoverished Holocaust survivors by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem and a few weeks ago, were given the opportunity to visit it.  Yudit, the Embassy’s senior social worker was calling for us at 8 a.m. and we knew it would be late before we returned to Jerusalem so Norman volunteered to stay at home and dog-sit, the reason why this month’s report is written by only one of us.

THE HAIFA HOME FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

The home is only one of the many charitable projects that the ICEJ has funded over the years, that helps many poor families both Israeli and Arab in many ways.  One project with which we were very impressed some years ago, was providing back to school essentials, such as school bags, pencil- boxes and other necessities for the children of poor families, all over Israel, who were starting school for the first time.

The home is a large and continually growing project that began with just one dilapidated house in Haifa and now occupies the side of one street, providing a warm and comfortable residence for over 100 survivors.  As Yehudit was busy with administration details for most of the day I was free to wander around and meet many of the residents in their small but cosy apartments, all of whom expressed enormous gratitude and wonder that so much had been done for them by Christians, especially Germans, by whom the bulk of the money for constructing the home was donated.  Practical help was also given from Germany, I was told that a group of skilled building workers from Saxony had given up their vacations to volunteer with work on the renovating of the original building.  While I was there I met a charming if very paint-splattered, young Swiss couple who were spending two weeks of their honeymoon volunteering at the home by painting the walls of the hallways and public rooms.

DELICIOUS FOOD

 The home has a spacious dining room which is also used for social events and there I enjoyed a well cooked and appetizing kosher lunch with some of my new friends. The self-service lunch offered an excellent variety of tasty dishes, starting with a delicious vegetable soup that was brought round to the tables.   I heard nothing but praise for the quality of the food in fact for everything concerning the home from everyone to whom I spoke, and I felt a great sense of harmony between the residents themselves and also the residents and staff.  They all obviously adore the Israeli director Shimon who several residents described as an ‘Angel.’  I spent so much time chatting to the residents that it was only after I left that I realised that I had not seen round all of the buildings, for example I had not visited the shul which several of them had mentioned to me.  Never mind, Yudit has promised to take me there again.

ISRAEL’S HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

There are 200,000 thousand Holocaust survivors in Israel, one third of whom are impoverished, struggling with Illness or living alone.  I know Israel is not a rich country but I left Haifa wondering why it seems to be only Israel’s Christian friends who saw the huge need for at least some of them to be able to spend their last years in a warm and loving environment where all their needs are catered for.  There are so many charitable organisations here that it seems strange that we have never once been asked to donate towards a similar project.

Lola Cohen

EVERYONE HAS A JEWISH GRANDMOTHER

In the 26 years that we have lived in Jerusalem we have met literally hundreds of Christians who devote a great deal of their time and money to Israel and Israeli causes.  When we ask them as we invariably do, what has caused them to develop this devotion we seldom get a satisfactory answer.  In fact, they usually seem unsure themselves.  A few have come from fundamentalist Christian backgrounds where the ‘Old Testament,’ was an integral part of their lives and a love of Israel and respect for the Jewish people is something they grew up with.  More often, however, they suddenly become aware of Israel later in life and can’t really explain why.   “G-d put it into my heart to work for Israel,” is the way it is often expressed.  Now as we have known many of these wonderful people over a period of years and meet them on each successive trips to Israel, another factor is emerging.  Jewish ancestry, of which they were hitherto, totally unaware.

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A JEWISH GENE?

Repeatedly we have heard stories of the sudden discovery of a Jewish grand or great-grandparent, reluctantly told by a parent or relative who has not wanted to admit to this fact previously or discovered during research into family history.  This knowledge invariably becomes known years after the interest in Israel manifested itself and is hailed with great joy by the recipients who are enormously proud of being in possession of even a very diluted drop of Jewish blood.  This has led us to wonder if there is such a thing as a Jewish gene which can lie dormant for several generations before making itself known in the form of a sudden love for Israel and a desire to meet and help Jewish people.  Two experiences that happened on successive days last week have decided us that there is.

TWO RECENT EXPERIENCES.

Last Thursday we spent the evening with a delightful Dutch Christian couple who are renting the flat opposite us for three months while they study Hebrew at Ulpan to help them in their volunteer work with Israeli Holocaust survivors.  In the middle of the evening the wife suddenly asked us if we could tell if someone was Jewish by looking at a photograph of them, we agreed to try.  The husband opened up his laptop and showed us a photograph of a middle-aged man who couldn’t possibly have looked more Jewish, in fact he bore a striking resemblance to Lola’s paternal grandfather. “ He was my grandfather,” the wife told us, “ and I recently discovered that he was born in Poland but had never talked about his past.”  The following evening, we had invited an old friend, an Anglican vicar from the north of England, to join us for Friday night dinner.  We had met him first some years ago after we made contact with him because of a wonderful, pro-Israel letter he had sent to the Jerusalem Post.  He had just formed his own Christian travel company after having joined a tour to Israel that he felt was unsympathetic both to Israel and Judaism and we have since met with him and his groups on numerous visits and got to know his wife and two beautiful children. He had not been in our home long before he told us he had some very exciting news, he told us, emotionally, that he had recently discovered that he had Jewish blood, his grandfather who had always refused to discuss his past with anyone, had suddenly admitted to him that he originated from Hungary and was the only surviving member of his family, all of whom had been murdered in Auschwitz!

We rest our case.

NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL THAT YOU ARE UNLKELY TO FIND IN THE MEDIA

·        Israeli Scientists have discovered how to genetically alter fast-growing tobacco plants to produce a natural compound known to fight malaria.  Malaria was eradicated from Israel around 50 years ago but still affects half a billion people a year in Africa and East Asia, of whom about a million die.  Professor Alexander Vainstein of Hebrew University has discovered a cheap way to produce the main ingredient of a malaria-fighting drug from tobacco plants.

·        Even as several countries around the world struggle to integrate renewable energy solutions, The Israeli company, Better Place, has quietly built a network of 33 battery-switch stations  throughout Israel and is on schedule to launch a fleet of Renault  Fluence ZE electric vehicles (EV) in the second quarter.  “We want to end global dependence on oil by 2020,” Better Place CEO, Shai Agassi told reporters last week, adding that he projects that from 8,000 – 10,000 electric cars will be using the networks his company has built in Israel and in Denmark by next year.

·        Not before time, a law has been brought in to make it illegal for people to abandon their animals.  A precedent indictment was filed this week at the Haifa Magistrates’ Court against a resident of Ussefiya  who  was charged with abandoning his dog , in contravention of the Animal Cruelty Prevention Law.  The indictment is the result of extensive activity of the Ministry of Agriculture for enforcing this law dealing with both livestock and pets.  Thousands of dogs are abandoned each year in Israel and often suffer cruelly, it is hoped that this law will encourage the owners of all animals, to act in a more responsible manner.

·        According to the Wall Street Journal,  Europe’s top technological city is – Tel Aviv!   The statistics show that Tel Aviv beats London, Berlin and every other European city. It hosts 600 early stage companies.  Access to venture capital is double that of USA and 20 times that of Europe.

·        The Israeli Flower growers’ Association  reported that Israeli farmers exported millions of flowers to Europe, North America and Asia for Valentine’s Day.  The Flower Growers’ Association secretary general reported that there was a jump of 40-70 percent in demand for Israeli flowers in the run up to the Holiday of Love.  Red was the most popular colour and roses the most popular flowers, followed by gerberas, anemones, and buttercups (ranunculus)  which were all in high demand.  It was reported that the Valentine’s Day sales would bring in some $ 10 million, with 90 percent of the sales coming from exports.

Yesterday the Jerusalem-based online-only publication, The Times of Israel, helmed by British-born David Horovitz, formerly editor and publisher of The Jerusalem Report and editor-in-chief at the Jerusalem Post was launched. In a blog post.  He wrote,“The Times of Israel represents a determined effort, by a team of skilled, committed journalists, to report Israel, the region and the Jewish world accurately and engagingly.” He asserted that the publication would assert the interconnectedness of the global Jewish community, making it “a must-read, must-visit current affairs website for the Jewish people.”  We strongly recommend that you read it.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/

(Thanks to ICEJ, Israel 21C, Imre, Israel Hayom & The shmooze))