THAT HAPPY LITLE COUNTRY

 

Things seem to have changed somewhat since, over ten years ago, it was reported that the French Ambassador to the U.K. had, at a private dinner party, referred to Israel as, “That shitty little country.” He, of course, suffered from temporary amnesia after the event, stating that he had no memory of having made such a remark but he had been heard by more than one of the guests and was, subsequently, recalled to France. Now it seems we are “That happy little country,” In a study, published in April, Israelis were ranked as the happiest people among the western nations. This is quite surprising considering the problems we encounter on a daily basis, low wages, unemployment, rocket and terrorist attacks, warring factions on all our borders and constant threats from our neighbours to annihilate us and, more recently, the threat of chemical and atomic weapons being used against us. That is without even mentioning the hatred from the western world, a total denial that Israel has a right to defend itself, accusations that we are an Apartheid country, boycotts by everyone from trade unions to pop-stars and constant misinterpretations of practically every act or political decision that Israel makes. One would not expect any of this to make Israelis happy but apparently we continue to enjoy our lives in spite of the many problems and so much unrest.

PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES

According to Professor Zahava Solomon of Tel Aviv University the culture of conflict in which we live has made us, on one hand, constantly aware of our imminent demise but on the other, rendered us virtually fearless. The theory is that if you wake up every morning thinking that today may be your last, you endeavor to enjoy it to the full, if you continue to survive, it might develop into a mantra for the way you live your life, getting every bit of pleasure available to you, taking trips, appreciating Israel’s green spaces and beaches and spending as much time as possible with family and friends. As another psychologist wrote, it is a though Israelis had been inoculated against fear and anxiety.

OUR OWN EXPERIENCES

I suppose that after living here for 28 years we can count ourselves as Israelis (even if we shall probably always be known locally as “the English couple with the dogs.”) Do we agree? I think the answer is in the affirmative, we watch the news, hear the threats of atomic and chemical weapons being used against us, scuffles on our borders, the armed conflict getting nearer and nearer and tune in to another programme, go out for the evening or settle down to a game of Scrabble or Rummicube. Our attitude is, I suppose, that we are powerless to do anything about the situation so what is the use of worrying.

BELIEF IN HASHEM

It is interesting that none of the studies that we have read mention religious belief as being possibly, one of the causes for Israelis being happier than most other peoples. Yet, we are constantly surprised at the way this manifests itself in everyday encounters with people who probably never attend a beit knesset or observe Shabbat. “Manishmah?” (How are you?) we say to the elderly lady we meet most mornings on our dog walking excursions, she is obviously finding walking painful, we know she struggles with a mentally handicapped, wheelchair-bound son and has lost another in one of Israel’s many wars but her face always lights up in a radiant smile as pointing upwards, she says, with obvious sincerity, that thanks to the goodness of G-d, she can still walk and so everything is wonderful. We soon discovered after coming here that non-attendance of a shul or not wearing a kippah is no indication of the depth of people’s faith or relationship with their maker. Several totally non-observant friends of ours, when talking about Israel’s future, refer constantly to G-d’s promises to Israel and state emphatically that Israel is in G-d’s hands and therefore safe. The religious, of course, preface every enquiry as to how they are with “Baruch HaShem.” I am fine thank you, baruch HaShem,” say those of Lola’s pupils who are from religious families and who she is encouraging to speak only English to her. “Baruch HaShem,” is the standard answer from religious Israelis to an enquiry about the health of the person to whom you are talking or that of their family or friends. As our rabbi says, quoting the rabbi who was his teacher, “Is it baruch HaShem tov (good) or baruch HaShem lo tov (bad?) It seems that faith in a protecting G-d, and gratitude to him for ones’ very existence, in good or adverse circumstances, among both religiously observant and non-observant Israelis, is inescapable. We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that there is a lot more to the happiness of Israelis than all of the psychologists’ in their learned papers have yet discovered.

UNITING TO LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST

 

A VISIT TO POLAND

The following words were spoken in Arabic by a young Israeli Arab at a ceremony marking the end of an emotional week’s tour of the Polish death camps and the Warsaw Ghetto in which 700 young Israelis participated. “As part of a group representing a larger circle of Arab youth groups within the movement which took part in last week’s trip, we want to say a few words on behalf of the participants. We feel that we have absorbed the images of discrimination, displacement, destruction, pain, hunger, violence, the orphaning of children, corpses and genocide that have accompanied us for a whole week and will remain with us for the rest of our lives. It is like a scream within us and we all pray that this scream and its message will reach the ears of all people who live and breathe on this earth. This scream beseeches all the nations of the world to come and see what we have seen and to share that to which our souls have been exposed. At the end of this trip, we understand that Jews and Arabs are obligated to unite in saving the values of humanity and in transforming what we have experienced into deeds. We must sanctify the values of equality and the worth of mans’ life so that we may live in peace, harmony, hope and love. Here and now we vow to begin and continue a revolution in pursuit of this cause.”

ISRAELI ARAB PARTICIPANTS

This was the third such trip for our granddaughter, Tamar, but the first one in which a group of Israeli Arabs, seven young men and seven young women, aged from 26 to 31, all youth leaders in their respective villages, have participated. Tamar has been working towards this trip for several years and there were many applicants from which this small group was selected. It was part of one of the much larger groups of Israeli youth who make this visit yearly. Altogether, three El Al planeloads which included youth leaders, guides, doctors and psychologists, flew from Israel to Poland recently to make this very emotional trip. Tamar accompanied the Arab group which she had been preparing for the trip several months in advance, at all times. She had previously held seminars with them and showed them films on the Holocaust such as, ‘Schindler’s List’ and, during the trip, spent the evenings with them, enabling them to work through each day’s traumatic experiences.

THE CAMPS AND THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The object of this trip was not only to visit the death camps of Auschwitz, Majdanek and Treblinka as well as Plashow, near Krakow, the site of Oscar Schindler’s famous factory, but also the site of The Warsaw Ghetto, whose young fighters became the inspiration of the youth movement, Noar Ha’Oved L’Omed of which Tamar has been a faithful participant since childhood and within which she now heads the “Co-existence Section.” At the site of the Ghetto they followed the story of the Ghetto Uprising and learnt more about its heroes, namely Yitzhak Zuckerman and Zivia Lubetilin who survived the horrors of the Ghetto, married and came to Israel where they were founder members of Kibbutz Lohamey Ha-Geta’ot, ( Kibbutz of The Ghetto Fighters) in northern Israel. They had been members of the Youth movement, Dror, which had been strong in Poland, Russia and parts of Europe prior to World War 2, inspiring young Jews with a love of Palestine, as it then was, and preparing them for Aliyah. It was they and other Dror members in the Ghetto, who instigated and led the uprising and through whose inspiration the movement, Noar Ha’oved ve L’Omed was founded in Israel. We are ashamed to admit that it is only now, after interviewing our granddaughter, that we understand why one of the main roads in Gilo is named Zivia ve Yitzhak. At the Ghetto site they visited the renowned Mila 18, and the Umschlag Platz where countless thousands of Jews were loaded onto cattle trucks and transported to their deaths. They ended their visit at the mouth of the sewer through which Zivia and Yitzhak and other survivors of the Ghetto made their escapes.

At the end of our interview with Tamar we felt we had learnt a lot that we were embarrassed not to have already known and that our admiration for the interfaith and educational work that she does so devotedly, knows no bounds.

ART AND THEATRE

Last week I (Lola) had a great day out with our daughter when we went by train to Tel Aviv to see the Van Gogh Alive exhibition which was held in the Maxi Dome at the Israeli Trade Fairs and Convention Centre. Our enjoyment began immediately on leaving the Jerusalem Station as the almond blossom and fantastic array of wild flowers that we passed on either side of the railway line as it passes through the Judean Hills were a delight to the eyes.

VAN GOGH ALIVE

We left the train at the University Station expecting to take a taxi but discovered that the exhibition site was only over the road from the station and the Maxi Dome just a minute’s walk from the entrance to the site. For anyone who enjoys Vincent Van Gogh’s vibrant paintings this multi-media art exhibition which was created in Australia and is set to a powerful score of classical music is a must. More than two thousand of the famous Dutch artist’s paintings are projected onto huge screens, pillars and even the floor of the exhibition hall. There are also scenes of locations in France such as Arles, Auvers-sur-Oise and Saint Remy that inspired many of his paintings as well as extracts from his writings. The artist’s moods of severe depression which eventually led to his presumed suicide, were cleverly shown by the grouping together of his darker paintings, all noticeably lacking his favourite colour, yellow, and accompanied by somber music. Sometimes the pictures come alive as when the ominous black birds in one of the landscapes, Wheatfield with Crows, suddenly “flew’ out of the painting and around the exhibition hall or the ripe corn in another of the country scenes, rippled gently in the wind.

The presentation lasts for approximately half an hour and is continuous so we very happily watched it through three times, each one from a different vantage point, before going in search of some lunch and then once again, before going back to the station to catch our train back to Jerusalem. The only low point of the day was the lunch, horrible and over-priced sandwiches at the exhibition cafeteria, but I suppose one can’t have everything.

HAIRSPRAY

We have written on several occasions about the Jerusalem-based Encore Educational Theatre Company which gives so much pleasure to the Anglo community and many Hebrew-speakers too with its excellently performed musical shows. This month we went to see the Youth section of Encore’s production of Hairspray, a musical about which we previously knew very little but discovered that it is set in 1962, Baltimore and deals with the theme of prejudice of various kinds, against fat people, people with dark skins and those of different sexual orientation. A programme note stated , “The production is dedicated to those in Jerusalem who rejoice in other’s differences,” and we were happy to see that some of the prejudices depicted in the production, mainly the veto on the mixing of people of different coloured skins, has almost disappeared today. Most of the African-American rolls were played by Ethiopian teenagers from the Malkat Shva Centre for Ethiopian culture in Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighbourhood who were obviously greatly enjoying their first stage appearances. There was also a mix of Brits, Americans, Israelis, Canadians and one Jamaican among the very talented cast.

GREAT MUSIC

The excellent band belted out the rollicking sixties tunes and any minor faults or weaknesses were easy to ignore as all the lead parts were most professionally sung, danced and acted and the audience soon became infused with the sheer energy and joyfulness emanating from the stage. We returned home, together with our young Israeli friends to whom we have been introducing Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas and British and American musicals, in a very cheerful mood, all of us singing the lively tunes from the show.

 

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PESACH MEMORIES

 

For me Pesach is not only the Festival of Freedom, a lot of cooking and hard work too, but a time for special memories. They begin to flood in as soon as Norman and I begin unpacking the Pesach dishes and utensils. Out comes the big box containing the tea service, twelve typically English, bone china, green and red flowered plates, cups and saucers, as well as two milk jugs, two sugar basins and two cake plates. In his retirement, my father, always a keen gardener, became passionately interested in growing cactii. One day he saw a meeting of a Cactus Society advertised in the local paper and went eagerly off to the meeting dragging my far less interested mother along with him. They both returned in great excitement, my father loaded with cactus cuttings and bearing between them a large box, containing said tea- service which had been the first prize in a raffle held during the meeting and for which they had got the winning ticket. It has been our Pesach tea-set ever since. Norman’s parents’ Seder plates are also very special, a blue and white matching Seder and matza plate with Matza written in gold in the centre. All we know about them is that they were made in London, over one hundred years ago and that two identical but slightly cracked ones used to be on display at the Hechel Shlomo museum, described as being both rare and valuable. There are, of course, other bowls and plates that belonged to parents and family members and all with their own memories and stories.

The Seder service too brings back vivid memories from my childhood when we always had a huge family Seder at the home of my maternal grandmother. As an only child, I loved these occasions which gave me the opportunity to be with my slightly older cousins whom I adored. We always used ancient, wine-spotted Haggadot which had been printed in Vienna and used by the family for many years (bought I was told, in Woolworths for sixpence each) and in which the English translation had terrible and, to us children, hysterically funny misprints. For example, “Jacob wrestled with the mangle,” note that those were the days before washing machines and spin-driers and every home had an unwieldy wringer for the washing known as a mangle. We would start giggling pages before arriving at the misprint, gradually getting more hysterical as the Egyptians were, “smitten with fitty plagues,” and later when it was written that the time had come, “to say the morning Shemong.” Probably aided by the fact that my older cousins were by that stage slightly drunk having, undetected by the adults, been drinking the real wine instead of the homemade raisin version made especially for us children by my grandmother, invariably at least one of us slid off our chairs and lay giggling helplessly under the table. At this stage my old nanny always predicted that there would be, “A crying match before the night was out,” and, having been reprimanded by one of the uncles for the noise we were making and our lack of attention to the Seder service, there invariably was.

In Israel our Seders are most enjoyable but quite different from our English ones, our son-in-law being Sephardi, we have become used to different customs, foods and tunes for the traditional songs although Norman always leads the Had Gad Yar with our families’ traditional melody. These evenings are wonderful occasions and the fact that we are fortunate enough to be celebrating in The Promised Land make them even more special but no Seder will ever match up to the slightly disorderly and riotous ones of my childhood.

For the last few years I have sworn that this will be the last year I “Make Pesach,” it’s all too exhausting at my age, but now, the last of the Pesach utensils packed away in their cupboard and happily contemplating a bread roll for supper, I can look back on a job well done and know that with the help of HaShem, I shall continue to “Make Pesach,” for as long as I have breath in my body.

Report from Gilo

 

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE!!

The End of Israel’s Drought

Water, water every where, nor any drop to drink. Thus spake the eponymous Ancient Mariner in Coleridge’s famous poem, only he was referring to sea-water and we are referring to rain water with which Israel has been greatly blessed recently. In fact, last week, on 4^th February to be exact, Israel’s Water Authority officially declared the national water crisis to be over and lifted its “severe drought advisory.” At the same time it warned Israelis that although the situation is now stable they must not become complacent lest Israel finds itself in the same drought situation again. Israel has suffered from much dryer than normal winters for the past seven years, resulting in alarmingly low levels of water in the national reservoirs, especially the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) but, happily, it is now within six feet of its capacity and will doubtless fill the rest of the way when the heavy snow which has fallen on the Golan heights melts later in the year.

Desalination Plants

Now, sea water also comes into our theme as Israel has become a world leader in the establishment of desalination plants and during the past seven years has established three large plants along the Mediterranean coast at Ashkelon, Palmachim and Hadera that are now providing the nation with nearly half of its drinking water, with two more plants scheduled to begin working in the near future. The seawater desalination plant at Hadera, which uses the method known as reverse osmosis, is the largest of its kind in the world.

Water for Agriculture

Another method of coping with the water shortages which plague the Middle East and which has been used by Israel since the 1970’s, is the use of waste water for the irrigation of crops. In fact, half of Israel’s agricultural needs are supplied by recycled waste water. Drip irrigation, whereby crops are watered without water loss due to evaporation, as happens with spraying methods, is yet another water-saving method, invented and pioneered by Israel. Israeli exports of its various water-saving technologies total 1.5 billion Dollars a year. The help with irrigation techniques that Israel gives freely to many arid and undeveloped countries round the world, sadly, goes largely unnoticed.

A New Kind of Weather

While on the endlessly fascinating topic of weather, just as much talked about in Israel as the U.K. we have discovered a new kind. While looking, last week, at various internet sites that give long range weather forecasts for Jerusalem we saw that the next day would see us receiving not only, rain, sleet, snow and hail but also graupel. Thinking this had to be a misprint, we tried another site only to find that again, we were being threatened with this previously unheard of type of weather. The dictionary showed no such word so we resorted to the indispensable Google, where in Wikipedia we found – “ GRAUPEL –(also called soft hail or snow pellets) refers to precipitation that forms when super-cooled droplets of water are collected and freeze on falling … “ Sure enough, when out with the dogs the following morning, the stinging hail that was lashing our faces and greatly upsetting the dogs, suddenly changed to something softer and less painful that, until washed away by the rain which soon followed it, lay on the ground in heaps, looking like millions of miniature golf balls.

SPRING GREENERY

All this water falling on us in various forms is resulting in the most brilliant greenery, masses of pink and white almond blossom in full bloom and myriads of wild flowers, bursting forth on every patch of waste ground. At the moment, it is impossible to get accommodation in the northern part of Israel at the weekends and not easy in the week, as Israelis flock there to see the gushing rivers, streams and waterfalls and the wonderful displays of wildflowers. This winter our prayers for rain that began after Sukkot, have most certainly been answered.

Norman and Lola Cohen

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

 

· Elections in Israel took place on 22^nd January and 65% of the population turned out to cast their votes. In this truly democratic country, even the four-legged ones had their opportunity, judging from this picture received from the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.

Suzan an Asian elephant from the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo votes during the Israeli general election day. Jan. 22, 2013. (Credit: Flash90)

· The World Health Organisation (WHO) details the extensive efforts Israel has gone to in order to facilitate the transfer of Palestinian patients to Israeli medical facilities, despite the ongoing rocket fire from terror groups in the Gaza Strip. The data shows that 16,553 Palestinians entered Israel from the Strip to receive medical treatment in hospitals situated both in Israel and the West bank in 2012. “We will continue to assist the Palestinian population to the extent required in the transportation of the Palestinian patients for medical treatment in Israel, as well as holding workshops and practical and theoretical seminars in Israel, in order to provide the Palestinian doctors with better tools and improve the health system in the Judea and Samaria region and in the Gaza Strip,” conclude COGAT officials.

(ICEJ NEWS)

· Israelis often joke that if Moses had turned right instead of left, Israel would have been rich in oil and therefore energy, instead of oranges. Maybe it was only a matter of patience, however, as mega gas fields, named Tamar and Leviathan, have been discovered off the coast off-shore from Haifa. These massive discoveries will soon transform Israel as they will adequately look after Israel’s domestic needs forever as well as supplying foreign markets which are already showing interest. In addition to these finds, geologists are currently working on the best methods for extracting the oil which is trapped in large amounts in the shale which exists in rock layers under about 15% of the State of Israel.

· Israel’s Fourth International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and desertification drew more than 500 participants from 60 countries. Papers delivered at the conference covered topics ranging from reforestation of croplands to satellite remote sensing research on soil, to ecologically appropriate desert architecture. There was even a session with Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli researchers on conflict resolution through the creation of environmental “peace parks.”

· Tourists and visitors to Jerusalem’s Old City can now download a free app that offers 16 self-guided audio walking tours in English, Russian or Hebrew, complete with maps, photos and written explanations to enrich their experience as they stroll through the Old City’s ancient historical, religious and cultural sites and its enchanting alleyways.

(Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

· Despite strained relations between Israel and the Hamas run government of the Gaza Strip, some 30 Gazan farmers recently participated in an agricultural expo held in the Eshkol region of Israel. The farmers say they have no problem in doing business with their Israeli colleagues, “We want to keep coordinating exports with Israel and even export to Israel,” said one of the participants. Israel used to be Gaza’s best and biggest market and even if Egypt opens the Rafah Crossing to exports from Gaza they would still prefer to export their goods through Israel as they trust Israel’s facilities more. Since Operation Pillar of Fire ended Gaza has exported over 200 tons of strawberries, 130 tons of tomatoes 5 tons of herbs and spices and a million tons of flowers.

(YNet)

· During the Lebanon War in 2006, when the northern half of Israel was under bombardment from Hizbullah in Lebanon, many Jewish residents in southern Israel opened their homes to beleaguered families from the north, many of whom were Druze. This kindness was not forgotten by Mofied Amar, chairman of a Druze communal organization in Horfesh who, with financial help provided by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem’s Crisis Fund, took the initiative to offer refuge to needy Jewish families who came under relentless rocket fire from Gaza at the end of last year. Druze leaders contacted officials from the hard-hit city of Ashdod and offered assistance to poorer families who lacked safe rooms or shelters. As a result 70 individuals were taken by bus to the beautiful Galilee village of Peqiin where they were shown great kindness and hospitality by their Druze hosts who housed them in a pleasant hotel, provided them with kosher food and took them on tours of the area.

(International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem)

REPORT FROM GILO

REPORT FROM GILO

ANGLO CULTURE IN JERUSALEM

 

It was only a few years after making  Aliya that we realized, sadly, that our understanding of spoken Hebrew was never going to be good enough for us to enjoy plays in anything other than English.  As ardent theatre goers in our previous life this was a huge deprivation and not helped by the few local amateur productions or one-man shows brought to Jerusalem by the British Council.  Happily, this has now all changed with the advent of The Encore Educational Theatre Company, a not-for-profit community theatre which was established in 2006.  It grew out of the Jerusalem Gilbert & Sullivan Society organized by G & S buff, Robert Binder and originally, the very popular meetings were held in his home.   Robert is not only a human encyclopedia on anything related to the famous duo but also a talented, producer, director and maker of superb costumes.  When maestro, Paul Salter made Aliyah from Manchester, he joined forces with Robert, as musical director and Encore was born.   Since its inception, Jerusalemites can look forward to two first-class shows each year, one Gilbert and Sullivan and one modern musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Carousel, Oklohama, The Wizard of Oz, and My Fair Lady having been amongst these.   Last year’s productions also included West Side Story, performed superbly by the Youth section of Encore, one of whose aims is to educate Israeli youth about Musical theatre.  Last week’s performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers was well up to standard and the wonderful set which included a Venetian canal and very realistic gondolas was, as usual, designed by Roxanne Goodkin-Levy, an ex-Brummie.

We are members of a play-reading group which has now been going for around 20 years and meets once a month, in members’ houses, to read, with no prior preparation, a complete cross-section of drama from Shakespeare to Alan Bennet.  Everyone brings refreshments to be enjoyed in the ‘interval’ and it has become one of the high-spots of our month.  Most of the members are ex-Brits but we also have a few Americans and an occasional Israeli, the standard of reading is exceptionally high and we achieve some really dramatic and emotional renderings.

We also belong to the Jerusalem Shakespeare Society run by David Young, English teacher, historian, expert on Shakespeare and the author of a number of fascinating books about him (written under the name D. Lawrence-Young) In this group which also meets monthly, we not only read the works of Shakespeare but study and discuss them and often spend meetings watching films, old and new, of the Bard’s plays.

So even though we no longer have access to West-End productions or the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, except on our occasional visits back to the U.K., with these excellent organisations in Jerusalem, we now feel much less deprived of our native culture.

 

NORMAN & LOLA COHEN