“Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast”

January 15, 2016 / IlanaB / 1 Comment

In Memoriam

As I was thinking about what to write this week, I was thinking a lot about David Bowie, and then I heard the news about Alan Rickman. Both aged 69. Both died of cancer. Both chose to keep their illness secret. The news of both their deaths shocked their fans to their cores. Both did the work that they loved until their last minute on this Earth.

David Bowie’s music is part of the soundtrack of my youth. Alan Rickman played roles that will forever be his, marking them with his unique style. I admire both their bodies of work and I am saddened by the news. The arts truly suffered a significant loss this week.

But this is where things get interesting.

David Bowie

“Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast”

When the news of David Bowie’s passing was publicized my Facebook news feed had almost no other news. Everyone I knew and everyone they knew seemed to post sad thoughts, memories, favorite songs, favorite movie scenes, how David Bowie influenced their lives, tributes, and anything else connected to David Bowie.

In Israel this week, the political left and right are pretty much at each other’s throats right now. But all of their noise was drowned out by David Bowie. People who normally don’t post on Facebook posted tributes. People from every political viewpoint posted about David Bowie. Video of David Bowie coming to Israel in 1996 found its way online within a few hours. Stories of David Bowie’s connection to Kabbalah made their way online.

Over the next days, I saw even more stories connecting David Bowie to everything. Society. Change. Accepting oneself. Reinventing oneself. Fashion. Music. Art. Film. And cancer, of course. The most unusual link was Could Big Data have saved David Bowie?

Here is my Facebook post about David Bowie. And that’s the point of this essay. David Bowie transcended everything. I even mentioned him in my recent Christmas post. His rendition of Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth with Bing Crosby is really the story of his legacy. The musician presented his passion and music as a gift and with that perhaps we might eventually have peace on Earth.

He played Nikola Tesla in The Prestige. Other actors could have played Tesla, of course, but with his eyes of different colors; his forward thinking; his constant striving to reinvent himself, his music, his life; no one else should have played him except David Bowie.

In the Jewish tradition, when someone dies, we say “may his [or her] memory be a blessing.” I think David Bowie’s memory will be a blessing for many, many people all around the world. And at least for a few days, the world put aside their differences and united in remembering his music and art. That sounds like a blessing to me.

Sticks and Stones … But Words …

January 9, 2016January 10, 2016 / IlanaB / Leave a comment

Sticks and Stones Will Break Your Bones, But Words Will Frame Your World

After a month of holiday posts, the elephant in the room should probably be tended to. Violence. Yes, it is still going on. In Israel, but everywhere else as well.

Last week, after I posted my entry to the blog, news came out of a shooting in Tel Aviv. It was unclear at the time if it was regular violence, Islamic State-inspired terrorism, or a mentally unbalanced individual who went off the rails. As of this writing, the perpetrator is still at large and there are still not many concrete details to be had because of a gag order on these events. (*Update: as of this posting the perpetrator was killed in a shootout with police.)

This week in Israel there is also a debate about whether torture was used during questioning of the suspects of the Duma arson attack that killed members of a Palestinian family, including an infant. A few days ago a 21-year-old Jewish settler was indicted for murder in the case.

Then there is the odd story of the militia men in Oregon who have taken over a federal building. I just read a news story that called them “Millennium Marlboro Men.” Somewhere between the lyrical, romanticized descriptions of these guys, I gather the problem has something to do with land rights and freeing two guys who are in prison.

In the midst of it all, a Facebook meme and a proper opinion piece come up with the narrative that Star Wars is the story of how Luke Skywalker became a radicalized terrorist. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but there is some reasonable logic behind it, if you look at the story in a certain way.

(*Disclaimer: I don’t buy into this at all because I know that Star Wars is a Hero’s Journey story. Hero myths are present in all cultures in the world and a “hero” is not usually a conformist.)

It’s the words that make all the difference in each story.

If the events are described as “terrorism” then it’s easy to condemn the perpetrator. Throw in possible mental illness, well, then it’s a tragedy for all concerned and the finger of blame points at the perpetrator, but also the society that failed him (especially true in the US). Toss around the term “Jewish terrorism” and, in Israel, the shock and shame are palpable. iPhone-toting Marlboro Men with guns dressed in camo is straight out of the movies. They are taking over a federal (read: Evil Empire) building for freedom. And then our hero Luke. He uses the Force to fire a rocket that blows up the Death Star and kills hundreds of thousands of people. Is he in the Rebellion or is he a radicalized terrorist?

So who shapes our world? Are we swallowing what’s given to us or are we critically thinking? After all, the phrase “justifiable homicide” feels different than “cold-blooded murder.” “Terror” is a lot heavier than “random shooting.” It’s above and beyond the idea of “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” In the global society that we live in today, if someone decides that a person is a terrorist, then that can be proclaimed from the global rooftop. Someone else can decide that same person is a freedom fighter and shouts that from the global rooftop. Then it becomes a matter of who gets more social media followers, facts be damned.

Here’s the last news item for this week. Shurat HaDin (an Israeli NGO) did a Facebook experiment. They opened two pages: one incited against Israelis and one incited against Palestinians and they uploaded a bunch of content to both. Then they reported both. The one that got shut down was the one inciting against Palestinians. The one against Israelis didn’t (until the experiment was publicized).

In the end, it also matters who runs the global rooftop that you are shouting from.

New Year’s Special

January 1, 2016January 1, 2016 / IlanaB / 2 Comments

Happy New Year! Here in Israel people celebrate it, but not like they do elsewhere in the world. Israelis like any opportunity to throw a party and have a good time, so December 31 – called Sylvester in Hebrew (after a pope, if you can believe it) – is a convenient time for that to happen. Israel also has the influence of immigrants from the former Soviet Republics. New Year in the Soviet Union looks like secular Christmas – decorated trees, Grandfather Frost who brings presents, and spending time with friends and family. But Noviy God is Noviy God and if you ask a person from the former Soviet Union they will absolutely insist that it has nothing to do with Christmas. Apparently this year, they went all out for Noviy God.

Not Christmas, Noviy God.

January 1 is not a day off. If being at the office on Christmas and dating documents 25 December is weird, being at the office and writing 1 January seems almost criminal. But there it is. New Year in Israel was in September. The first of January is just new page on the calendar.

Last night the weather was not cooperating. Torrential rain would be an understatement. The trees outside my house were nearly blowing sideways. There are rumors that there might be snow in the next few days too. And yet, I was able to hear all the revelers throughout the night. Why they would want to be out in this weather is beyond me. I quietly rang in the New Year with a toast for good health, much happiness, and great success in 2016!

Question of the week

What is the flaw in our society that ensures only outrageous campaigns get attention?

On Christmas Eve last week I went to a lecture about the influences Palestinian youth are subjected to that are likely inspiring them to attack Jews with knives. The short answer is that Palestinian society under the direction of the Palestinian Authority honors “martyrs,” creates children’s programming broadcast on state television giving praise to 5-year-olds with aspirations to use knives to kill Jews, and hammers home the message that Jews are the descendants of pigs and apes. There are literally thousands of other examples of this kind of messaging in Palestinian society.

Any person in their right mind would see these things and be horrified and call it what it is: emotional and psychological child abuse. And yet it goes on and no one talks about it. The speaker is well-informed, intellectual, and has sound, extensive documentation of every claim and the organization has the ear of members of the Israeli government and the US government, among others, and there is hardly a whisper of condemnation.

At the same time, a debate was raging in Israeli society about a “provocative” (their word) campaign done by a Zionist organization calling attention to the fact that certain NGOs in Israel are funded by foreign governments. The video is disturbing, no doubt, and they name names calling certain members of these NGOs “moles” or “foreign agents.”

The debate spread like wildfire over every media outlet. Every news program discussed the “provocative” campaign and then began to question the facts. Everyone had to have an opinion about the proposed law (to require NGOs that receive more than half of their funding from foreign governments to make it known and for their representatives who come to the Knesset to visibly identify themselves as members of these organizations). There were even those who agreed that one targeted organization was in fact harming Israel’s image abroad and was disingenuous about its stated goals, but still were upset by the “provocative” campaign.

The targeted organization, by the way, was not suddenly the victim of a provocative campaign. Another organization wrote a well-documented report showing that a large portion of the money this organization receives is from foreign governments, including a consortium managed in Ramallah of funds from foreign governments. That report has been out for months and I believe there was even a press release. But no one discussed it. No one thought about it. No one asked any questions.

I’m deliberately not naming organizations because the issues they raise are far bigger than a simple blog post could cover. The point of this is to ask the question: If the facts are out there, why do we need to have over-the-top, shock-and-awe campaigns to get any response from anyone? Have we really slipped into a sex-sells, if-it-bleeds-it-leads global society?

On the other hand, if we want to get anything done and “go viral” do we have to bend with the fickle winds of the internet and make every issue bigger, stronger, faster, more outrageous, more outlandish, wilder, crazier, more shocking, and push the limits beyond their stretching point? Is this what debate looks like today?

Here’s my (political) wish for 2016: At least once in 2016, let’s move toward reasoned debate using facts and speaking with our inside voices while turning our backs on the circus that media has become. Let’s lead by example. Each one of us can reward, at least once next year, calm, rational debate.

Happy New Year! The best is yet to come!

Christmas Special

December 25, 2015 / IlanaB / 2 Comments

I like Christmas.

There. I said it. I’m a Jew who lives in Israel and I like Christmas.

I like the lights. I like Christmas trees. I like Christmas carols. Don’t get me started on Christmas cookies and gingerbread houses.

My enjoyment of Christmas follows the philosophy Dr. Seuss, one of the great philosophers of our time. The Grinch cannot steal Christmas because it is not based on material goods.

My favorite movie for Christmas is It’s a Wonderful Life. The message is simple: You matter. The things that seem insignificant to you matter a great deal to someone else and could change their lives. George Bailey is accidentally $8,000 in debt and everyone bands together to help him because without him they would not be who they are. Not only do you matter, but we all matter to each other.

The Little Drummer Boy has nothing to give but his drumming ability. And the gift he gives is his song and his passion.

In O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi, the man gives up his prized watch to buy a comb for his wife’s beautiful hair and the woman gives up her beautiful hair to buy a watch chain for her husband. It was not the gift that mattered, but the sacrifice that each was willing to make for the other.

In Dicken’s A Christmas Carol (written and all the multitude of film adaptations), Scrooge realizes that all his wealth is pointless if he is alone. His gifts to the Cratchit family are not about buying their love or spoiling Tiny Tim. Scrooge finally has someone to share his bounty with. The Cratchit family matters to him and he matters to the Cratchit family.

I’ve heard that there is a “war on Christmas” in the US and I wholeheartedly agree. But it is not the war on whether or not it is okay to greet people with a “Merry Christmas!” The war on Christmas begins with consumerism and greed. It continues with encouraging children to make demands of gifts without also teaching them gratitude. It is probably not much of a coincidence that we go from the “give me candy” of Halloween to the “give me presents” of Christmas while forgetting about the “thank you” of Thanksgiving. It breeds in the culture of the disposable that has forgotten the meaning of value.

I’m not a pre-rehabilitated Grinch or Scrooge. I don’t think that Christmas should be all about ideals. Have all the stuff! Enjoy the glorious wrapping paper and the excitement of presents under the tree! Bring out Santa’s Christmas magic for the kids and enjoy the egg nog! But don’t forget that the real spirit of Christmas is you, the choices you make, the example you set. Aren’t we all reminded at Christmastime “peace on earth, good will to all”?

A note about Christmas in Israel

We are not surrounded by Christmas carols in the malls. Decorations featuring stockings, trees, or Santa are few and far between. There are no piles of gorgeously wrapped presents next to elves and Santas awaiting children to tell them their Christmas wishes or have pictures taken with them.

But there is Christmas. There is a significant community of Arab Christians and they do have the familiar decorations with the tree, lights, presents and family dinner. But it’s more of a religious holiday. Secular Christmas is not a thing in Israel.

Though here’s NORAD’s evidence that Santa did come to Jerusalem.

Today is a regular day in Israel. I must admit that in the early years of living in Israel, it felt weird to be at work and write 25 December on a document. That also means that if you wish to celebrate Christmas, you have to ask for the day off and use your vacation days for it.

A Christmas Tale

A couple of evenings ago, I heard about a singing duo backed by a jazz trio who would be singing Christmas carols at a pub in town. But they would be singing only carols that were written by Jews. That is A LOT of songs, by the way, and most of them are the most famous and most beloved songs of Christmas: White Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Silver Bells, and plenty more. (Others have written about why this is, so I won’t mention it here.)

But here’s the interesting part: I went to the pub and I couldn’t get a seat. It was totally packed with middle-aged, religious American Jews. It may have been a coincidence, but the men could have passed for Santas with their beards and round bellies shaking like bowls full of jelly. The women with their headcoverings might as well have been wearing kerchiefs. There weren’t any reindeer available, so I just walked home.

Even though last night ‘twas the night before Christmas, Happy Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

1 Fun Thing; 1 Serious Thing

December 18, 2015 / IlanaB / Leave a comment

Hmm. What happened this week?

If you don’t know what this is, then I don’t even know where to begin.

Star Wars!

No, I didn’t go to the premiere in Israel, though I read a great review about it. It was a pretty big deal here. And I have to say that I’m glad people went out and made a fuss. Terrible things continue to occur in the streets, but come hell or high water, nothing stops Star Wars. (It did actually rain a lot recently, so the high water remark was not just a throw-away line.)

The great thing about being in Israel for the premiere is that we saw it before you all did! (Neener, neener, neener!)

I will see it, but I may wait a while because the idea of a hugely crowded theater kind of turns me off. On the other hand, Star Wars. No spoilers please!

And now for something completely serious.

There are a number of debates in Israel right now about many things, but one that bothers me, and one that I don’t have an answer to, is the directive issued by the Israeli Medical Association. They said that the wounded in a terror attack should be treated in order of severity, no matter who they are. What this means in practice is that if an attacker has more severe wounds than a victim, the attacker will be treated first.

A volunteer emergency services organization, ZAKA, has refused to comply. They said that they will treat Jewish victims of the attack first. Their rationale is based in Jewish teachings: “He who is merciful to the cruel will end up being cruel to the merciful.”

One of the incidents that caused the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) to make this ruling was an attack in Beer Sheva where an Eritrean ran away from the scene and everyone in the area thought he was the attacker. So he was beaten and kicked by the bystanders and eventually died from his wounds, in part because he was ignored by the medical services personnel.

On one hand, I can see the humanity of using triage to rank all the wounds of all the people. Who really knows with absolute certainty in the middle of chaos who the attacker was? On the other hand, is one horrible situation the measure to use for making the rule? How do you explain to the family of a victim of an attack that you treated the attacker first? What if the victim is permanently disfigured or perhaps even dies while the attacker survives because of the triage decision you were forced to make?

Attackers are treated in Israeli hospitals by Israeli doctors and stay in rooms probably down the hall from their victims. The news reports of the case in October of the 13-year-old stabber showed him in Hadassah Hospital. In the same hospital, his victim was put in a medically induced coma and miraculously woke up (*he celebrated his bar mitzvah this week and claims to be 95% better).

I heard an interesting/troubling comment after the IMA announcement was made. Security services may feel that they shouldn’t shoot to stop an attacker, but actually shoot to kill so that the attacker will not take a victim’s place in triage. I’m not sure that is the intent of the ruling, but it could be a consequence.

I was also troubled by the phrasing of the ZAKA response. I hope that they meant all victims of an attack, not just the Jewish ones. I hope that they wouldn’t set aside an injured victim who was a Druze, Bedouin, Christian Arab, or Muslim Arab simply based on the fact that he or she isn’t Jewish.

In the middle of chaos, emergency services need to know what to do, so they need some kind of directive. But which one is “just”? Which one is more “humane”? There are no simple, easy answers here and we find ourselves in the gray area yet again.

And that will do it for this week!

To those of you who are going to see Star Wars, DON’T TELL ME ANYTHING! Thumbs up or thumbs down would be okay though.

Chanukah Special

December 11, 2015December 11, 2015 / IlanaB / Leave a comment

A few fun facts about Chanukah

How do you spell it? Chanukah, Hannukah, Hanuka, … Spell it however you want. You just need to get the sounds right.

IMG_20151211_181908

Is Chanukah the Jewish Christmas? No. It’s a holiday that happens to fall around the same time of year. But also yes. It was never a very big deal in terms of holiday rankings, but in recent decades it became a much bigger holiday due to the overabundance of Christmas celebrations. Jewish kids needed something fun in December as well.

What is the miracle celebrated by Chanukah? In 168 BCE the Selucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, forbade the Jews to practice their religion and desecrated the Temple. After Judah the Maccabee succeeded in ousting the Selucids, the first order of business was to rededicate the Temple. (Chanukah means dedication.) They found only enough blessed oil to last one day. But they lit it anyway and sent for more blessed oil, knowing that it would take 8 days. And miraculously, the oil that should have lasted only one day lasted for 8 days.

What’s a dreidel? What’s a sevivon? They are the same thing: a four-sided top that has 4 Hebrew letters on it. Dreidel is Yiddish. Sevivon is Hebrew. The four letters ar dreidel e different depending on where you are in the world. Outside of Israel, the letters are נ, ג, ה ,ש which stand for “Nes Gadol Hayah Sham” (A Great Miracle Happened There). Inside of Israel the letters are נ, ג, ה, פ, which stand for “Nes Gadol Hayah Po” (A Great Miracle Happened Here).

The story is that children would learn the story of Chanukah with the dreidel, but those who forbade the Jews to practice their religion would see only a children’s game.

What are the rules? All the players ante up by putting 2 whatevers in the pot (usually candies). The first person spins the top and wherever it falls that’s the instruction for that players turn. נ – nothing happens. ג – you win the whole pot. ה – you win half the pot. ש/פ – put in two.

Here’s a true Chanukah story. I went to a Chanukah party in Israel and they wanted to play dreidel. Out of about 20 Israelis in the room and 5-6 English-speakers, I was the only one who knew the rules. That’s right. A secular girl who grew up in small-town America was the only person who knew all the rules.

I attribute this to family Chanukah gatherings at my aunt and uncle’s house. I remember at least one Chanukah when all of us kids went upstairs and set up our game in the hidden corridor between the bedrooms and we secretly played dreidel. Moral of the story: Everyone should have secret places and everyone should know the rules of dreidel.

Foods. In honor of the miracle of the oil, it’s all fried, baby! Order French fries or onion rings for Chanukah! Deep-fried mozzarella sticks? It’s okay; it’s for Chanukah! Fried chicken? Absolutely! Deep-fried snickers bar? Now it’s just getting weird.

The real traditional foods are potato pancakes (latkes [Yiddish] or levivot [Hebrew]) and fried donuts with fillings (sufganiot). Here in Israel, most people eat sufganiot and these days they are what you might call “fancy-schmancy.” The basic one is filled with strawberry jam (meh. I prefer the dulce de leche version of the basic and most of the fancy-schmancy ones.)

suf

For those of you who know about potato pancakes, you may know that one traditional way to eat them is with sour cream and applesauce. Not so in Israel. Whenever I have mentioned eating them this way, I get looks like I’m the crazy one.

When I was waiting at the bank this week, donuts were handed around. It made the nearly endless wait a bit more bearable, even if it was a strawberry jam one.

What’s the real miracle of Chanukah today? The story of Chanukah reminds us to fight for our beliefs and our way of life. We can be proud of who we are, of our history, of our heritage, without imposing it on anyone else.

Chabad puts up a lot of public hanukiahs and lights them each night all around the world. In Paris this week, they were discouraged from doing so. But that isn’t the spirit of Chanukah. They lit the hanukiah to remind us that it is always better to light a candle than to curse the darkness and from that candle many more can be lit. Together we can banish the darkness.

paris

History and TV, what could be better?

December 5, 2015December 5, 2015 / IlanaB / Leave a comment

Little known fact about Israel: Sometimes it’s colder inside than outside. Yesterday, it was just more pleasant to sit outside.

This week was horrible and violent. I don’t want to rehash it all here. Instead, we’ll dial down the intensity and cover a moment in history and look at Dig, a television series that was partially filmed in Jerusalem.

Remember, remember the 29^th of November

This week Israel noted the 29^th of November. Quite a few Israelis don’t know why this is a date of note nor why streets are named after it. It’s one of those dates that gets lost in all the important national and religious dates throughout the year. What happened, you ask? Good question.

On November 29, 1947, the United Nations passed Resolution 181, which recommended that the land of British Mandatory Palestine be divided into two states. It required that both the Jews and the Arabs agree. The Jews agreed and the Arabs didn’t.

LISTEN TO THE VOTE.

Resolution 181 didn’t create the State of Israel, but it recognized the need for a Jewish homeland and it was sort-of an exit strategy for the British who planned to get out of Palestine in May 1948. When May 1948 rolled around and the British left, instead of two states co-existing, five Arab states declared war on the provisional government of Israel.

The importance of the resolution today is to remind the world that Israel has a recognized right to exist. Israel is not a colonial power or a foreign apartheid regime. The world recognized that the people of Israel – the Jews – have a connection to this land. It’s not that only that they need a shelter from potential Holocausts in the future, but that this specific land is the Jews’ ancestral homeland.

Dig

Picture this: Every Jewish conspiracy theory, rumor, and apocalyptical end-of-days theory crammed into 10 episodes and it was filmed in Jerusalem. I liked it. I enjoyed watching it. (However, in the interest of full disclosure, my Israel family hated it and said it was embarrassing.)

The Israeli creator of Homeland got together with the creator of Heroes and they made some incredible television fiction. Then they cast one of the baddies from Harry Potter as the lead (Jason Isaacs, or Lucius Malfoy) and used a bunch of Israeli actors speaking Hebrew in the streets of Jerusalem and in other locations and took us on a wild ride.

HERE’S THE TRAILER.

The story weaves together a radical Jewish group that wants to rebuild the Temple (obviously on the site of the Temple Mount), but they need a few things, along with some signs and wonders to ensure their success. They are cooperating with some messianic Christians, who have their special role to play. Meanwhile, FBI agent Peter Connelly, our underdog anti-hero who is spiritually broken (Jason Isaacs), tries to solve the murder of an American citizen. He is helped by an Israeli policeman, Golan Cohen, who, just to make things complicated, is gay. Throw in the Essenes (Dead Sea Scrolls) who have been hidden for the past 2,000 years and the lost treasures of the Second Temple. And then toss in a touch of Jerusalem Syndrome (a real affliction where spiritual pilgrims come to Jerusalem and suddenly believe that they are biblical figures for a while) and the blood moon.

The series was filmed in Jerusalem last summer and due to the little war we had, they finished filming in Croatia. There is one scene where they say “Oh, that’s Mishkenot She’ananim” and show a building in Croatia. I leaped up and shouted at the screen, “No it isn’t!”

There is also the cultural hilarity. Anyone who has ever driven in the streets of Israel knows that people honk their horns all the time. It’s a kind of noisy communication among drivers expressing a variety of emotions. So when Peter gets in the car with Golan, Golan is always smoking and honking his horn at everyone. Peter doesn’t like the smoke (Golan doesn’t care) and his answer to why he honks the horn all the time is “It’s relaxing! You should try it!”

I enjoy a good murder mystery (fictional, of course) and I love a good conspiracy theory. Of course the show was a little silly and over the top. It’s not a documentary, for heaven’s sakes. But I have to say, with all the problems on the Temple Mount these days, the various end of days theories going around, especially lately, and all the violence in the world, I certainly hope that fiction in this case is stranger than truth.

The Underdog and The Anti-Hero

November 27, 2015 / IlanaB / 3 Comments

The point of this Friday post is not to list one bad event after another, but if I were simply to write about what happened this week, that’s unfortunately what it would look like. Even though a few good things happened this week too. Instead, here is the beginning of a theory I’m working on.

ScreenHunter_04 Nov. 27 15.52

The Underdog and the Anti-Hero

This theory is a work in progress, so please comment or refute. It might be enough to write a whole thesis on, but I’m trying to present it as concisely as possible.

Secretary of State John Kerry spoke last week about the attacks in Paris and said:

There’s something different about what happened from Charlie Hebdo, and I think everybody would feel that. There was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of – not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, okay, they’re really angry because of this and that. This Friday was absolutely indiscriminate. It wasn’t to aggrieve one particular sense of wrong. It was to terrorize people. It was to attack everything that we do stand for.

I’m not trying to suggest government policy here, but rather ask a question about how people might see and understand the world. Fiction, in all its forms – TV, movies, books, games, etc. – affects our daily lives. Even the news we read is a “story” and has to be presented with a beginning, middle, and satisfying end. As Kerry’s quote suggests, there is something we can understand about a focused attack on specific targets.

(It’s another full discussion to point out that Kerry seems to be saying that he can understand the rationale of focused attacks on cartoonists who insult Mohammed and the unmentioned Jews shopping on a Friday. Using that kind of logic, we should also understand the rationale behind attacks like Timothy McVeigh’s in Oklahoma or angry teens perpetrating school shootings. And is there actually a rationale for shooting people in cold blood?)

The Underdog

Human beings often cheer for the underdog. It’s the typical David vs. Goliath story. We all cheer for David because if he wins then there is hope for all of us ordinary little guys. We too can overcome incredible odds and win against a seemingly invincible foe.

There is a theory called “underdogma” that suggests that people who believe in underdogma see anyone with less power as righteous and anyone with more power as wrong. Thus the hero of any story is the one who overcomes incredible odds to defeat an overlord who is clearly corrupted by his or her absolute power. And we cheer.

The Anti-Hero

Some of the most popular TV and movie fiction brings us into the world of a somehow likable villain. An early example is Tony Soprano. He’s a mobster, a killer, a ruthless businessman, and he cheats on his wife. But he loves his kids, he has anxiety issues, and he’s willing to face some of these things in therapy. How about Dr. Gregory House? He is a drug-addled misanthrope who likes to solve puzzles and hates people, but his actions find answers to medical mysteries and at the very, very end, he was a good friend to the only person who stood by him. Dexter Morgan channeled his need to kill to vigilante executions of criminals who evade criminal justice. He’s doing the world a service, right? The list could go on and on. I’m sure you probably have your own favorite anti-hero. He or she does bad things for the “right” reasons and in the dark corners of our minds, we can relate to this anti-hero and admire the total disregard of standard behavior. The anti-hero is also an underdog.

Of course, in real life, we wouldn’t want to be friends with any of these anti-heroes. We wouldn’t admire them nor could we relate to them in any way.

Our fictional worlds are filled with stories of the weak winning against the strong and likable villains. So when we see people who are giving everything they have to a single cause, willing to put their lives on the line for their version of justice, sending a message to a hegemonic power, we want to relate to them in some way. And when the reporters write the story, they can bend the narrative. No one wants to relate to a terrorist, but we are all freedom fighters.

Life is not a TV show

Real life is complicated and messy. Events don’t have clear-cut beginnings, middles, or satisfying ends. People are not clearly defined, relatable characters. Leaving the vocabulary aside, in real life, if one human being shoots or stabs another human being, there is nothing to understand and there is no rationale. If you try to rationalize the violence or relate to the perpetrator, then I suggest stepping out of the fictional world.

In my opinion, a universal human value should be to choose life. If the underdog anti-hero says that he or she loves death, don’t try to understand it or rationalize it, believe it. This is not going to change in 40 minutes or 6 seasons and there won’t be a story arc showing character development and growth. We are all human beings and it would be nice to relate to each other on that level. But we don’t. Some choose life. Some choose death. At some point, changing the channel won’t be an option.

A little this. A little that.

November 21, 2015November 21, 2015 / IlanaB / 1 Comment

In terms of violence, the past week was horrible. So instead of leading with the horrible, let’s celebrate something positive and beautiful that came out of senseless tragedy: a gigantic, wonderful wedding and everyone is invited.

Last Friday, before Paris, two people were killed on the road south of Jerusalem. The bride’s father and her brother were on their way to celebrate with the groom on the Shabbat before the wedding. Instead of a wedding, there was double funeral and the bride’s mother and her siblings were in the hospital. What did the bride and groom choose to do? They chose life. They moved their wedding date to November 26, rented out the international convention center in Jerusalem and invited everyone in Israel to join them in celebrating their wedding. (*Cultural aside for those cynics out there: A wedding is a celebration for the whole community and a guest’s job is to make the bride and groom happy. So it’s not about the big wedding. It’s about giving everyone a reason to rejoice.)

Here’s their public message and invitation.

And then there was Paris

There are plenty of people much smarter and more eloquent than me that said many things about Paris. (My favorite was John Oliver’s extensive use of the f-word, because that really is what we are all thinking – even though it might not be considered “eloquent”).

As I read the news in Israel, I noticed one line that probably everyone else thought was superfluous, but I thought was good evidence of choosing life. In the stadium, France was competing against Germany in a friendly football match (soccer game) and even though they heard explosions, they finished the match. France won 2–0.

Football not terror.

Then I was really disappointed

A few days after Paris, social media started to pile up with accusations:

Why only Paris? What about Beirut? Any Lebanese flags on Facebook photos? How about the airplane downed in Sinai? What about all those Russians? Why hasn’t the media reported on anything other than Paris?
Israel has terrorism and innocent civilians are getting stabbed, shot, and run over every day. Yet Israel is the aggressor? How would you like it if the attacks in Paris were reported as “8 Muslims killed in Paris”?

As to the first, I read two interesting articles that said that said all the other violence was reported, but that readers ignored it. On top of that, coordinated terrorist violence in Paris is not the norm and because Paris is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, people can relate to it more than, let’s say, Beirut, Sinai, or, as of yesterday, Nigeria and Mali.
(Article 1 and Article 2)

As to the second, while having some truth to it, I find it cold, callous, and in short, stomping on the people of Paris. There is a time and place for accusations of media bias, the few days after an attack is not one of them. We don’t have all the facts, human beings are in shock and grieving, so let’s bring up media bias? Way to set an example of showing humanity and choosing life.

Expanding the logic of the two articles in light of Thursday’s attacks in Israel where 5 people died including an 18-year-old American, it would be disheartening to think that the world finds violence in Israel normal and that they cannot relate to Tel Aviv as a city or Israelis as people.

I’m working on my own theory. In two words: underdog and anti-hero. I’ll expand on this in another post.

Jonathan Pollard

He was released from prison on Thursday after serving 30 years of a life sentence for espionage (read: spying for Israel). To some people in Israel and the US this is a Very Big Deal. They’ve been campaigning for his release for a long time saying that the sentence was wildly excessive. Now they want him to be allowed to come to Israel – he was granted Israeli citizenship 20 years ago – but his parole requires him to stay in the US for 5 years and wear an ankle monitor. I think the real story and all the various details will never be fully known. We’ll have to see what happens.

Pacman in Jerusalem

In good news of people who come to Israel even during these violent times: Manny Pacquiao, world boxing champion. What’s his favorite city? Jerusalem! (Of course!)

Screen capture from Manny Pacquiao’s Facebook page.

Happy Thanksgiving! Let’s all be grateful for our blessings and give thanks!

THANK YOU!

My trip to Talpiot

November 13, 2015November 13, 2015 / IlanaB / 2 Comments

A natural reaction to a chilly, rainy morning.

This week’s post is a “day in the life” story. Join me on my trip to Talpiot – a neighborhood known for being the place where people shop for basics at no-frills stores at discount prices.

On Sunday morning I had an appointment in the neighborhood of Talpiot. Just as I arrived at the bus stop, bus number 34 arrived. It wasn’t crowded and I could have taken a seat if I wanted to. I arrived half an hour early and had a chance to visit the newly remodeled mall in the neighborhood.

I never liked that mall in the past. It was dark, dingy, and somehow seemed to retain noise and bounce it off the walls. It felt old and oppressive. I had to steel myself for a mission if there was any reason I had to go there. But now, it was a different world!

Every mall has metal detectors and security guards. They are more worried about what you might bring in, not what you might take out. At the entrance, I handed over my bag and noted that the security guy was talking to a mall cleaner and based on his accent I guessed that the cleaner was Arab.

The mall was just starting to open, so there were not many people and most of the stores were in the middle of opening their doors. The coffee shops were quite busy already, because it’s not possible to start the day in Israel without coffee. At first everything seemed the same, so I strolled around. Hey, there’s a proper food court! Oh, look at all the new stores! They’re having a sale!

Then I noticed an escalator where there hadn’t been one previously, so I went up. A second floor! Here were the big name brand stores that were never seen before in Talpiot. There was a seating area with a lovely view that I never knew existed from Talpiot. Wow! Jerusalem is beautiful from every angle, even from Talpiot!

As I was walking around the nearly empty second floor, I heard two young men speaking Arabic behind me. I found myself wondering if it was possible that they would stab me in the middle of a mall. Was I safe? Well, maybe they were just ordinary thieves. Should I hold my bag closer? Then I was troubled by my own thoughts. Why would I assume that just because they were young men speaking Arabic that they would either be terrorists or thieves? As these thoughts crossed my mind, I noted the thoughts and kept my slow strolling pace and held my bag in the same way I had been holding it before. Paranoid thoughts were not going to get the better of me.

They were walking faster than I was and passed me. Walking close to each other as friends, they were talking happily about something, and went down the escalator ahead of me. They didn’t give me a second look.

After my appointment, I took the bus home. Again the bus was not too full, but Talpiot is early on the bus route. My trip would be nine stops. At the third stop, a soldier got on the bus. He was in uniform with an automatic rifle slung across his chest with his hand on the pistol grip. He walked the length of the bus and got off. His partner was waiting outside at the stop. At the fourth stop, the same thing happened. At the sixth, seventh, and eighth, a soldier got on the bus leaving his partner outside, walked the length and got off.

It was a security check. Back in the days of bus bombings, we had security on the buses all the time. Even today, we have security on the light rail. But this was the army doing a security check. One could guess that they had a viable threat and they increased security on public transport to counteract it.

Epilogue

On Monday, two Palestinian pre-teens (12- and 13-years-old) stabbed a security officer on the light rail in Jerusalem. Half an hour later a 37-year-old Palestinian attacked guards at the Damascus Gate in the Old City.

The Arabs I saw at the mall just want to do their work and get on with their lives. But that doesn’t make the security threats any less real. I don’t enjoy the fact that the army is doing security checks and that living in Jerusalem requires being in a state of alert. On the other hand, if your city is struck by a crime wave that involves individuals using knives, cars, Molotov cocktails, and rocks to cause chaos, you do what you have to do.

How did I feel? I’m glad the army is responding to threats. I don’t feel particularly nervous when soldiers are obviously doing a security check on a bus with their weapons at the ready. At the same time, I know that they are looking for potential threats and they are profiling. They are profiling the same way I profiled in the mall just an hour before. The only thing that gave me pause was that the security threat seemed to be heading toward my neighborhood.

Do I live in a police state? No. I live in a place where the nation’s sons and daughters proudly serve in the army. The soldiers I saw on the bus are someone’s son, brother, husband, or father (some looked older than regular soldiers so they are likely reservists). And they want to keep all of us safe.

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