Inaugural Ruby Tuesday

It's time for new leadership... and a new Ruby Tuesday.  

Not that the two are necessarily related, but with the inauguration just over, a general excitement pervades the air, making the different colors that much brighter (and in certain contexts, all the less relevant... Go President Obama!).

I caught these cool, star-bursty creatures last week at Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, using a digital macro (note the varied focal lengths).  No idea what they are... some mysterious, desert-thriving species sticking out in all directions in the raised bed opposite the entrance to the Akademon (university book store).  Positive ID's welcome.

Note how the stamens reveal themselves over time.  I love the color transformation... even as the flower withers.

With brightest wishes to our new president.

Keep the balance,

ALN

The Many Ways It Touches Us

In Israel, six degrees of separation is going way overboard.  One or two usually suffices.  

I'm relieved that -- for now -- my family and I have remained one or two degrees of separation from unending worry and shocking tragedy.  But within two degrees of separation, there are far too many examples. Here are a few:

I.

One co-worker, H, had just returned from a family holiday in Eilat over Chanukah, only to hear that the first missile to reach a house beyond Sderot crashed into her sister-in-law's apartment, injuring their teenage daughter.  A week afterwards the girl was out of the ICU and -- thank G-d -- on her way to physical recovery.  Her emotional recovery will take much longer.  Two weeks later, H receives word that another relative, a nephew, has been injured and evacuated.   One of her own children is serving, and she knows what could be.  She tries not to think about it.

II.

A classmate leans over toward my computer last week in the middle of class.  She has left her kids with their regular "babysitters," their grandparents -- her own parents -- in Be'er Sheva. They watched the missile fall into the kindergarten across the street, felt the BOOM rock their apartment.  Now they're afraid to leave the house, but this evening they've decided to spend a few minutes in the mall down the street, just for some air and a change of surroundings.  Now my classmate has her mobile phone in hand;  she insists on checking the internet news every few minutes.  Just in case.

III.

My cousin sends an email explaining that while her son, recently drafted, is still in training and therefore will not be going into Gaza, he is often sent to the border to provide security and support to the soldiers.  One of his closest friends lies in the ICU, critically injured after fighting in Gaza.  His friends are filled with worry and guilt that they cannot be by his side.

IV.

My friend and neighbor S. commutes to Be'er Sheva every morning.  She relates the time when she was mentally preparing herself;  She rolls down her car window and turns up the radio, should there be a warning siren during her drive.  No sooner is the window open and

 rrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr.

She stops the car, lies down alongside it, hands over her head and neck.  She explains to me that the missile shrapnel flies up to a height of 30 cm, so lying down flat is pretty good protection. She notes that our bomb shelter room ("Mamad," ממ"ד), like theirs, is on the North side of the house, so it will provide pretty good protection should the missiles start raining down on us. Meanwhile, she watches missiles falling over Be'er Sheva from her tenth-story office window, keeps her purse accessible under her chair, and cuts off telephone calls to run to the shelter when the siren wails.  I express amazement that she is still willing to come to work every day.  It's not the same as living there, she reminds me.  I come home to quiet every night.  It's not like my kids are sleeping all together with us in the shelter and we're waking up several times a night to throw them down onto the rug.*

V.

Another coworker, N, is safe (for now).   Her family is not.   She lives in Jerusalem.  Her brothers and sister and their children live in Gaza, along the coast.   Her phone is on all the time.  Her family has no electricity.  No heat.  They don't go out, to work or school.  Their only source of information is a small, battery-powered radio, which tells them whether the most recent bombings and incursions are anywhere near their home.  Every time N talks to her brother, she tells me, she makes sure to say a real good-bye.  She is afraid it will be the last time. 

VI.

A senior staff member is as close to beside herself as I've ever seen her.  Her son is being drafted tomorrow.  He will not be in Gaza, but her thoughts are there.  She doesn't spend too much time watching all those films showing soldiers and bombings and house raids, but she cannot stop thinking about it.   We can only imagine what's going on there, she tell me, emotion filling her voice.  Our army has killed 600 of them.  Six hundred.  I can't get my mind around it. Women, children.  Families.  Here I am, safe in my home, enjoying my every day activities, while over there... Nothing good ever comes when we fight.  Their next generation will only learn more hate.

* * * * *

A friend's husband, a security expert, is in the reserves along the Gazan border and comes home every night at two in the morning.  A psychologist colleague has been called up to counsel traumatized soldiers.  An oncology patient from Gaza in the hospital for treatments, worried about his father and siblings while facing a completely different threat to his own life.  Countless colleagues have children in the army.  They jump whenever their phones ring, half-apologizing for their edginess.  We give them knowing looks and continue our day.

  * * * * *

This war -- like all wars here -- has been full of the kind of wrenching decisions, moral dilemmas, and wide-scale destruction that hurt to contemplate.  Eight years of missiles onto our compatriots in Sderot?  Too much.  The killing of children forced to be human shields? Disgusting.  Our soldiers running from house to mosque, flying overhead, facing split-second, life-threatening decisions?  Painful.   I want it to stop, want a modicum of quiet, and safety, and security, and reason, to reign.  But it doesn't.

For now I have avoided the more graphic media, the photos and films.  I read some Hebrew-language articles, and tune in to some of the American media.  Knowing what is going on, on both sides, is terrible.  Often I find it hard enough walking through those hospital doors every day, and I'm not looking for more questions no one can answer.  I understand why we had to go in there and try to put an end to it.  But I worry, because I know that all that violence and destruction will not stop the hate, and hate keeps Hamas going, and going. 

I go to bed every night to the slightly-faint echo of bombs, and wake up in the morning, in the dark, again to the sound of bombs.  I try to fit my mind around the simultaneous feelings of relief and sorrow that follow those sounds.

I think Shoilem Aleichem (via Joseph Stein's screenplay) put it best in our favorite classic, Fiddler on the Roof:

Townsperson: Why should I break my head about the outside world?  Let the outside world break its own head....

Tevye: He is right...

Perchik: Nonsense. You can't close your eyes to what's happening in the world.

Tevye: He's right.

Rabbi's pupil: He's right, and he's right.  They can't both be right!

Tevye:  (Pause). You know, you are also right.

Only, this is no outside world.  Not even close to six degrees' worth.  This is here, and this is us.

Keep the balance, and keep safe.

ALN

Live: Parlor Meeting with a Candidate for Head of Our Regional Council

Here's democracy in action.  

I'm sitting in my neighbor's living room, and about 30 additional neighbors have joined us here to meet with Moshe Dadon, a candidate for our local Regional Council (mo'etza).  Unlike the major cities, where voting took place a few weeks ago, our area goes to the polls in January to choose its new Regional Council members.

Moshe grew up in the area (Moshav Luzit) and has served as the Regional Council secretary for the past four years, so he knows the system from the inside.  He described growing up among the chicken coops, and seeing the agriculture lifestyle fall by the wayside as the years went by. The area's needs now are completely different; he noted that much of the moshav property formerly used for agriculture is now factories.

Moshe describes himself as "very green - not in terms of money, but the environment" (It wasn't clear what he means by this, as some of his later statements indicated that he has a poor understanding of certain environmental issues).  He understands that many people are flocking to the moshav expansions for the quality of life, and are not agriculturally minded. He realizes that municipality taxes have been rising, but are not nearly at Jerusalem levels, and that all the local illegal building is only hurting all the citizens because they cannot benefit from improvements if local tax money is not being put back into the system.  

Moshe pledges the following:

1.  Taxes collected locally, stay local.  All tax monies collected for the moshav expansions (of which there are many) will go directly back into moshav coffers.

2.  Sliding scale taxation.  Everyone should pay arnona, including residential buildings, local businesses, quarries and other industrial properties, according to their ability.  Anyone who qualified for a discount will receive one accordingly.  The Arab sector, which has been neglected until now, will also receive the amount entitled by law.  

3.  Financial independence.  The general dependence on the system for financial support is unjustified and has to be changed.  Every community can then become independent and make its own decisions according to its needs.

4.  Infrastructure.  By law, 5% of tax money collected by the Regional Council is designated for internal development;  that means 12 million shekels has to be distributed every year to the local municipal governments, for use as they see fit.

5.  Primary Education.   The local educational system should be run locally, by a professional with a doctorate in education.  Most of the local population is religious, and any new local school would have to be religious and include all the children in the surrounding local moshavim.   Until now, our religious school system has not provided a good education, period, and many families send their kids to a different school district.  

6.  Secondary Education.  High schools in the area have been closing, but the local population is growing and we'll need to develop a series of local high schools here in the area. Competition is good for education, as it is for everything else.  By law, only the head of the Regional Council is entitled to choose where kids go to school.  At this time we have 4000 high school students, and the system doesn't have room for new students, even if it were a good system and people were willing to send their kids.

7.  Transportation to School.  For now, funding from other budgets, such as the building budget, to fund school buses for local kids.  There is no governmentally funded option for transportation for high school-age pupils.   Children need to go to good schools, locally, such that there won't be a need for transportation.  School buses are a temporary measure until we have good schools in the area.  Pupils can't succeed if they spend hours on buses, and there's no equal opportunities for all citizens until we have quality local schools for everyone.  We don't have time to wait.

When it was pointed out that building all these schools will take time, he didn't have a clear answer, except to improve the existing schools.  One neighbor offered a temporary solution of not having kids for the next few years, which got a few laughs but underlined the seriousness of the issue.  Moshe grew up in the system, continued to be involved in the local education system after his high school graduation, and sends his kids to the local schools, so he is aware, from the inside, of just how bad it is.

When asked about the decision making powers of the local municipality versus the Council regarding expansion issues, he spoke in favor of allowing the municipal council to receive tax monies and make most local decisions.  Regarding division of properties, especially public and moshav properties, he cited a local example of a town within the region that wanted to build a swimming pool with public develop monies, and the Regional Council refused to grant permission.   

A participant described one local conflict regarding the use and upkeep of moshav property, an issue which has put residents of our Moshav extension at odds with the decision-makers of the moshav's municipal council, with no legal redress... As this neighborbor pointed out, this type of conflict usually stays on a minor and limited level, but the same problems tend to repeat themselves, and our current expansion has only brought the issue to the fore.  Moshe did not provide a clear answer regarding this issue.

Regarding the protection of nature conservancies, Moshe supports expanding into parts of those ares for the benefit of the local populations.  He cited the building of a new school as one example.

Moshe has pledged to bring educated, reliable and honest workers into the Regional Council, and here he was asked regarding the type of people he would, indeed, bring with him.  (It has been said that our local government has become bulky and corrupt over the years, and I can testify to the number and quality of shiny cars in the parking lot).  

Moshe responded by pointing out that there is one person in the regional government overseeing all 180 local kindergartens in the region, with a similar situation for the primary schools...  "No one person is a workhorse."  A neighbor responded with cynicism, that the only department in the council that returns phone calls is the Collection Department.  Generally, those present at the meeting did not express satisfaction with the so-called reforms he claims to have made until now.

Moshe referred to a total rearrangement of the governing system, especially the educational system, and that in his view this includes, among other things, encouraging older workers to retire, and having others transfer to departments where they are needed.  "If one doctor is no good, do you blame all the doctors?"

He continued to refer to poor air quality, although he offered no clear solutions.  Prior to this, he claimed not to understand the connection between electricity and the quality of the environment.   Regarding a specific road in the area which has been declared unsafe and whose legal status has remained unclear for years (the road remains open but the police sometimes distributes tickets to those who travel on it), he offered no clear answer, except to point out that the Regional Council has been trying to resolve the issue.

Moshe's closing statement (summary):  We have the opportunity to develop the area, to give everyone an opportunity and quality of life.  The problem is not as other candidates will tell you, that this or that individual bureaucrat is responsible.  The money is the issue.  If we want to develop the area, our money has to go to the right places;  quality education for everyone, and local development.

* * * * *

On Wednesday, another candidate will be coming to impress us.... stay tuned.

Keep the balance,

ALN

The Legacy We Could Have Gained

I have to agree with David Bogner here at Treppenwitz.   We all know there were some - a very few -  that were misguided enough to support the assassination.  But shame on those self-appointed Leftist "leadership" (capital L), whose character assassinations demonstrate that they would rather be staunchly Left, than right.  

Like so many others, I remember being shocked and saddened on that Saturday night in November, and in the days that followed when I stood in line, along with people of all ages, religious and political beliefs, to pay our last respects at the Knesset.   

The mourning of an assassinated prime minister should never have become a political event.  It is a national event, a national loss, a national disgrace.  In the shadow of Rabin's assassination, our country's "leaders" did nothing to encourage a feeling of unity, and by now I fear we have gotten used to this national bifurcation as the status quo, even -- especially? -- on national days of mourning.

Not nearly enough balance here.

ALN

Update: (Less) Absurdity in Equal Measures

Apparently I'm not one of those who can keep a blog up-to-date while getting a home up-to-date for the hagim.  לא נורא - lo nora, as they say -- no harm done.  Sometimes keeping the balance means dropping one side for awhile when the other side gets too heavy.

Speaking of balance, I am happy to update this post with some excellent news. Last month, the Minhal MiKarka'ay Yisrael (Israel Land Administration) reconsidered its original decision, according to which moshavim and kibbutzim would have been charged for using their land to install solar collectors, and will now allow them to place solar collector panels on up to ten percent of their property, without paying charges or penalties.  According to one of our local community publications,

... During its last meeting, the Administration board decided that there is an urgent need to encourage the establishment of alternative enterprises to produce electricity and renewable energy.  The board backed its decision by citing the rising price of fuel and electricity, and the growing awareness of the need to preserve the environment.

I see this as an important and encouraging step forward, on two fronts:  The decision itself shows foresight and stays in step with recent national developments encouraging the development of alternative energy sources, a process we, as a country, cannot afford to hinder in any way.  This link, in Hebrew, outlines the historic June 2008 decision to allow private individuals to sell electricity back to the grid.  A synopsis in English is available here, c/o Good News from Israel.

More importantly, by reversing its original, flawed decision, the Minhal is demonstrating flexibility in its willingness to support the ability of the kibbutzim and moshavim to continue to use their primary resource, land, for the good of the entire country.  

Historically, decisions akin to this one meant that to encourage agricultural production for the whole of the nation, the kibbutzim were granted large portions of a limited resource, water, at a reduced price.  As a result they were able to feed the country, as well as providing top-notch produce for export, but over the years many of them became sloppy in their water usage and wasted an embarrassing amount of it.

As I see it, the Minhal's decision now provides a correction of past wastefulness, as it allows the kibbutzim and moshavim to take full advantage of a natural resource, solar energy, that doesn't seem to be running out any time soon.  No oil, not nearly enough rain, but sun?  It's the one thing we've got plenty of...

מועדים לשמחה -- Have a wonderful Sukkot.

Keep the balance,

ALN

Names and Implications

Though I've chosen not to use this blog as a forum for political commentary, we expatriot Americans in Israel are facing two important elections, and some of the issues that come up along the way are too important -- and interesting -- to ignore.

One semester of linguistics does not a cultural linguist make.  But as a dabbler in the topic, especially one concerned with civil liberties, I found Brent Staples' NY Times editorial on racist use of language to be worth a read. The piece isn't long, but here's a taste:

Mr. Obama seems to understand that he is always an utterance away from a statement — or a phrase — that could transform him in a campaign ad from the affable, rational and racially ambiguous candidate into the archetypical angry black man who scares off the white vote. His caution is evident from the way he sifts and searches the language as he speaks, stepping around words that might push him into the danger zone.

I'm very aware that for many Jews, Obama's campaign has raised eyebrows and questions regarding how an Obama presidency would or wouldn't benefit Israel.   Regardless of your views in that regard, the Mr. Staples raises here are a jarringly important reminder that there are many, many people out there for whom basic issues of race are far from resolved.  Wish it weren't so...

Keep the balance,

ALN