Signs of Strudel?

Many of you may be familiar with Hebrew's resurrection story.  Around the time that Jesus showed up, Hebrew was used by some for daily communication, but folks were more likely to speak Aramaic (Jesus included).  After the Second Temple Period and the Roman quashing of the Jewish Revolt (around about 66 CE), the Jews were dispersed (again). Hebrew pretty quickly fell out of use as the diaspora adopted the languages of their new locations and created hybrids -- Yiddish being the most familiar one on account of the large percentage of Ashkenaz in Jewish North American populations.  So, for most of the last two millenia, Hebrew has been chiefly a liturgical language (you prayed in it).

Enter Herzl and the Zionist vision. You have a political vision to create a state for a people that haven't lived together for nigh on 2000 years; the cultural and religious practices are still shared, but they don't share a language anymore. What to do? Enter Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (yes, there is a street named after him in Jerusalem, and you can visit the house he lived in, which is not on Ben Yehuda, but on Ethiopia St) who thought revival of Hebrew would unite Jews worldwide.  Of course, Ben Yehuda's project wasn't without controversy -- the ultra-Orthodox objected to the use of the religious language for everyday use (it seems they are over it now).  Driven by his vision, he raised his son (in the 1880s-1890s) as the first native Hebrew speaker and the rest is ... well, history ... or maybe more appropriately, alive. Hebrew is the lingua franca of Jewish Israelis and there is a serious industry in teaching it through ulpan (language courses) to anyone interested (mostly Jews who made or plan to make aliyah). 

Resurrecting a biblical language for everyday use poses some obvious problems: daily life changes considerably in 2000 years. If you cannot find the word in the Bible you need to invent it or borrow it from some other language. In some cases Hebrew has adopted words from other languages like French: soap is sabon (the "v" is often/somewhat interchangeable with "b"); mushrooms are champignons. For a really modern example -- this is my favourite that I know about -- how do you call the @ ? In English this usually goes by the ever-so-boring "at sign". But, in Hebrew it is a "strudel". So, if you were ask me my email address, I'd say: "username, strudel, gmail, dot, com".

why is "@" called strudel? Obviously, because it looks like the pastry!

Canadian Foreign Policy in the Middle East

About a week ago I was at the opening session of the 14th Jerusalem Conference in Canadian Studies. One of the keynote speakers was Irwin Cotler (Liberal MP, Mount Royal) -- he was AG under Paul Martin from 2003-2006. He is an expert on human rights and international law having spent the bulk of his career at McGill; he was first elected to Parliament in 1999. Cotler was speaking on Canadian Foreign Policy in the Middle East, a potentially slightly tricky task if you are generally in favour of Canada's position and a member of the opposition (little "o" since the Libs are not Her Majesty's official opp) and you are a Jew in a Jewish crowd.

 He opened by querying why there is a perception in Canada and Israel that the Harper Government is the best friend Israel has ever had. He asked why this is the case when successive Canadian governments have maintained the same principles -- why  is Harper Israel's best friend? Like any good lawyer in a tricky spot, Cotler focused on the fine distinctions between the traditional Canadian position (obviously espoused by the Liberals!) and Steven Harper's position. First, he suggested there are 10 key principles to Canadian foreign policy in the Middle East. Perhaps curiously, he peppered his discussion of the principles with quotes from Dion and Martin, nothing from Trudeau the elder or the younger. According to Cotler, these are the principles in a nutshell, should you be keen:

1. A cornerstone of the policy is support for Israel and its legitimacy
2. Palestinians are people with a right to a state - support of the 2 state solution
3. support of UNSC Res 242 & 338, which set out the basic framework for conflict resolution
4. Terrorism is unacceptable
5. Genocide is unacceptable
6. support of democracy for good governance
7. demands integrity of international institutions
8. Iran may pose a threat to regional stability
9. support for bilateralism
10. support for UNSC 242 -- there are Jewish and Arab refugees

Then Cotler made 6 distinctions between previous Canadian government policy and Harper policy.

1. Harper has made support for Israel = Canadian foreign policy in the Middle East
2. Conservatives have been especially demonstrative of their support in international forums e.g. Baird's speech at the UN in Nov 2012 to oppose the granting of Palestinian observer state status.
3. Conservatives have been especially demonstrative of their support on the ground, e.g. it was front page news that Baird visited Tzipi Livni at the Justice Ministry in East Jerusalem.  Cotler said he did this too as a representative of the Canadian government. (Small aside -- many governments don't do this as it imparts legitimacy to Israel's annexation of the East.)
4. Canada's closing of its embassy in Iran and the Iranian embassy in Canada was framed as support for Israel
5. Harper suggests that Canada didn't get a seat at the UNSC because of its Middle East policy (support for Israel). Cotler (and others) suggest the problem is Canadian foreign policy in Africa
6. At least eight ministers of Harper's government have visited Israel in the last few years.

Upshot: It's all Israel, all the time from the Harper Conservatives. 


Before the keynote speeches I had an interesting conversation with a Canadian-Israeli lawyer who studied at UBC in the late 60s. He's retired now, but told me he's spent nearly the last 40 years in Israel doing law reform that has used Canadian legislation as a model. One example he gave was the PPSA -- the personal property security act! This is the provincial law that you use to register a security interest against property that isn't real property. Like, when the bank gives you a loan to buy a car and they take a security interest in the car so that if you don't pay your loan, they get the car and can recover. (When I was at law school the PPSA's creation was attributed to Prof Cumming at UofS, although I see that Wikipedia says it was first implemented in Ontario. I think Wikipedia is wrong in this case, Cumming was legendary, but I'm not inclined to do further research on this point!) For my fellow lawyerly types -- this brought up fond memories of reviewing PPSA searches after dinner in my office in Calgary for aircraft financing deals. Shudder! Surely there is a more automated system these days?
 

A Friday morning in Talbiya

This is how it looked before 6am in my neighbourhood today.

Talbiya - looking southeast

Talbiya - east to Jordan

And [new to this blog -- audio] here's how it sounded: 

Hot in the City

It's truly summer and hot. Not that hot (not hot like Gulf humidity and heat) in that there is a light breeze and the humidity is low.  But it is the hottest it's been this summer. The forecast this weekend is for hair dryer heat -- you know, when even if a little wind blows it just makes you feel hotter.  Here's a screen shot of my favourite weather forecast website for Jerusalem -- 02 Weather Station (02 is the Jerusalem land line area code):

Weather forecast  http://www.02ws.co.il/station.php?&lang=0

Eight months later and I'm still enamoured with the little icons (pictograms) -- this weekend features shorts and t-shirts. If you hover your cursor over the icon it tells you what to wear. The shorts icon says "short pants and t-shirt".  The long sleeve shirt icon says "long sleeves, it is recommended to also take t-shirt and add or remove layer when necessary". Okay, so the syntax is a little off, but you get the point. The winter icons include a raincoat, a jacket, and a coat.

The bus ride home today was slow and hot. The AC was on, but a bit weak so the windows were wide open...energy efficiency is not the priority, that would be not melting!

Open windows & AC

Jerusalem buses do have a great feature that is somewhat energy efficient and most definitely life saving -- blackout blinds. Pulling them down is the only way to survive if you happen to have a seat on the sunny side of the bus. Fortunately, it usually doesn't take much negotiation to get the person ahead or behind you to agree to blocking their view for the sake of cooling off a couple of degrees. Still, I made an effort to remember the better side of the bus to sit on for my usual route to and from the uni. The commute usually takes about 25 minutes, but in slow traffic it can be closer to 50 minutes, so it is worth memorizing where you want to sit!

A blackout blind on the bus

A hot weekend in Jerusalem is when the evenings stay hot. Normally, you can expect to need long sleeves for your walk home from dinner or the pub. In a heat wave, it's not necessary to carry an extra layer unless you are going to the movies where the AC is usually set at about 17C (I think that's the lowest you can set AC). Early this week I went to see Hannah Arendt (no, she's deceased, but there's a new movie about her) at the Cinematheque. I took an extra layer, but I could have used a second or thicker first layer. It was amusing watching all the women (and older men) enter the theatre with sweaters in hand.

Anyway, because it normally cools down in Jerusalem at night air conditioning is not really a necessity in many homes. Granted, during the day it can be sticky, but at night, up here in the hills, you can usually count on a breeze and a temperature in the low twenties. So, in fact, lots of folks don't have AC. And certainly, anyone who lives in an old place that hasn't been renovated doesn't have the built in wall units. Instead they have fans; you switch out your winter space heater for a fan. And, you hope you work in a building with AC and get to the museums or movies once in a while.

The truly adaptive folks can spend the really hot nights sleeping on the flat roof of their Arab-style house or building...like this one.

Talbiya rooftop

One day: two commemorations, two people

On the west side of town, today is Shavuot (it started last night at sundown): the end of the counting of the Omer. The 7 weeks' count starts on the second day of Pesach. Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah and when the Jewish people became devoted to serving God. It is the third pilgrimage holiday festival (Passover and Sukkot being the two others) when Jews are meant to travel to Jerusalem.  Since it's a full holiday, it's Shabbat styles out there: uni is closed for 2 days, restaurants and shops closed yesterday afternoon, and there are no buses. Shavuot is marked according to the Jewish lunisolar calendar.

On the east side of town, today is Nakba. The Nakba is marked according to the Gregorian calendar -- it is always 15 May, the day after the Gregorian date of the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel (14 May 1948, but is commemorated always on the 5th day of the Jewish month of Iyar - 16 April this year - as Yom Ha'atzmaut). Nakba is Arabic for catastrophe. Yup, the Jewish people won their state, and some number of Palestinians were displaced, dispossessed and dispersed.  Apparently, the commemoration of the Nakba only really got going in the 1980s. It was promoted by the PLO and various others as a means of keeping the Palestinian issue on the Israeli agenda as both Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza were encouraged to participate in public rallies.

In search of hummus, tahini, and pita, with a friend, I was in the Old City and on the east side at Damascus gate today. The Old City looks pretty much itself on any touristic day -- packed with folks wandering around exploring the city with 4 of their 5 senses -- sight, sound, smell, taste. But, things outside of Damascus Gate (the main Arab entrance to the Old City) were different. First, it's just more active because it isn't a religious holiday on the east side. Second, there were groups of police on horses and other groups of police that looked ready for any potential neighbourhood riot. While we were there in the early afternoon, things were pretty quiet. Hopefully, it'll all be peaceful. 

From fruit to politics

The summer has brought fresh fruit and at least three hot button political issues to Israel. Let's start with the International.

Syria 

Obviously, Syria is not a new concern, it just may be heating up.  Since the Arab Spring, Bashir Assad has been engaged in a prolonged struggle with "rebels" (a grab bag expression to describe anyone who doesn't support the Alawite leader). Mostly, the rest of the world has been standing by watching and waiting and providing "rebels" or Assad a bit of support with armaments.  Last week, Israel made two airstrikes on Syria and wham we're back in the news! Israel maintains its reasons for the attack were to prevent armaments getting to Hezbollah (the terrorist organization or resistance movement -- depending on your perspective -- in Lebanon that is affiliated with Iran).  Why would Israel do that? Well, because Hezbollah has called for the destruction of the state of Israel (aka "the Zionist entity"). So, anytime Israeli Intelligence gets wind of Hezbollah about to receive weapons shipments, the IAF takes action. This also happened in January. Anyway, after a bit of machismo, it doesn't look like Israel's airstrikes have provoked a response from Syria. (Syria's airforce is meant to be the most formidable Arab force in the region.) Likely Assad is too busy planning his escape from Damascus: the hawks have suggested he may try to create a small Alawite state on the Mediterranean coast (the original Alawite enclave, at least dating to the days of the French mandate), leaving the remaining, landlocked majority of Syria to a Sunni majority power vacuum.

 Last week I read two great pieces on Syria that I'd recommend if you're interested:

1. Filkin in the New Yorker for a fascinating discussion about US intervention,
2. Neil Macdonald of CBC for a great distillation of the current state of affairs in Syria.

Take from these what you will, but it's likely to be a long while until life for the average Sunni Syrian gets any better. And, be glad for the accident of birth that finds you where you are instead of there.

The other two issues are domestic, primarily.  Inevitably, the Jewish diaspora plays a role in almost all domestic politics, these two issues are no different.

Women at the Western Wall

This is actually a fascinating story of religious pluralism...or intra-faith pluralism.

Okay, quick primer. Western Wall (aka the Wailing Wall, the Kotel) is arguably the holiest site in Judaism (there's the Temple Mount, but since the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa are sitting on it right now Orthodox Jews don't go there). The Kotel is meant to be (literally, and you can go underground and see the excavations) the original western wall of the courtyard (sometimes described as the retaining wall) that surrounded the Second Temple in the time of King Herod (an evil genius to some!) - around about 30 BCE.  Herod was the Roman client king of Judea -- and he would have to have been a bit evil and a mighty politician to survive that craziness.  Among his achievements he built the Second Temple in Jerusalem, constructed the mountaintop fortress of Masada, and founded Caesarea (on the coast).  But, I digress. Back to the Western Wall:

Western Wall at night (men on the left (2/3); women on the right (1/3)

After the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, the Old City and the Kotel were under the control of Jordan. Under article VII of the 1949 Armistice Agreement, Israeli Jews were meant to have access to the Wall. But, Jordan refused. Mt. Zion from which there is a view of the Wall became the site where Jews gathered to prey. When Israel captured East Jerusalem in the Six Days War in June 1967, the Wall came under Israeli control. (Notably, the Temple Mount was handed over to the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf which manages it to this day.)

With the Wall under Israeli control, Jews could worship at it. But, women don't have equal rights to worship at the Wall. According to the Women of the Wall the law does not grant women in Israel full religious freedom: 

"No religious ceremony shall be in held in the women's section of the Western Wall."

This includes holding or reading a Torah, blowing the shofar (ram’s horn) or wearing tallitot (prayer shawls).

In the Orthodox practice of Judaism women don't read from the Torah, men do. And a woman doesn't wear a prayer shawl (tallit). But, in the Reform practice, women do both of these things; they become rabbis. For the last twenty-five years, Women of the Wall have been going about their mission:

As Women of the Wall, our central mission is to achieve the social and legal recognition of our right, as women, to wear prayer shawls, pray, and read from the Torah collectively and out loud at the Western Wall.

The Western Wall (the women's section)

WOW have continued to press for their rights by attending the Wall monthly for the Rosh Chodesh prayer.This has resulted in countless arrests, but the WOW maintain:

As Israel does not have a constitution, the legal rights and obligations are enumerated in different laws. Despite the lack of constitutional protections, the right to freedom of religion has been recognized by the Supreme Court as a fundamental right that the State needs to guarantee to all residents of Israel. Since the enactment of Israel’s Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty in 1992, the Supreme Court interpreted freedom of religion to be part of the concept  of Human Dignity, effectively  granting Freedom of Religion status as a constitutional right.

  A decision from the Magistrate's Court seems to have granted a reprieve. Usually the women are arrested after preying, this weekend the police protected them (the Magistrate had ruled that by preying the women were not disturbing public order). The Haredi men threw chairs and yelled insults. (Apparently they've been doing this for years.)

Where does this leave things? Well, unresolved,  and like so many other things without an easy solution. One option would be to build a third prayer place on the Wall (which would require displacement of something not Jewish) so that the Reform WOW could do their praying out of sight and earshot of the ultra-Orthodox. A conundrum indeed. Not least because the Wall has become a symbol of fractiousness rather than unity of the Jewish faith.

An open letter to Naftali Bennett (the recently elected MK and leader of the Jewish Homeland), now Minister of Religious Affairs in Bibi's coalition, in today's Haaretz is thought-provoking on the need to accommodate a range of practices within the religion.

When the rubber hits the road

Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid shared the spotlight in January, after the elections, and in March as they pressed Bibi to push the Haredim out of his coalition.  Bennett got the Religious Affairs Porfolio, Lapid got Finance.

Yair Lapid is our charismatic reformer (former tv news anchorman), leader of the populist Yesh Atid (There is a Future).  He has said he expects to be in Bibi's seat in two years. (Yowsers!) He was elected on a campaign of domestic politics. Forget about the Palestinian issue and the red line on Iran's nuclear capacity, Israeli society needs fixing. How did he say he would fix it? Conscript the ultra-Orthodox, cut their welfare payments, so you can lower taxes for average Israelis.

 And now that he is Finance Minister how is he proposing to fix Israeli society? AUSTERITY! In response to the government's budget, the people were out in the streets in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. Israel had huge social protests in the summer of 2011 and the summer of 2013 might see a return.  Its no wonder, the average Israeli really is pressed to make ends meet. From a story in Haaretz, one protester said,

"We had great expectations for Yair Lapid, who promised us heaven and earth and played a trick on his voters," she charged. "He deceived the entire public. We should get rid of him as soon as possible if there is nothing he can do against Bibi's policies."

For Lapid, there may be a future, but at this rate it might not include the chief's seat in the Knesset anytime soon.

Fruit of the month -- Shesek

The official start of summer in Israel is marked by the opening of a steady parade of fresh fruit, many of which I've never met. A good friend of mine here, Amit, is an intrepid fruit hunter-gatherer both at the market and in the neighbourhood and a walking encyclopedia of fruit so I'm getting acquainted with new fruits regularly.

This post is dedicated to the fruit known in Israel as the Shesek. You might know it as the Loquat. Or you  might not know it at all, like I didn't know it until about two weeks ago.

A sheshek tree:

A sheshek tree on Hovevei Zion

A shesek on my dessert plate

Shesek trees grow all around Jerusalem, this specimen was taken from a neighbourhood tree on a walk home from the movies. A shesek is about the size of an apricot (by volume) and shaped like a pear; this one had a bit of furry outside (like a peach). It has giant seeds that are about the size of a really round almond. This shesek had only two seeds, but seed number is variable from 1 to 6 (or so).

A shesek cut in half

A shesek seed, 1 of a pair

Biting into a shesek, the chewy skin gives way to a juicy, tender fruit that starts tangy-sour and finishes sweet.  Really yummy and highly recommended! Just don't bite into the seeds since they are rock hard.

A little Linnaeus (cause I'm still a botany geek) before I close. It should come as no surprise that the shesek is in Rosaceae (the rose family -- the home of many delectable fruits including apples, berries, peaches, almonds!). The shesek (or loquat, nispero, the Japanese plum, the Chinese plum, or pipa) is, in Latin, called Eriobotrya japonica. The pipa is native to (southeastern) China, but now cultivated widely in subtropical to mild temperate climates - Hello Israel! 

[Post prepared with help from Wikipedia! What was life like before Wikipedia?]

Masada & Qumran & St. George's Monastery

Way back in January...

The day after we went to Beit Guvrin, we (Amit, Thomas, Theresa, Marisa, and I) went to Masada and Qumran and St. George's Monastery.  After an early start -- we had everyone in the car by 8am -- we headed east into the West Bank and down, down, down to the Dead Sea.

(Photo credits: TT)

At sea level on the descent to the Dead Sea

Our first stop was at the southwest shore of the Dead Sea, in Israel: Masada.

Masada

Masada is an ancient hilltop fortress;  Herod the Great build a castle here in the 1st century BCE. The drama happened from 66-70 CE when the Romans were quashing the Jewish Revolt.  A thousand or so Jewish holdouts (some say zealots) refused to accept Roman rule. They retreated from Jerusalem to Masada and withstood the Roman attack for some months (maybe up to 4 years). When it became clear that the Romans had breached the entrance to the fortress the Jews committed group suicide (someone killed someone else until the last guy committed suicide). The legionnaires scaled the plateau to find it deathly quiet.

 The archaeological excavations make Masada an amazing place to visit. You can get a good sense of how life on the plateau was organized, and you can see where the Roman troops camped out.  We hiked up the snake trail (up the east side of the mountain) and took the cable car down.

Up the snake path

a break on the climb

nearly there

In Herod's time the fortress included a swimming pool, a quarry, a commandant's residence, storerooms, a bathhouse, officers' quarters, a synagogue, a guardroom, an administration building, and a complex water cistern system. Later the Byzantines occupied the fortress and constructed a church and a monastery.

buildings on top

model of Masada

half excavated half reconstructed

side view of the fortress walking to the northern palace

Views from the top:

view to the Dead Sea

wadi near Masada

the parking lot on the west side of Masada

TT, CC, AT

After leaving Masada we stopped a bit north at Ein Gedi for lunch at a picnic bench near the Dead Sea. (We didn't stop for a swim or float this time.)

Qumran

To get to Qumran you drive north on Hwy 90 back through the checkpoint and into the West Bank. Qumran is located near the northwest shore of the Dead Sea; it's dry and rocky like Masada. We quickly checked out the museum -- the cheesy video at the entrance was a bit off-putting. There isn't much to see at Qumran. Jewish settlement dates to the 8th century BCE, but what really makes it famous is that the Essenes, a break-away Jewish sect, lived there for two centuries -- somewhere between 150 BCE until 68 CE when they were conquered by the Romans during the Jewish Revolt.

Fast forward nearly 2000 years.

In 1947 (these dates according to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority pamphlet), seven scrolls were found by Bedouin shepherds -- legend says they were looking for a lost sheep. (This is believable as we did a short hike up behind the museum into the hills; the terrain is tremendously rugged and there are endless caves that a wayward sheep could explore.)  Shortly after the scrolls were found, French archaeologists began excavations in the area. Cutting what must have been a long story short, viola! the French found more scrolls and determined this must have been the site of the Essene settlement.

So what?

Well, these scrolls are the very Dead Sea Scrolls that are on display at the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Turns out the Essenes were committed scribes (and ascetics) and they transcribed books of the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and some of their own sect's works. They stored the rolled scrolls in jars that they tucked into the crevices and caves of Qumran: An ancient library!

view down the wadi, east to the Dead Sea

hiking up

a cave where a scroll might have been

Shrine of the book -- where the scrolls are now

coming down

St George Monastery 

Turning west off of hwy 90 onto hwy 1 and climbing back above sea level we turned north and switched religions. Wending our way down a road that seemed to go nowhere, but provided great views, we found the car park and path to Wadi Qelt. The Lonely Planet describes Wadi Qelt as a naturalist's treat. Indeed it is. And, St. George's Monastery is a spectacular 5th century structure built into the rock face. We arrived too late for a tour inside the Monastery, but the hike down to the wadi was fantastic. There are rare sightings of flowing surface water in Israel, and this one was a delight. There are remnants of old Roman aqueducts and the greenery is lovely...and best of all is the sound of running water!

looking into Wadi Qelt

St. George's Monastery

St. George's Monastery

greenery in the wadi

TT, CC, ML, AT

Then we hiked up out of the wadi, piled into the car and drove back to Jerusalem. We were exhausted from our very successful touristic weekend.

Footie and Politics

Today I attended the final game of the season of Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem. They play at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem (in Malha, near the train station). My Israeli family are huge fans of Hapoel Katamon -- the only fan-owned team (like Barcelona) in Israel. Hapoel Katamon has played in the third league in Israel since the team was created in 2007. By winning today's final by a sufficient margin (9-1, it was a stinker, the other team barely made it to the pitch, last night it wasn't clear the game was going to happen) the team has secured a promotion to the second league next season. Very exciting!

So here's the stadium...the pictures won't show you that we lined up, well, you know, queued Israeli-styles to try to get a drink at halftime. Okay, Sivan did, I hung back out of the masses. But, no luck - they were all out of drinks. The only thing they seemed to be serving was Coca-Cola from the 2L bottle, no beer available! (As a veteran concession stand worker from my days at Swangard this confounded me. Both that you would pour from a 2L and not push from a fountain and that you could run out of drinks!)

Teddy Stadium -- everyone sits on the shady side!

play on the field, kippa on some men

And pix of some fans...We were sitting standing in the "hardcore fan" section. On our feet the entire time and singing (or in my case, humming) along to the team songs. Oddly, to me, the fans continue to sing while play is on -- continuously. It's a young team, but they have songs enough you'd think they'd been around for 50 years. And everyone knows the songs.

the rowdy section

There is another unique feature to Hapoel Katamon, besides the fan ownership. Fans of Hapoel Katamon include women and children. And, when you go to a game, kids and women (including a safta or two (grandmas)) are even in the crowd. Apparently, most other football games in Israel are characterized by violence -- very aggressive events. I don't have first hand knowledge of this, today was my first footie game in Israel.

It was good fun, that might have been great had the game not been such a rout.

Hapoel Katamon scores, again!

Still celebrating

At the end of the game the fans sing a duet with the players -- it's actually really cool. They clearly adore each other.

My ticket to the match

So, where's the politics? Well, Hapoel Katamon (a neighbourhood in Jerusalem) was created because fans were unhappy with Hapoel Jerusalem. Originally, Hapoel Jerusalem was owned by Israel's organization of workers' unions and stood for socialist values. Their archrival was Beitar Jerusalem -- a team that was (and still is) associated with the right wing. Hapoel Jerusalem fans were disappointed and frustrated with the ownership's antics (not to mention the team's performance) so they bailed and bought into Hapoel Katamon...with hopes that HK will displace HJ sometime soon. Today's victory was a huge step in the right direction.