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.

While you were away...

Back in Israel, summer has arrived. The daytime highs are pushing at 30C and I cannot say I mind. After a chilly and wet bit of spring in Vancouver, I'm quite enjoying drying out and warming up!

While I was away, the holidays were coming fast and furious in Israel. As you may recall, I left Israel the first night of Pesach. About two weeks of holiday follow on Pesach...university is closed, Jews from around the world visit Israel, Passover being one of the pilgrimage holidays in the Jewish calendar. Between Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost) is a period of semi-mourning in the Jewish calendar. From Wikipedia (ah, wikipedia, what did we do before you?):

The 49 days of the Omer [counting from the first night of Passover] correspond both to the time between physical emancipation from Egypt and the spiritual liberation of the giving of the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai on Shavuot [7 weeks, 49 days after Passover], as well as the time between the barley harvest and the wheat harvest in ancient Israel.

In this stretch of 7 weeks there are several holidays, but few of them are joyful. Three of them occurred while I was in Canada:

Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaSho'ah) 7-8 April 2013 (sunset to sunset)
This is self-explanatory: It's a day to remember the six million Jews that died in the Holocaust. Across the country at 10am sirens sound and Israelis stand silently at attention.
I am sorry to have missed this day because of its solemnity and also because seeing Israelis stand still and silent would be an amazing thing.

Memorial Day (Yom HaZikaron) 14-15 April 2013
This is less obvious. It's a day to commemorate the soldiers who fell defending Israel and the victims of terrorism. The sirens sound at 8pm and 11am and again, Israelis stand silently at attention wherever they may be. This day I'd really like to have seen as it offers the benefit of seeing a normally very active culture stop and stand still, but it also highlights divisions in Israeli society--not everyone wants to celebrate this day. I've been told that when the sirens sound the Haredim and Arabs don't stop, but keep going about their day.

Israel Independence Day (Yom Ha'Atzma'ut) 16 April 2013
Celebrates Israel's declaration of independence in 1948.

And then last night was the fourth holiday...considered a break in the mourning period.

Bonfire Day - Lag BaOmer 27-28 April 2013
Most Israelis I've asked about this day are a bit fuzzy on its meaning. Something to do with commemoration of the fall of the 2nd temple and something to do with the kabbalah. Today it is mostly a children's holiday: A chance to build a bonfire and roast marshmallows and potatoes and stay up late. Lag BaOmer is the 33rd day between Passover and Pentecost, so it should only be one night, but this year it's being celebrated two nights in a row (something about shifting it because yesterday was shabbat). I have no idea about any of this but I can report that the air quality is not improving tonight. I walked home along a road with a park on one side of it (Dor Dor Vedorshev) and the park slope was blanketed in bonfires. Smokey the Bear would be appalled -- it's awfully dry out there, the humidity is about 10% right now (we have a heat wave -- Red Sea Trough -- which thankfully doesn't have high winds) and the daytime highs are 30C. Yikes!

Meanwhile, I'm settling back into life here. It's good to be back and I look forward to getting caught up on my postings (and work)!

Packing up

Greetings!

Since the trip to LA, I have been busy in Vancouver -- seeing friends and family, running errands, and helping out with some housepainting! Egad...where does the time go?


I've been to Granville Island, where I walked a bit of the seawall

Looking up False Creek

and, I listened to my favourite busker at Granville Island (coincidence)

Le chanteur francais

while avoiding the curious fellow that feeds the pigeons from his lap (um...maybe he could do that where folks aren't trying to eat their lunch?).

I've been to UBC campus...

On theme: UBC's Hillel House (the home of Jewish life on campus)

I've walked Jericho Beach to Spanish Banks. I've been to the Apple Store at Pacific Centre Mall, where the "genius" dude did me the favour of blowing the dust out of my keyboard...my MBA is almost like new.

The big news in BC is that the writ for the provincial election has been dropped and the parties - there are two contenders to form the government, the Liberals and the NDP - are hard on the trail, voting is May 14.

And, although there's been plenty of rain and it's been quite cool, it's always easy to admire the glorious cherry trees in Vancouver when just a bit of sunshine graces the grey lower mainland.
 

Cherry blossoms on Yew Street

Thanks for your patience with my irregular posting this month. I'll be back in Israel next week where I look forward to blogging more regularly.

Life in NA

It seems the pace of life in North America is fast. I feel like I've been running since I stepped of the plane at YVR. I have managed to attend to several errands and see lots of folks (if you are in Vancouver and haven't seen or heard from me, it's not because I haven't thought of you, it's that I cannot drink that much coffee!).

I've managed to spend time on my bike and on my skis. Skiing on the last weekend of the season at Hollyburn was amazing -- great weather, good snow, and an egg unit at the lodge to wrap it all up. I'm not exactly in "end of season" form, but my ski buddy still let me set the pace (thanks Jane!).

The blogger on skis

Now I'm in LA attending the Association of American Geographers Annual Conference -- a bizarre event where some 8000 academics gather for 5 days to discuss all sorts of things under the broad umbrella of 'geography'. There are physical geographers - those that study rivers and map stuff - and human geographers - those that study things like political economy, representations of the state, and the political geographies of waste.  I've been to some great and not-so-great presentations, but the highlight is definitely seeing good friends that are now scattered across the continent (or world).

These trips rarely afford much time for sightseeing but I did go to see the Frank Gehry-designed Disney Hall -- a walk by since I couldn't stay for a tour.  And, I've seen the Westin Bonaventure, the Biltmore Hotel, the LA Hotel, and the LA Public Library. A weak showing when downtown LA really deserves more time!

Must run, off to another session here.