Tomorrow evening ushers in the Jewish festival of Sukkot (סוכות), painfully translated as "The Feast of the Tabernacles." You'll excuse me for referring to it by its Hebrew name henceforth.
It's a bit of a funny festival in that there are a bunch of rituals and traditions that lots of people don't understand. Not that they're by any means incomprehensible but they're just not as easy to interpret as apple and honey for a sweet New Year, or the contents of the seder plate whose explanations (on a basic level, at least) are reasonably apparent and commonsense.
Not so with Sukkot.
Nonetheless, Sukkot is a festival that continues the trend through the recent High Holydays of a growing sense of joy happiness, such that Sukkot is the festival for which we are told "ושמחת בחגיך והיית אך שמח" - be joyful on your festival and you will be only happy.
I very much intend to heed this command - with the arrival of my sweetheart tomorrow, I anticipate that I will indeed be happy and this festival will be particularly joyful.
May it be a great time for us all; may you have a chag sameach and a wonderful year.
25 September 2007
30 August 2007
Get out of the way - QUICK! - I'm a Skin Doctor!!
Doctors are a privileged bunch, having the knowledge, training and opportunity to help people at their most vulnerable, saving life and limb. It is for this reason that doctors - junior, senior and in every specialty - have pagers (that's "beepers" for the Yanks) so that when an emergency situation arises they can be instantly informed and do what's required to save the day.
My question had been answered but in doing so it left me with another: Why was this young woman at a pharmacy??
Perhaps her dermatologist wasn't carrying their pager....
As such it's quite common that lectures, tutorials and teaching sessions of any sort will be interrupted by the beeping and vibrating of pager and/or mobile phones, informing the doctor of a situation to be dealt with.
Often, doctors ignore these pleas for help (often they're mundane requests to complete paperwork, do simple procedures and the like)
One specialty, however, seems to be very diligent in their page-answering, obviously having to respond many calls for life-saving treatment.
It's not the surgeons, rushing to deal with the incoming multiple-trauma following a car accident.
It's not the cardiologists, hurrying to stent a coronary artery of someone verging on permanent heart cell death.
Nor is it the interventional radiologists, speeding to save someone's brain from the developing ischaemic stroke.
And not the obstetricians, off to the labour ward to perform an emergency twin caesarian.
It's those apparent kings of the medical emergency, the dermatologists, who answer their pages rapidly, diligently, unfaultingly.
So it lead me to wonder -- what exactly is a dermatologic emergency?
My question had been answered but in doing so it left me with another: Why was this young woman at a pharmacy??
Perhaps her dermatologist wasn't carrying their pager....
11 July 2007
Onward and Upward!
Another rotation finished and another trip to the airport..... I'm going to Israel!!! :-D
11 June 2007
Lessons for the Living
Last week, as part of a trial innovation in our medical curriculum, I participated in a new session on breaking bad news, something that is part of the nature of any career in medical practice.
Little did I know that what remained of that week would bring bad news to me. Specifically, on Shabbat, the death of my grandfather Kurt Yehuda HaKohen Nothmann. It’s true what they say – no death is really expected, even when it’s known to be coming.
Poppy led a long life, ended in its 90th year, in which much was done and achieved, despite the adversity of being orphaned and losing most of his family at a young age, the loss of the rest of it (aside from one sister who had made it to the Promised Land) in the Holocaust and the personal and political limitations that are inherent in that. When he arrived in Australia, having left Germany on perhaps the last boat available to Jews, he has no money or belongings and was a citizen of nowhere, having been stripped of German nationality by the Nuremberg Laws. He was as his ancestors were when our family name was created. He was a man with nothing -- A Nothmann.
And yet from this nothing he built a life here, despite being a stranger in a strange land. He contributed to society and joined the Australian Defence Force – though of course as a German, even as one who’d been stripped of his citizenship, he wouldn’t be permitted to serve overseas. He married his beloved Dora, my Nanna, on the 25th of December, 1940 as Christmas was when the Army would release him for long enough for the wedding and the overseas honeymoon in Manly. Together they began a successful bakery business and, thankfully, a successful and happy family. My brother Joel has more about Poppy’s life at www.joelnothman.com/blog/
Instead, I’ll focus more on Poppy as a person.
Poppy was a wonderful man. Whatever was happening, at least until his decline over recent months, he always seemed to have something to smile about. Whatever was being discussed or whoever was arguing at the table he always had a knowing grin on his face; there was always a clever comment on its way. Bright and knowing, Poppy was great to be with. From taking us, and other kids, to the park to feed the ducks to Anzac Day marches and memorials with other active members of the National Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen, Poppy was able to relate everyone around him.
As well as this, Poppy was probably the most patient person I’ve ever met. Also amongst the kindest and most generous. A gentler soul one has never met.
I’m sure that, if we were all just a little more like Poppy, the world would be a much better place. If we could all just be a bit more giving, a bit more accommodating; more patient and kinder. If we could see things in perspective and keep on striving – whatever we’ve been through isn’t really that bad, and there’s so much more that makes life wonderful. Poppy was like that and, through those attributes and attitudes, he helped make my childhood and upbringing as wonderful as it was.
May Poppy always be remembered this way, as I will surely remember him. May he serve as a role model, and may we do what we can to emulate him and improve the world around us. May his soul be blessed and move swiftly to the World to Come.
Little did I know that what remained of that week would bring bad news to me. Specifically, on Shabbat, the death of my grandfather Kurt Yehuda HaKohen Nothmann. It’s true what they say – no death is really expected, even when it’s known to be coming.
Poppy led a long life, ended in its 90th year, in which much was done and achieved, despite the adversity of being orphaned and losing most of his family at a young age, the loss of the rest of it (aside from one sister who had made it to the Promised Land) in the Holocaust and the personal and political limitations that are inherent in that. When he arrived in Australia, having left Germany on perhaps the last boat available to Jews, he has no money or belongings and was a citizen of nowhere, having been stripped of German nationality by the Nuremberg Laws. He was as his ancestors were when our family name was created. He was a man with nothing -- A Nothmann.And yet from this nothing he built a life here, despite being a stranger in a strange land. He contributed to society and joined the Australian Defence Force – though of course as a German, even as one who’d been stripped of his citizenship, he wouldn’t be permitted to serve overseas. He married his beloved Dora, my Nanna, on the 25th of December, 1940 as Christmas was when the Army would release him for long enough for the wedding and the overseas honeymoon in Manly. Together they began a successful bakery business and, thankfully, a successful and happy family. My brother Joel has more about Poppy’s life at www.joelnothman.com/blog/
Instead, I’ll focus more on Poppy as a person.
Poppy was a wonderful man. Whatever was happening, at least until his decline over recent months, he always seemed to have something to smile about. Whatever was being discussed or whoever was arguing at the table he always had a knowing grin on his face; there was always a clever comment on its way. Bright and knowing, Poppy was great to be with. From taking us, and other kids, to the park to feed the ducks to Anzac Day marches and memorials with other active members of the National Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen, Poppy was able to relate everyone around him.As well as this, Poppy was probably the most patient person I’ve ever met. Also amongst the kindest and most generous. A gentler soul one has never met.
I’m sure that, if we were all just a little more like Poppy, the world would be a much better place. If we could all just be a bit more giving, a bit more accommodating; more patient and kinder. If we could see things in perspective and keep on striving – whatever we’ve been through isn’t really that bad, and there’s so much more that makes life wonderful. Poppy was like that and, through those attributes and attitudes, he helped make my childhood and upbringing as wonderful as it was.
May Poppy always be remembered this way, as I will surely remember him. May he serve as a role model, and may we do what we can to emulate him and improve the world around us. May his soul be blessed and move swiftly to the World to Come.
Poppy: we love you and miss you and will remember you for the rest of our lives. Thank you for being who you were, and making us who we’ve become.
23 April 2007
Rollercoaster
The last day has been one of the most emotionally hectic of my life, if not the single most hectic such day.
The highs and lows came and just kept on coming.
The engagement party itself - wonderful, gorgeous, so much fun and so happy - was a high like nothing else I've experienced.
The Yom Hazikaron* ceremony afterwards - my first since firmly deciding that I will be making aliyah** - was amongst the deepest sorrows I've felt in a long time.
Back home and opening presents - reminders of the wonderful future that awaits us - my spirits were again buoyed.
And then packing her bags and seeing her off - my future is once again beyond my reach.
Highs and lows, it's been a tough day. An emotional rollercoaster.
But at least this rollercoaster is running on track and I can see where it stops next. A rough ride, perhaps, but well worth it! As I continue along my track, my future approaches... and I couldn't be happier, because a finer bride-to-be doesn't exist, anywhere.
* Yom Hazikaron is the memorial day for Israel's fallen and missing soldiers, as well as victims of terrorism.
** aliyah means going up and refers to migration to Israel because, of course, Israel is on a spiritually higher plane than the Diaspora.
The highs and lows came and just kept on coming.
The engagement party itself - wonderful, gorgeous, so much fun and so happy - was a high like nothing else I've experienced.
The Yom Hazikaron* ceremony afterwards - my first since firmly deciding that I will be making aliyah** - was amongst the deepest sorrows I've felt in a long time.
Back home and opening presents - reminders of the wonderful future that awaits us - my spirits were again buoyed.
And then packing her bags and seeing her off - my future is once again beyond my reach.
Highs and lows, it's been a tough day. An emotional rollercoaster.
But at least this rollercoaster is running on track and I can see where it stops next. A rough ride, perhaps, but well worth it! As I continue along my track, my future approaches... and I couldn't be happier, because a finer bride-to-be doesn't exist, anywhere.
* Yom Hazikaron is the memorial day for Israel's fallen and missing soldiers, as well as victims of terrorism.
** aliyah means going up and refers to migration to Israel because, of course, Israel is on a spiritually higher plane than the Diaspora.
10 April 2007
High Above Sydney, On Top Of The World
So... tonight, way up Centrepoint, i asked Shimrit Chobotaro (my girlfriend, duh!) to marry me.
On one knee, overlooking what has been my life for the last 25 years and looking up at she who will be the rest of my life, I popped The Question.
Needless to say, she answered in the affirmative...
On one knee, overlooking what has been my life for the last 25 years and looking up at she who will be the rest of my life, I popped The Question.
Needless to say, she answered in the affirmative...
02 April 2007
matza meshugaas / charoses neurosis
First, apologies for the use of the Ashkenaz. I will usually very strongly resist use of that spelling, preferring the Sefard/Israeli pronounciation but... well... it rhymed.
The period leading up to Pesach (Passover) is always a bit mad. By "a bit" I really mean "completely". This year was no exception.
So, aside from needing to be up early today to make it to hospital in time for the group birthing clinic, this morning I got up early to continue the cleaning that others had been doing for the preceding days and mum had been doing overnight until 3:30 - and which will continue this morning!
Why do we do this?
This is the time of year when we remove all chametz (leaven) from our homes, such that for the week of Pesach we're unable to see any in our homes.
As a backup plan, anything we neglect to get rid of, we sell and ritually disown ourselves of. But realy that's a 'just in case' measure - the cleaning is truly manic, an attempt to literally rid ourselves and our lives of leaven (there are many interpretations for what this represents, if people are interested we can go into that in a few days).
And this is what Jews worldwide have been doing these last few days.
Manically, neurotically, fastidiously and with more than a touch of obsession-compulsion cleaning our homes and lives.
With this in mind, is it any wonder that all Billy Crystal characters are a bit nuts?
Chag Kasher v'Sameach to all the Jews out there, Happy Easter to all the Christians and to everyone else... just enjoy the long weekend!
The period leading up to Pesach (Passover) is always a bit mad. By "a bit" I really mean "completely". This year was no exception.
So, aside from needing to be up early today to make it to hospital in time for the group birthing clinic, this morning I got up early to continue the cleaning that others had been doing for the preceding days and mum had been doing overnight until 3:30 - and which will continue this morning!
Why do we do this?
This is the time of year when we remove all chametz (leaven) from our homes, such that for the week of Pesach we're unable to see any in our homes.
As a backup plan, anything we neglect to get rid of, we sell and ritually disown ourselves of. But realy that's a 'just in case' measure - the cleaning is truly manic, an attempt to literally rid ourselves and our lives of leaven (there are many interpretations for what this represents, if people are interested we can go into that in a few days).
And this is what Jews worldwide have been doing these last few days.
Manically, neurotically, fastidiously and with more than a touch of obsession-compulsion cleaning our homes and lives.
With this in mind, is it any wonder that all Billy Crystal characters are a bit nuts?
Chag Kasher v'Sameach to all the Jews out there, Happy Easter to all the Christians and to everyone else... just enjoy the long weekend!
11 March 2007
Zachor et Yom HaShabbat L'Kadsho
זכור את יום השבת לקדשו: ששת ימים תעבוד ועשית כל-מלאכתך: ויום השביעי שבת לה' אלוקיך: לא-תעשה כל מלאכה
(שמות כ' ח')
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord, your G-d; you shall not do any work
(Exodus 20:8)
By Jewish law remembering the Shabbat and keeping it holy involves a number of things, based on the 39 melachot (defined types of work) that were involved in the building on the mishkan or sanctuary during the period of wandering in the wilderness. This is a long story in itself and isn't what I intended to write about but, needless to say, the prohibitions include a lot of things which are part-and-parcel with ordinary life in the modern world - driving or using a computer, playing music or writing, using a phone or flicking a light switch. Hey, even cooking and carrying outdoors are restricted.
A few months ago, when I arrived in Israel, I decided I'd give it a go. I'd been thinking about it for a while but never actually did it, I was a bit concerned about the impact it would have on my life. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do (anyone seen that stupid movie Anchorman?) and, in Jerusalem, Shabbat is certainly done!
So I gave it a try.
And really quite enjoyed it, so I kept it going so long as I was in Israel, quite sure that things would be too difficult when I got back to Sydney.
Now I've been back a month and am loving keeping Shabbat. Rather than being stressed about the wasted say in which I "can't do anything" I find myself more relaxed, more in tune with myself.
I have a day in which I can sit and read (Jewish, medical, neither or a combination), sleep in the sun or on the couch, go for a walk, enjoy the finer things and not have to worry about the time, all the other things i have to do. And I come out of it energised for the week ahead.
How strange that unplugging yourself can leave you so recharged. Or perhaps when we unplug like that we're really plugging into something else at the same time.
Anyway, the point is it's wonderful and I think this change in my life will be a permanent one (inevitable exceptions to be made in my professional life for Pikuach Nefesh, the saving of a life).
So, to everyone out there, have a great week - six days of work - and then a wonderful day of rest, free of all that work. So for then, Shabbat shalom!
(שמות כ' ח')
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord, your G-d; you shall not do any work
(Exodus 20:8)
By Jewish law remembering the Shabbat and keeping it holy involves a number of things, based on the 39 melachot (defined types of work) that were involved in the building on the mishkan or sanctuary during the period of wandering in the wilderness. This is a long story in itself and isn't what I intended to write about but, needless to say, the prohibitions include a lot of things which are part-and-parcel with ordinary life in the modern world - driving or using a computer, playing music or writing, using a phone or flicking a light switch. Hey, even cooking and carrying outdoors are restricted.
A few months ago, when I arrived in Israel, I decided I'd give it a go. I'd been thinking about it for a while but never actually did it, I was a bit concerned about the impact it would have on my life. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do (anyone seen that stupid movie Anchorman?) and, in Jerusalem, Shabbat is certainly done!
So I gave it a try.
And really quite enjoyed it, so I kept it going so long as I was in Israel, quite sure that things would be too difficult when I got back to Sydney.
Now I've been back a month and am loving keeping Shabbat. Rather than being stressed about the wasted say in which I "can't do anything" I find myself more relaxed, more in tune with myself.
I have a day in which I can sit and read (Jewish, medical, neither or a combination), sleep in the sun or on the couch, go for a walk, enjoy the finer things and not have to worry about the time, all the other things i have to do. And I come out of it energised for the week ahead.
How strange that unplugging yourself can leave you so recharged. Or perhaps when we unplug like that we're really plugging into something else at the same time.
Anyway, the point is it's wonderful and I think this change in my life will be a permanent one (inevitable exceptions to be made in my professional life for Pikuach Nefesh, the saving of a life).
So, to everyone out there, have a great week - six days of work - and then a wonderful day of rest, free of all that work. So for then, Shabbat shalom!
27 February 2007
Back to school
So here we go, after the two most academically intense years of most of our lives and then a relative hiatus (ie having to do something kinda academic but not having exams or anything) for the least 10 weeks, back to school.
We head back, next week, to what will (hopefully!) be the last 9 months of our undergraduate, not to mention un-paid, medical education.
And after that, scary as it is, we get to done graduation robes, throw our hats in the air and write drug charts. Diagnose and treat Australia's unwell (ok, those who can't afford private halth cover anyway). Save (and lose) lives on overnight shifts when nobody senior is around.
But anyway, that almost a year from now. In the meantime we're back at uni & hospital learning how stuff. Which, I think, won't be so easy as I've become acutely aware recently of just how much I've forgotten.
So, tell me again - the knee bone's connected to the... what?
We head back, next week, to what will (hopefully!) be the last 9 months of our undergraduate, not to mention un-paid, medical education.
And after that, scary as it is, we get to done graduation robes, throw our hats in the air and write drug charts. Diagnose and treat Australia's unwell (ok, those who can't afford private halth cover anyway). Save (and lose) lives on overnight shifts when nobody senior is around.
But anyway, that almost a year from now. In the meantime we're back at uni & hospital learning how stuff. Which, I think, won't be so easy as I've become acutely aware recently of just how much I've forgotten.
So, tell me again - the knee bone's connected to the... what?
17 February 2007
Summertime, and the livin' is easy...
I decided I'd give myself some time to adjust to being back in Sydney before blogging on it, so here i am, a week-and-a-bit after landing and...
Sydney is, well, Sydney. The skies are blue, the weather is warm (albeit perhaps too sticky) and one is enveloped by the sounds of summer: the interminable chirp of cicadas, birds squawking morning and night, the shrieks of annoying neighbours' children as they try to kill each other in the pool, the strange music wafting over the fence from the 50 year old wannabe rock stars next door.
I can sit, for most of shabbat, and read in the garden wearing nothing but a pair of shorts.
I can see my family again, everyone seems glad to have me back. Great to be able to see my grandparents, aunts and uncles, the whole mishpokha. And friends, of course. Wonderful friends, one in particular who was my reason for returning so soon (damn that wedding! :-p) So yes, things are pleasant, things are nice.
I can't complain. It's summeritme and the livin' is easy. Fish are probably jumping, somewhere, and i wouldn't have a clue how the cotton's looking. anyone?
It's Sydney. Easy. Comfortable.
But it's not Israel. It's certainly not Jerusalem and it's not even Tel Aviv. (apologies to any readers offended at my not having mentioned their city, notably Be'er Sheva, Yoqnam and Qiryat Ata.)
A week here and I'm suffering withdrawal. (will Valium reduce my cravings?) and maybe a touch of [sub-clinical] depression (perhaps fluoxetine will help?)
no. i know what this condition needs - Holy Land infusion, provided on a continuous basis. Pretty simple, really. Only issue is the couple of little things i have to deal with here before i get the prescription filled for that constant infusion. Like finishing med school and surviving my intern year. yeah, little things like that.
But I know I can make it.
I just hope that Israel, and all the things drawing me there, are going to be waiting for me...
Sydney is, well, Sydney. The skies are blue, the weather is warm (albeit perhaps too sticky) and one is enveloped by the sounds of summer: the interminable chirp of cicadas, birds squawking morning and night, the shrieks of annoying neighbours' children as they try to kill each other in the pool, the strange music wafting over the fence from the 50 year old wannabe rock stars next door.
I can sit, for most of shabbat, and read in the garden wearing nothing but a pair of shorts.
I can see my family again, everyone seems glad to have me back. Great to be able to see my grandparents, aunts and uncles, the whole mishpokha. And friends, of course. Wonderful friends, one in particular who was my reason for returning so soon (damn that wedding! :-p) So yes, things are pleasant, things are nice.
I can't complain. It's summeritme and the livin' is easy. Fish are probably jumping, somewhere, and i wouldn't have a clue how the cotton's looking. anyone?
It's Sydney. Easy. Comfortable.
But it's not Israel. It's certainly not Jerusalem and it's not even Tel Aviv. (apologies to any readers offended at my not having mentioned their city, notably Be'er Sheva, Yoqnam and Qiryat Ata.)
A week here and I'm suffering withdrawal. (will Valium reduce my cravings?) and maybe a touch of [sub-clinical] depression (perhaps fluoxetine will help?)
no. i know what this condition needs - Holy Land infusion, provided on a continuous basis. Pretty simple, really. Only issue is the couple of little things i have to deal with here before i get the prescription filled for that constant infusion. Like finishing med school and surviving my intern year. yeah, little things like that.
But I know I can make it.
I just hope that Israel, and all the things drawing me there, are going to be waiting for me...
06 February 2007
"I'm flying on a jet plane..."
Yes, it's an old song.
It's also how i'll be some 7 hours from now. Flying. On a jet plane. Back to Australia. Most people wouldn't complain about such things but... well, I'd really rather stay here.
My trip here, under the guise of a medical student elective term, was really about a journey of discovery (how much more sickeninly kitch could i get?!) which has, to some degree, provided me with answers to some of the questions with which I came here hoping for some assistance.
What career path I want to pursue: well this one still hasn't been answered, though my list of differentials has perhaps been narrowed a little. More details later, perhaps during my next (Obs&Gynae) rotation.
Place of religion in my life: I think the role Judaism plays (as distinct from Jewish Community) in my life is on the path to expansion. What exactly this means is yet to be seen but it's interesting and, frankly, something I see as being important in my future. Undoubtedly there will be people amongst family and friends unhappy with such moves but really... too bad.
Whether I see my future life and career in Israel: frankly put, the answer would seem to be YES. Not much more to say about that except that there's a couple of years before it becomes reality so you have some time to deal with the concept. And yes, of course you'd be welcome to come visit me! Again there will be people who are close to me who will be unhappy with such a move and, undoubtedly, will be waiting for my yeridah with bated breath but I feel that it's something I need to do to complete me.
What I want out of a relationship: well, I think perhaps I've found her... Yes, by now I've told everyone something so I might as well go out and tell you all the same things - her name is Shimrit, she's a 26 year-old sabra, gorgeous, intelligent, friendly, funny and so much more... basically all the things one wants in a relationship - except that she lives on the other side of the planet. She lives here. Well actually she lives in Tel Aviv but, considering how much time spends at work it seems she may as well live there at times... So yes, she's incredible. What more can I say?
I don't want to write any more as I'd like to actually make use of my last few hours in the Israel, the Land flowing with milk and honey (though I just ate meat so no milk for a bit).
My time here has been wonderful, truly incredible. To anyone who hasn't been to Israel before, regardless of your religious background or feelings, I highly commend it to you. It's an absolutely magical place. And to anyone who has been before but, perhaps it's been some time... come again! Strange, incredibly wonderful things happen here, the people are wonderful and the country... it's Israel and there's no place quite like it.
So my promise to the Promised Land - I'll be back, soon! And to anyone else - feel free to join me!! :-D
It's also how i'll be some 7 hours from now. Flying. On a jet plane. Back to Australia. Most people wouldn't complain about such things but... well, I'd really rather stay here.
My trip here, under the guise of a medical student elective term, was really about a journey of discovery (how much more sickeninly kitch could i get?!) which has, to some degree, provided me with answers to some of the questions with which I came here hoping for some assistance.
What career path I want to pursue: well this one still hasn't been answered, though my list of differentials has perhaps been narrowed a little. More details later, perhaps during my next (Obs&Gynae) rotation.
Place of religion in my life: I think the role Judaism plays (as distinct from Jewish Community) in my life is on the path to expansion. What exactly this means is yet to be seen but it's interesting and, frankly, something I see as being important in my future. Undoubtedly there will be people amongst family and friends unhappy with such moves but really... too bad.
Whether I see my future life and career in Israel: frankly put, the answer would seem to be YES. Not much more to say about that except that there's a couple of years before it becomes reality so you have some time to deal with the concept. And yes, of course you'd be welcome to come visit me! Again there will be people who are close to me who will be unhappy with such a move and, undoubtedly, will be waiting for my yeridah with bated breath but I feel that it's something I need to do to complete me.
What I want out of a relationship: well, I think perhaps I've found her... Yes, by now I've told everyone something so I might as well go out and tell you all the same things - her name is Shimrit, she's a 26 year-old sabra, gorgeous, intelligent, friendly, funny and so much more... basically all the things one wants in a relationship - except that she lives on the other side of the planet. She lives here. Well actually she lives in Tel Aviv but, considering how much time spends at work it seems she may as well live there at times... So yes, she's incredible. What more can I say?
I don't want to write any more as I'd like to actually make use of my last few hours in the Israel, the Land flowing with milk and honey (though I just ate meat so no milk for a bit).
My time here has been wonderful, truly incredible. To anyone who hasn't been to Israel before, regardless of your religious background or feelings, I highly commend it to you. It's an absolutely magical place. And to anyone who has been before but, perhaps it's been some time... come again! Strange, incredibly wonderful things happen here, the people are wonderful and the country... it's Israel and there's no place quite like it.
So my promise to the Promised Land - I'll be back, soon! And to anyone else - feel free to join me!! :-D
30 January 2007
No Choice...
I had been planning for some time to ignore the fact that I have many things to do and very little time in which to do them and, finally, post something more to my blog.
Today, after a month without a post, I have no choice but to write.
For those who are unaware, today a terrorist suicide-homicide bomber exploded himself and others in a bakery in the Israeli tourist town of Eilat.
This is the second time I've been in Israel furing such an attack, the previous time being just over 4 years ago, in early January 2003. That was in the middle of the "intifada", the terrorist war waged on behalf of the Palestinian Authority by a variety of Palestinian paramilitary groups; this campaign, apparently, resulted from the failure of talks at Camp David and Taba in 2000 and the apparent inability of the Palestinians to establish statehood, despite being offered just that. Oh yes, and of course "the occupation"
At the risk of sounding callous, that attack (which killed over 20 and injured over 120) was expected. This one wasn't.
We are now at a different point in history, politics isn't as it was 4 years ago.
We are now in the post-Gaza era, in which left-wing policy was instituted by one of the long-time champions of the Israeli right - that is, the withdrawal from Gaza without arguing about the terms and conditions which the Palestinians would have to meet beforehand.
That's right: it was a freebie, a giveaway. Israel acting on the world's calls to "end the occupation"
And then something like today's event happens.
The bomber, claimed by Islamic Jihad, was a young Gazan man. Whatever "occupation" it was that Israel was supposed to be responsible for hasn't been present in Gaza for some time now, since the withdrawal. That should be clear from the interfactional murder that is daily news in Gaza which could never have occurred while the Israeli Defence Forces maintained a presence on the streets.
Islamic Jihad said that, in effect, this bombing was unavoidable; that this murderous act was to be a wakeup call to Hamas and Fatah, the main Palestinian factions currently embroiled in civil strife in Gaza - a wakeup call intending to remind them of their common enemy and the goal they should be persuing together. That is, the destruction of the Jewish State.
As mentioned, Islamic Jihad is not even one of the parties involved in the current factional disputes, so the "desperation" and having "no choice", as we've heard previously for the justification of such unjustifiable crimes against humanity (yep, check with Amnesty), do not really explain the situation now either. There is always another option, something that doesn't involve in the intentional targeting of innocent civilians in pizzerias, nightclubs, buses, or bakeries. This is not desperation, this is not an accident; this is the conscious, premeditated targeting of innocents.
The only true explanation is as it always was - that indeed terrorist bombings such as today's are indeed the result of an occupation, however not "the occupation" that Israel is daily blamed for.
The occuption that is to blame here is the occupation of the minds of the Palestinian people, particularly the youth, with ideologies of Islamist expansion or of a Nasserist view of the Arab world.
This is the occupation that exists that threatens the future of the region and, until this is recognised by the world at large, there will be no sustainable solution to the problems that have developed over the last half-century.
Regardless, todays events are now the reality of the world and my day and, for some reason, it's had a much greater impact on me than the last time I was here when a bomb went off, despite the prior having been a much a larger bomb. For the first time in many years I recited Psalm 20 and would request, whatever you believe and whomever you are, that you do something equivalent.
Wherever we are in the world, and whatever we believe, may our thoughts and prayers be with the people of the region and Am Yisrael for a peaceful future for all of us.
Today, after a month without a post, I have no choice but to write.
For those who are unaware, today a terrorist suicide-homicide bomber exploded himself and others in a bakery in the Israeli tourist town of Eilat.
This is the second time I've been in Israel furing such an attack, the previous time being just over 4 years ago, in early January 2003. That was in the middle of the "intifada", the terrorist war waged on behalf of the Palestinian Authority by a variety of Palestinian paramilitary groups; this campaign, apparently, resulted from the failure of talks at Camp David and Taba in 2000 and the apparent inability of the Palestinians to establish statehood, despite being offered just that. Oh yes, and of course "the occupation"
At the risk of sounding callous, that attack (which killed over 20 and injured over 120) was expected. This one wasn't.
We are now at a different point in history, politics isn't as it was 4 years ago.
We are now in the post-Gaza era, in which left-wing policy was instituted by one of the long-time champions of the Israeli right - that is, the withdrawal from Gaza without arguing about the terms and conditions which the Palestinians would have to meet beforehand.
That's right: it was a freebie, a giveaway. Israel acting on the world's calls to "end the occupation"
And then something like today's event happens.
The bomber, claimed by Islamic Jihad, was a young Gazan man. Whatever "occupation" it was that Israel was supposed to be responsible for hasn't been present in Gaza for some time now, since the withdrawal. That should be clear from the interfactional murder that is daily news in Gaza which could never have occurred while the Israeli Defence Forces maintained a presence on the streets.
Islamic Jihad said that, in effect, this bombing was unavoidable; that this murderous act was to be a wakeup call to Hamas and Fatah, the main Palestinian factions currently embroiled in civil strife in Gaza - a wakeup call intending to remind them of their common enemy and the goal they should be persuing together. That is, the destruction of the Jewish State.
As mentioned, Islamic Jihad is not even one of the parties involved in the current factional disputes, so the "desperation" and having "no choice", as we've heard previously for the justification of such unjustifiable crimes against humanity (yep, check with Amnesty), do not really explain the situation now either. There is always another option, something that doesn't involve in the intentional targeting of innocent civilians in pizzerias, nightclubs, buses, or bakeries. This is not desperation, this is not an accident; this is the conscious, premeditated targeting of innocents.
The only true explanation is as it always was - that indeed terrorist bombings such as today's are indeed the result of an occupation, however not "the occupation" that Israel is daily blamed for.
The occuption that is to blame here is the occupation of the minds of the Palestinian people, particularly the youth, with ideologies of Islamist expansion or of a Nasserist view of the Arab world.
This is the occupation that exists that threatens the future of the region and, until this is recognised by the world at large, there will be no sustainable solution to the problems that have developed over the last half-century.
Regardless, todays events are now the reality of the world and my day and, for some reason, it's had a much greater impact on me than the last time I was here when a bomb went off, despite the prior having been a much a larger bomb. For the first time in many years I recited Psalm 20 and would request, whatever you believe and whomever you are, that you do something equivalent.
Wherever we are in the world, and whatever we believe, may our thoughts and prayers be with the people of the region and Am Yisrael for a peaceful future for all of us.
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