The hammer strikes back

Tonight, I am packing my bags in preparation for leaving Israel. For the first time in a year I will be returning to visit my parents in Ventura, California. I will be going with my little sister, who is spending the year in Israel.  Our visit will be for one week, where we will also celebrate my cousin Alyssa's Bat-Mitzvah.

After a difficult half-year on kibbutz Lotan, I returned to Jerusalem. I then went on an excellent trip to Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland. While in Eastern Europe, it was nice to see people waiting in lines and to be amongst non-Jews again, eating pork for breakfast and drinking beer for lunch.

To a certain extent it reminded me of California, where I always lived amongst non-Jews. Because I am not religious I didn't stand out and therefore didn't experience the prevalent anti-Semitism in these countries.

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Ten fingers and ten toes

Virtually all humans have ten fingers and ten toes. We are more similar than different.  Perhaps this could be the basis for a peace settlement in Israel. Unfortunately people like to stress differences, rather than focusing on similarities. This leads to division and conflict.

Israel is made up of many groups. There are men and women, adults and children. There are Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Druse. Within the Jewish people there are the religious and the secular. Within the religious community there are the orthodox and the ultra-orthodox. There are the Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews. Then are also the Russians, Ethiopians, French, Americans, Moroccans, et cetera, et cetera. In Israel and in the world in general people like to label people and put them in boxes.   

Some people think that religion and skin color is the basis for division, but it appears to me that people like to create divisions regardless of the similarity of a population. Perhaps by labeling groups it provides some order to the chaos of existence. 

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Ten fingers and ten toes

I always hear "I don't like the (fill in the blank)," or "The (fill in the blank) do this." It's easy to say these things, but such statements only show the ignorance of those that say them.

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Room with a view

In the mornings and evenings I hear the Palestinian cars honking their horns as they wait at the checkpoint to enter Jerusalem. They figure if they honk enough it will eventually annoy the Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint and they will let the cars

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A day in my life, Part VIII

I start the night off with easy listening. This is followed by rock and then dance music. By now I am a little drunk and am feeling good. Seeing people dance to the music I play makes me feel at peace with myself and the world.

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A day in my life, Part VII

I remember when I was younger I used to pour over the news and take great interest into what I was reading, especially the Israeli news sites.

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A day in my life, Part VI

I'm simply writing about my life. What I saw and what I did. It wasn't exciting, but generally life isn't exciting. If you want to experience something exciting, go to the movies.

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A day in my life, Part V

I miss the cars. I miss trash on the streets. I miss walking around the city. I miss seeing the Arabs. I miss seeing the Orthodox Jews.

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A day in my life, Part IV

I'm not much of a talker, and have difficulty in social situations, but I understand music, and a pub with good music is wonderful. I also love the sound system at the pub. I can play the music as loud as I want without people complaining.

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