Existential Threat

Note: The picture shows how my cooking skills have improving. A stir fry, classical Chinese style-- rice cooked to perfection; garlic/brocoli/chicken with soy sauce/oyster sauce/sugar; and ginger/sprouts/red pepper with sweet chilli sauce and pepper. The best stir fry I have ever made. Full points goes to my roommate and cooking mentor, Alex Goddard!

This past week I’ve been busy with lots of small things. I've settled into College For All and I’m trying to get my volunteer schedule set (with no success yet). I've emailed Amnesty Israel and will call tomorrow to see if there are volunteer opportunities. If I get no response, I will do the ARDC. I have a "test" on Monday to evaluate my level of Hebrew. I expect to be at the bottom which means I'll simply go in the easiest class. I'm fine with that...I can't expect to be fluent in 6 months.

Last weekend I went on a political seminar in Jerusalem. It was a good opportunity to meet people from all political and religious backgrounds. We talked about contentious issues in Israel like the constant tension in Israel between separation of church (err synagogue) and state. Simply listening to the complexities, made it pretty evident that this tension will always exist. People by and large want to see the Jewish fabric of Israel maintained but also (even observant Jews) see the issue of religion having such a profound influence on politics as problematic. There are countless examples in this region. Take for example, the biblical idea of Judea-Samaria. If we were to take this idea literally, the West Bank and Gaza Strip are biblical "Palestine", the land of the Jews and therefore must be maintained within contemporary Israel. However, politically this is huge impediment to any sort of peace and cannot be maintained in order to create a two-state solution. It all depends on what side of the political spectrum you fall on: do you believe in practice of realpolitic-- that peace with the Palestinians is necessary for the stability of the region and the security of Israel or do you believe that the Jewish nation (a term I have a hard time accepting) must maintain its land because after all, land for peace has never worked, Hamas would never accept Israel and more importantly, God promised this land to the Jews.

One of the more interesting speakers of the weekend talked about the difference between symbolic policy and real policy. He argued that the government (and it doesn’t matter if it is a left or right government) always makes the excuse that because Israel’s existence is being threatened by forces outside of its control, security must take precedence over anything else. Therefore, you see the government spending large amounts of capital on new, expensive weaponry for the military, increased defence budgets and new elite units being formed with little new money being put into education, health care or public housing. When compared to the rest of the world, year after year Israel is falling in all major fields including education which he finds to be very troubling. He said that because of the limited budget, Israeli politicians have become experts in symbolic policies, policies such as encouraging gender equality or equal rights between Jews and Arabs, but refuse to put money into the problem. When a change in administration occurs (which is usually every 2 years), these polities lose their status and are rarely resurrected. There is also another, more sinister problem, the military industrial complex of Israel (re: the lobbying firms dedicated to maintaining Israeli military industry and might) have a huge interest in maintaining the status quo. As long as there is an existential threat to Israel (Iran’s nuclear ambition, Hamas’ Charter, Hezbullah’s Katusha rockets, Syria’s tacit support of Hezbullah and Iran) then the increases in budget can always be legitimized.

I also met a Russian woman who works in the Department of Finance through a MASA program called Israel Government Fellows. (For purposes of full disclosure: The program is partly funding by the Menachem Begin Center which is what we classically would call a right wing organization.) It is a 10 month internship where she works directly with the Knesset and Ministries. It costs 11,000 US and includes no housing in Jerusalem but it sounds like an amazing experience.

Finally, yesterday I went to Jerusalem for the 120th Central Conference of American Rabbis. Tikkun Olam (well 3 of us) went to promote the organization and "study Torah". I bumped into one of the Senior Administrators’ at Holy Blossom and we exchanged kind words. Didn't really know me, but recognized by mother's last name. The experience was unique and not something I'd normally feel comfortable doing. We split up into small groups and talked about Jewish text from contemporary angles, most of which was said was beyond my expertise, but I still contributed what I could. I met one woman who lost her husband a few years ago, remarried a rabbi but kept her husband's last name because her husband was the last of his family (Neither they nor his grandparents or parents had any other children). She felt like it was her responsibility to pass on his name.

First Couple Days of Volunteering

Before I talk about volunteering at College For All, let me tell you a strange thing that happened to me yesterday. In the morning I had Ulpan class with my Hebrew teacher Yifat. We were learning about the days of the week by linking the creation story to it. While we were discussing the story, the subject of God came up and with it the whole issue of not being able to the write God in Hebrew (it being too holy to write down). Yifat, being a secular and defiant Jew, writes down אֱלוֹהִים Elohim (God) in the middle of the board. But instead of writing with erasable marker, she accidentally uses a PERMANENT marker. Sign from God? It spooked us all and she was quite embarrassed (see pic).

College For All was an interesting experience to the say the least. I was picked up by Abid, an Arab Israeli who is in university and teaches English. He invited me over to his home and I got to meet his brother, sister and mother. Their home is full of Muslim and Biblical iconography, including a verse in the Koran and a stain glass drawing of Abraham offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. His sister married a distant relative, which I also found to be interesting, to say the least.

Upon entering the school, the kids immediately gravitated to Abid and then started laughing at me. "What's your name", I was asked hundreds of times, and each time I would patiently say, "My name is Sam. What is your name?". They would respond with their Arabic names and then quickly run off with their friends, laughing at their responses. These kids are so full of energy-- some express their energy in the form of being loud and obnoxious, others are physically aggressive. To combat this, teachers are generally much more vocal with their students than I am used to in Canada. Teachers will yell at the students to get them to quite down to the point where the more forceful the teacher yells, the more respect they will gain from the students. What a balagan (mess).

I also had a chance to venture outside the classroom and look at the English work some students had done. One work in particular struck me-- a poster board made by Grade 6 students about the Gaza conflict. It contained some alarming inaccuracies, including a reference to babies being targeted by the IDF for death. I was shocked to see such blatantly anti-Israel material in a school that is in Israel proper and funding directly by the municipality of Tel Aviv. One wonders why this could have ever been allowed as a project. How scary is it to think that these teachers don't know any better or just don't care? I thought about saying something, but I think my thoughts are best expressed here for now.

I may be doing more advanced English work with the high school class. Hopefully, I'll be of good help to them.

On Tuesday, I had an appointment at Beth Hatefutsoth with Marta, the coordinator of the Geology project. We discussed the purpose of my volunteer work and we both concluded that my help would be most needed toward the end of April and intensively in May when they get the most submissions and really need the extra help. With the extra time that I'll have over the next couple of months, I'll be trying to improve on my Hebrew.

Soccer, Elections and Volunteering!

A few days ago, the group went to an exciting soccer game between two teams with bitter rivalries: Jerusalem Betar vs Tel Aviv Hapoal. (Note: That teams in Israel have traditionally been separated by political affiliations; Betar representing the far-Right with chants like "Kill the Arabs" and Hapoal (meaning Workers), a quasi-communist team with ironically, Che Guevara as their hero. Naturally, both teams have an incredible amount of animosity toward each other, with fights occurring frequently between fans. Upon reaching the Hapoal gate (separate entrances for fans of each side), we placed our bags in metal detectors (the ones found in airports) and proceeded to show our ticket to the attendant where we then were frisked for guns, metal objects, knives etc. The frisk was thorough and done by army guards. Before the game started the atmosphere was intense. People on both sides were chanting loudly. Most of which I could not understand, but later found out that chants went as follows: "Jerusalem sits on their own penis", as well as Hapoal fans calling of their former players a neo Nazi for joining Betar. The game was full of excitement, like nothing I had ever seen before—it was a true European feeling of crazy fans. The game was pretty evenly played, until about a quarter through it when Hapoal scored two goals in a few minutes. Tel Aviv went crazy for their team. By the end of the game, we won 4-0 and the Betar fans had lit their seats on fire!

On Tuesday, it was election day in this country. We all took the day off from Ulpan because everything was closed. It's been very interesting to see what the issues are on the ground. There seems to be very little distinction between left and right in this country; rather, because security takes precedence, all popular parties have very similar policies toward security and even the status of the Palestinians. It is also true that historically, right wing governments have been the only coalition governments able to successfully negotiate land for peace deal (Manechem Began gave Sinai for Egypt's recognition of Israel--but its also necessary to know that the Sinai isn't considered to be historically part of Judea-Samaria and therefore was much easier to give away politically).

The issue this election, like all others, is security but what is sad is that underneath the conflict, there are some very serious issues that are rarely addressed and never spoken about outside of Israel. For instance, in regards to education, less than 50 percent of Israelis graduate high school and of those who do, only 15 percent go on to university. I bet you didn't know that. If the right wing manage to form a coalition under BB Netenyahu (Likud), they will inevitably continue the dangerous path of neo-liberal economics in very shaky economic times furthering the rate of inequality between rich and poor (Israel has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world--talk about going back on Jewish values). The results this time around were not very surprising; however, much more disconcerting was the popularity of Israel Beitenu. For those of you who do not know, the party is headed by Avigidor Lieberman, a man known for his nearly fascist rhetoric on the status of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. His party's slogan is "Without Loyalty, there is no citizenship". This time around, they received more popular support than Avodah (Labour) and seem to hold the balance of power. Tzippy Livni (Kadima) has been given 100 days to form a coalition, but whatever she does, she will most likely have to include Israel Beiteinu in the coalition. Many Israelis see his popularity as purely a reaction to the Gaza conflict. How is this different than the popularity of Hamas? Are all people who voted for Israel Beiteinu fascists xenophobes? I do not think so. But neither are those who support Hamas. The situation is always much more complex than it seems to be on the surface.

On a separate note, yesterday was volunteer selection day:

1) College For All.

As I said earlier:
"College for all works in Jaffa with young, enthusiastic, bright students (Arab Muslim and Arab Christian). The aim of the programme is to increase the number of Arab students who reach the level of post-secondary education (whether it be college or university). Levels of poverty in Jaffa are extremely high, with nearly 50 percent of all residents living in abject poverty. College for all is designed as an after-school programme which buses in students from all 3 local schools in the Jaffa area. The students learn Math, Hebrew, English, Chemistry and Physics. The aim of the programme is to have fun with students (who wants to sit in yet another class from 4-8pm?). They come 2 times a week, play games and are fed meals. The programme begins in Grade 3 and runs all the way to Grade 12. The idea is to show these kids that school is important and when they put their minds to it, anything is possible. The programme in only 5 years old, but so far they have seen remarkable success rates and hope to expand in the next few years.
This idea isn't new; it has been in existence for Jews in Israel for many years and showed great success rates. I would be working with the teachers with English and basic math. Although I have very little teaching experience, having a mentor who speaks English fluently will surely be an asset to the programme."

I am really interested in coexistence work between Arabs and Jews. This programme sounds very well tailored to better understanding the needs of this community. Until last year, there were no Jews working at the centre. Tikkun Olam is the first. This year the program expanded to include Soldiers, but because of the war, there were issues with them coming back.

I'll be doing College For All, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons.

2) Beth Hatefutsoth (Diaspora Museum)
I'm working with a woman from Argentina who needs help collected genealogy projects from all over the world. She reads the submission and assesses it based on certain criteria. I'll be using my Spanish abilities to communicate to her (she only speaks Hebrew and Spanish!) and to read the submissions. Also part of the time will be spent learning about the museum itself, and hopefully tracking down my own family history. It's a change of pace from the other volunteer places, and it gives me a chance to use Spanish. I'm excited to find out the specifics.

3) Nofim or African Refugee Development Center (ARDC)

Nofim- An elementary school for south Tel Aviv children who come from underprivileged backgrounds. Roles would include teaching English to ESL students, but more than anything they are looking for positive role models who come on a consistent basis. Nofim also exists as a refugee centre for Darfurian's. The option also exists to work with this community, which I would love to experience.

ARDC was founded in 2004 as an Israeli non-governmental organization. It was created to assist, support and empower the African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel and to promote a humane and fair Israeli asylum policy. Based on the principle of mutual aid and empowerment (“refugees helping refugees"). The ARDC has been accommodating over 2,300 asylum seekers from Eritrea, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Somalia, Chad and other countries.
Again, the opportunity sounds unique and interesting. I need to check out the centre first before I decide between this and Nofim.

Finally, after a full month at the hostel, we have moved to our homes in Kiryat Shalom. My apartment is dirty and small, but these are small problems that I'll get over and shouldn't be a reason for not enjoying my time here. The work I'll be doing is truly needed and I think I will have an enlightening experience. I hope you can join me (at least in this blog) on the journey.

Wishing you well,
Sam

Waltz with Bashir

I went to see ‘Waltz with Bashir’ last week. For those who haven't heard of it, it's an emotionally-driven movie about the 1982 First Lebanon War. It follows a 19-year old solider trying to reclaim his lost memories about the war and the ensuing Sabra and Shatilla refugee camp massacre.

The movie has also won a Golden Globe and is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

If you are interested, read this review I found on Haaretz. It's emblematic of the issues Israelis face on a daily basis. And of course, watch the movie!

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060891.html