October 2009 - Turists

During one of my shifts one tourist asked me to help her. It seemed that she came from one of the countries of East Asia, but she was a Canadian
A Canadian with perfect English and thin eyes
We looked for souvenir for one of her friends from Canada
Her friend's husband is Iranian.
So we were looking for a souvenir that the Holy Land or Jerusalem would not be mentioned on it
there wasn't any
The tourist was sad
Even when I told her I am married to the son of immigrant parents from Iran
She couldn't found solace
Then, a moment later she asked me:
"What exactly is Israel's relationship with Iran"
I answered, unequivocally
"We are for war"
I envied her
I envied the tourism
Her soul have not been washed yet by the horror waves of anxiety washed into the streets of Israel
She did not hear the news full of Chemical elements like it was a Chemistry lesson at school
And threats
Power games
Tired
Tourists buy newspapers only on their way to their flight back home

-----
Saturday night exactly 14 years ago
On my way back from my parents in Beer-Sheva to my routine military - bourgeois apartment in Rishon Lezion
I listened to a radio program, at Kol Israel, with host Avi Bettelheim
There was with me also a hitchhiker, a soldier
I was optimistic
Focused
Belonged
That evening, after watching dull TV
on our way to bed
news from Galgalatz, The Voice of the Sleepy Bourgeois
"Shots were heard at the square"
Woman on TV said explicitly
"Rabin was not hurt"
He was not hurt
He died
At the next day a friend of my told me that he drove Rabin's dead body at the back of a Vandura from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem were his coffin waited
I went to pass in front of his coffin that night
I gathered with the thousands who were there, trying to pass the coffin at the Knesset Yard
I even don't remember what I felt then towards the coffin
Just know today that I felt belonged
I could stand among all the people, all the stunned Israelis
I felt belong
Since then, 14 years
Bourgeoisie left the sleeping pills and went to hard drugs
The army is no longer part of my life
I will not go into the crowd after any coffin
I do not belong
-----
When you arrive Beer-Sheba from the south in darkness you see a magnetic rectangle lights on the east
This is The Beer-Sheva Prison
Dark inside
So pretty it looks
Only from the outside only at night
-----
Dan Acadia Hotel Herzliya have a security guard at the entrance
The guard has a French accent
Welcome to Israel Jewish residents of France! Welcome my brother!
"Do You Carry Any Weapon?"

September 2009 - First Rain

"The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present,
but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality
and hope where others have resigned;
it enables a man to hold his head high,
to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

I have found the quote in the book: Ten Thoughts About Time: A Philosophical Enquiry by Bodil Jonsson

Special Thanks to the physician who told me about the physician

August 2009 - Grater

a woman

was born in Vienna

raised in Jerusalem

Worked as a teacher 

A Physics Teacher

An Only child to her parents

She bought an apartment

not far from her parents house

Filled the apartment with books, 

and hundreds of slides taken during trips around the world

and fabulous years of teaching Physics in far places

Her mother got ill

the woman left her apartment and books

moved to live with her mother

not far from her place

she locked her apartment

with the books inside

dusting

the piano

the spices on the kitchen shelf

the clothes in the clozet

the bed clothes in their case

she covered the sofas 

to keep them clean

fifteen years

the door was locked

after her mother died she 

stayed close to her mom's belongings

her own

behind the closed door

The years pass in Rehavia

the women is getting old

she brings a student, to come to clean her house 

a few hours every week

Mazal is cleaning, Ruth is siting in the kitchen, they talk

politics, Jerusalem, Mazal's big family, her mother, her father

in the middle of the dialog

she stops

telling her to clean in other ways

Do not drag furniture!

She sits

getting old

and realize

her locked belongings can come back to life in a Retirement Home

The locked door, is being opened

Long hot nights in August & September 2006

the student and he woman taking off layer by layer

revealing a world that once was abounded

the dust was moved away

and the doubt as well:

what will donate, what will be thrown and what will be kept

 get new life in the Parent's Home

long hours

a lesson for life

the true time tunnel in Jerusalem

Houres of happines

with one woman from Jerusalem

who was born in Vienna

In her kitchen cupboard

we have found

a grater

with lemon rind on it

it is mine now

a present from Ruth

my magnificent grater

The woman lover visits

young faces in a Retirement Home's dining room

make the host and spectators

happy

The woman lived there two years

she died 

suddenly

in "Bikur Holim"

at night between saturday to Sunday

in the middle of August

her privet chest's door was locked 

leaving behind remains of Strudel

last thing she tasted

She called me 

"My good luck" 

and knew

Our time tunnel is locked from now

and not Ruth niter Mazal will be able to go back in time

I will always have the hours with Ruth Harel

Ruth Harel 9 September 1930- 23 August 2009

-----

At the first day of the new year

I wish 

the sick will become healthy and strong,

the healthy will be happy

and the dead will rest in peace

Shana Tova

July 2009 - Will my Tongue Cling to the Roof of My Mouth?

We have vowed to consider her as our highest joy,

but she brings only sadness

On the top of one of Jerusalem's hotels, they are preparing a canopy

The sun is setting,

beautiful women, high stilettos, bought in Europe or perhaps

the U.S.A.

maybe even Mamilla

Dresses made of satin, silk or viscose

scent of cuisine and perfumes

appetizers

The ceremony begins and the canopy opens, with a kosher Rabbi

and a kosher Bride

After they will ascend to the Western Wall, they will depart the land

go back to their imaginary protected Jewish Bourgeoisie

with the Western Wall in the background, the wedding photos will prepare the hearts of generations to come

Atop the hotel roof, they cannot see nor hear

The city Jerusalem

Her people are as shadows of ghosts

and maybe even some of them are still getting onto the buses to reach their destination

alas they are all gone

and those who were left behind became ghosts

We have vowed to consider Jerusalem as our highest joy,

With no Jerusalem

There is no joy

Big city

Divided

Sad

Jerusalem is in our hands

The hands are getting tired