A bloody summer in Israel – who’s to blame?
Murders take place everywhere, and thanks to Herzl’s wish that Israel develop a modern society like all other nations, we have our share of homocides. More than our share, if you’ve been reading the news the last couple of weeks.
Some of the lowlights – A 60-year-old man enjoying a walk near the beach in Tel Aviv with his family was accosted by a gang of youths from Jaljulya and beaten to death; Two dismembered female bodies have been found in seemingly separate incidents; and yesterday, a Jerusalem tenant who had been terrorizing his neighbors for weeks, stabbed and killed his landlord.
However, despite the gruesome horror that these murders evoke, and the increasing feeling that senseless, unmotivated murder is on the rise, the statistics show that there’s been no increase in murder this year over any other year.
According to the stats released by the Israel Police, who have been the targets of media scorn during the current murder spate, seventy-two people were murdered in Israel from the start of 2009 until August 15. During the same period in 2008, 73 murders were recorded, and 79 murders were recorded over the same period in 2007. In 2006, 92 people had been murdered by August 15.
In 2008, 122 people were murdered. While that represents a rise from 2007, during which 116 were murdered, 2006 saw 147 murders. In 2005, the total stood at 162, while in 2004, 168 murders were recorded by police.
So despite the sensational aspect of the August murders, we’re on par in 2009 for the decreasing annual rate of murders. What sets August 2009 apart, however, is that the media has chosen to focus on these hideous crimes because it’s a slow news month – not much happening on the Israeli-Palestinian front, either on the ground or at the negotiating table, impending conflict with Hizbullah is still on hold, and we’re not ready to attack Iranian nukes quite yet.
So what are you going to fill that air time and pages up with? According to the old newspaper adage, ‘if it bleeds it leads.’ What I find annoying besides the huge headlines and photos touting an escalation in violence, is the condescending attitude of the TV news broadcasters toward the police. ‘Why aren’t you doing more to prevent these murders,?” they accusingly ask top police officials, when the question is all wrong.
The real question is when Israeli society is going to change, and people are going to start educating their children to be non-violent. And when is the government going to allocate a budget to education that will prohibit the current norms of having 40 pupils in a classroom with one teacher? Those are the questions that should be asked, not what is the police doing about it? It’s time to take responsibility ourselves. And newspapers blowing things out of proportion with huge bloody photos doesn’t seem to be a helpful step in the right direction.
Stencil time
I’ve been collecting these for several weeks, some stencil graffiti selections from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, although it is hard for me to view them as graffiti. They’re just cool, and a creative way to state the artist’s opinion, on whatever it may be:
This one says: Iran is here
The middle text can read: Release the occupied or pickled cucumbers
And, of course, it's always about legalizing pot...
Hot fun in the summertime
When you live in Israel, you get used to being in crowds – especially in August. Everyone’s on vacation, and doing basically the same things.
I grew up in New England and it took me a long time to adapt to the elbow to elbow nature of the great Israeli outdoor and leisure scene. My wife, however, used to the elbow-to-knee nature of the Eastern seaboard fit in just fine.
It’s ironic, then, that 25 years later, I’m the one who can cope better with massive throngs of people. The best thing to do in August is to stay inside in the air conditioning, so it was a curious decision indeed to take our 8-year-old son yesterday to the country’s largest water amusement park, Yamit 2000, in Holon.
Packed to the gills, with trouble finding both a parking place outside and a sitting place inside, Yamit 2000 was the definition of a zoo. They have a huge outdoor pool, but it was covered with people, with little snippets of blue background seeping out. The average lines to the dozen or so stupendous slides there were about 45 minutes, and full of shouting, rambunctious youth.
Either you simmer inside at their overselling admission to the joint, or you surrender to the moment and go with the flow. I chose the latter. As noisy and crowded as the outdoor pool was, the indoor setup was even wilder. There, a wave machine and sprayers simulated a storm at sea, and the decibel level inside approached that of a Megadeth concert. Still, Matan and I plunged into the mass of people and got caught up in the storm, screaming along with them. It was exhilarating.
My wife couldn’t stand the noise and left for the refuge of our outside umbrella and chairs for the duration. “I can’t stand all the crowds and noise,” she said.
“What crowds and noise?” I answered, as we got back in line for another run on the banana slide…
Nostalgia Monday
Israelis drive nearly as many gas guzzlers as the rest of the world (although I am seeing more Prius’ on the road these days), but they also have an abiding love for certain antique cars, particularly the smaller, European compacts that were so prevalent in these parts years ago. The Volkswagen Beetle is completely common on the Israeli street, and I’m not talking about the new version, but the trunk-in-front, engine-in-back model of the 1970s. The original bug, as well as its sister, the Volkswagen van, can often be seen on the Israeli street, offering the opportunity for an impromptu game of Punch buggy.
There’s also a slew of ancient Fiats, Volvo stationwagons and Sabra Sussita’s, the short-lived Israel-manufactured automobile. I often think that while they’re classified as collector’s items, they’re really just that proof of that yekke tendency to care for something very well, and not admit to the comforts of driving a newer version. Here’s a selection of some cars from my neighborhood:
Remembering Elvis in Israel
Elvis Presley impersonators (from L to R) Herzl Shimoni, Eran Levron and Dvir Viedenbaum at the Elvis Inn (Reuters)
The 50s-style diner boasts Middle Eastern cuisine and tons of Elvis memorabilia, including a garish statue outside, and dozens of framed posters, pens, and postcards inside.
And on the anniversary of Elvis’s death, the Israel Elvis impersonators come out in full force. August 16th marked the 32nd anniversary of the King’s passing, and the usual suspects gathered at the Elvis Inn to mark the event with good cheer and bad impersonations.
‘I (have been) imitating Elvis Presley (for) about 29 years and I love him. Today we’re singing for Elvis, for his memory. We’re going to celebrate his death, his life, his legacy,’ Eran Lev-Ron, an Israeli Elvis impersonator told Sky News.
American Jewish Life magazine had the following description that sums up the weirdness of visiting the Elvis Inn.
Set a bit off the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway, near the Kibbutz Neveh Ilan Guest House, is the shrine of shlock, the ultra in kitsch: the Elvis Inn gas station, restaurant, bar and grill and tourist trap, run by owners and brothers Amnon and Uri, along with Uri’s son, Amir, and several staffers.
While it’s certainly not Graceland, the neo-50s and 60s décor does get you in the mood, with a 16-foot-high golden statue of Elvis in the parking lot alongside the entrance, and a second even larger one nearby, with one arm raised, seemingly waving towards Jerusalem.
There are more than 1,000 pictures, posters, and postcards covering nearly every flat surface, sent by fans and like-minded Elvis lovers worldwide. There are also four life-sized Elvis statues scattered around the premises in various poses, sitting at a table, strumming a guitar, and, in general watching over the place.
Inside, artist Uri Ard painted and constructed the show stopping Sistine Chapel-esque ceiling a decade ago, featuring illustrated highlights of Elvis’ life and times dramatically outlined in glowing orange neon.
If you have a chance, even if it’s not on the anniversary of Elvis’s death, don’t miss a visit to the Elvis Inn.
Nostalgia Sunday – Young Judaea Year Course 1978-9
Here’s where I’m not. I am not in New York City this weekend, at the big Young Judaea Year Course 1978-9 reunion. As much as I reconciled myself to that fact months ago, I still feel a pang of regret at not meeting up with people from that first, most formative and important year of my post-high school life.
Here’s the end-of-year photo of Year Course Section 3. What you see is a group of hormone-addled teens relieved to have made it to the end without killing one another, and bewildered by the thought of starting college after a year of “real life in Israel”.
Whereas the other Year Course groups, Sections 1 and 2, spent most of the year studying in Jerusalem and toga-partying on kibbutz, Section 3 had a unique module that placed us for four months as para-social workers in development towns, in our case, Dimona and Mizpe Ramon. And so, while living in these “Turn Left at the End Of the World” places gave us a more than slightly skewed notion of “real life in Israel” — and our contributions to the field of social work were minimal– we did have our own apartments! Which is pretty heady stuff when you are 18 years old and just out of the house. No wonder I felt compelled to document the Dimona digs. Here’s our kitchen, complete with the ubiquitous Armenian pottery mugs from the Old City…
And our fab apartment block!
Prior to development town, we lived on Kibbutz Neot Mordechai, on moshavim (agricultural towns) and in Jerusalem. Like all other groups, we toured the Golan and Galil. Here’s the Good Fence between Israel and Lebanon — probably a lot smaller than you imagined.
And the Negev, Arava and Sinai, where we made like Bedouin trackers, but with little sense of direction and even less sense of style.
Like all other groups of young people in Israel at that time, Israeli and non, we happily wrecked our tailbones for life on that mode of transportation known as a “Tiyulit”, a sort of tin box on wheels, the interior lined with long hard wooden benches.
What can I say? We were a geeky bunch. Plus, we didn’t get haircuts for months at a time. (Yes, that is me in that image below, on the far right, under that mop).
One place our section didn’t get to spend much time, regrettably, was the youth movement’s Kibbutz Ketura. The Spielberg Jewish Film Archive has an amazing movie from 1976 , called Arava, that documents the founding of the kibbutz — an inspiring miracle in the sand that is still making the desert bloom to this very day with algae farming, exotic plants and solar power.
Kids, there were no cell phones (I probably spoke to my family three times that year, mostly because I couldn’t be bothered to wait in line for the public phone), we barely had any cash (certainly no credit cards), parental visits were not encouraged and you only flew home to the States if you were kicked off the program. Ah, those were the days…
A good number of the members of Young Judaea Year Course 1978-9, from all sections, live in Israel and while few of us could be at the real-life reunion, Facebook has provided a platform for a virtual one. Feel free to take a peek.
The ‘industry’
Photo credit: David Rodwin
One of their continuing projects is a series of master classes, bringing together students and teachers of different disciplines, from television and film to dance, social work and opera. July and August are the months for film and choreography, with the masters — L.A. ‘industry’ folks and American choreographers coming to teach their skills to Israeli and American students in Tel Aviv.
This summer brought “Sex and the City” creator Darren Star, CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler and independent producer Gail Berman (who brought “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to the viewing world during her time as head of Fox Studios) to the master program, which is held at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. The classes were focused and dynamic, honing in on television more than film, given recent Israeli successes on the American small screen. “In Treatment,” known in Hebrew as “B’Tipul,” is the most significant of those, as it was purchased and translated by HBO and recently won an Emmy. But there are others coming up the pike, and what the ‘masters’ like about them is that they use small budgets and lots of ingenuity, something that Israelis have in spades.
The more recent class was in choreography, held at the Suzanne Dellal Center with several American choreographers teaching their skills to studios full of young Israeli hopefuls. Two of the choreographers, Sheetal Gandhi and Jackie Lopez, were fabulous talented, and very different. Gandhi was raised in California but with Indian parents and a very strong Indian heritage, hence teaching the rudiments of classic Indian dance. Lopez was raised in central L.A., and came to her more formal dance education in a roundabout manner, although she’s now one of the go-to hiphop dancers in the region. The workshop also including a unique class with renowned choreographer Shen Wei, and a repertoire workshop with choreographer Barak Marshall.
All the masters — and students — of the two summer classes, shared an innate enthusiasm and energy for their subjects. The film students were mostly young professionals with some productions and/or scripts under their belts, while the dancers were younger, post-army and all Israeli. And because of the entire days talking about their professions, or dancing, as it were, a certain kind of intimacy arises between students and teachers, one that wouldn’t happen if they were hanging out somewhere else. The Tel Aviv air may be sticky and steamy in the summer, but it lends a certain magic.
Foto Friday – Marco Jona’s Sun & Moon
Jerusalem-based Marco Jona is a professional photographer with a passion for nature, and a particular fascination with the heavenly bodies.
His series, entitled “The Sun and The Moon”, is a work in progress that is being created over time…
…sunrise by sunrise…
…lunar eclipse…
… by solar eclipse
…and sunset by sunset.
More of Jona’s work is on view at his website – www.marcojona.com.
Get your Israeli ‘mojo’ working
Asaf Avidan, right, and the Mojos - comin' at ya.
All that could change with the signing this week by Sony Columbia of Asaf Avidan and the Mojos. Called by one critic ‘the lost love child of Dylan & Joplin,’ Avidan’s high-pitched, impassioned vocals, poetic lyrics, and raw blues and folk-based English-language rock & roll have made waves in the last couple years locally.
According to a press release issued by the band, Sony Columbia – the home of Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen, among others – will distribute and promote the band’s records, including re-releasing their second album, 2008’s highly acclaimed The Reckoning.
Avidan, who was a successful animator in Tel Aviv after graudating from the Bezalel School of Design, is apparently aware that the label is a good fit for his indiosyncratic style
“Sony-Columbia’s legendary logo, which decorates albums by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and countless other music icons, will now accompany our music as well,” said Avidan in the release.
”This is a dream come true for five kids from Jerusalem who grew up with great faith and love for music, and it’s almost impossible to comprehend this honor. It’s so fulfilling to see that the hard work by the band and those around it has made the impact we we’re hoping for.
”It is important to emphasize that this is but another stepping-stone in the band’s ever-building path, we have a long way to go.”
Avidan spent four years as a child in Jamaica, where his parents, both Foreign Ministry officials, were stationed, a move which he told me last year had a profound impact.
“I heard reggae all around me. I can’t say that I was influenced by it or liked it at the time. But now if you asked me my top five artists now, Bob Marley would be one of them, but not because of reggae,” he said. “It was something I realized later. What I like about art in general, it doesn’t matter the medium or the genre, is feeling that honesty, that it’s something that coming from the depths of someone’s soul. It needs to be out there – for him, not for anybody else.”
Currently in Germany, Avidan and the Mojos have spent much of the last year building up a following throughout Europe with their English language high-energy amalgam of folk, blues and rock. Their next album is slated for release in the fall, and if things go according to plan, you’ll hear about it, even if you aren’t in Israel.
Back to the garden
I’ve been reading various accounts of Woodstock memories, and came across a great one today, by New York Times op-ed page columnist Gail Collins. She reviewed two books about that life-altering summer rock festival, and in doing so talks about bringing her 19-year-old brother to the rained-out weekend, an act for which her mother has never quite forgiven her.
I was just turning one when Woodstock took place, and missed our own anniversary celebration here in Jerusalem. (For an account of that event, scroll down to David Brinn’s entry.) But I was turning 21 in 1989, when the town of Woodstock celebrated twenty years since the concert, and spending the summer at Camp Ramah in the Poconos, where I was running the camp radio station, WCRP. I had just returned from a year at Hebrew University, and couldn’t bear to miss a summer at camp, even though I was ‘too old’ to be a counselor and hadn’t quite yet reached the age of being a rosh edah, a division head.
Being the camp DJ, as it were, turned out to be an inspired decision. It was before the era of discs, much less iPods and MP3 players, and I had to learn to work the turntable and the rest of the equipment. I also had a $100 budget to use on augmenting the radio station’s music collection, and after decorating the ’station’ with my Israeli concert poster collection pilfered from the bulletin boards of Hebrew University, my friends and I set out for the local record store to add the albums we deemed necessary for the campers’ musical education.
While it was twenty years since Woodstock and at least fifteen since the heyday of Crosby, Still, Nash and Young, the preferred music at camp was timeless and specific. Counselors played a lot of Grateful Dead, much of CSNY, James Taylor, Jethro Tull (his August 10 birthday was a campwide celebration) and a few choice others. Counselors’ days off were often spent schlepping to Dead shows or CSN concerts at area arenas, as shown by the concert tee-shirts worn around camp the next day.
So it was clear that since it was 20 years since Woodstock, one of the albums purchased was a Woodstock concert album. That also meant a day off spent at the reunion concert, and while I have no memory of who played at the concert, I can assure you that it wasn’t the Dead or CSN. But tee-shirts were purchased and it didn’t rain, although it was cloudy. And hey, we felt like we’d been there.
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