I got spam from someone who wants me to buy a Maserati from him, isn’t that sweet?

What do you say? It looks like this is the only color they offer. Not crazy about it. I see it's a steal at 99,000 euro, before Israeli customs. At that price you'd think they could offer it in rose pink.

How would it look all covered in muck, inside and out, which is the natural state of all my cars, do you think? Last time I washed my current car, for instance, was a day before the last sandstorm. There just didn't seem much point after that. It's like making the bed, such a waste of energy. I'm actually quite proud of this permanent reminder of the yellow desert wind, every time I get into my once white chariot.

By the way, I reckon if he can send me spam, I can steal his photo.

posted by Imshin 13:45

Is it just me or is #5 really not that good?
It could be me, you know. I've been through a few life experiences since I read #4. Could it possibly be that I have grown up at last????

Naaah. I still love blowing soap bubbles, so it can't be that.

I've just finished it. It took ages. I've never read a Harry Potter so slowly, but then it's the first time I've read it in English. Up till now I've always read the Hebrew versions. But this was only really a slight problem in the first few pages, till I worked out the different names of the magical creatures. The book just didn't manage to grab me. You know the point where you can't put a book down? When you begin neglecting the kids and sneaking it into work? (No? Well you're obviously a better person than me). Well anyway, this time it didn't happen. Maybe the wait for it was too long. Maybe I'm more aware of the manipulation (there you are – blogging has forever spoilt my ability to enjoy light reading). Unlike with previous books, I don't feel like reading it again; I'm not waiting for #6 (although I'm sure I'll read it when it comes out) and I don't feel disappointed and unfulfilled with my life as a Muggle.

In short – I'm FREE (Yippee).

posted by Imshin 11:49

Sorry.
I'm a bit under the weather. Bad cold. Blogging to resume soon, hopefully.
posted by Imshin 22:06

The Mount of Olives

A few years ago, the mother of a friend at work passed away following a prolonged illness. The funeral was on the Mount of Olives, although she had lived in Rishon Letzion. Apparently, although very ill, my friend's mother had schlepped up to Jerusalem and bought herself a plot. It had been very expensive and she had not been very well off, but it had been very important for her, as it has been for so many Jews down the ages, that she be buried overlooking Jerusalem, ready for the resurrection.

I understand that these days it's mainly Bukharan Jews who feel this way and are prepared to pay the price (that is besides extremely wealthy Jews from the Diaspora). My mother-in-law says she has many relations buried there, Jerusalemites from the Bukharan quarter. You won't be able to find any of their graves, though, because the ancient cemetery was completely ransacked during the Jordanian rule of Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967. After the Six Day War, gravestones from the cemetery were apparently discovered being used as bricks in the walls of houses. I read somewhere that they were found as far away as Hebron.

The cemetery is built on the slope facing the old city. We had to travel through East Jerusalem's car repair shops to get to it. And it was terribly rundown. There was this strange uneasy silence and an eerie feeling of desolation. We had to scale the mountain to get to the plot. It was probably the most surreal funeral I have ever been to, and I've been to a few.

Shortly after the funeral, the Terror War commenced. I hear my friend has never been to visit her mother's grave. For one thing, she spent the next year and a half nursing her sick father. But mainly, she has not felt it safe enough to go, although Jerusalemites may disagree.

Apparently the local Arabs have been desecrating the graves again. I hope they've left the grave of my friend's mother alone.

posted by Imshin 22:35

It is here! The official Notafish obsession site (Some people are so bored, I suggest they come over here and ride some buses, far more exciting: a. They get to feel like they are in a glass aquarium. b. Oh, never mind, there's a Hudna on). I'm on the links so I shouldn't bitch. Actually it's funny and sweet.

They're faking it, you know. Are a fish. Definitely. That's why this is all they write about. They're in DENIAL. It's quite obvious. Now, take me on the other hand. I ask you, have I ever, EVER written anything about fish?

See? Not a fish.

[This is on the links over there. Also not a fish. weirdish.]
posted by Imshin 18:50

When I was in the army I worked shifts, which meant I had to work most Shabbatot (Saturdays). I didn't get to see my friends at home very often, because I was working when they were on leave, so I was usually pretty desperate to get home, for at least some of the Shabbat. I would finish the Saturday shift at two and then I would set off from Jerusalem to home in Haifa by "trempim" (hitch hiking) with one or two other soldiers from my base. There were no buses, because of ultra-religious political stuff. The roads were usually deserted. Most cars were full of families on daytrips. Few stopped and it usually took me till evening to get home. By Netanya my fellow "trempistim" (hitch hikers) had usually all disappeared and I often found myself at Hadera on the road by myself.

One time I was standing on my own at Hadera junction. I had been there for about half an hour and hardly any cars had gone past. I nearly cried when a nearly empty car with army plates sailed by. The bastard had gotten his car from the army. Couldn't he stop for a girl soldier, alone on the road? Eventually, a car stopped in the distance in front of me. I started moving towards it, not sure it was meant for me. Then I noticed there were three men in the car, and they looked like Arabs. I was just starting to panic, when another car stopped and I climbed aboard thankfully. I remember finding myself in the back seat of a bashed up old car, squeezed in between an old lady and a crate of chickens or something equally strange. The driver was really crazy and it crossed my mind, not for the first time, that I had more chance of being killed in a car crash than of being abducted by terrorists.

The next Saturday, I felt very uneasy. I decided that was it. Last time. Something was in the air. At HaKfar HaYarok junction on the outskirts of Tel Aviv a woman at a bus stop told me something was happening. There were rumors that a girl soldier had gone missing on the roads. I still had quite a bit to go till Haifa.

Later the news broke. A hitch hiking girl soldier had been abducted by Arabs on the Thursday, two days before. Hadas Kedmi. Apparently I knew her, sort of. She had occupied the room opposite me in the barracks when I was in an army course. Her body was found a few weeks later (the second date on the link is a mistake). I remember the horrible details of what they did to her, but I won't go into that.

I stayed in my base after that.

Good thing my mum isn't around to read any of this. She would have had a fit.

I think they stopped girl soldiers hitch hiking on their own like that some time after I left the army.

Every so often a soldier goes missing and later turns up slaughtered. Today the body of another such soldier, Oleg Shaikhet, was found. They have been searching for him since last week.

posted by Imshin 18:26

Funny. Also creative and devious. You have to give it to Shimon Peres. Let Kofi Annan deal with the ultra-religious riots on Bar-Ilan Road on Shabbat. That'd show him.
posted by Imshin 22:32

Look what Gil has posted - nice photos of my home town. What a treat.
Believe it or not, you can see my living room window on the lower photo (I'm actually standing there waving but it's too small to see). I'm not telling which is my building. No amount of begging will change my mind. And flattery won't do any good either. Nor bribery (Hmm…)

posted by Imshin 21:35

Six Jews airlifted to Israel from Iraq

90 year old Sasson Salah Abu-Nabi was found in poor condition, living without water in the basement of an abandoned Baghdad building. His health improved after receiving medical treatment and Abu-Nabi said he regretted his decision not to come to Israel when he had the opportunity to do so over fifty years ago, saying, "I know that if I had moved to Israel with my family, my life would have been completely different.... But now I am here, and my family is here, and all of the Jewish people are my family."

[...]

HIA Vice President Rachel Zelon described the poor living conditions of Iraqi Jews, whose possessions were confiscated by the state during Saddam Hussein's regime: "Most of them live in bitter poverty in subhuman conditions...The small Jewish community has been living in a society that hates Israel and despises Jews. Most of them tried to hide their Jewish identities, telling only close friends."

[...]

Zelon said that the project received complete U.S. military support. "On Tuesday we met with the American commander of humanitarian aid in Baghdad. We told him that there was a group of elderly Jews who needed care and we wanted to take them to a safe country, to Israel. He answered emotionally: 'That's amazing, we'll do anything to help you.'"

A U.S. soldier stationed at the Baghdad airport while the group boarded the Jordanian plane that would bring them to Tel Aviv, stated, "You know, this is what makes the work that we're doing here worthwhile."

Nice.

posted by Imshin 21:33

Goodness me!
What a lot of negative energy. Here too. Via Allison.

Hey guys, loosen up. Things can't be all that bad, can they?

posted by Imshin 20:42

Unsent letter to a Dharma Sister
Dear J.,
I have often wondered why you never answered my last e-mail. Was it too intense for you? Was it too harsh? Was it unacceptable because it had no message of peace and reconciliation, only despair and mistrust? It was an e-mail that begged for an answer. It was written by someone whose whole world of values and beliefs had just collapsed (and rightly so, true Buddhists would jeer, ever so gently). You're a psychologist. Did you have no words of hope and comfort to offer?

Together we learnt of non-judgment, J., and spent a week practicing it together in a peaceful place, far from the world's troubling realities. It was easy there, wasn't it? The sun was our Sangha.

But back home, peace was not so easily come by. And I felt so very judged by your silence.

This is not a love letter. I am no longer seeking acceptance. I am not interested in your understanding (I am not a very good liar, am I?). But the questions continue to haunt me. Why didn't you answer my e-mail? Why were you unable to sense my pain and respond to it? Was it because you ceased seeing me as Imshin and started seeing me as part of a collective of wickedness, based on my words, based on my unwillingness to automatically accept all blame in the name of my people, because that was how you saw things?

(Harsh accusations indeed from one who thinks of rejoining her Sangha weekly meetings. Things are usually more complex than they seem)

I should let it go. I should not blame and judge you. I really know nothing of why you didn't write. Maybe you felt inadequate to understand what I was going through and thought it wiser to be silent. Maybe your already shaky access to your e-mail box had become non-existent.

We had had our moment of closeness, and it was over. Time to let it go.

With some sadness,
Imshin

posted by Imshin 20:41

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