Esajudita

�Caramba y zamba la cosa!

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:36:27 -0600

Guess who has tickets to Mercedes Sosa? Me! Me!

For those of you in Tel Aviv, she is playing at היכל התרבות on October 22 and 26 at 8:30 PM. She's also playing in Jerusalem (I think on the 29th) at בנייני האומה.

Mercedes Sosa has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. You see, my mother lived in Latin America from the age of 3 until the age of 18. Though they moved around Latin America a lot, from Argentina to Guatemala to Costa Rica and to M�xico City (my grandfather was a cultural affairs attache with the State Department), she spent most of her time in Argentina - which also happens to be Ms. Sosa's home country.

Since I was very little, my mother has always played Mercedes Sosa's songs (along with those of other household names like Eduardo Fal�). I guess her music would best be described as something like Argentine folk peppered with quite a bit of indigenous instrumental work and themes that are often a form of social protest.

For example, Todav�a cantamos (We Still Sing) is a song in the voice of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, whose sons were disappeared in Argentina's Dirty War (1976-1983). �Ser� posible el sur? (Will the south (ie. Argentina) be possible?) is a song about a country looking in the mirror and having trouble identifying itself. Escondido en mi pa�s (Hidden In My Country) is exactly what it sounds like.

You see, Sosa was once forcibly exiled from Argentina by her government when it was feared that her songs might stir up unrest in the streets. She returned eventually, but her music has never divorced from the voice of her country and of her people.

My favorite song of hers, however, is entitled Todo cambia (Everything Changes):

What really stands about her personally are two things: 1) she is of indigenous heritage and proud of it, and 2) that deep, rich, sonorous alto.

I was incredibly surprised today to walk by a poster with her name and picture on it. When I read it, I went home and looked up the website at which it was possible to order tickets. If you're at all interested, I highly recommend it.

Rise and Shine, American Jews

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 07:19:48 -0600

It's time to wake up.

David Tenenbaum, a U.S. Army engineer and an Orthodox Jew (from what I can tell; the story said only "practicing Jew"), opened the door one Shabbat evening only to find FBI agents waiting with a warrant to search his house.

The accusation? Spying for Israel.
The evidence? He is a Jew.

But this all occurred 11 years ago. Why is it in the Washington Post only today? Because, after 11 years, the Pentagon has finally exonerated Tenenbaum and admitted that the Army went after him because he is a Jew.

Tenenbaum works for TACOM, which - from what I can tell - is a defense contractor. In fact, he was a known hard worker, as one of his colleagues attests to: "He was operating two gears higher than the rest of TACOM. He took his job so seriously," said one Pentagon official familiar with the Tenenbaum case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it.

But they just couldn't trust him because he was a Jew:

Colleagues at TACOM filed formal complaints about Tenenbaum's behavior. The first came in 1992, just as Tenenbaum was nominated for a prestigious work assignment in a year-long Israeli engineer exchange, and it charged that he raised suspicion because he used a backpack and took trips to Israel.

We used to carry backpacks to school every day and many of my young Jewish friends took trips to Israel. Should the FBI have investigated us, too?

But wait, this only gets more interesting:

Yet by the fall of 1996, half a dozen complaints had been made against Tenenbaum, including one that cited his speaking Hebrew and one that noted his close relationship with an Israeli liaison officer, who the inspector general's report said had Army authorization to be at TACOM.

Oh, so he was doing his job...but he happened to speak Hebrew. And get this:

Among the documents, [Tenenbaum's] lawyers discovered references to Tenenbaum as the "little Jewish spy."

Yeah, you know, I used to speak Spanish to customers at various jobs I held when I was younger. Obviously, I was spying for Latin American governments...all that vital info about salsa and merengue and historical fiction novels that I gave away...a real crime against national security.

Tenenbaum was called in for a polygraph (without being informed that he had a right to have a lawyer present)...a polygraph in which the examiner was so quoted:

During the test, the examiner accused him of withholding the truth, saying at one point, "I can tell by the look in your eyes that you're lying."

Mmm hmm. Scientific.

And:

The examiner also threatened him, Tenenbaum said. " 'I want you to confess,' he was yelling at me," he recalled. "I've done other Jews before and gotten them to confess, and I'll get you, too."

Makes one wonder just what methods were used to "get Jews to confess." It almost reminds one of the experiments that the Nazis used to do on us, no?

But, 11 years after the fact, what does Tenenbaum want?

Now, in the wake of the inspector general's report, Tenenbaum wants the Pentagon to admit it was wrong. "You can't let it affect the rest of your life," he said. "But a letter of apology would be nice."

I think Tenenbaum deserves perhaps more than a letter of apology, don't you? In fact, I think that this ought to be a wake-up call to American Jews. You may think that you are safe in America. But just wait.

The lights of Yaffo

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:05:46 -0600

After several recommendations, I decided tonight to check out Yaffo's night market. Basically, it's an expansion of the flea market (שוק הפשפשים) with tables not unlike those that one might see in Nachlat Binyamin on a Tuesday or Friday, alongside a number of street performers of various kinds. And along Yaffo's streets, lights were strung and restaurants were full and dishing out what is probably some of the best hummus around. Next time, I intend to find out. The whole thing attracted a good number of people tonight (it was pretty packed) and seems to stretch out a square kilometer or more.

Some of the most interesting entertainment of the evening was provided for us while we were window-shopping in one of the narrow alleys that make up the regular flea market, in which one can find jewelry, art, clothing, and more.

This is flamenco.

This is flamenco on crack.

This is what would happen if flamenco suddenly decided to go help the little kiddies cross the street.

Or perhaps if Ronald McDonald took a second job moonlighting as a drag queen.

Bibi Netanyahu walks into a bar...

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:39:33 -0600

When [Likud chairman and former Prime Minister of Israel] Bibi Netanyahu walks into a room, he commands your attention. I don't know what exactly it is that makes you turn and stare at him, but when he walked in, every head in the room turned.

Perhaps it was because he walked down the stairs smack in the middle of the first panel discussion of tonight's international Jewish bloggers conference in Jerusalem. If I remember correctly, David Bogner of Treppenwitz was speaking at the time. When the commotion over Netanyahu died down, he finished his piece, but the last panelist was asked to wait until after Bibi had finished his address to the participants. I was...surprised...but I'll say no more on the method of entrance.

So Bibi walked up to the podium, surveyed the panelist of bloggers and came out with the following: "Jewlicious?"

After a minute of laughter from the audience, David of Jewlicious responded with "Netanyahu?"

And the room erupted again. A precious, precious moment and I am very glad that I witnessed it.

Now, I am no Likudnik. I will, however, grant Bibi one thing: the man can speak. And he is good. Very good. More than that, though, he meets your eyes and holds your gaze for several seconds:

It's quite intimidating, actually ...

He did, however, go on for quite some time which lengthened the conference by almost half an hour. As politicians often do, he got in a few target-of-opportunity type comments and the Q&A session eventually turned into the Bibi Forum.

I have very little to say about the actual conference itself. It was interesting to see the faces that go with some of the sites that I have been reading for the last months/years, even if I never found some. I should have gone up to people, introduced myself, and tried to be social but, well...that just isn't my forte. Also, I felt like I was the youngest person in the room and talking to adults still freaks me out. I'm 26 years old and still think of myself as a kid.

Most of the discussion was about the role that us bloggers can play in Israel's hasbara (הסברה) (explanation/spin) efforts, and how Israel's hasbara philosophy thus far has been flawed, etc. etc. None of this was new to me, as I heard it from a member of the Foreign Ministry some months ago thanks to StandWithUs. Some bloggers consider their efforts in this vein, while some seem not to. I don't recall exactly if that was what I had in mind when I started this blog, but I have considered the issue many times over the past years and see the definite value in what we do and how we present our lives in Israel to the world. In fact, I wrote an essay on it in an attempt to win an internship just this summer.

Sing to me softly, and take my eyes...

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:48:34 -0600

And now for a little bit of entertainment...my favorite Arab song ever: "Ghani Li Shweya" sung by Umm Kulthum. A million thanks to whoever put the original clip from the film Salama on YouTube.

If you're at all into world music, check it out.

A post on the weekend I spent in Zichron Yaakov with family that I didn't know that I had until about a month ago is coming soon.

Imagine me a spark

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:34:32 -0600

I never remember dreams, but for some reason, I remember this one.

I had this dream last night that I had just gone back to Virginia for a visit. For some reason, I ended up at my old elementary school (Spring Hill in McLean, VA, if anyone's curious)...why there instead of, oh I don't know, Dulles Airport, I have no idea. I was standing on the sidewalk between the door and the playground under an awning which, come to think of it, I don't think is actually there. But no matter. There were a few other people there (names withheld because I don't actually know these people, I just happen to admire them), but I was on the phone, alternately calling my mother and father, asking them to come pick me up. Neither seemed to want to, and I remember offering to walk home. I think that it's a couple of miles between there and the house...I suppose it would be do-able.

And then I woke up, and looked around. And I will admit that there was the slightest bit of disappointment. And then I ended up Googling pictures of McLean, Vienna, and Tysons Corner...just because. I don't understand this because I do not ever want to go back and live there again. But sometimes I miss being around my old friends and participating in things. And I haven't made a lot of friends here, and I'm terribly frightened of new people, and I don't know what to do to change that.

Follow me to heaven

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:23:54 -0600

This took place a week ago, but I haven't felt like writing about it until this evening.

The Temple Mount itself is open to visitors only twice a day (though I imagine not on Fridays): from 9 AM or so until 11 AM and then again from 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM. We had heard rumors that Israeli Jews were not allowed on the space itself, but...well...no one asked me for identification of any kind, and I didn't offer any. Try as we might, however (and my friend argued!), only Muslims are allowed inside the Dome of the Rock itself.

Some pictures:

English wars

Mon, 4 Aug 2008 06:08:18 -0600

I always knew that I didn't feel particularly comfortable with Jews in America but this is just too much.

Now, admittedly, for an Israeli prime minister not to speak competent English is a problem. I will grant the American Jewish community that one. But for an Israeli prime minister not to speak English which is good enough for them is something entirely different.

The issue in this particular article happens to be the English skills of Tzipi Livni, Shaul Mofaz, and Bibi (Netanyahu). The principal problem, apparently, is Mofaz's English. It is apparently, to be frank, not too good. Now, an Israeli prime minister must be able to interact with American officials (not to mention the rest of the international community) in decent English. But listen to this Seymour Reich guy:

"I hope any new Israeli leader will be fluent in English and will be able to understand both the subtleties and phrases."

This is perhaps the most difficult aspect to comprehend when learning a language which is not one's mother tongue. Now, maybe I'm overreacting here, but it sounds to me as if Mr. Reich were demanding that any new Israeli prime minister speak a level of English which is to Reich's own satisfaction. I wonder, to myself, whether Mr. Reich understands the subtleties and phrases of the Hebrew language. I'm willing to bet not.

Now, we turn to Tzipi Livni, who obviously speaks competent enough English to enjoy a close relationship with Condoleezza Rice. However, read:

Livni was also praised for the improvement in her English skills, although her accent needs to be improved.

Her accent needs to be improved? Do you understand her? Ok. Shut up.

Bibi, of course, speaks perfect, unaccented English. Good for him. He lived with his family many years in Philadelphia and as such had a chance to pick up speech from the inside. Not everyone gets that chance and only a small number have good enough ear training to listen to intonations and mimic perfectly.

What really annoys me is when American Jews demand that Israeli leaders (or Israelis in general) meet their expectations. That always annoyed me about America - that attitude of "we're America, now do exactly as we do."

In which I write a guest entry for Gordon

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:40:07 -0600

Gordon has asked that I write a guest entry over on his journal while he is off at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. He asked for it, he got it.

If you're interested, go on over and check it out.

Just don't expect any substance.

A plea for help to the techies

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:54:07 -0600

I have been trying for weeks to install Captcha (and sometimes Recaptcha) on this site to filter out those annoying spam comments. As might be obvious, I have had no success. I have put in the code many times, and it simply will not take.

Might someone shed some light on how to do this properly? I'm not great when it comes to programming...

Thanks in advance.