Those of you who’ve been following me for a long time know that I was holding Ezi’s hand a lot in the Hematology ward at Ichilov for a long time last year. So you will be happy to hear that once again today, his PET scan came out clear. I’ve written about this a lot – especially in these poems. But Yoram Kaniuk did it much better in yesterday’s Haaretz. When I was a child and hospitalized for months, my parents were allowed to visit for a very brief time every day. The staff took care of me. Now not only are visits encouraged, but family members and friends take an active role in the comfort and care of the patient. In the hemotology ward, i had the privilege and honor to ‘be there,’ to be able to check the medications, to be directed and encouraged by the staff. Yes, it is crowded. Yes, it is understaffed. But it is a serious and professional place, and a very large portion of the staff goes way beyond their job, and their warmth and comfort help in the patients’ recover.
I spent the afternoon with “Partisans of Vilna,” that remarkable 1986 documentary of Lithuanian Jewish resistance. It is long because so many people relate so much about that terrible period, but I could not tear my eyes away from the screen. And I know that the entire story was not told. There was so much more that they simply couldn’t get to. That amazing partisan leader, Abba Kovner, came to life again for me. I post my tribute to him, written when he was fighting throat cancer, in 1986
LESSONS
for Abba Kovner
1.
Since noon was for Sloan Kettering
and evenings for recovery,
we paid our visit in the morning.
Amid sofas and tea, we spoke of poetry
and other easy solutions to complex problems,
until you rose, grabbed the shawl
that hid your disfigured throat
from the streets of New York, and said,
“Time for my dancing lesson.”
II
“This is the last time I will speak in public,”
Abba said to the crowd at his presentation
of a Certificate of Recognition
from the City of New York.
They’d known he was a partisan,
been told he was ill,
but not until he stood
for his final words
did they know
our loss.
III
Dare to be simple, be true —
and though the cords are cut in your throat
your voice comes through,
still, small –piercing hearts
born even after the dust has made its peace
with your fighting bones
The poem doesn’t do him justice, but it gives you an idea of what a stubborn fighter he was.
This petition came to me yesterday – there are probably more signatures by now -
The current Knesset, to the chagrin of decent citizens everywhere, is considering the following three bills, all of them blatantly anti-democratic, all of them flagrant violations of the basic right to free expression, essential to democracy.
1) That citizens who do not sign an oath, pledging their loyalty to the State of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state and declaring their willingness to do military or alternate national service, will be stripped of their citizenship.
2) That anyone publicly marking Israel’s Independence Day as a day of mourning, i.e. as Nakba, will be punished by imprisonment for three years.
3) That anyone denying the identity of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, if there is a reasonable possibility this will generate hatred, scorn or disloyalty to the state or any of its entities, will be punished by imprisonment for one year.
Because we understand the meaning of democracy and the nature and responsibilities of a truly democratic state, as many members of the current government clearly do not, we the undersigned.hereby declare our intention to publicly defy some or all of the above prohibitions if they are passed into law.
Signed
1. Prof. (emeritus) Bill Freedman
2. Prof. (emeritus) Zvi Sobel
3. Prof. (emeritus) Mechal Sobel
4. Dr. Shakhar Rahav
5. Prof. Sheizaf Rafaeli
6. Eliezer Rafaeli
7. Prof. Shimon Sapir
8. Prof. Avner Giladi
9. Prof. Adi Ben Ari
10. Yaron Ben Ari
11. Prof. Stanley Waterman
12. Prof. (emeritus) Michael Saltman
13. Prof. Kobi Peterzil
14. Prof. Danielle Schaub
15. Sandra Levy
16. Prof. Esther Levinger
17. Prof. Leon Blaustein
18. Prof. (emeritus) Butrus Abu-Manneh
19. Prof. (emeritus) Alexander Guiora
20. Prof. Ruth Lorand
21. Dr. Sara Meyer
22. Dr. Devorah Kalekin-Fishman
23. Prof. Daphna Erdinast-Vulcan
24. Prof. (emeritus) Shmuel Sever
25. Dr. Ilan Saban
26. Prof. Micah Leshem
27. Prof. Avi Oz
28. Prof. Guiora Hon
29. Dr. Michele Rosenthal
30. Prof. Tamar Katriel
31. Dr. Ron Kuzar
32. Prof. David Blanc
33. Prof. (emeritus) Yoram Carmeli
34. Prof. Daphna Carmeli
35. Prof. (emeritus) Gabi Salomon
36. Dr. Bennett Kravitz
37. Prof. John Myhill
38. Dr. Nadav Kashtan
39. Dr. Ruth Fidler
40. Dr. Yuval Yonai
41. Prof.. Debbie Bernstein
42. Prof. Vered Kraus
43. Dr. Ayelet BenYishai
44. Dr. Jonathan Berg
45. Prof. Anna Sfard
46. Prof. Mira Ariel
47. Prof. Noam Flinker
48. Prof. Uri M. Kupferschmidt
49. Uri Mor
50. Prof. Yehudit Harel
51. Sinai Peter
52. Prof. (emeritus) Irene Sever
53. Dr. Maria Yelenevskaya
54. Dr. Dalit Simchai
55. Dr. Yael Maschler
56. Illan Gonen
57. Prof. (emeritus) Reuven Shoham
58. Paul Inbar
59. Prof. Uri Bar-Joseph
60. Prof. (emeritus) Yossi Mart
61. Dr. Michal Daliot-Bul
62. Prof. Samuel J. Wajc
63. Dr. Diane Shubinsky
64. Prof. Susan Rothstein
65. Prof. Fred Landman
66. Dr. Amos Megged
67. Dr. Yehuda Shubinsky
68. Dr. Lynne Toubkin
69. David Toubkin
70. Michal Artzy
71. Miriam Rieck
If you want to add your name to this list, please write
Prof. Bill Freedman: freedman@research.haifa.ac.il
My peace plan addition: I usually agree with Gershon Baskin who’s article in the Post today was cool. But I have some things to add. 1. The law of return should go both ways. A million or so Jews in Israel might want to go back to their own countries of origin…
Too many literary activities – i can’t even begin to describe the variety. Last week Dara Barnat had a party to celebrate her new book, Headwind Migration. That was in Tsomet Sfarim on Dizengoff Street. Tonight we welcome Seymour Mayne’s visit with a reading in Neve Tsedek. In between there was a discussion of the biography of Assia Gutmann, and a thousand other events i wasn’t involved in so decided to skip. Mostly out of pure exhaustion.
And would you believe it – this week will begin Hebrew Book Week.
Although i will probably never publish the talk i gave tonight at Mishkenot Shaananim about Assia Gutmann’s translations of Yehuda Amichai, I myself was amazed at what was discovered there about how translation can become confession. It was as though she was giving almost subliminal messages through her translations. Amichai’s poetry is always an experience to read, to immerse oneself in, to converse with. It is an honor to speak about his work, to share it with others,
I wonder if there is a correlation between faith in government leadership and traffic accidents around here. It seems to me that right after some crisis when we feel like there is no one really driving our car, there is a rash of traffic accidents in this country. If people thought that Bibi could negotiate successfully with Obama, maybe they’d calm down on the roads. This weekend was terrible.
Talk about uncertainty, read Sayyed Kashua’s “comic” column about living in a Jewish neighborhood. Apparently both his car, and now his house have been “egged” and he’s mentioned this to the police. Can you imagine what it must feel like? On the other hand, we have Arab neighbors on our street, and my only regret is that i don’t understand everything they say and can’t gossip. Oh, yes, I also regret that I’ve never seen their faces because I only hear them when I’m walking the dog at night.
Visit Scholars For Peace in the Middle East website
http://www.spme.net
To Sign the petition against the boycott of Israeli Scholars go to
http://www.spme.net/cgi-bin/display_petitions.cgi?ID=17&Action=Sign
The whole idea of scholars boycotting scholars is so anti-scholarly i can’t get over it
Ezi
celebrator
Recent Comments