Tel Aviv Diary - October 25-29, 2014 - Karen Alkalay-Gut


October 25, 2014

Yesterday's gone. yesterday's gone.

I think I erased my entry or didn't save it which is the same thing. Maybe it was so cynical it ate through the screen.

Bad back, so no activity outside the household today. It was a perfect day so it is a shame.

And the evening too - we can turn back the clock - what a shame to waste an evening like that at home. Especially since the days will be so short from now on.

October 26, 2014

My goodness, it's so dark here! it's early in the afternoon and i feel like it's time to go to bed.

Once again I spent my morning in Beit Leyvick. Suddenly the building is being painted and new floors put in. It looks amazing. I hope Yiddish gets the same kind of renewal as the building.

October 27, 2014

Another death from the hit and run in Jerusalem. Even though most people say all the terrorist attempts are in very specific places and life has not been disturbed for most in the holy city, I wouldn't go there. At best the city disturbs me, primarily for its recent injustices. Last night we watched Life of Brian for the hundredth time and suddenly i saw it in the light of contemporary Jerusalem. only brian is funnier.

October 28, 2014

Tonight is the night run in the streets of Tel Aviv. If I were 30 years younger I would be excited about this. But now I'm just calculating the costs - 200 shekel for entry makes for an expensive run. So it's an elitist run, and even though the municipality asserts that they subsidize the run, I don't believe someone in city hall isn't making money here. And, of course, dividing the city between those who can afford it and those who suffer from it.

October 29, 2014

The choir gave an encore after the missa hyemalis of the song 'Jerusalem of Gold' and I burst into tears. Jerusalem is the only holy city of the Jews, and it was so pure and meaningful to me once. In the past few years the city has become more and more painful to my heart. How twisted and unreal it has become - almost a nightmare.

I still think it is more of a Jewish city than a Moslem one.

In some ways this place is getting better and better, despite the government paranoia, despite the feeling of many arabs and jews that their situation is diminishing. for example, i am pretty sure there are many more professionals in the Arab population than before. I am pretty sure many more Arabs are in higher education than ever before. I am pretty sure we all live by much higher economic standards than ever before.

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