My little Corner of the World

2006-05-19T17:47:00.000+03:00

Luke Skywalker's wedding ensemble

2006-05-03T19:28:00.000+03:00

Street performance for Independence Day

Maccabi!

2006-04-30T10:57:00.000+03:00

Tonight will be the final game of the European league final four, Maccabi Tel Aviv Vs. CSKA Moscow.
I'm not a big sports fan, but my father and brother got me into the European basketball league, espacially since we won two years straight, and now maybe for the third time?

Maccabi's stars are Will Solomon, Anthony Parker and Derrick Sharp. Occasionally they let an Israeli play. But all European teams are mixed like that, Americans, East Europeans and locals playing in the different teams, just like the NBA.

Europe's big on soccer, basketball isn't as popular. Countries that have a strong soccer league usually don't have good basketball teams, like Germany, France and the U.K. The only exception is Spain, that has 2 very strong teams (made it to the 3rd and 4th places this year).

I wish more people knew that kind of stuff about Israel, and not just the war-terrorism-things blowing up stuff. Anyways, wish us luck!

Dahab attack + Holocaust memorial day

2006-04-25T16:36:00.000+03:00

Today is Israel's national Holocaust Memorial Day. It means that restaurants and cinemas are closed for the day and there are only ceremonies and holocaust related movies on T.V.
The official ceremony last evening was interrupted by the news about the Dahab terrorist attack. Sinai and its beautiful beaches are to the common Israeli the cheapest and greatest vacation option. I myself haven't been there since 1999, but apparently many Israelis are not easily scared, just like this guy here, who survived the Nazis only to live in a Casino-less country.

Elections

2006-03-19T20:14:00.000+02:00

The first time I voted I was in the middle of my military service, on May 1996, after the Rabin assasination.

I missed the 1999 elections, exactly 3 years later, because I was in the middle of my European trip, somewhere in Austria.

I did vote the next time, January 2003, in the middle of the second Intifada.

And now I get to vote again, on tuesday, the middle of next week.

It seems like the winnig party will be Kadima, the party created by Sharon just before he had his stroke. This means the PM will be Olmert, who was once the mayor of Jerusalem. I don't plan to vote for them, and anyways a week's a long time in my part of the world, anything can happen.

A taste of the campaigning can be found here (no, it's not porn).

2006-03-16T09:34:00.000+02:00

Happy Purim!

2006-03-09T08:19:00.000+02:00

Pa'amon (bell) garden.

2006-02-19T20:44:00.000+02:00

Downtown. I crossed the street just to take this picture. I had to figure out how to get a focused picture in the dimming light, no tripod or anything. A beggar walks by, holding a plastic cup, asking for a shekel in russian accent. I mutter "just a second", finding a lamp post to lean on while clicking. "Oh, that's really more important" he says acidly, and hurries away.

Freedom of art 2

2006-02-19T10:54:00.000+02:00

Well, apparently someone else had my idea - only they bothered to actually make it happen - two local comic artists have anounced an antisemic cartoons contest. Notice the Muhammad-as-Jew cartoon.

Maybe I can find whatever artistic residue I have in me and enter the contest myself.

BTW, not all Israelis have a healthy sense of humor, so this competition is quite a brave thing.

Iran's part in saving Jewish children in WW2

2006-02-18T17:52:00.000+02:00

In 1942, it was possible to transfer about 1000 Jewish refugee children from Russia (they got there with their families from Eastern-Europe) to different ports in Iran, and they were gathered in a special camp in Teheran, to be transported to India, Yemen and finally Palestine about a year later. Those children are known as "The Teheran Children" . Iran, of course, had nothing active to do with this operation, organized by Jewish institutions and funded by Jewish philantropists, but the irony is there all the same.
Pictures (sorry, Hebrew)
And more on the subject from Yad Vashem (the Israeli holocaust memorial and archive).

2006-02-13T21:14:00.000+02:00

Seems like the only place where Jerusalem's different ethnic groups can co-exist is... the mall. We have our own "day of love" sometime in the summer, but why settle for one when you can have two?

2006-02-13T21:13:00.000+02:00

Today was Tu-Bishvat, a Jewish holiday that has eating dried fruits as part of its tradition.

2006-02-13T21:12:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow is Valentine's day, which somehow became the international day for buying stuff for your spouse.

Freedom of art

2006-02-13T09:22:00.000+02:00

The latest manifestation of the bad trip Iran seems to be going through these days is the Mshahari newspaper's holocaust cartoon competition. My first reaction is - why? what did we do now? How is this our fault again?

My second reaction - it has been done before. Not in the form of competition, but humor and the holocaust have met before. The holocaust isn't "holy", it's a tragedy, and dealing with it was done in many different ways - building memorials, writing its history, making movies (some of them comic - like Roberto Benini's or Mell Brooks's The Producers), in arts and yes - in jokes as well. There's a whole genre of Holocaust jokes which won't translate well to English, but are extremely dark humored.

So mixing humor and the holocaust is not a new thing, but I don't think that it's postmodernism that inspired this campaign. there's an attempt to get a reaction from Jewish organizations and show the double face of "free press", but whatever reaction they'll get won't be the burning of Iranian embassies. There isn't one in Israel, and Jews outside of Isael are too sissy to do that. Something else might happen - something they don't expect - reaffirmation of the idea of the freedom of the press, the arts and expression.

And I say, send your cartoons! My contribution to the the contest, had I been talented in this field, would be a drawing of a huge boot about to crush a very small creature, with a bubble coming out from him saying "please don't kill me". I realize it's not very funny, but I guess so was the holocaust.

We won't be so cooperative when it comes to the bomb, though.

For those who read Hebrew - a wonderful commentary about the one-dimensional, caricature-like Holocaust related art, which oversimplifies the tragedy into a black and white, good versus evil cartoon instead of deling with a more complex reality.

2006-02-12T21:32:00.000+02:00

Gamla - up on the Golan heights, overlooking the sea of Galilee lies this fortress. The most famous story involving this place is its part in the Jewish revolt against the Romans around 68 A.D. After a long seige and some bloody fighting the city was taken by the Romans, and the remaining Jewish population threw themselves down the cliff. This is a story that echoes the one of Massada, both of them are myths which modern Zionism adopted as stories of bravery. Thanks to post modernist thinking, fighting lost causes to the death is not a common theme here any more, but anyone wanting to understand the recent settlers' behaviour should keep that in mind - these myths were a part of our education, but to them the part of the Romans is played these days by their own state.
More about the history of this place: http://mosaic.lk.net/g-gamla.html

2006-01-30T21:13:00.000+02:00

Someone said it looks sexy.

2006-01-30T21:11:00.000+02:00

These were taken on the weekend following Sharon's hospitalization. I guess they were shooting the common people's reaction to the current event. Lucky for me , I'm not common.

2006-01-30T21:08:00.000+02:00

You can hide from the news, but the news can't hide from you.

2005-12-23T16:35:00.000+02:00

"Whoever did not see Jerusalem in its days of glory, never saw a beautiful city in their life."
(Talmud: Succah 51b)

2005-12-23T16:27:00.000+02:00

Tha amazigly beautiful "Rising sun, melting moon" modern Japanese art exhibition at the museum.

2005-12-23T16:25:00.001+02:00

Ahava (love) by Robert Indiana. at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

2005-12-23T16:25:00.000+02:00

Apsis of the Dormition Church, old city of Jerusalem. Apparently Mary took a nap here. I was there for a concert.

2005-09-26T00:50:00.000+03:00

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2005-09-26T00:49:00.000+03:00

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2005-09-25T21:30:00.000+03:00

Some modern watch towers. You can never have too many of them.

2005-09-25T21:27:00.000+03:00

Me - longingly watching my old university campus, marked by the tower up there on the top of the hill.

2005-09-25T21:24:00.000+03:00

Jerusalem - New, Old and Older

2005-09-25T21:22:00.000+03:00

An Indian Ghost

2005-08-15T20:55:00.000+03:00

Gulliver's home.

2005-08-15T20:40:00.000+03:00

Another view of the work below.

2005-08-15T20:39:00.000+03:00

The good people of my neighbourhood decided this is the right time for an art event. It's called Public Works, the idea being that art by locals is displaid in local houses.

2005-08-15T20:34:00.000+03:00

Gaza pullout, civil war, an historic moment...

Nothing Twice

2005-08-11T23:42:00.000+03:00

Hardly 2 generations ago my family could speak Polish. Now I need translations.

Wislawa Szymborska's Nothing Twice

With smiles and kisses, we prefer
to seek accord beneath our star,
although we're different (we concur)
just as two drops of water are.

ויסלבה שימבורסקה, שום דבר לא קורה פעמיים

מחויכים, חצי מחובקים,
נתור אחר אחדות בשנים,
אף כי אנו נבדלים תמיד
כשתי טיפות זכות של מים.

2005-08-08T15:15:00.000+03:00

This week, clubbing takes the lead.

2005-08-01T11:38:00.000+03:00

Politics Vs. Clubbing

2005-08-01T11:13:00.000+03:00

Mu is moving (again).

A-HA!!

2005-07-14T01:04:00.000+03:00

I got to speak a few words with one of the festival's guests - Mr. Cai Mingliang, a Taiwanese director. I'm proud of myself for working up the courage to walk to him and chat in Mandarin. I haven't seen his latest yet, it's called Wayward Cloud, but I definitely will.

2005-07-13T10:19:00.000+03:00

That's what the parade looked like. Reminds of something Fellini might do.
(I wrote that the pictures were bad, that's the only one close to decent).

A season in hell

2005-07-13T10:05:00.000+03:00

The last two weeks have been crazy as hell…
Almost made me forget I came back from China exactly one year ago.
It started on Thursday, June 30th, with the Jerusalem gay pride parade. I went there to take some pictures, which didn't turn out so well, which isn't really important because the party atmosphere, which was tense from the first place, was interrupted by a fanatic homophobe who stabbed 3 of the participants. I happened to walk by one of them, I saw him bleeding and holding his arm, and I thought to myself – what kind of joke is that? Only when a girl next to him shouted that he's stabbed I realized what I'm seeing and shouted for a police woman walking by. Later I was in a state of shock.

This was a very "small" incident in my terror stricken town, no one died, nothing exploded, and yet it changed something for me. The stabber, an Ultra Orthodox Jew, about thirty, is only the tip of the iceberg in what became a very heated debate over the parade in Jerusalem. For some reason, on the fourth time this parade has taken place it attracted more hostility than ever. It seemed like the only thing that can bring Jews, Muslims and Christians together is their common hate for the gay community. But it's not just about gays – 2 of the 3 who got stabbed are "straits" who joined their friends, just like me. This is a new border line that's drawn between two of the Jewish communities in Israel – those who are afraid of any kind of change, and those who are willing to accept the rights of those who are different than themselves. This line is felt strongly through the pro and against campaigns to the Gaza pullout. Those against it have an orange ribbon tied to their cars or bags, and those for it – a blue one.

To further my surrealist summer, the London terror attack happened on the same day that the most important holiday in my "religion" started – The Jerusalem Film Festival. Appropriately, the opening movie was a special outdoor screening of ""War of the Worlds". Since this year I work for the festival, I only got to see half of it, and I don't think I want to see the rest. As staff I can go to any movie I want, and so far I've seen several, like Kim Ki Duk's 3-Iron (Bin Jip).

Wish me a quiet summer.

2005-05-30T22:23:00.000+03:00

My hand. (It's fine, thanks for asking)

2005-05-12T13:31:00.000+03:00

Happy Independence Day!

2005-05-12T13:29:00.001+03:00

He got the blues.
This fellow here is letting it be known that he is available for reproductional purposes by changing the color of his head to blue.
The picture was taken in the Negev, the desert on the south part of Israel (about a third of the country).

2005-05-12T13:29:00.000+03:00

Har Yoash, near Eilat

2005-05-12T13:28:00.000+03:00

Hamat Tveria, ancient synagogue

2005-05-12T13:26:00.000+03:00

Haifa

2005-05-12T13:25:00.000+03:00

Ein Meirav

2005-05-12T13:24:00.000+03:00

Rosh Hanikra

2005-05-12T12:59:00.001+03:00

Akko

2005-05-12T12:59:00.000+03:00

Akko, or Acre, like Jaffa, has a long history. The old part of the city - mainly the port- preserves the Otthoman buildings. Even Napoleon's army was stopped there. Or something.

http://akko.org.il/English/main/default.asp

2005-05-12T12:58:00.000+03:00

Akko

2005-02-19T19:58:00.000+02:00

And back in Jerusalem,near Jaffa gate, waiting for something to happen. Or not.

2005-02-19T19:52:00.000+02:00

Palestinian sheep

2005-02-19T19:46:00.000+02:00

...this Greek Orthodox monastery still serves as refuge to some very hospitable monks.

2005-02-19T19:45:00.000+02:00

...built back in the early days of Christianity, in the 5th century,

2005-02-19T19:40:00.001+02:00

...it is trully an oasis in the middle of the desert

2005-02-19T19:40:00.000+02:00

St.George monastery in Wadi Qelt (on the road to Jericho)

2005-02-18T20:29:00.000+02:00

Last minute shopping before Shabbat at the old city of Jerusalem

2005-01-15T21:07:00.000+02:00

And that's where we had our eats... but no fish.

2005-01-15T21:06:00.000+02:00

Getting tired?

2005-01-15T21:05:00.000+02:00

The marina (and Tel Aviv in the background)

2005-01-15T21:03:00.000+02:00

Another one

2005-01-15T21:02:00.001+02:00

Some fishermen

2005-01-15T21:02:00.000+02:00

The exit

2005-01-15T21:01:00.000+02:00

Going nowhere

2005-01-15T21:00:00.000+02:00

The passenger

2005-01-15T20:59:00.000+02:00

Dinner?

2005-01-15T20:58:00.000+02:00

Waiting for their lift

2005-01-15T20:57:00.000+02:00

Preparing for dinner

2005-01-15T20:56:00.000+02:00

The sea

2005-01-15T20:54:00.000+02:00

Under construction

2005-01-15T20:53:00.001+02:00

A door

2005-01-15T20:53:00.000+02:00

... and Jaffa to the left, and that't where these pictures where taken.

2005-01-15T20:52:00.000+02:00

Tel Aviv to the right...

2004-12-26T17:16:00.000+02:00

This was taken on my last day, just before leaving. The cat is also a resident of Xiyuan, although somewhat illegal. I wonder where she is now...

2004-12-26T17:11:00.000+02:00

This one is my own, for a change. Taken with the world's worst camera which I bought for less than 180 kuai at Xinjiekou.
I'm very proud of myself for having the foresight of taking this picture of the shops outside the Xiyuan building.

Hello there!

2004-12-24T11:29:00.000+02:00

This is my new year resolution... Trying to keep in touch with all my friends who just don't happen to be in Israel or read any Hebrew. Maybe this way we'll be able to keep in touch better. I'll keep you posted on any interesting events around my part of the world, and you can let me know what's going on with you!

So please let me know you've stopped by!

Merry christmas to the Christians and a happy new year to everyone!