Life is not a game. It’s not a cereal either.

Stop being boring!
What can you do to give the world a reason to dance?

This one isn’t new but it’s worth a listen, even if you’ve seen it before.

A sign upon your arm

Like other Jewish boys, Gerhard Maschkowski was given a tefillin set for his bar mitzvah (Jewish coming of age ceremony for boys).

And then came Kristallnacht and the Germans burned down the synagogue. The tefillin were reduced to ashes.

Read more on The Times of Israel

See ya tomorrow! Unless there’s a war…

Two days ago I left the office, saying those exact words: “See ya! Unless there’s a war…”

How blasé. How crazy! But this is how we live in Israel.

On Sunday the country spent the day debating whether or not Syria would attack us.

People in northern Israel had heard fighter jets (ours) in the sky over the weekend and obviously something was going on. Then we started hearing the rumors of weapons on their way to Hezbollah that exploded in the middle of the night. Then we saw the video if it, uploaded to YouTube by people on the ground in Syria.

Obviously Syria could decide to retaliate. Hezbollah could also decide to “get revenge”. And then again, maybe not. After all they have been busy for the past two years, slaughtering each other… On the other hand, Israel is always a nice excuse, a good rallying point to say: “Hey guys, why are we fighting each other? Let’s go get the real enemy!”

Life in Israel runs on the edge of a blade. Slip and get cut. Everyone knows the consequences…

All day Sunday people were debating if there would be a war or not. If so I wouldn’t see my boss the next day at work (he’d be called for reserve duty). Probably I would go to the office as normal but he wouldn’t be there. Oh well.

That reminds me, I have to find where the bomb shelter in my office building is… Yes this, in Israel, is what we call “normal”.

In between discussions of war and military operations people were hotly debating the premier of the new season of Big Brother (aired Sunday night).  Who would enter the house this season? What would be new and different this time around?

High school students are studying for their finals. The government is fighting over the fiscal plan for the country and the media is busy covering a sexual harassment scandal. People are working, shopping and going out to have fun. This is our life. Everything is normal, until it isn’t.

In Israel life doesn’t stop just because people are (constantly) trying to destroy us. Our towns don’t go into lock-down when a terrorist is on the loose. Our lives don’t stop because we are under threat of war.

When there is an actual war we stop as little as possible – and then we pick up the pieces and keep on going.

This is the strength of Israel. We are the davka nation – we do things against all odds, in spite of everything that is pitted against us.

In the bible it says that the Nation of Israel is “stiff necked” i.e. stubborn. It’s true. Sometimes our stubbornness gets us in trouble but a lot of the time it’s what saves us.

Forced to live under crazy conditions, we create normality where there isn’t much normality.

Rejected by the nations of the world we do everything possible to contribute, to make the world a better place.  Our doctors go on volunteer missions to save lives, fix cleft palates and cataracts in third world nations. Our inventors keep on inventing, bringing wonders to every field imaginable. Israelis have made crops grown in the desert, enabled paraplegics to walk and are currently working on curing ALS (and are already seeing some success!)!

We are here, whether the nations of the world like it or not. If / when there is a war it will not stop us. We will keep going to work and doing what we do best. If we have to stop for a day or two, a week or a month – we will pick up the pieces and keep on going. We’ve done it before and we will do it again.

We are a very stubborn people.

And if our success annoys our detractors – all the better.

Street scene in Haifa

Religious man fixes his air-conditioner.
The sign for his shop is rather ironic – in Haifa advertise that your falafel is: Jerusalem Falafel!

Want to see more images from Israel? Follow me on Instagram @forestrainm

Cruel Time Warp

Sometimes it is our own mind that can be our worst enemy.

Alzheimer’s disease is becoming more and more prevalent. Some people say it is because people live longer now. Others say it is because of the chemicals in our food and all the unhealthy things we consume on a daily basis. The truth is that no one really knows why. The consensus is that it is horrible…

Most people, thankfully, do not know how horrible it is.

A cruel disease, Alzheimer’s leaves the body (more or less) whole and strong while stripping away everything that makes a person who they are – their memories, their connections with others, their connection with reality…

Imagine knowing that you are a grown up, knowing you should know how to do things – you should know where you are, who the people around you are and what you are supposed to be doing – but you don’t.

The house you lived in for 30 years seems like a stranger’s home and the people next to you, who may be your own children, are unfamiliar. Imagine looking at a shirt and not knowing what to do with it. Where does it go? How does one use it? Who is that person talking to me? What do they want?

All the information is locked in the mind but, for the afflicted, it is like when you put something away “for safe-keeping” so well that you later cannot find it. You know you have it but you can’t pull it out when you need it.

People with Alzheimer’s disease begin to find it easier to recall the past than the present. Ask a person where they live and they may give you their childhood address. People, places and languages used while young come back while events that happened 5 minutes, an hour, days or weeks ago are completely erased.

Slowly but surely the things that make us who we are get wiped away. Memories and experiences leave. Emotions tend to stay.

Thoughts become a trap. Often the logic is correct but the starting off point is completely wrong. “I don’t know these people, why are they telling me what to do? I shouldn’t do what they say because they are strangers and they may be trying to hurt me”. This is very reasonable logic but terribly hurtful, heart-wrenching and damaging when the “strangers” are actually the person’s children who are trying to get their mother or father to take the medicine they need in order to stay alive.

In Israel there is a unique group of Alzheimer patients – Holocaust survivors who, due to traumatic experiences in their youth combined with the onset of dementia, are currently trapped in a cruel time warp. For them the Holocaust is NOW. And they are repeating their experiences over and over and over and over in their mind.

Many of these sufferers have ended up in the insane asylum because no one could convince them that they are free and safe.

How do you explain to a woman that it is safe to take a shower when she believes that the Nazis are pouring Cyclone B through the water heating system? Why should she agree to “go to the shower?” I can only imagine the loved ones she lost “in the shower”…

I have seen the Alzheimer time-warp trap in less horrifying cases and the anguish it causes. I can only imagine the enormity of the Holocaust-Alzheimer trap. How cruel that suffering that should have been long over, suffering so terrible it never should have been in the first place – is still going on to this day…

Doctors don’t really understand Alzheimer’s disease. They don’t know what causes the disease and don’t have very much they can do to help. At the moment there is no solution. There is however a balm for both suffers and their loved ones / caregivers.

Patience. Empathy. Compassion. These are the only “weapons” we have to fight this terrible battle. We know in advance that is a losing battle but we can do our best to see that those suffering go down with dignity.

I pray that Alzheimer’s disease does not knock at your door. But it might. Statistics say that it will afflict your neighbor, someone you see in an office, someone you see on the street…

Be aware. Sometimes people that behave strangely have very good reason to do so – even if it is only because of the trap in their mind.

Have patience with others. Be kind. These are the only things we can really do to help.

The Emperor’s New Clothes

In the story of the emperor’s new clothes a talented liar convinces the emperor to purchase new clothes (at an exorbitant price). The clothes were nonexistent but the emperor, because of his vanity and arrogance allowed himself to be bamboozled into strutting in front of his people wearing – nothing at all. All the people went along with the lie; it was a small child who put an end to the farce, simply by telling the truth: “the emperor has no clothes!”

This weekend I watched wide eyed Americans report about the manhunt for the Boston bombers.

It was a long time before I heard the word “terrorist”.

There seemed to be a lot of confusion. Why would people from Chechnya attack Americans? Could they possibly be angry at America for supporting Russia?  

The American news commentators asked:  ”How could it be that immigrants we took in and gave all the benefits America has to offer would attack us?” It seemed like they were saying, “After we’ve been so nice, why would they be so mean to us?”

Naiveté is usually considered a cute characteristic but grown-ups who make a habit of ignoring reality are something else entirely.

These hurt and confused people are the same ones who automatically repeat the litany: “Islam is a religion of peace.” Of course they are confused.

The terror attack in Boston had nothing to do with Russia and everything to do with Islam.

All things considered, it wasn’t a very successful attack. Thank God. Many more people and much more damage could have easily been done. It is easy to wreak havoc on a people who have their eyes wide shut.

From here it seems that it was the reaction of the government that spread terror more than the attack itself.

I can’t imagine Israel going into lockdown every time a terrorist is on the loose. Here, life does not stop. Our security forces warn everyone and go out looking in full force, searching until the terrorist is caught. Often it is civilians who stop the terrorist. Although stress and tension levels rise and everyone is on alert – life does not stop.

One young terrorist brought America to a standstill, a town under lockdown. Armored vehicles rolled through the streets, manned by troops in battle gear – in a town in America.

Yes the emperor has lovely new clothes. Of course Islam is a religion of peace and this one young man probably has a disturbed mind. We should do research on his brain to see what causes terrorism…   

“Love thy neighbor as thyself” is a basic tenant of Judaism. And Christianity.  Islam has jihad.

I’m not saying all Moslems are terrorists. Far from it. However it must be said that the so called “silent majority” are, in their silence, complicit with those that scream for “death to the infidels”. Choosing not chose, staying silent, not resisting is at the bottom line – agreeing.

Refusing to see reality is dangerous. Although sometimes unpleasant, it is much safer to deal with the real world than some fantasy that will unexpectedly blow up in your face. Literally.

Truth is the key to freedom. The price of staying “asleep” is too high.

Tell everyone. The emperor is naked! 

 

 

 

It’s always a good time for coffee and cake in Haifa, Israel

Take a look at Haifa from your stomach’s perspective!