Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Jewel In The Desert: Phoenix Museum Of Musical Instruments

The Museum of Musical Instruments (MIM) in Phoenix  Arizona is another  proof that even in the desert, if they set their mind to it, Americans can do everything. The handsome new building, surrounded by Phoenix mountains, has become a new cultural center, the venue of different musical and educational activities.
The layout of the museum  is accessible, simple, and visitor friendly. On the ground floor, by the gargantuan double-bass centerpiece, the visitors are invited to view a short orientation video. In that film the narrator conveys the universal motto of the museum: music is the amplifier of human emotions.
Please keep reading in the Times Of Israel 

Monday, January 19, 2015

Don’t Listen To the Naysayers, Bring About Change


I never knew it had a name, but the other day I saw on American television a commercial for a high speed internet. In order to persuade the viewers to purchase that product, the narrator pleaded “don’t listen to the naysayer.”  This is how I first discovered that, in the US, naysaying is a familiar and toxic type of behavior which merits a warning
The naysayer, according to the dictionary, is a person who says something will not work or is not possible: a person who denies, refuses, or opposes something. From my experience, naysaying is a form of avoidance, the naysayer is not the brave Dutch boy who put his finger in the dike to save his country, but is the one to always find a reason why not to act.
We meet the naysayers in all walks of life. Within the family or among our friends they are the chronic joy killers who spoil enjoyable gatherings with their negativity. At work they are especially disruptive team members and could sabotage a meeting by explaining in great details why the ideas presented are never going to work.
I don’t mean to suggest that we have to agree about everything, quite the contrary, it is important to argue, and to listen to different points of view. Nowadays we know that yea-saying is as harmful as naysaying. Moreover, the latter should not be confused with healthy skepticism and constructive criticism, which are important and necessary qualities for improvement. But I believe that chronic nay-saying (like yea-saying) is often caused by fear and could lead to lethargy and ultimately to  stagnation and paralysis.
n recent years our leaders have found plenty of reasons why not to act and as a result our society became lethargic and stagnated. Many Israelis lost hope and believe that nothing will ever change. This despair caused, for example, a decrease in voter turnout in the last election.
In 2011, for a short time, the Israeli social justice protests brought about hope and energy. Many believed that a change was possible. The motto of the protests, which addressed issues of social order and power structure in Israel, was “the people demand social justice!”
Sadly social justice was not achieved and in 2015 Israelis are more disillusioned than they had been before the protests.
But new hope comes from unexpected directions, and the activities of
But new hope comes from unexpected directions, and the activities of groups like  Women Wage Peace, for example, bring about new surge of energy. From the first train ride from Tel Aviv to Sderot, back in November, the members of that group have continually been on the move all over Israel to promote its cause. Although the focus of the group is political, rather than economic or social, the rationale is that peace will bring about positive change in the living conditions of the two peoples, the Israeli and the Palestinians, and naturally it would translate to social and economic justice.
Keeping up the energy is a must, and in order to gain any meaningful achievements on election day, on March 17th, and thereafter, we constantly need to focus on all the reasons why we must act now. We have no more time to waste, so please “don’t listen to the naysayer,” bring about change.

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dont-listen-to-the-naysayers-bring-about-change/

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Between Sedona Arizona And Mizpe Ramon Israel

In the late eighties we spent a sabbatical in Tucson Arizona. Driving from snowy Iowa City in late December, to a place where the sun was shining on the colorful mountains and the air smelt of citrus blooming, I felt like I had reached paradise.
During that semester we did a lot of travelling in the Southwest. We were especially impressed with the magnificent formations and the different colors of the mountains. One favorite destination was Red Rock Canyon in Northern Arizona, where we stayed in Sedona, the quaint town by the Canyon.
A year later when we returned to Israel, we drove one  afternoon to Mizpe Ramon (Ramon Observation Point) on the rim of the Ramon Crater, and were struck by the beauty of the place.
Please keep reading in the Times Of Israel 

blog post sedona 1




post sedona 2

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

The Bad Luck Of Cancer Patients

When my husband was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of fifty five, a year and a half after he had been treated for prostate cancer, he asked his doctor whether the two cancers were related and what was the reason for his illness? The doctor answered that it was an extreme case of bad luck. Five months later he died, and then I started  hearing comments from different people about my husband’s role in his tragic destiny. They never explicitly said that it was his own fault that he died, but implied that perhaps it was because he had been unhappy in his childhood, (or with me). Often they inquired whether he smoked, disliked his job, didn’t exercise or ate junk food.
The people who either shared those speculations with me or asked questions about my husband’s life style and emotional being, must have thought that finding the reason for his illness would help me come to terms with my loss.  It didn't.
Please keep reading in The Times Of Israel

Sunday, January 4, 2015

From Marriage Ban To Freezing Eggs: The High Price Of Equality

Until the end of the Second World War and even later, in many places around the world, women had to choose between a career and marriage. Those who decided to have a career knew that they had to give up having a family.
In Britain, for example, by law, being a teacher or working in the Civil Service meant that the woman remained a spinster. Only in 1944 did the Education Act enshrined that women teachers were not dismissed once they got married. Two years later in 1946 marriage bar was removed from female civil servants.
Marriage bar at the work place must have made life simpler, at least for men, 
Please keep reading in the Times Of Israel