On May 16th 1948 The State of Israel Was Born

On May 16th, 1948, the state of Israel was born. In people’s life this is an age when a person could reflect back on his/her life, consider the personal accomplishments and plans how to lead the rest of his life. I don’t have to look far to make this comparison, my brother, who is 7 years older than me, is 68 and I always remember his birthday in connection with that of the state of Israel.

The first years of my brother were the years of austerity when to deal with the shortages, the Israeli government instituted a system of rationing. To buy most rationed items, my parents, along with the rest of the adult population, had to register at chosen shops, and were provided with a ration book. The shopkeepers were supplied with enough food only for registered customers.

Those were difficult years, and it was a struggle for parents to provide for their families. My mother told me that our neighbor, normally an even tempered gentleman, slapped his son once, in frustration since the little one refused to eat chicken liver and threw the plate on the floor. She didn’t tell the story in order to disparage the father, but to demonstrate the level of exasperation of most parents at that time.

I don’t believe that they were traumatized by the times of austerity, my parents were young, and besides, at that point almost everyone else was as poor. I know that my father refused to buy anything on the black market, and even those who bought special food illegally usually consumed it quietly at home.

Still the time of austerity affected the rest of my parents' life and they never took for granted the good times which followed. They taught us to finish everything on our plate, literally and metaphorically. They were frugal and raised us not to be greedy or wasteful. I believe that the values which we learnt at home influenced my brother’s choice to spend his career in public television, and mine to become a college teacher.

Thinking of the age of Israel, another name comes to mind, a man who is only a year younger than our state. The prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was born in Israel in 1949. Although, like my brother, he was born at the time of the austerity, he spent the rest of his life compensating himself for the hardship of those early years.

I have to ask myself what are the values that Netanyahu learnt at home, as he grew up to be callous to the suffering of the poor and the disadvantaged, and thinks nothing of leading an extravagant lifestyle at the expense of the state of Israel and the tax payers.

Other Israelis who are Bibi’s age only get 2000 NIS as their social security allowance. Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, each, spend double that amount on take-out food from restaurants

Today on May 16th 2016, 68 years after the birth of the state of Israel, I am curious to know what does our prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu consider as his personal accomplishments, but worse, I worry what kind of legacy he plans to leave behind.

 The essay appeared in the Times Of Israel

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/on-may-16th-1948-the-state-of-israel-was-born/

Make New Friends But Keep the Old

 APR.11.2013 

 In Israel, I often come across groups of friends who have known each other since grade school/high school or the army, and have stayed in close touch. This kind of friendship within a group is common in Israel because many people tend to stay in their home town/ land and they meet on a regular basis both formally and informally. I have always thought that it must be reassuring  to go through life  surrounded by people with whom you could be comfortable because they really know you.  

In contrast, since we moved  around  a lot, and lived 15 years in the US, we  wcould not maintain our friendships with school and army friends and thus were never part of such a group.

In the last few years, thanks to  social networks, all kinds of events have started to take place and old  friends who have lost touch throughout the years have been reunited. Due to an unusual  turn of events  I have recently gained a high school  group which, strangely enough,  is not my own.

My late husband attended Boyer high school in Jerusalem; it was a special institute, both a regular high school and a boarding school for gifted and talented students from developing communities in peripheral areas. The boarders, many of them new immigrants, came to that school from areas where educational opportunities were limited. The vision of the school, which was founded by the Society for Advancement of Education, was to bring together promising young people to give them good education and leadership skills and thus to create a pool of future leaders who will eventually either go back to their home towns or contribute to the community as a whole.

My husband’s class graduated in 1970, at that time many of the new immigrants came from north Africa and Eastern Europe. I know of one boy who immigrated to Israel a year earlier, when he was 13; without any help he applied by himself to the school and of course, was accepted. The school was looking for resourceful students like him. In the 4 years that the students attended the school, they learnt values of community service, humanity and pluralism. Boyer high school has been around for almost 50 years and has produced many socially involved leaders

During the high-school years, there was a rivalry between the two groups of students: the day school students from Jerusalem and the boarders from in Israel's periphery. After graduation there was almost no interaction between the two groups.

But in 2010 the  1970 class celebrated 40  years to graduation and soon after the class started to meet on a regular basis. Because of my late husband, I was invited to the reunion, and  later my partner and I were invited to join the group and attend its different activities..

Naturally I don’t not have shared memories with the members;  in my repertoire there are only  stories that I have heard from my husband about his happy years in school. But even without personal experience of "being there” I feel  reassured, and happy to finally be part  of such a welcoming  and inclusive group.

P.S    This is the link to the Jerusalem school      http://www.kidum-edu.org.il/en/education-campuses/boyer