Exit Stage Left

Since the dance saga started late last week it has taken on a life of its own billowing into commentary, argument, exchange, hurled insults and slurs. I have observed from the sidelines as remarks are laid down on this and other blogs and these are a few of my thoughts...

- Responses from the dance magazine editor and advertising head regarding the issue were forthcoming to Jewish Chronicle of London writer Rachel Fletcher in her story. An excerpt:

...as an editor, I am entitled to choose what to print. It is my prerogative. Mr Kaul was more forthcoming, telling the JC: We are opposed to the occupation. If any company in Israel co-operates with us by adding a disclaimer saying it is opposed to the occupation, settlements and everything else, we will co-operate with them.
(What does "everything else" refer to...? slf)

- It takes little genius to understand that this incident has touched upon heartfelt complicated issues defying singularity. Tied in are historical, political, social, artistic and personal implications. In the past days I have seen the terms stormtroopers, Nazi, apartheid policy, Zionist machine, and Anti-semitism bandied about in the context of open exchange and mean spiritedness.

I have ruminated quite a bit over my own use of the term Anti-semitism; Were I to re-write the original posting would I opt for a less loaded term like "discrimination" or "anti-Israel bias" or "boycott"? I'm not sure.

- It is, indeed, an editor's right to publish according to his or her standards or guidelines. It is also the reader's and advertiser's right to be informed of the standard prior to visiting the newsstand or placing an ad. See Allison's eloquently written commentary on the subject.

A final, personal note:

I left Israel in the mid-90's when suicide bombings, Oslo II's downfall and Rabin's assassination were still fresh. A journalist for several international corporations for nearly a decade, I was exhausted from years of intifada (Palestinian uprising), peace negotiation, funeral, negotiation collapse, war, funeral, demonstration, funeral & infiltration cover.

Living in San Francisco for ten years I successfully divorced myself from the situation here convincing my conscience that with newfound tools gained through lectures, workshops and discussion groups I could return to Tel Aviv, write and stay away from hard news and politicking. I haven't owned a television in 8 years.

Silly me. Six months into my return and a dance story of all things brings me right back into the thick of the same dilemma, the same moral questioning and doubting, the same rumination and the same complicated issue that can spin your head around until you spit out everything you learned and re-think the entire situation anew.

No, art and politics cannot be divorced one from the other. Clearly not in this region. But I still think we can strive to reach understanding by being open to the message. Because the message can come from mediums one might have never thought possible.

The Dance Speeds Up

This morning I received an e-mail from a writer for the dance magazine I blogged about earlier this week in response to a scathing e-mail I sent to the magazine's editor and advertising head following our exchange..

Excerpts below; More about this writer's views here (scroll down to the first article). Judge for yourselves...

As a writer for Dance Europe magazine and a long term resident of Ramallah I ... have to confront the reality of the Israeli occupation possibly more than even you do, and whilst I do not claim any universal solutions to the Middle East conflict, I know that verbal or physical confrontation never works.

Similarly, I have learnt that in such a highly politicized environment, it does not take any moral courage to divorce art from politics, but it does lead to serious moral consequences...
Discussion, listening and sharing of perspectives is a far greater remedy to the political strife in the Middle East than sensationalist abuse and accusation, wouldn’t you agree?

To this end, and whilst I understand that labeling people “anti-semitic” might serve as an effective bulwark against your own moral introspection, I would urge that you learn to distinguish between the Jewish people and the military policies of the Israeli government. To not do so not only blemishes Judaism, it also presses your own argument over the brink of hysteria.

...In the meantime, you might consider reaching for some peace for yourself and others by drafting an apology to Emma and Naresh for some of the more derogatory accusations you presented in your email and weblog...if there is one thing that I have learnt from years of having to confront a harsh military occupation on a daily basis, abusing others (whatever your position) is simply an abuse of power- the illusory power of being unreachable and unscathable. It is only when you are willing to come down to a more vulnerable level of sensitive, human interaction that you find solutions and inner, as well as outer, peace.

Breaking this down to its simplest components, this is about a dance story and a magazine's policy. I haven't lived under occupation but I know what discrimination feels like. Neither is okay.

Freakadelics

Warm weather has arrived and with it some fairly strange antics here in HLC (Holy Land Central).

ASIDE from bizarros lighting off fireworks inside a church and instigating riots in Nazareth...

• Witnessed a genuine knifing over personal issues ($$$) today in Tel Aviv's Carmel Market. That the market is seedy and all mobbed up is no secret. But to actually watch one guy get angry and then run back to his cigarette vending stall (now if that isn't a tip off to less than kosher ties...), grab his knife and go use it...Pretty shocking ladies and gents. Nobody intervened and the two disappeared into the crowd. I exited stage left.
• The exit, however, only propelled me further into zanesville. Right there at the corner of Sheinkin - hip street with trendy shops & cafes and a happening scene a la East Village on a teensy scale - a group of earlock guys adorned in zitzit pulled up in their 1960's, magic bus splashed with images of Rebbe Lubavitch. They set up shop on the sidewalk playing bongos, dancing and generally conveying the impression that if we paganites also find god then we'll soon be merrily dancing on street corners just like them. I still say that "happy pills" are the most efficient prodders of "happy feet".
• THEN I bicycle cross town to pick up my little 'un from his friend Ariel's house where I hang for coffee with Ariel's Grandma Regina. She's a cool lady what with her high top red Converse, black leggings, oversized black tee shirts and semi-Goth eye make-up. She watches Ariel after school each day so that daughter Shiri can study pastry chefing. Smack between sips of sweet Turkish coffee and bites of Shiri's honey sesame seed cookies Regina lets it drop that there's a lice outbreak at the preschool. "We'll have to get out the Rosemary oil to ward off the little critters," she casually snickers. "Another cookie?"
• And of course I'm now itching all over, checked Raphael's scalp twice and plan to hit the natural remedy store tomorrow. Another perk of living in HLC: frequent lice outbreaks in school...I'll get into it another day

Tamar Goes to Shul

I like living in Holy Land Central (HLC) because I get my cultural identity fix through osmosis. Synagogue not being my hangout of choice on Saturday (or any) morning, I derive the benefits of custom by simply being here. No need to leave home because history and culture surround.

This rather convenient perk gets even perkier when spiritually inclined friends share religious goings-on. I get the hand-me-down scoop on what their Kiryat Arba relatives discuss over Friday night roast chicken dinner, my friends get to share and according to the Jewish Codebook (copyright 1978, all rights reserved) we all get bonus points for playing nice.

Over the weekend my pal Tamar attended a bar-mitzvah conducted within a pluralistic setting. The tone was set when she turned to the woman sitting beside her to ask if something tragic had happened to the bar-mitzvah boy's absent father. He's a sperm donor child, she informed.

With a 7.5-month pregnant rabbi, women reading from the Torah and a lesbian Gabbai (lay person performing ceremonial duties) ... Heckee shucks. Sounds like just another day where I come from!

For Tamar, however...
"It was thrilling to be present at this service, in Israel, where the players came as they are! Where it's possible to be yourself in a shul that isn't only for LGBT (lesbian gay bi-sexual transgender) or for families where a child is conceived w/donated sperm or where the rabbi is not necessarily a male and so on.

A place/community where whoever you are or are not, you are welcome. All these pleasures despite the chorus of little voices in my head replaying the cruel, ignorant comments I have heard about the reformeem this and the reformeem that. I say: GOD BLESS THE REFORMEEM."

Gymboree Party, Tel Aviv

Gymboree Birthday party, Tel Aviv

Death & Taxes

'Tis the season and the tax man ringeth incessantly at the front door. If you're a u.s.a.-ite I'm not enlightening you. In fact, you lugged that shoebox out of the closet last month. Yes I know it's on the dining room table and you'll get to it today. I believe you.

For all the ex-pats don't feel left out! Surprise surprise go find your shoe box too. Now that you're multi-national all sides want a little sumpin' sumpin'.

I'm oversimplifying but technically abroad-dwellers are supposed to file or risk being chased down at the local falafel stand by a bureaucrat waving a red, white and blue flag.

Technically.

I don't eat falafel but being a model citizen and all I attended a lecture on Israel and U.S. taxation vis a vis North American citizens last night. Okay I'm lying. I had to be there to bring cookies and juice for the people who signed up. Another of my side jobs: bringing people cookies and juice. Okay still lying. But who cares? Of course I'll share highlights and tips - all by the way from the lecturer, an investment specialist, not me.

1. Apparently it's okay to talk about hiding assets in Israel. When in San Fran my accountant wouldn't even whisper tax reducing tips for fear of being nailed by the IRS. Our American cum Israeli lecturer, on the other hand, blatantly talked about hiding funds, offshore accounts, money laundering (he wasn't advocating the latter but mentioned that it goes on in abundance). I was stunned
2. If you have lived abroad for about 10-15 years or longer and have opted out of filing your American taxes you might reconsider. Apparently a designated IRS person is sitting in Washington pinpointing the 15+ year outdwellers who aren't paying up. The steadfast pencil pusher picks off 1000 Israel based evaders per month (not sure if I buy that one)
3. Double filing can be a good thing particularly in lieu of the child tax credit. Upper income bracket earners receive the maximum $1000 per dependent
4. According to treaties in place between Israel and the U.S. the two countries can disclose your account and holding info to each other without notifying you
5. Once again, according to our lecturer the worst thing you can do is to go independent in Israel. Once a freelance file is open at the income tax bureau you're on the radar screen and doomed to blip-dome forever. They will hassle, nickel and dime and make life hell. Also, as an independent in Israel you pay more tax to the U.S. Better to work as a contracted hiree through an agency that takes a cut. Mental note: Arrange urgent meeting with accountant
6. New immigrants should get into their respective professional fields and begin working as soon possible. Leave ulpan (language school) to later. This is because in the first three years income tax breaks are HUGE but once that time passes it's gone. You'll learn Hebrew at work and network at the same time (again, the lecturer speaking here)
7. File taxes on either side of the fence with a knowledgeable and experienced accountant relevant to the taxes being addressed. It behooves you

There's much much more I could go into but won't for the sake of not entering a realm I know next to nothing about. The bottom line: Attend a lecture or informational session, call up an accountant and get advice and don't forget to file an extension if you won't make it by the 15th!

And Now A Word from our Sponsor...

I'm sick up and fed with writing about sick children, politics and hospitals. So it's time for a Neverland Break....Kool Aid anyone? Of course I don't have the special purple kind. Shipments from Guyana stopped a long, long time ago.

This just in: I struggled to find a word last week during a conversation with a pal but now retrieved it from the dungeoness recesses (not to be confused with dungeness crab): Collective Unconscious. It's a Jungianism maintaining that we human citizen types are on the same mental thread most of the time regardless of space and time. So if I,over here in HLC (Holy Land Central) am inventing the wheel, for example, according to this theory Stefan I. Elluh is doing the same in Podunk, Iowa. Get to the point! Get to the point!

Over the past few months I've heard several girlie types expressing creative outlet ideas. Check this out if you're a girl, a boy, a boy that wants to be a girl, a girl that tried to be a boy but ...just check it out.

Digression: When my pal Jeff had an Internet column some years back with a paper that will not be mentioned here, he wrote one of the best lines I've ever read. I paraphrase:

I tried to log onto the Klu Klux Klan website today but was unsuccessful. I guess with a last name like Abramowitz they figure they can't really count on me to keep those crosses burning.

Yesterday I came across the 2nd funniest literary witticism written since the days of Jeff while surfing this site. TWO SNAPS WITH A CIRCLE! Am I right or am I right?

And surprise surprise this not-so-dressed-to-the-nines lady was recently on a secret undercover mission to HLC for kabbalah reasons...It's okay, Esther. She's keeping up the faith.