Tags: 4 Min Read; Arabic Language Lesson Video
This is #60 for the "Is Raf OK?" series and #200 for this substack (which includes divrei Torah into 2019). To mark the occasion... I'm flying to Corfu to hang out with the Zimberkidz. I don't expect to post.
As I write at 1PM on Tuesday afternoon there is a red alert from one or two neighborhoods over. (As I told a friend who stayed with me: When you are in an alert area, you know e.g. the siren is unmistakable, not something “iffy.”) As I typed those words the alarm went off here. I grabbed a key and trotted across the street... to find it has been so long I've forgotten the door code. The entry is “protected enough,” and I dig around on my phone to find the code.
Time to put it on my door, as I've meant to do.
The rockets were launched at 1300. One of the "normal" launch times. Some crazy (if you want to try): Gazans lining up for lentil stew; The huge, 4 kilometer long Hamas tunnel in Gaza big enough to drive a car through (but not offered to Gazans for shelter); And Hamas still has time, energy and resources to launch rockets.
I'd say "amazing" but that sounds off.... Let's call it "crazy."
This alert, no booms.
Whatever.
Life Is Normal
The shuk is amazing. I just brought home a few pounds of amazing tasty citrus that cost about two dollars. Here is the "grapefruit stew" I just finished (recipe: Y.Z.)
Yum.
Pomegranates are back in season! I am having a fresh squeezed juice to celebrate (10 shekels/$2.50).
Today's Mailbag
... a perspective -- after years of working in the advocacy world to mitigate preventable traffic violence in SF -- I use the term crash vs. accident.
We don't know that they were 'accidental' -- but what we do know is that there was a collision (fatal or otherwise). However, the cause may have been drunk driving (not an accident), or excessive speed (not an accident), or an illegal maneuver (not an accident).
Here's a write up for some background. I believe what we say is important -- and so the words we use to say those things are also important (e.g., terrorist vs. militiaman). Also, this re: AP Styleguide (which made a change in 2016).
Thank you N.B. I modified the post to use this language.
Seen
Will all professions be doing something like this?
Heard
Impact
In the first week of the war, the word was: Who went to a funeral of those killed on October 7? Who knew someone killed? Two of my kids went to summer camp with a kid killed at the Nova festival. Another kid has a summer camp friend whose brother was a soldier killed that day. A Tel Aviv (now Zichron Yakov) friend has a son who escaped the Nova festival.
For the past month+ it has been a watch on the daily IDF casualty announcement. Every day it is two or three killed in action. A few times more. Today a message from a close Seattle friend "I grew up with this guy." [In California.]
First Sargent Major (reserves) Daniel Yakov Ben Harosh, age 31, from Alon, soldier in unit 6551 in the "Half Fire" team 551, fell in battle in the north Gaza Strip.
What is Going On
From observation (listing and reading), most battles in Gaza are the IDF against small Hamas teams trying to entrap them and inflict casualties. There are a few battles each week against larger (20+) Hamas groups. Typically directly adjacent to a school full of Gazan civilians (from which the Hamas army emerges and into which they flee). This is why from time to time the IDF has all men come out of a building.
In Their Words
Israel's Shin Bet (the ISA) released a video of a Nukhba terrorist recounting the events of the massacre. If you make it to the end, you see him say he can never face his father again… that he cannot ever go home. (6 min, English subtitles)
Relief Area
Alef
(Pictured is Hamas Boss Sinwar and his brother, who built the huge tunnel.)
Brother, this will cost billions!
Sinwar: You can rely on Bibi (Netanyahu, who made sure Hamas received zillions of dollars on the regular, over many years.
Bet: Arabic Lesson
On the occasion of the International Day of the Arabic Language, by Sheikh Afichay Adraee (Arabic language instructor in the IDF).
Taken from the Telegram channel of the IDF spokesperson in Arabic. Raf translated the Hebrew subtitles into English. 2 Min.
Went to a great film last night: The new Israeli film Running on Sand. Several months ago, I spent an afternoon with a visitor from America. He has been to Israel many times. He made a derogatory comment about the “scene” around the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station. Why? Because it is a hub of refugees from Africa (and a shopping center for Filipino and other foreign workers). The neighborhood has a “developing world” feel. The film is largely set in that neighborhood, and the black actors are actual political refugees.
Tel Aviv Central Bus Station…
Here is a 3 minute tour through the bus station. I took this clip a few days ago (after missing the last Friday train, I came to take a bus which runs another hour or so after the trains stop for shabbat). Where the train stations are spare and efficient, the bus station is “a scene” (and the only place I heard “Merry Christmas” all month):
Stay well all. I am going to cook some lunch and walk up the beach.
Raf
(Thank you A.K., C.A. & N.B.)