Is Raf OK? -- Installment #103
2024-04-17 -- Tel Aviv
Tags: 3 Min Read
Strawberries have dropped in price again. My fridge is still stocked. I may be near the limit of constructive consumption.… I didn’t buy any today. (Will I resist tomorrow? Hmmmm.)
Mail
Thank you! The engagement is stimulating (and it is great to hear from you). These emails can be replied to, or message me directly.
The Onion of Consciousness
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein
"No problem can be solved at the same level of consciousness that created it" --Albert Einstein
My dear aunt has the quotes above in the footer of her emails. She wrote:
The entire mess is because the world didn’t know how to deal with the Jews. It goes back before 1948. Every place there’s a mess in the world it’s because those in power make decisions without considering nature and kindness.
Yup. I suspect Rachel Goldberg-Polin would agree (more below). Something visible here is how kindness surfaces. In the days after October 7, thousands of Israelis opened their homes to displaced people.
Even when I squint, I can't see a peace movement in the Palestinian territories. There are many who see themselves as hostages of Hamas. Perhaps honor/shame culture feeds the cycle. When the war started, I commented to one of my kids, “The collaboration and volunteerism is amazing.” She responded, “I am sure it is happening in Palestinian communities also.”
I hope that’s true. It isn’t visible on any channel I see. What I have seen is ongoing cheering of violence, ongoing internecine violence within Palestinian communities (both in Gaza and the West Bank), and refusal to engage in activities like food distribution (out of fear of violence from Hamas). (Also see Relief Alef below.)
Worry about you. Wish there was no religion…
Thank you. I worry about me too. (I worried in Seattle. Now I worry here. As much as I worry about anything, I guess. Wherever I am, the “cultural water” I’m swimming in is what’s interesting….) Religion used instrumentally, for oppression and violence, is horrible. It seems like religion as an instrument of cancel culture? Today I was discussing how the lack of public transit on Shabbat is also oppression.
Mongering Peace
Dr. Yael Admi, co-founder of the Israeli movement Women Wage Peace, has been recently recognized as one of the 12 most influential women in the world by Time Magazine in 2024.
Women Wage Peace and their sister organization Women of Sun have been jointly nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
Cancel Culture = War Mongering?
What else do you call it when someone says to a large group "you must cease to exist/you have no right to exist" ?
History Interlude: Iranian-American Military Tussle, 1988
On 14 April, 1988, the American guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck a mine while transiting international waters as part of Operation Earnest Will, the 1987–88 effort to protect reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers from Iranian attacks during the Iran–Iraq War. The explosion pierced the hull and broke the keel of the Samuel B. Roberts, which nearly sank but was saved by its crew with no loss of life.
After the serial numbers of mines recovered in the area were found to match those of mines seized on an Iranian barge the previous September, U.S. military officials planned a retaliatory operation against Iranian targets. The U.S. attack began on the morning of 18 April, and ultimately destroyed, damaged, or sank two Iranian oil platforms, three warships, several armed boats, and two fighter jets. U.S. losses were two U.S. Marine aviators who died when their helicopter crashed into the Gulf.
Postmark: Iran
The Iranian Opposition Posts:
Above: Tel Aviv after Iranian missiles.
Below: Homs, Syria, after Iranian missiles (refers to Iran's heavy involvement in the Syrian civil war on the side of Assad against the people of Syria)
Iranian Opposition Speaks:
Instagram by an Iranian woman speaking out against the sudden pro Iran position by activists in the U.S. and England. (More on oppression of women in Iran is below.) 4 Min, in English—viewing optional (you’ve heard it):
Then the New York Post (of all rags!) features this instragram post. (What should I think about the media landscape? It seems fixated on roads closed by Hamas-and-Iran supporters?)
(Yes, social media is a fire hose of tabloid content... but sometimes it's not a baseless rant. [Rarely, I grant.])
Postmark: Iranian Opposition
Iran: Iranian opposition figures report a significant increase in "improper hijab wearing" enforcement by the "morality police" in Tehran and other cities during the past week. (15-30 second video clips below — they are not pretty.)
Heroes: Rachel Goldberg-Polin
Named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2024.
A Take on Iran's Attack of April 14
בעקבות טעות נפוצה, רבים חושבים שפירוש המילה ״פסח״ היא ״דילג״, ולכן גם רגילים לתרגם את שם החג לאנגלית כ
- Passover.
אבל בעברית מקראית ״פסיחה״ היא סוג של שמירה. לדעת רש״י ״פסח״ פירושו ״חמל״, ואונקלוס מתרגם ״ופסחתי״ - ״ואחוס״.
ליל פסח אינו ליל הדילוגים אלא ליל השימורים. הלילה שבו למרות המשחית משתולל בחוץ, בתי ישראל נותרו שלווים ומוגנים.הנביא ישעיהו מבטיח כי "כְּצִפֳּרִים עָפוֹת כֵּן יָגֵן ה' צְבָאוֹת עַל יְרוּשָׁלִָם גָּנוֹן וְהִצִּיל פָּסֹחַ וְהִמְלִיט" - אף פעם לא הבנתי את הדימוי של ישעיהו הנביא. אני לא מומחה גדול לטבע ולא מבין בזאולוגיה, ולא ידעתי איך נראית שמירה שהיא ״כציפורים עפות״ שמגנות על הקן שלהן. הלילה הבנתי. פסח בטוח ושמח.
אילעאי עופרן
It is a common error to think that the Hebrew word "Pesach" translates to "Step Over" [e.g. "Pass Over"] and even simply translate the holiday's name into English as Passover.
But in Biblical Hebrew, "Psicha" [Passover] is a kind of guarding. According to Rashi, "Pasach" means "compassionate" and Onkelos translates it as “mercy.”
The eve of Pesach is not the night of being “passing over” but the night of being protected. The night when despite the destroyer raging outside, in the homes of Israel it is peaceful and protected.
The Prophet Isaiah promises that "Like the birds that fly, so will G-d shield Jerusalem, shielding and saving, protecting and rescuing." I never understood the Prophet Isaiah's image. I am not a big nature expert and I don't understand zoology. I don't know what "guarding" looks like, that it is like "birds that fly" protecting their nest.
Tonight I understood.
A safe and happy Pesach.
Rabbi Ilay Ofran
Relief Area
Alef: After the Iran Attack
Bet: I remember this. It makes me appreciate Israel.
Birobidzhan, Russia. The Soviet experiment in Jewish autonomy.
Gimmel: About Iran's Attack
Below are the times of missile entry…. (like Shabbat candle times… a different time for each city: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa).
Can someone ask the fucking Iranians for the destruction timetable?
Do I clean for Pesach or not?
[Because of the Iran’s promise of heavy destruction.]
Dalet
(Above from the "Country of Tel Aviv")
Heading into Shabbat and Passover/Pesach. It may be some days before the next post.
Hag Sameach,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., F.A., K.K.)