[as if in dreams] A newsletter from Joseph ZItt - 01 November 2023
Hi. I'm Joseph Zitt. I moved from the US to Israel in 2017. This is my newsletter about more-or-less daily life in my city in the shadow of war. You can select these links to subscribe or unsubscribe. There are more links at the bottom. Here we go...
This morning's Hebrew lesson goes well. My teacher has added some of the words that I've mentioned here to my vocabulary list.
We talk about art, and about the way that the war will disrupt the distribution of government funds. She's studying to be a social worker. I'm the son of one. We both have seen how essential social services tend to be cut first.
Like much of the rest of the planet this year, It's unseasonably warm here now. It's November, The high today, as it has been for most days since spring, is about 30 degrees Celsius. That's the Fahrenheit mid-80s. I don't think we've had many of the blisteringly hot days that I recall from previous years, but the thermometer has been stuck at this level for a long time.
I'm walking faster than usual on the way to work. I'm listening to music, not news. 1989 (Taylor's Version) has followed Dark Side of the Moon (Roger's Version). I can't help but sync my steps to her beats. I had only heard the earlier versions of the singles. Listening to the album as a whole is like a masterclass in pop songcraft. I want to dissect it and study it, as many already have.
When I get to work, I ask a programmer in the kitchen, in Hebrew, how he's doing. He answers, haltingly, in English. "Everything is good." He pauses. "Everything." Another pause. "Except what is not." I can't argue with that.
At the end of the afternoon prayers, the insurance agent leads us in yet another new blessing, after the psalm he introduced recently. This one is a prayer for our army. He plows through it, again from memory, without having us repeat lines. From the others' responses, I understand that I'm supposed to say "Amen" whenever his voice drops in pitch and he pauses. OK.
An email from the national New Fund for Cinema and Television announces a project, already in progress, to make documentary films about the war. They're asking for support and donations. I'm tempted to get involved, but, my long-term film project aside, I'm better off doing this documentation as text.
A city website tells of a wedding a few days ago. The couple were going to get married at a wedding hall. Due to something or other involving the war, it wasn't available. They decided to have it at home, but didn't have enough tables and chairs. The bride's mother called the municipality asking if they could borrow some. The city invited them to get married, with a limited number of guests, on the roof of City Hall.
I had seen this happen before. At the height (or depths) of the COVID lockdown, the city had livestreamed a wedding on the roof, with everyone properly masked and distanced. (I don't think there was a fiddler.)
For this wedding, the bride came in from Reserve duty. The city posted a nicely edited video to YouTube, including congratulations from the mayor.
Meanwhile, the government has told us that about a dozen of our soldiers had died in the past day. Most were in a single personnel carrier. One was from our town.
I see that the movie theater closest to me is scheduling movies starting tomorrow. I hope this means that the new location of the Cinematheque, in the back and basement of City Hall, will be opening soon.
In the capitol, the reading room of the new National Library building has opened. A huge celebration was supposed to open the whole place a couple of weeks ago. Instead, the staff and a few patrons gathered, said a prayer for special occasions, and quietly opened that one section.
Before I leave work, I get a text from my landlady. My new computer chair has arrived. Good. I put on my earbuds and head out. I should get home with plenty of time to put it together. I'll be walking Swiftly.
Feel free to forward the newsletter to other people who might be interested.
Here’s an archive of past newsletters.
You can find me via email, Bluesky, Mastodon, Facebook, and, just out of inertia, X/Twitter. There's more about me and my books, music, and films at josephzitt.com.
The newsletter’s official mailing address is 304 S. Jones Blvd #3567, Las Vegas NV 89107. (I’m in Israel, but if physical mail comes to me there, it’ll get scanned and emailed. I don’t expect that to happen much. If you want to send me physical mail, ask me for a real address.)
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L'hitraot.