November 17, 2023

Joseph Zitt's [as if in dreams] 2023-11-16a

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 is the actual post for November 16th. I goofed and put today's date on yesterday's post, so I had to tweak the name of this one to keep them in sequence.

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Tony Orlando would be proud.¹ A WhatsApp message tells me that this evening, activists are staging an event to call attention to the hostages. Gathering at the southern edge of town, they'll be tying yellow ribbons to the tops of olive trees. (We do have old oak trees, but the famous ones aren't nearby.²)

One of the smaller national airlines is joining the trend, They're painting yellow ribbons and a "#Bringthemhome" banner on their planes. ³

Tomorrow, on our city's beach, another event will honor the hostages. They're calling it "A Day of Hope." ⁴ Teenagers will fly kites that they've made. Surfboards will be displayed, one for each hostage. There are officially about 240 hostages now. That's a lot of surfboards.

One of our larger café chains (the one that I went to on Shabbat afternoons when the House of a Hundred Grandmothers was under quarantine) has a simple ad on the newspaper page with the announcement: the country's flag, the words "Strong Together," and, in smaller type, almost blending with the background, the café's name. It leads to their main page. The same image takes up the top of its opening screen, with the regular content below it.[^LAN-AD}

One of the hostages was found dead today near the main hospital across the border.⁶ I feel a momentary shudder when I read the headline: she has the same name as a friend from elementary school had, and is about the same age as we are. Then I remember that the friend, with whom I reconnected recently on Facebook, goes by her married name, lives in the States, and is probably reading this.

I head in to work after catching up with the news. When I get on the elevator, a frazzled-looking woman dashes on with me. She presses a button hesitantly, then asks: "Which floor is the clinic?"

She's already holding her membership ID. She uses the same plan that I do. "I think they have offices on several floors. But the main one's on 4, where I'm going."

We get off together. She looks around wildly. I gesture, even though she has her back to me, and tell her which way to go: turn at the end of the elevator bank, go all the way down the hall, then turn again. She runs off.

I look at the hand with which I gestured. I realize that, as I often do, I said "left" when I meant "right." I call to her, but it's too late. She has already run too far to hear me.

I understand that the way to tell someone to go impossibly far away is sof ha'olam smolah, "turn left at the end of the world." (It was also the name of a popular movie.⁷) I hope she doesn't think that I have insulted her by suggesting that.

A friend, talking to the family today, surprises us with her views on the war. She's one of the kindest, most giving people I know. But she has become hawkish about the fighting. She, like many others, is against having a ceasefire. It would only give the terrorists an opportunity to regroup. While she has been avoiding war news, she has seen enough of what was done in the October 7th massacre that she believes that the terrorists must be completely destroyed.

One of the family sends me a rundown of her own feelings via WhatsApp: "Pain at peace activists being killed. Recognition that Hamas must lose military capabilities. Need for a new paradigm of Jewish Arab relations. Fear that we will act out of revenge. Concern for the Israeli Internally Displaced People and for Israeli society in general. Sadness at Palestinian losses."

Al Jazeera (of all places) has quite a good look at the mindsets among us now.⁸ They spoke mostly to people from the left, who keep looking for peace and coexistence. Many to whom they spoke say that holding onto that belief has become more difficult since the attacks. It's hard to forget that many of the people who were murdered or taken hostage were working toward those goals.

Recent polls are showing that much of the public is shifting to more of a hard line.⁹ In September, nearly half of Israeli Jews supported peace negotiations. In the poll after the war started, that dropped to less than a quarter. That's the lowest percentage ever.

The return of the hostages is at the top of people's minds. We're split as to whether we should negotiate for their return, especially if it involves the release of terrorists from our prisons. People remember that many of the people responsible for the massacre were released in the last large exchange, and that October 7th might not have happened were they still imprisoned.

NPR also did a series of interviews with people who had been injured or who had lost family members in the massacre and in earlier conflicts.¹⁰ One man who grew up across the border was shot by one of our soldiers when he was a teenager. He quotes the Quran: "Never let hatred for any people lead you to deviate from being just to them."¹¹ He tries to remember what his late father told him: "It is one thing to lose one's home and one's land and even a loved one. But it is another thing — the most tragic thing — when one loses their humanity."

A group working for solidarity and coexistence across communities held a meeting last night in the capital.¹² So many people showed up that they had to expand into another room. As a leader tweeted, "This is happening is Jerusalem right now! Hundreds of Jewish and Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel came together to a solidarity rally to say that only Israeli-Palestinian peace will end the death and violence. Only ending the occupation will bring life. Only partnership wins."¹³

Meanwhile, the city of Bethlehem is taking down all its Christmas decorations and canceling its festivities.¹⁴ As a spokesperson said, "people are not really into any celebration. They are sad and angry and upset.... This year the situation in Bethlehem is unprecedented and the mood and vibes are extremely sad, and that is exactly what the world should see, and realize that these are not normal circumstances. Bethlehem should send out its own message of condolence and mourning."

Back in my city, electrical workers will be doing some standard seasonal work in the next few days. The local news site has an announcement from the city and the electric company.¹⁵ After so many people were upset by the unexpected noise, they want everyone to know what is happening. As the news site (or at least its Google translation) says, "The municipality publishes the announcement to avoid unnecessary panic, which characterizes these days."

Many of us who appear calm are actually nervous. In the midst of writing this, I jump when I hear a sudden noise near me. One melting ice cube has slid off of another and clanked loudly against the wall of a glass of seltzer. Time to drink the rest and log out. I'm not going to get any more work done.

As usual on Thursdays, I stop to get a few grocery items on the way home. I'll have to shop more tomorrow, as usual. They don't have everything I need.

My favorite white cheese is no longer available in supermarkets that I've checked. (Here, "white cheese," g'vinah l'vanah, is a specific type of cheese, not just cheese that is white.¹⁶) The government controls the price of the 5% single serving cups, which I like.¹⁷ To route around this, the dairy companies have apparently stopped supplying this form, or are providing very little. There are plenty of other types and sizes.

The Milk Mafia wins again. Tony Soprano would be proud.¹⁸

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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.

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L'hitraot.