November 30, 2023

Joseph Zitt's [as if in dreams] 2023-11-29

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...

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I arrived here six years ago today.

Most of us on the flight were new immigrants. I think there was a small ceremony at Newark Airport before we left, but I don't remember it. There was a big welcome when we arrived, but I was so dazed that I didn't quite understand what was going on.

I got even more confused in the airport. We got split into two groups and sent to two different offices in the complex. I went to the wrong one. I was still standing alone in that office after they called the last name. The other office was in a tizzy, since it appeared that someone from the flight had vanished.

Once that was sorted out, I got my citizenship and ID number, membership in a health plan, authorization for a stipend for several months, and other useful items and information. I also got clear instructions about which office to go to when over the following week.

Of course, this took a lot of planning and coordinating before I left, but there were agencies to help with it. I did have to be interrogated (gently) by the government in an office in New York, and to submit a note from my rabbi. But I had it easier than some. Soon after I immigrated, they started to require paperwork from the FBI or something like it, stating that the new immigrant didn't have a criminal history.

And yes, I do realize that I was born with the privilege of a Get Out of Diaspora Free card.

A taxi took me and all my stuff to a relative's apartment. They weren't home, but after several phone calls, we got that straightened out. I lived there for several months until I found my current apartment, about a twenty-minute walk away.

Once I had all my stuff stashed indoors, I strolled up to the House of a Hundred Grandmothers. I was surprised to cross November 29th Street. I hadn't known that there was anything significant about that day's (and today's) date. There was.

On November 29th, 1947, the United Nations passed the resolution that split up the area that the British called Palestine into two regions. Part of it was set aside for the eventual Jewish state. The other part, which wasn't contiguous, was to become an Arab state.¹

Like all plans made by committees, it was kind of a mess. And it didn't last long. The following May, when the British pulled out, the Jewish State was declared. Other countries immediately attacked. There was a war. There were a few truces. It ended with several armistice agreements. Then there was another war. And another ceasefire. And another. And another. And here we are today. (Since I'm not much of a history buff, any level of detail that I would try to give beyond that would probably be wrong.)

I see from a Facebook post that another plane, with 28 new immigrants, has just arrived, exactly six years after mine. Even with the war going on, we're expecting a lot of immigrants in the near future. The agencies that handle this are getting flooded with requests.² With the rapid rise in antisemitism around much of the world, people are figuring that, even with an actual war happening, they're safer here.

The news today is pretty much the same as yesterday. Details change and leak. The current truce continues. We're into added days, but each ten hostages freed extends it. We learn more about how the hostages are being treated. Most of that information isn't good.

A newsletter that I get from the official army spokesman has images of a large conference. Our military leaders are planning what to do next.³ Pundits worry that the terrorists are also planning their next moves and are shifting people around. Meanwhile, our government leaders are yelling at each other. Some are threatening to quit the coalition. That probably won't matter much until elections after the war.

Various articles report on different angles of what's going on. One describes how the first returned Thai hostages adjusted at the hospital in which they stayed when they came back. It says that they "built a small temple, with candles and a statue. They stayed up all night to watch the sunrise."⁴

The next city south has always had a lively graffiti scene. Much of the newer art reflects the war.⁵

Our best-known dance company is returning to the stage with a new show. They're setting aside free tickets for soldiers and evacuees.⁶

While we have a lot of good bomb shelters where I live, other areas have fewer, and thus are in more danger from rockets, should they resume. There's a serious wealth disparity in who has shelters in their apartments, due to some extent to the privatization of the market for creating them.⁷

Many Bedouin villages in our southern desert have no shelters at all. Some only have structures made of sandbags, without roofs. They're out of range of the anti-missile Iron Dome system.⁸

Some funds have been allocated for shelters in some areas where they live but not others, and representatives say that it's only a small percentage of what's needed.⁹

Another article today gave a good look at the Bedouin lifestyle, and how it is endangered.¹⁰ If it reads like a chapter of "Dune," their life, and their relationship with the land, was said to have inspired the books. Unlike Arrakis,¹¹ though, our deserts¹² tend to have more rocks than sand.

Just as I'm about to post this, a notification pops onto my screen.¹³ The new batch of hostages has been released. One of them is the 18-year-old boy from my city, who the terrorists said was "missing." I think I recognize other names, but the article only has a list. The papers will say more in the morning.

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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.