Joseph Zitt's [as if in dreams] 2023-12-19
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...
The air in the elevator carries the scent of sweat and gasoline. I open my eyes. Another man has entered, a little smaller than me, his grey hair dull and tousled, his overalls streaked with multicolored stains.
The scent remains when he gets off on the next floor. It isn't a bad smell.
The doors open again on the floor after that. A well-dressed woman comes in, sniffs, and glares at me. I shrug. She'll be able to stand the scent for another floor or two, unless she's sensitive to stuff in the air.
One line in Marc Schulman's latest newsletter today brings me up short. He tells us, "It has been more than a week since the Tel Aviv area has experienced a rocket attack."1
That's good news -- but imagine reading as good news a sentence such as "It has been more than a week since the San Francisco Bay Area has experienced a rocket attack."
The good news doesn't last, though. In the early afternoon, more rockets appear south of us.2 We don't hear sirens or booms here. There aren't any direct hits or injuries.
An interview with an expert in underground warfare gives an impressive view of the tunnels across the border.3 It's clear that the people who built it have a lot of skill and almost unlimited money. Creating what we've found requires a lot of steel and sophisticated equipment.
He suggests that the current methods of destroying the tunnels, primarily bombing the tunnels from above, are inadequate. We need to get underground ourselves, perhaps digging from our side, using robots, microphones, and the like. He even suggests developing underground torpedoes to get at the tunnels.
I'm struck, once again, by the dissonance between the two worlds in that small territory. For a long time, we have seen a poor and relatively low-tech population barely hanging on. Around and below them, however, are technological sophistication and lots of money, hoarded by a small elite.
I'm reminded of any number of science fiction scenarios, from Wells's "The Time Machine" on, of societies living on two levels, one poor and hunted, the other living under or above them on the profits from their work.
Of course, there are endless real-world examples of inequalities in wealth and safety. But I lived more in science fiction than in the real world when I was growing up, so that's where my mind goes.
The country's official X account has tweeted an excellent but harrowing film by a popular rapper here.4 A good friend of his survived the massacre at the Supernova rave. They made this music video together about his experience. (It's on YouTube, too, but the tweeted version has English subtitles.)
The Pope also tweeted (The Pope tweeted? The Pope tweeted.):
"For the inhabitants of the Holy Land, a Christmas of pain and mourning looms. We do not want to leave them alone. May we stand by them in prayer and tangible aid. The suffering of Bethlehem is an open wound for the Middle East and the entire world."5
As various media are reporting, there isn't going to be as much of a Christmas around here6 for those who celebrate it in December.7 Maybe the Orthodox churches might have a better chance, if we achieve any kind of peace in the additional two weeks before their celebrations.
After work, I sit in my pharmacy, waiting for my number to be called. A small, light-haired woman picks up several items that she had set aside on a chair down the row from mine.
She says "Good day" to the man sitting in the next chair. He smiles at her and corrects her pronunciation.
She stares blankly at him, then stammers, "Sorry, I... I'm getting a lot of things wrong today. I -- My son is in the Golani brigade." The brigade is doing some of the heaviest fighting across the border.
The man starts to respond, then stops. He can't think of what to say.
The woman picks up some printouts from the top of a display just past her chair. "Are these mine?" She looks at the name on them. "No, not mine." She shows them to the man. "Yours?" He shakes his head.
She goes over to the pharmacist's window. She steps around the customer that he is helping, stands on her toes, and hands the papers over the clear plastic partition. "Someone has left these here. They shouldn't be there in public." The pharmacist takes them from her.
She goes back to the chair and picks up her items. She looks at the man again. "Good -- good day," she says. She gets the pronunciation right this time.
The man looks over to her. "From your voice, where are you from? France?"
"Belgium. But I hate it there. It's better here, even with ..." Her voice trails off.
The man nods. "Be well. You, and your boy. With God's help."
"With God's help." She closes her eyes, opens them, and walks away.
When I'm done with the pharmacy, I walk toward the city square. As I pass a small storefront, a breeze brings me the scent of freshly fried falafel. I stop. I've been planning to get my usual chicken salad, but this smells too good. I've had enough vegetables today, anyway. I turn around and go in.
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.)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
L'hitraot.
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DAY 73 OF THE GAZA WAR: Seven Soldiers Are Killed, US Def Sec Austin Announces Red Sea Operation ↩
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ILRedAlert on X: "Rocket Alerts [13:01:04] - 7 Alerts: • Shfela (Lowlands) — Tzafria, Kfar Chabad, Rishon LeZion - East, Rishon LeZion - West, Beit Dagan • Dan — Bat Yam, Tel Aviv - South and Jaffa #Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert https://t.co/mdo4Zzhqtm" / X ↩
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'If the generals are counting tunnels, it suggests things are not going well' | The Times of Israel ↩
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Israel ישראל 🇮🇱 on X: "Noam Cohen survived the Nova Massacre by hiding under the bodies of dead victims. His close friend and rapper Maor Ashkenazi wrote a song detailing Noam's horrific experience. For Noam and thousands of Israelis, every day is October 7th. Listen to every word. https://t.co/zFaEhTIk27" / X ↩
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Pope Francis on X: "For the inhabitants of the Holy Land, a #Christmas of pain and mourning looms. We do not want to leave them alone. May we stand by them in prayer and tangible aid. The suffering of Bethlehem is an open wound for the Middle East and the entire world." / X ↩
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As war mars festivities, Christians in Israel, West Bank cling to Christmas spirit | The Times of Israel ↩
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‘Christ in the rubble’: Christmas muted as Bethlehem grieves for Gaza - France 24 ↩