January 8, 2024

Joseph Zitt's [as if in dreams] 2024-01-07

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. You can also read this email online here. Here we go...

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Who Ministers to the Ministers?

On the way to the afternoon prayers, a coworker asks me if I'd heard some recent news. "Your American Secretary of Defense went into the emergency room for five days and didn't tell anybody!"¹

I shrug. "It could be worse. Here, if we ever know where our Ministers are or what they're saying, it's probably bad news."

The governmental spats and tantrums continue. Last week, the Army Chief of Staff announced at a Security Cabinet meeting that he had authorized an investigation into how they dropped the ball before the war. Several ministers launched into a shouting match about that.²

That wasn't supposed to be publicized, but word leaked. That may have been unavoidable, since the ministers were apparently screaming so loudly that people outside the room could hear them.

Now the prime minister is asking for a law that "everyone who sits in cabinets and security discussions, including the political and professional ranks — will undergo a polygraph."³ Good luck with getting anyone to agree to that.

Three ministers, apparently in protest, will skip today's cabinet meeting.⁴

One of them, the former chief of staff, was at a moving event this weekend.⁵ A couple of hundred athletes gathered at a gym in our city to honor his son, who had died in battle. He showed up and spoke to them about his squash matches with his son and kayaking with him.⁶

Meanwhile, our mayor wrote a letter of support to the current chief of staff. According to Google Translate, he wrote: "Lest your spirit fall, I believe in you, in your abilities, trust in your professional actions and decisions, as well as all IDF commanders in regular service and in the reserves."⁷

University

Now that colleges are back in session, the New York Times has an article today about how students at a university in a mixed city are getting along. (The link has no paywall.)⁸ Word via WhatsApp from a relative who is a student there, though, says that "there are variations between departments and differences between undergraduate and graduate students."

Loud in the Library

The Jerusalem East-West Orchestra has posted a beautiful set of videos to YouTube today, all filmed at our magnificent new National Library. ⁹ The set is titled "At the end of the rain, spring will come." (That may make less sense if you're not in a Mediterranean climate. In most places I've lived, rain doesn't care what season it is.)

They include the instruments of a standard orchestra, plus a rock rhythm section, more exotic instruments (well, they're not considered as exotic here as they might be in the States), popular singers, and a chorus of children. Check¹⁰ all¹¹ of¹² them¹³ out.¹⁴

(Because I couldn't resist checking, I'm pleased and proud to see that the National Library has my book as if in dreams.¹⁵)

Family Snapshot

A friend in California emails me about the owner of her local café. His mother lives across the border from here, and had been telling him on FaceTime about the horrors she's encountering. A Jewish neighbor checks in with him every couple of days to see whether each other's families are OK.

Looking for something else, I run across a quote attributed to our first president, Chaim Weizmann.

"A member of the House of Lords once asked Chaim Weizmann, “Why do you Jews insist on Palestine when there are so many undeveloped countries you could settle in more conveniently?”

Weizmann responded: “That is like my asking you why you drove twenty miles to visit your mother last Sunday when there are so many old ladies living on your street.”¹⁶

Reading the report about some of our ministers, without authorization, asking about moving the people across the border to somewhere else, I'm reminded of this. We have two people with one motherland, and neither is going to leave.

The Rainbow Connection

On our way back into the office, my coworker spots a rainbow on the floor. Light has come though several windows on its way in, making it show up like that. He places a piece of paper where it appears, showing it off more clearly, then takes a photo of it with his phone.

After work, I pass the other two coworkers who walk to the office. They left earlier and are just strolling. We stop and chat briefly. I think of going to the café but decide against it. I have too much to do at home.

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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 at that Las Vegas address, 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.