Author: Ashira

Cat Links Israel realizations, musings, Travel

Reflections from Sderot

Posted on Ashira

Visiting Sderot felt a bit too much like disaster tourism. I kept wondering how those who live there felt when we drove by in our bus. Are they used to it? Do they consider visitors flooding their town to be a second wave of disruption, preventing them from getting on with the normal lives that I’m sure they want to live? I would have liked to ask that question to someone in Sderot, but unfortunately the group wasn’t given this opportunity. We did however, have a fascinating meeting with the mayor of Sderot, David Buskila. Buskila has the difficult role of trying to restore order to a town filled with constant disruption. He can quickly quote the number of rockets that fall in a given year, and describes vividly the 15 seconds between when an alert is issued and the rockets land. Of the statistics that was most difficult to hear, we learned that 25% of the residents of Sderot are afflicted with post traumatic stress disorder. But what was most surprising was what he said next: The children in Gaza are also suffering. Do you think they are responsible for this violence either? How can their parents vote freely

Continue readingReflections from Sderot

Cat Links Israel realizations, musings, my life, Travel

Love- of what exactly?

Posted on Ashira

I remember the first time I got off the plane in Tel Aviv. The excitement at every little thing. Falling in love with Israel, my country.The foreign landscapeThe ancient treesThe street signs in Hebrew, Arabic and EnglishCNN internationalSpeaking Hebrew to ‘real’ IsraelisThe sense of historyJerusalem stone Between that visit and now, I’ve been in Israel a number of times.Each visit less and less exotic. This time, as I sat in the sherut from the airport to Yerusahalyimwith the sun setting golden over the Jerusalem mountainsand the moon, nearly full faintly on display,It should be more romantic.Instead I felt empty. Perhaps it was not Israel that I lovedbut traveling. Since that first visit to IsraelI’ve seen more foreign landscapesmore ancient treesstreet signs in many languages.I’ve watched other tv channelsspoken in more languagesand seen more historyand more stones. There are memories I relish moreand places where I have felt more free.What is Israel to me?Why do I feel so empty?

Cat Links Israel realizations, Jew-ish, musings, pluralism, religion, social justice

Being Invisible

Posted on Ashira

This morning- I got to minyan early. I’m standing in the synagogue, reconnecting with someone I haven’t seen in years when three others walk into the room. One of them says, “great we have four people.” To be honest I don’t remember his exact words, but I do remember math. When does 2+3=4? When one has the xx character trait thereby making her ineligible to count in an Orthodox minyan and apparently rendering her invisible and not a person. This experience has happened to me before- Unfortunately, I have been relegated to non-person status in cities all over the world, almost always by  men, who, I hope, don’t realize the pain that they have caused . What makes this time different is that I’m at the Siach conference- an environmental and social justice conversation. More info here. It is certainly a great group of very talented people. Most of the conversations that I’ve had have been with fascinating people, presenting the challenge of not wanting to extract myself from intense and good discussions. I was having a great time until this moment, and I’m not sure what to do with it. Perhaps I was tired because this morning I just

Continue readingBeing Invisible

Cat Links Uncategorized

Pesah Sermon

Posted on Ashira

-delivered in on the 2nd day of Passover at Ramah Darom חג כשר ושמח When you think about it, this is a quite strange thing to say. Have a kosher and happy holiday? For many who have prepared a home for passover, these seem like diametric opposites. And it seems incredibly difficult to attain a kosher for passover home as well as maintaining happiness. (especially if you don’t attend pesah at Ramah Darom!) It does make sense to wish a חג שמח, we say this on many hagim. but why would we remark on kashrut? Why not say, may you appreciate or attain liberty or may you enjoy the beginnings of Spring. Why wish people a kosher Passover?! Pesah does stand out as a time when more people are interested in kashrut than usual. Not only kashrut, but the intricacies of the law. Many many people adopt a more stringent practice on passover than the rest of the year. This is even acknowledged in the tradition of tending towards the stricter position when Passover is involved. In the Talmud in Berakhot it says שואלין ודורשין בהלהות הפסח קודם שלושים יום- that we start to learn the laws of Passover 30

Continue readingPesah Sermon

Cat Links morocco, my life, photography, Travel

Marrakech day 1.5

Posted on Ashira

Saw more of the city, but most of it is moving so quickly (or so dark) that it’s hard to get sharp photographs. Here are a few highlights: Donkey and cart- these negotiate the alleyways along with mopeds and motorbikes and lots of people. Stork with the High Atlas mountains (we’re going there tomorrow) Stork on the walls of Palais El Badi- It was in use for less than 100 years! Now it’s a home for storks and pigeons.

Cat Links morocco, my life, photography, Travel

Marrakech Day .5

Posted on Ashira

We’re arrived safely, and all is (insha alla) well. Here are a few pics to prove it: Tim waiting for the train at Casablanca airport- enjoying the station’s free (!) internet Details at Medrassa Ben Youseff Chair at Medrassa Ben Youseff Tim at Medrassa ben Youseff Details at Medrassa Ben Youseff Tim’s parents are here too (admiring the details at Medrassa ben Youseff). We’re all having a good time

Cat Links my life, NY

Kafka comes to NYC Part II

Posted on Ashira

Thanks to MyUpperWest for covering this story. Here are a couple of pictures taken at 8:50 this morning at Riverside and 96th st. don’t be deceived by the fact that you can see the sidewalk…. this hasn’t been cleared since last week’s ice storm, so the sidewalk is very slick.Though the city can’t work out which agency is responsible for clearing the ice, I’m sure that there are many lawyers who would be happy to work out who is responsible if someone gets hurt.