Travelling and Swine Flu

I travelled through 6 different airports this past week, and witnessed the different attitude in each to the swine flu scare:

Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv (departing): nothing, not a mention anywhere

Incheon airport, Seoul (arriving): a health form and a quick temperature scan before immigration

Gimpo airport, Seoul (departing): nothing

Haneda airport, Tokyo (arriving): a health form, hand washing with antiseptic liquid and a one-by-one thermal temperature scan before immigration, a form to carry while in Japan with contact information if symptoms occur

Narita airport, Tokyo (departing): nothing

Pudong airport, Shanghai (arriving): a detailed health form, the air crew took temperaure of each passenger, upon landing – scary looking uniformed quarantine officials came on board and checked each passenger again for fever, another inspection before immigration

Pictures from inside the Air China aircraft, after landing in Shanghai, a definite “Cassandra Crossing” moment:

Couple of observations:

• Countries don’t care about those leaving, only about those entering. What about all the talk of international cooperation? Wouldn’t it make sense to stop infected people getting on the plane in the first place?
• The outbreak numbers don’t match the level of inspection (Japan has hundreds of cases yet its inspection is less strict than that of China, with 11 cases).

(By the way: I tried to post this while in Shanghai, but the connection to the Blogger server was blocked. Not only for posting, but also for viewing the blog. No access to YouTube either. Welcome to the People’s Republic of China!).

The Pope in Israel

I didn’t follow much the news about the Pope’s visit to Israel last week. I once had the pleasure to shake the Pope’s hand. Not this one, but the previous, previous, previous one. The one just before the one that was (probably) killed. At the time I didn’t realise how momentous the moment was. I guess it was due to my young age; I was barely a teenager.

Anyway, so because I didn’t follow the news, I was happy that Jon Stewart summarised the Pope’s visit for me.

The Funniest Car Review I’ve Read

Honda Insight 1.3 IMA SE Hybrid

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

The Road is probably the worst book I could have chosen to read on the week before my son’s Bar Mitzvah.

McCarthy tells the story of the journey of a father and son across America, westwards towards the sea. Following an unspecified catastrophe – probably a nuclear holocaust or a global warming disaster – humanity is almost wiped out entirely, as are most species. The few humans still alive are organised mostly into bands of cannibals hunting other humans for survival. The landscape is desolate and covered with ash, no plants grow and the sun is obscured by dark clouds. This catastrophe happened years ago and the boy was born shortly thereafter, so this is the world he knows. His mother committed suicide, after she lost all hope, blaming the father he had no courage to do the right thing. The father agonises over his decision to “carry the fire” and wonders whether he’ll have the courage to kill his own son if worse comes to worst.

Reading this book literally made me feel sick. I had no idea this is what I was getting into; I bought the book because I read somewhere that McCarthy is worthy of a nobel prize. The writing is surprisingly simple and non-pretentious, adding to the overwhelming effect of the story. The horror scenes come out of nowhere and are like a punch in the stomach. I’m not going to go into much detail about the plot as I resolved to try and forget this book the minute I finished reading it.

Fat chance; this is a book that will haunt the reader for a long time, especially if the reader is a father to a small boy.

Letter to Our Son

This weekend we celebrated our son’s Bar Mizvah.

Over the past few months I gathered some divrey Torah from rabbis and greetings from family and friends, to compile a small booklet for the occasion. It wasn’t easy to keep this little project a secret, but we managed. He got to see the booklet (24 pages) for the first time only on his birthday, last Friday.

The booklet ends with a letter to our son, the text of which I copy here (sorry, Hebrew only):

 

מכתב מאמא ואבא

ז' אייר תשס"ט, 1 במאי 2009

הרמב"ן פותח את האגרת לבנו בפסוק: "שְׁמַע בְּנִי מוּסַר אָבִיךָ, וְאַל תִּטֹּשׁ תּוֹרַת אִמֶּךָ" (משלי א, ח). עם הגיעך לגיל מצוות, ראינו לנכון לכתוב לך מספר דברים שיהיו, בעזרת השם, בבחינת מוסר שתשמע ותורה שלא תיטוש

אגרת הרמב"ן מודפסת בסידור שלך. הקפד לקרוא בה מדי פעם בפעם. עצותיו, על אף שנכתבו לפני מאות שנים, הן עצות נבונות ונכונות גם היום

אתה ילד נבון וסקרן, הניחן בכושר זכרון נפלא. הקפד לשים לב תמיד לפרטים. הקשב לא רק למילה הנאמרת אלא גם לדברים שנרמזים ואינם נאמרים. שמור על היכולת להסתכל על המציאות בצורה רחבה, שכן זו תאפשר לך להבחין בין עיקר לטפל ולקבוע סדר עדיפויות הגיוני ובריא

מגיל צעיר אתה אוהב לקרוא ספרים. קרא בתנ"ך באופן קבוע, שכן הוא "ספר הספרים". למד הרבה גמרא, ובעיון, שכן התלמוד טומן בחובו יסודות חשובים: ראייה רחבה עם ירידה לפרטים, חשיבה עקבית המלווה בהסתכלות ביקורתית וקביעת מסקנות מעשיות תוך קבלת דעות מנוגדות. ככל שתעמיק בלימוד תורה, כך תלמד להעריך יותר את המורשת של עמנו, מורשת שאתה חלק ממנה

אמר החכם באדם: "טוֹב אֲשֶׁר תֶּאֱחֹז בָּזֶה וְגַם מִזֶּה אַל תַּנַּח אֶת יָדֶךָ, כִּי יְרֵא אֱלֹהִים יֵצֵא אֶת כֻּלָּם" (קהלת ז, יח). אל תגביל עצמך לתחום אחד ברכישת ידע. עולם ומלואו פתוח בפניך וכל שעליך לעשות הוא לטפח ולהזין את יצר הסקרנות שבך, וללקט מכל הטוב העומד בפניך. אך זכור: לא כל מה שכתוב הוא בהכרח גם נכון. למד להתייחס בביקורתיות לכל דעה

כבד כל אדם באשר הוא אדם, יהודי ושאינו יהודי, גם אם אינך מסכים לדעותיו או לאורח חייו. היה רגיש לרגשותיהם של אחרים והשמר פן תלבין פני אחרים בשוגג. הקשב מבלי לשפוט. אל תתגאה על הבריות וטפח את מידת הענווה, היא מידתו של אבי הנביאים. זכור, כי המשפחה היא העוגן היציב ביותר בחייך, ממנה באת ואליה תוכל לפנות גם בעת צרה, שכן היא תהיה תמיד שם בשבילך

כבן נאמן לעמך ולמדינתך זכור כי המשולש "עם ישראל, תורת ישראל וארץ ישראל" הוא משולש שווה צלעות. אל תזניח צלע אחת על חשבון צלע אחרת. אל תיגרר אחר אלו שינסו לשכנע אותך שהיאחזות ברגב אדמה חשובה משמירה על חיים משותפים תקינים עם חברך השומר על מצוות אחרות ממך. המדינה היא אמצעי, ולא מטרה

חכמינו זכרונם לברכה לימדונו ש"דרך ארץ קדמה לתורה" וכן ש"אם אין קמח אין תורה". כלכל אורחותיך כך שלא תצטרך לא לידי מתנות בשר ודם ולא לידי הלוואתם. דאג לעמוד על רגליך שלך לפני שתחליט, בבוא בעת, להקים משפחה ולקחת בכך אחריות גם על חייהם של אחרים

אתה נכנס לעולם המבוגרים, עולם המשלב טוב ורע, עצב ואושר. אל תיפול לעצת היצר הרע המפתה אותך להתמקד בחצי הכוס הריקה. גם ברגעים הקשים ביותר אל תתן לכעס או ליאוש להשתלט על חייך. האחז באושר ומקד את מחשבותיך ומעשיך בדברים טובים. והחשוב מכל: "דע לפני מי אתה עומד", וכך לעולם לא תהיה לבד

אם רק תרצה, תוכל: אל תגידו יום יבוא – הביאו את היום! כי לא חלום הוא… יענקל'ה רוטבליט

בננו היקר, אנו מעבירים לך באהבה להבה קטנה דולקת: את המורשת, הנסיון והידע שירשנו ושצברנו. אם תתעלם מהלהבה, או חלילה תתייחס אליה בזלזול, היא עלולה לכבות. אך אם תדע לטפל בה נכון – מתי לגונן עליה ומתי לאפשר לה לנשום אויר בכוחות עצמה – אזי היא תאיר לך ותחמם אותך גם בלילות האפלים ביותר. ובבוא היום, תוכל אתה להעביר את הלהבה לילדיך שלך

אוהבים עד אין קץ

אמא ואבא

Boycott “Starboocks”

If you’ve ever wondered how a few million Jews manage to outsmart hundreds of millions of Muslims, here’s a partial explanation:

 

“Passengers Requiring Extra Space”

Under the politically-correct heading “Passengers Requiring Extra Space”, United Airlines announced they would charge (in certain circumstances) obese passengers travelling in economy class for an extra seat.

About time. I’ve always wondered why I needed to squeeze myself in my already-small seat because of a particularly fat person sitting next to me. Or why the airline would charge me for an extra 10KG in my baggage when the person who checked in before me was at least 50KG heavier than me.

To make this fair, there needs to be a mechanism that allows for people who are obese for reasons beyond their control (e.g. illness) to be exempt from paying the extra fare. But for the vast majority of those who are obese because of their own poor judgement and lack of self-control, I say: about time!

A Pesach Surprise

I know I must be the last person in the civilised world that has seen this, but I have Pesach as an excuse; I was cut off for a few days this week.

Once in a while, very very seldom, there is something on TV that is worth watching (the problem, is, of course, that you need to wade through gallons of dung before stumbling upon the occasional gem). I don’t have TV, but fortunately there is YouTube. A friend send me the link just after the holiday and I admit it stirred something in my old cynical soul.

She is 47 years old, she is not beautiful by conventional standards, and she sports a double chin and bushy eyebrows. But when she opens her mouth to sing, all these external features fade away to reveal the beauty inside. And then, when the singing ends, one is left to wonder about the stereotyped world we live in.

Shocking Testimony

Following is a shocking testimony from an IDF soldier who participated in the fighting in Gaza a couple of months ago:

One day we were on a foot patrol next to this Palestinian village. We saw children playing in the streets next to some houses. There was nothing for us to do there, so we walked on. However, one of the soldiers, let’s call him Yuval, broke off from our group and disappeared. When he came back, a couple of minutes later, he looked somewhat excited and there were a few drops of blood on his shirt, but he refused to answer our questions about his strange disappearance.

Later that day, as we were turning in for the night, I overheard a conversation between two of my friends. They were discussing this strange incident and one of them said he saw what happened. Apparently Yuval walked up to two young Palestinian children in that village, drew out his knife and stabbed one of them repeatedly until the kid fell to his knees. The other kid started running away, but Yuval easily caught up with him and stabbed him too. He then threw his knife into some bushes and ran back to our group.

I was too stunned to ask my friends any questions. Apparently it all happened very fast so only a couple of the soldiers even noticed Yuval went missing.

After the war I heard that the Palestinians were complaining that an IDF soldier murdered a 16 year old boy and wounded his 7 year old friend. I realised they were referring to what Yuval did.

I cannot imagine how a human being can walk up to two innocent children and stab them like that. It’s horrible.

Plato Turning in his Grave

Plato must be turning in his grave. When he recommended, 2,500 years ago, that the rulers need to be “philosopher kings”, he could not have suspected that the important post of Finance Minister would be given to the likes of Yuval Steinitz.

Invincible Japanese Man

Surviving a nuclear bomb is pretty impressive. Surviving two nuclear bombs is bloody remarkable.

The Guardian bring the story  of Tsutomo Yamaguchi, the only known survivor of both atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of the WW2. He was on a business trip in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and suffered serious burns. He returned to his hometown of Nagasaki the following day, in time to catch the second bomb on August 9.

Sometimes a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Forever Flora

I bought this book by Yuval Elbashan as soon as I heard about it. Yuval and I worked together a long time ago and he has since become a prominent social activist in Israel. Naturally, I was curious to read what he wrote. (He also wrote some legal books, but I prefer other means for falling asleep fast).

Ella is a 40-something woman that is coming to terms with her father’s death five years ago, and is finally ready to enter his old flat and clear it up. (This takes place sometime in the 2030s, a futuristic them that is not developed further in the book aside to references to a “digital”, the video-phone of the future). In the flat Ella discovers a bunch of letters that her father – Na’im - wrote to her over the years, mostly in the form of short stories. These stories revolve around Flora, Ella’s larger-than-life aunt, who has seen it all, done it all: married and divorced two husbands, wrote a PhD, engaged in social activism, saved her younger brother from drugs, lived abroad, drove along Route 66… you name it. Flora’s presence in her brother Na’im’s life is so prominent that he names his daughter Flori, after her, but when the daughter grows up she changes her name to Ella. Na’im sees this not as a failure but actually as proof that Ella inherited some of his Flora’s independence and spunk.

Through the stories Na’im writes to his daughter, we are exposed to the lives of this poor family of children of immigrants from Iraq. Na’im and Flora have an older brother who is a womaniser; a younger brother who is an ex drug-addict; and a sister who is evacuated from the Gaza strip in the 2005 “disengagement” plan and whose husband commits suicide. These siblings grew up with a violent father and a submissive mother, and when they grew up each ran in a different direction to get as far away as possible from their childhood home in Jerusalem. Each grapples with the scars, physical but mostly mental, that their father has left them to carry for the rest of their lives.

I loved this book. It covers a lot of ground in terms of Israeli society: immigrants from Arab countries (“sefaradim”), bonds forged in the army, politics, social strife, and much more. Some sub-plots and characters in the book seemed a little “forced”, as if Yuval insisted on inserting his world views into the story even when the fit was not natural. For example, the story of the old Holocaust survivor who lives in the same building as Flora is somewhat under-developed and I suspect it is there to raise the shameful treatment these survivors receive from the establishment. But most of the stories are very touching and are universal in the sense that every reader can find parts of his personal family history in them. Yuval does a beautiful job in creating dialogues between family members that are short but reveal so much of their convoluted and complex relationships.

Towards the end of the book the narrator quotes a short passage from Flora’s PhD dissertation. It is about the “book moment”, the moment in the reading of a book that imprints it in the mind of the reader for eternity. I think not all books have this “moment”, but Forever Flora certainly does. For me, there were two such moments, the second of which was this short passage about “the moment” itself. The first moment was the beautiful theme of the Bakers and the Butlers. I won’t reveal here what this is all about; you’re going to have to read the book.

I have not spoken with Yuval for 15 years. I hope to have a chance soon to tell him personally how much I enjoyed his first novel, and how envious I am of his achievement.

“Lax Rules of Engagement”

The headlines around the world today quote the report in Haaretz about alleged “lax rules of engagement” among IDF soldiers during the recent fighting in Gaza. Needless to add, the Israeli “moral blogosphere” is already taking the higher moral ground and asking for justice.

First things first. War is unpleasant and usually leads to unpleasant things. The Torah sets rules for behaviour during a war precisely because human beings are known to lose some of their humanity in such extreme situations. One doesn’t need to be a genius, and certainly doesn’t need Haaretz, to figure out that if hundreds of civilians died in Gaza, some of them died in circumstances that are far from being pleasant.

Having said that, the outcry is morally reprehensible.

From a legal standpoint, there so-called “testimonies” are worthless. They are based on hearsay or on what the soldiers “believed” happened or “thought” about what others felt. Most of the quotes in the report describe the soldiers’ feelings and personal interpretations. Calling for legal action based on this “evidence” is ridiculous. But of course, those who see crimes in every action of the IDF don’t need much “evidence” to cry foul.

Although there might be, and there probably are, exceptions to the rule – the basic fact is that IDF soldiers are NOT killers. Unlike the Hamas, they do not shoot old women and young children intentionally. If civilians are killed, then it is most likely either a mistake or a result of erring to the side of caution in order to protect soldiers’ lives. An army that does not think first and foremost of its own side’s casualties is immoral and I wouldn’t want the IDF to engage under rules that put the life of a Palestinian above the life of an Israeli.

Most importantly, every Israeli (even those who lead the witch hunt) knows who these IDF soldiers are. Not personally, of course, but these are our sons, our neighbours, our co-workers. I have yet to see an Israeli that will look me in the eye and tell me his soldier son or neighbour or co-worker goes to Gaza and kills for the sake of killing.

A Spin Master

Our next prime minister is a spin master. He started his career as a furniture salesman and has since honed his sales skills to near perfection. His most successful job was ambassador to the UN, where he “sold” Israel in the best possible way. He is still a salesman; the difference is that what he is selling now is himself. Bibi selling Bibi.

Bibi keeps saying, to anyone who will listen, that he’s doing his very best to put together a wide government, a so-called “unity” government. He asked the president to help him in this noble endeavour. He is likely to ask Peres for another 14 days to form his government, so he can continue his valiant efforts to try and coax Kadima and Labour into his government.

But the truth is Bibi is not really interested in a wide government. All Bibi is interested in is, well, Bibi. Had he really wanted Kadima and Labour in his government, he would have made concessions on the political agenda; he would have agreed to rotate the post with Livni (as the election results mandate); he would have eased on the rhetoric against a two-state solution. He has done none of the above, for the reason that his one and only goal is to be prime minister. And alone. And for as long as possible.

So he’s now spinning us all. Expect him to devote a major part of his inaugural speech to his “relentless efforts” over these past weeks to form a “unity” government. Don’t be fooled. He is preparing his excuse for the future, for when his right-wing band of hallucinating morons will lead him to failure. Then he can turn around and blame Livni and Barak for failing to join forces with him now.

Whichever way you spin him, Bibi will land on his feet. As all good salesmen do.

Negotiations

Part of my job is to negotiate business deals. Picture, if you will, the following imaginary discussion between me and a vendor:

Me: I value what you have to sell very much. It is very, very important to me. It is more important than almost everything else.

Vendor: Good. My price is X.

Me: I am willing to pay a very high price for what you have to sell. It is very, very important to me. But your price is too high.

Vendor: Good. My price is still X.

Me: I realise I must make serious sacrifices to buy from you. What you have to sell is very, very important to me. But your price is too high.

Vendor. Good. My price is still X.

Me: I just got a phone call from my boss and he says that no price is too high for what you are selling. His advisors say the same. It is very, very important to all of us. But your price is too high.

Vendor: Good. My price is still X.

Me: I just had a conference call with my entire company, and everybody on the line was in agreement that we have no choice but to pay a very high price. What you have to sell is very, very important to us. But your price is too high.

Vendor. Good. My price is still X.

Me: I just looked back at the prices we paid you in the past and saw that my predecessors have always paid you what you asked for. What you have to sell was obviously very, very important to them. But your price is too high.

Vendor: You know what. Go home. And when you are willing to pay X, come back. Maybe I’ll have what you want, maybe not.

Now substitute "Me” with “Israel” and “Vendor” with “Hamas” and you will get a good picture of what’s been going on in the last few days. Is it a wonder Israel has zero chance to succeed in this negotiation?

Rabbi Aviner Does it Again

A few years ago, I wrote about Rabbi Shlomo Aviner’s twisting of the Halacha to serve his world view. Now it seems that was not an isolated incident.

Aviner recently published an answer to a question about the right attitude one should take towards Baruch Goldstein, the Jewish doctor (!) who murdered 29 Palestinians and wounded scores more while they were praying in Hebron, 14 years ago this week. In an elaborate word-twisting video response, Aviner tried to play it both ways. While taking care to point out that Goldstein was wrong in taking the law into his hands, he still managed to call him a “saint” and said the act cannot be judged separately from the man.

I must be growing old, for I do not feel so passionately against these ugly words as I did when Aviner justified the murder of a captured and bound terrorist a few years ago. I then called it a “license to kill” and expressed a wish rabbis would think twice before saying things that are not only wrong but also cause a big hillul hashem. Aviner’s recent answer deserves to be denounced no less passionately; Goldstein is nothing but a despicable murderer, full stop. No justifications, no mitigating circumstances.

The public outcry in some media outlets prompted Aviner to issue a clarifying answer. More word twisting.

I a truly ashamed that Aviner is such a prominent figure in the Zionist-Religious community in Israel. I am even more ashamed that other rabbis have not condemned his views.

The Big Picture

It’s been one month since the elections in Israel and, in the best tradition of our screwed-up proportional representation voting system, we still have no government. The outgoing government is still technically in charge – continuity of government and all that - but for obvious reasons it can’t make any major decisions. So everything is on hold until Bibi manages to get his coalition together.

So the rockets keep coming from Gaza. And the Bank of Israel announces that GDP will shrink 1.5% in 2009, the worst year ever. And thousands are being laid off every month. And Iran has attained the capability to put together a nuclear bomb. And Syria and Egypt are becoming best buddies again. And the list goes on and on.

Doesn’t anyone get the big picture? Is haggling over politics the right thing to do now? Is calling for the Navy chief to resign because he went to a strip club the most urgent issue on the IDF’s agenda? I open the news and one of the top items tells me that some third-grade singer sucks his thumb when he sleeps on Big Brother.

I guess this problem is not unique to Israel. I read today that several key appointments at the US Treasury Dept. are being held up because someone didn’t pay Social Security on a nanny 20 years ago. So the US financial system is crumbling but the righteous crusaders for political integrity (an oxymoron if I ever heard one) would rather get buried with it than wake up and get the big picture.

Makes one want to scream: wake up already!

And now for something completely different. Talking of “The Big Picture”, it reminds me to recommend this section of the Boston Globe online.

Point of No Return

The head of Military Intelligence told the Israeli government yesterday that Iran has made it past the “nuclear technological threshold”. The only thing that stands in the way of an Iranian nuclear bomb is a decision by the country leaders to move forward and make one. This assessment is in line with that of most Western intelligence agencies and the IAEA.

The ramifications of a nuclear Iran have been discussed ad nauseam so I won’t repeat them here. It seems as if the world understands these ramifications but would rather not deal with them and continue to hide behind diplomatic declarations and useless sanctions. The new administration in the US is busy dealing with other problems, and in any case Obama’s stated strategy is to reach a comprehensive regional deal with the Ayatullahs, in the hope that renunciation of the nuclear programme will be part of this new understanding. The chances of this deal happening are slim at best. Israel, from its perspective, has failed to stop the Iranian nuclear ambitions by relying on the world; the scary prospect of a military strike against Iran is looming larger than ever before.

Iran (Persia) is a nation with a long history of astute and clever leaders, who have used brinkmanship more than once to their advantage. Other leaders have succeeded to reap many benefits for their nations by dangling the nuclear stick cleverly in front of the world. But it remains to be seen whether Shi’ite dogmatism and the mix between religion and state has not weakened the sagacity of the Persians to a point where their judgement is fatally clouded.

I am not optimistic.

Can't Stand Them

I'm in the middle of watching Australia (first half I watched on the Boston-Frankfurt flight; second half I plan to watch on the Frankfurt-Tel Aviv flight I'm about to board). Good movie. But it prompted me to write something I've been meaning to get out of my system for a while: there are some actresses I simply cannot stand! They ruin every movie they're in.

Obviously Nicole Kidman is one of them. In Australia she plays this 1930s English lady that saves her late huband's cattle farm down under. Her acting, especially in the first half where she's still not used to the roughness of the Australian outback and is supposed to be oh-so shocked by everything, is reminiscent of the acting in third-grade movies like Crocodile Dundee.

And here are some others, just off the top of my head: Meryl Streep, quite possibly the most overrated actress on the planet. Jodi Foster, with that stuck-up, constipated look on her face (I guess it's stuck there since Clarice). And don't get me going about Keira Knightley; I have a weakness for British actresses - Emma Thompson is my favourite - but I simply cannot listen to Knightley's whining voice for more than one minute.

By the way, just in case you're wondering, this is not a sexist thing. There are also actors I can't stand. For example, the one-expression nincompoop Hugh Grant. But that's a subject for another post.

Back-Rubber / Back-Scrubber

For the past few hours I've been humming the words to the wonderful song by The Smiths, "Half a Person". For more than two decades now I am in awe of the genius lines of this song, particularly this:

And if you have five seconds to spare

Then I'll tell you the story of my life:

Sixteen, clumsy and shy

I went to London and I...

I booked myself in at the Y... W.C.A.

I said : "I like it here - can I stay?

I like it here - can I stay?

Do you have a vacancy For a back-scrubber?

But only this morning, when I searched for the lyrics, did I realise that the words were "back-scrubber" and not, as I had always thought, "back-rubber". I admit I was sorely disappointed. How much more appropriate it would have been for the clumsy sixteen-year-old to ask about a vacancy for a "back-rubber" at an all-woman hotel. Oh well; I guess that from now on I'll just need to re-adjust the images this song conjures up in my mind.

A New Dan Quayle?

The Obama administration is so slick and organised. Everything runs smoothly. The President's speeches are almost flawless. His chief of staff is a tidiness freak. It promises to be a properly-run, dull and boring administration.

However there is an odd man out: Joe Biden, who seems to be prone to making small gaffes that brighten up our days. Just like good old Dan Quayle.

So there is hope yet. Here's an example (I love how the interviewer's smile spreads when she realises he's put his foot in it):

65 Seats - Why Wait?

Representatives of the various parties elected in last week's election have made their recommendation to president Peres. 65 knesset members endorsed Netanyahu, a clear majority in Israeli political terms (nobody endorsed Livni except her own party). There is no need for further delays: Bibi can form his right-wing government immediately. But for some reason, Bibi and others are calling for a "unity government", a euphemism for adding Kadima (28 seats) to the government, as Labour (13 seats) have stated their preference to remain in opposition.

My question is: what for? Why the insistence on adding Kadima to the coalition? Both Bibi and his band of wild coyotes - Lieberman, National Front, etc. - can finally fulfill their dream of a strong, proud leadership for Israel. To build more settlements; better still, to annex the West Bank. To exterminate Hamas and regain control of the Gaza strip. To stand proud in front of pressures from abroad. To show Arab Israelis where the fish urinates from (to use a Hebrew expression). To nuke Iran. And so on an so forth.

Now that the moment of truth has come, now that the people have finally given Bibi the majority he so craved, now is the time for him to fulfill his vision. I say: let Bibi win! And we'll all stand on the sidelines and watch his performance. Surely he can't be as bad as he was last time. Surely.

Bin Laden Found

A geography professor from California claims he has found Osama Bin Laden. Using mathematical models, the conclusion reached is that the head of Al Qaeda is hiding in one of three buildings in the town of Parachinar in north-west Pakistan. All the US forces need to do now is pluck him out of there (assuming Bin Laden does not read foreign press and has not fled already).

I checked the date; it is not April 1st today, so here's the link to the full story, as reported in The Telegraph.

To me, this story is a beautiful example of the difference between occidental and oriental thinking. Sitting in his comfortable room in UCLA - and smoking God knows what - the esteemed professor has been able to use his oversized brain - and that of his computer - to pinpoint the location of an arch-terrorist on the other side of the planet. The confidence, not to say hubris, displayed by this line of thinking, is nothing short of astounding. It stands in stark contrast to the oriental way of thinking, where things are rarely quantified and categorised in such a rigid manner. Science versus art. IQ versus EQ.

Missing a Flight

What should you do if you get carried away with your duty-free shopping and when you reach the gate, you realise you've just missed your flight.

Well, one thing you do is this:

Somehow I have a feeling she would not have been allowed to carry on like that for three whole minutes at Tel Aviv airport...

Gilad Shalit - The Price (cont.)

Two opinions published today refer to the high price Israel is purportedly about to pay for the release of Gilad Shalit:

Ben-Dror Yemini, in NRG, writing similar things to those I wrote a few days ago.

Chaim Navon, in YNET, giving the Halachic angle.

Some of the reader comments are worth reading too, for a change.

Gilad Shalit - The Price

News this morning is that a deal for returning Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped by the Hamas in Gaza in June 2006, is imminent. According to the report, Israel will release about 1,000 Palestinians in return for Shalit; 250 of these terrorists will have "blood on their hands", meaning they were directly involved in the killing of Israelis.

A couple of comments on the price Israel pays for its kidnapped soldiers (and civilians).

First, it would do good to remind our Arab neighbours and the world about this price whenever someone brings up the "disproportionate" killing of Arabs by Israelis in times of conflict. If the other side is setting a price of 1,000 Arabs for 1 Jew in a prisoner exchange, then they shouldn't complain when, in a war, more Arabs than Jews are killed. If they were to value life as much as we do, then the exchange would be 1 to 1.

More important, and painful, is the second point. If the deal goes through, Israel will be paying too high a price for Shalit. I say this with a broken heart, as I will be as happy as the next person to see Shalit back home with his family. But emotions aside, the harm will be greater than the gain.

The practice of paying a high price for prisoner exchange started with the Jibril exchange in 1985, a precedent that set the tone for future exchanges. It reached macabre proportions last year, when Israel released live terrorists in exchange for the dead bodies of Regev and Goldwasser. Israeli society has proven, time and again, that it will pressure its government to make unreasonable deals for the return of kidnapped soldiers. For some reason, most Israelis are willing to sacrifice the lives of soldiers and civilians to return kidnapped ones. This is not a hypothetical claim, about future victims of the terrorists being released. During the recent fighting in Gaza, many Israelis were in favour of continuing the operation until Shalit was released, knowing full well that many soldiers will die in the process. Everybody talks about Shalit; nobody talks about the two soldiers in this tank that were killed in the same attack.

I do not undestimate the psychological effect of future soldiers and their families knowing that Israel will go to great lengths to ensure the safe return of soldiers it sends to war. But I fear that the counter-effect of succumbing to irrational deal-making outweighs its benefits. I've been reading Tehillim daily since the capture of Shalit, Regev and Goldwasser in 2006, praying every day for their release. I continue to pray for Shalit to return home safely, and soon. But I pray also for the government of Israel to stand strong not only against our enemies but also against domestic pressure, to consider the national interest before other emotional considerations.

Don't Panic

Reading the commentary in the press/blogosphere about Lieberman's impressive gains in this election (15 seats), one would think Israel is on the verge of annointing Mussolini (not to say Hitler) as its new supremo. Bye bye democracy.

Just as the tirade against Lieberman during the election campaign was a lot of hyperbole, so the current "end of the world as we know it" commentary is way off the mark. Lieberman happens to have a hulking figure, fleshy lips, a beard and portruding, unblinking eyes - an altogether intimidating physical presence (the kid that beat his son up can testify to that). And he does not mince words when it comes to making a point about his vision for an Arab-free Israel. But like all barking dogs, Lieberman can and will be co-opted once in power. He's is a one-man party, whose success rode on understandable fear and confusion. Once the dust settles and Lieberman is offered a seat at the table, he will tow the line pretty much like he did in the past. Election talk (not only Lieberman's) ought to be taken with a grain of salt.

And if not, and he does become too strong for the liking of the powers that be, then I'm sure the public prosecution junta will make sure he is sidelined with incessant investigations and imaginary lawsuits.

The Morning After

A boring election campaign has yielded predictably boring results. With Kadima and Likud tied and a right-wing bloc majority, Bibi - as expected - is going to be the next prime minister. The best Kadima can hope for is a few seats around the government table, to avoid its certain demise in opposition.

With the current electoral system in place, Israel is unable to extricate itself from the political deadlock that has been haunting it for the better part of the last three decades. The most pressing item on the new government's agenda is changing the system, but given the results this is highly unlikely to happen.

So this morning, the countdown for the next election begins. My guess is 2011.

OK, It's Done

It's done.

I braved the weather and headed to the voting booth. It was completely empty, so it took me less than a minute to complete the deed.

I finally made up my mind yesterday. I admit the unexpected presence of a Green-Meimad booth outside the voting station lent some hesitance to my gait, but I stuck to my decision. I then hurried quickly out of the place, suppressing the nauseating thought about how my vote helped the bootlegging MK retain her seat in the Knesset.

Complaint Letter

I wish I had a way with words like the author of this complaint letter.

Wrong Neighbourhood for Hesitation

If Israel continues to hesitate (half a day now) and does not respond swiftly and with disproportionate force to the attack this morning on the border with Gaza, the gains from the past month of fighting will be severely impacted. This is not the place nor the time for hesitation or restraint. This is the time for Israel to establish new engagement rules with Hamas: just as they want hundreds of terrorists released in exchange for one captured Israeli soldier, so should dozens of Hamas terrorists die for every dead Israeli soldier. It's either this or we are back on the slippery slope.

Who to Vote For?

The elections are two weeks away. This must be the most dormant election campaign I've seen in my life, probably a combination of the general "there-is-nobody-worth-voting-for" feeling and the fact that the political parties suspended their campaigns during the fighting in Gaza.

I am still undecided about who to vote for. The natural choice is the Labour Party, but I have an ongoing issue with their economic agenda (and with their "disappearing act"). The logical choice would be Kadima, as I agree with most of their agenda. The problem I have with Kadima is that most of the people there, including the leader of the pack, are not exactly my cup of tea. My heart goes for Meimad-Green Movement, but I have thrown my vote away in the past for Meimad when it did not make it in, and I don't feel like repeating that mistake.

Interestingly, the Israeli blogoshpere seems to favour Meimad-Green Movement, so perhaps they will surprise everyone after all and make it through on a "trend vote", just like the Pensioner Party did in the last elections.

Oh well. Two more weeks and then I'll need to make a decision.

Cultural Differences

So the inauguration ceremony is over and pundits are busy analysing Barack's speech and Michelle's dress. I didn't watch the event (except for bits and pieces on YouTube), but I took a look at the agenda today and I confess of being envious of one thing: the fact that it was peppered throughout with culture.

It opened with an invocation from a pastor Warren. Then Aretha Franklin muddled her way through "My Country Tis of Thee". After the vice-presidential oath, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and others performed a piece by John Williams. After the presidential oath the Marine Corps band played. Not to mention the presidential ball after the ceremony, where the first couple danced solo on stage while Beyonce sang.

Can you imagine Perlman performing while Bibi or Barak are sworn into office? Or them letting a rabbi say a few words? Or either of them dancing with Sarah or Nili (respectively) in front of the entire nation? Sadly, the most we can except is watch them mumble the words to the Tikvah.

Our Neighbour and Why We Have to Kill Him

This appeared on Pajamas Media, and is worth bringing it here in its entirety.

Our Neighbor and Why We Have to Kill Him, By Leon de Winter, January 19, 2009

Our neighbor lives in the house in which our grandfather used to live. He claims he bought the first part of the house from a Turki, and later the second part from a British bank, but that doesn’t make the sale any less illegal: my family lived in that house for hundreds of years and we don’t accept the documents of sale. Now he’s living there. He is the son of monkeys and pigs.

The problem is that he’s not just brazen, he’s also strong, although he is a tiny guy. The whole neighborhood hates him. He’s a thief and possessed by the devil. But he seems to be able to beat everyone. We tried to force him out of the house together, but it didn’t work. He has bulletproof windows, and the roof is made of inflammable material.

All we think about is him. Our own home is in ruins because all our efforts, all our money and ideas and energy are devoted solely to destroying our neighbor’s house. We’re utterly convinced that we will be perfectly happy just as soon as we’ve killed him and his house is a heap of smoking rubble. We live for one thing only: our neighbor’s demise. It’s a noble ambition for which we’re all willing to die.

Sometimes our neighbor seems to forget we exist, then we throw a couple of pebbles at his windows. If we’re lucky, there’s a window open and we toss a Molotov cocktail inside to start a nasty fire. That makes our neighbor angry, and that’s good. We don’t want him to forget us. Life means nothing to us as long as our neighbor’s living in that house. So we make sure he remembers us, even though we can’t force him out and he sometimes beats the hell out of us.

Every now and then our neighbor gets fed up with our stone-throwing — those are the best moments. Then he storms out of our grandfather’s house and smashes our kitchen or bathroom or refrigerator to pieces. By doing so he proves that it’s right that we hate him. We provoke him until he reveals his true demonic character. That’s what we live for. We can’t beat him, but there’s something satisfying about watching him kick our old, worn-out, empty refrigerator to shreds after we have tried to ransack one of his freezers — he has several, all full of food which he bought with the wealth he found in our grandfather’s house. What he does to us is much worse than our provocations, but we keep provoking him because that’s the main thing we want in life.

Our neighbor, the dog, wants us to leave him alone. We can’t. His death is our ultimate ambition in life. We live in our hovel, we grow nothing in our garden, and we leave our schoolbooks on the shelf because we dream of returning to our grandfather’s house and work solely towards our neighbor’s collapse. Nothing is allowed to distract us from that.

Our neighbor claims that when he bought the house, it was just a wooden hut on a piece of barren land that he turned into a palace. He claims he planted a fertile vegetable garden — that’s a lie. It was an estate with fertile soil and the bathrooms had gold taps; our grandfather told us so himself, we even keep the key to his house in a sacred place. If we had still been living in our grandfather’s house then we would have had all those freezers in which our neighbor keeps his food. The family of monkeys and pigs never lived there before; our neighbor’s existence is based on clever lies and forgeries.

We keep challenging him and when we’ve insulted him enough and managed to wreck some part of his house, he marches angrily into our place. We can’t stop him and we have no idea how long he’ll stay in our hovel, until one day he leaves. Then we lick our wounds in satisfaction and survey in intense pleasure all the destruction he left behind, and we show it to the world. Our scars prove to us and to the world that our cause is just. We know he doesn’t harm us when we leave him alone, but we want him to harm us. If he wouldn’t, the world would think he is just an ordinary guy. Which he isn’t. That’s why we provoke him. Without him harming us, we wouldn’t exist.

We want to kill him, but we don’t have the right weapons. He has the means to kill us all, but he doesn’t, the coward. If we had the weaponry he has, we would have killed him long ago. And the fact that he doesn’t kill us, although he could, is a sign of his unbearable arrogance.

Some, who don’t live in our neighborhood and who don’t know how things work around here, occasionally ask us, “Why do you keep provoking him when you know that he’ll hit back so ferociously?”

This question proves they are ignorant about our neighborhood. We do it because that’s what our life is about. Our neighbor, who’s a murderer of prophets, humiliates us just because he is there. That’s why we can’t think about anything else. Our grandfather’s honor is worth risking our own lives and those of our children and grandchildren. We have no future as long as our neighbor lives in peace and plenty. None of us in the neighborhood can build as long as his house remains standing.

Strangers sometimes try to persuade us that we ought to build a viable house on our own lot. But nothing is viable beside our neighbor’s stolen property. He is the burning focus of our existence. He is rich, so we are poor. He is powerful, so we are weak. He has to disappear. A little further along in our neighborhood we have a friend who supplies us secretly with stones and Molotov cocktails. He’s working on a big bomb that will reduce our neighbor to a miserable pile of atoms in a fraction of a second. That bomb will kill us too — that hellish thought is almost erotic. Our neighbor will burn, and we will as well, but one thing is certain: we won’t feel inferior anymore; at last we’ll have beaten him, in death — which we don’t fear, but he does.

The neighborhood will be completely gone. And that’s how it should be. Death will free us of the son of monkeys and pigs, and of our infuriating obsession with him.

Voodoo Judaism - Continued

I have written before about voodoo Judaism, and since then things seem to be getting worse. The latest manifestation of this disease is the story about how Rachel Imenu (Rachel the matriarch) appeared as an old woman to IDF soldiers during the fighting in Gaza, warning them about traps the Hamas laid. She even told the soldiers who she was, probably to make sure they wouldn't confuse her with just some old Palestinian woman who happens to be a closet Zionist.

The story started circulating a few days ago, and today incredibly (or perhaps not so incredibly), it was given a boost by none other than Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Tsfat, and son to previous chief rabbi of Israel, Mordechai Eliyahu. Appearing before students at Machon Meir, he recounted how his ailing father visited the tomb of Rachel Imenu to ask her to go to Gaza and help the soldiers there. This is the same rabbi (the father) that declared before the disengagement from Gaza in 2005: "it shall not come to pass!", assuring his gullible disciples to stay put because a last-minute miracle will cancel the plan. Evidently his divine powers have only increased since, as he is now capable of summoning Rachel Imenu at will.

If this were not so sad, it would be funny.

So Much Fuss

I don't watch news on TV and I don't read (paper) newspapers. And yet I cannot escape the hoopla around Obama's inauguration ceremony today. I understand "change is coming" and I understand "yes, we can" and all that. But for heaven's sake, it's only an inauguration ceremony! It's not as if Obama has done anything yet to justify all brouhaha. Let him first find a cure for cancer or achieve world peace, then we can celebrate so lavishly. Surely in these economic times a little humility on the expenses side would have been a welcome "change", no?

Deterrence - An Idea

So the war is over and Israel is pulling out of Gaza, having apparently won this round.

The following days and weeks will show whether Israel indeed succeeded in the main goal of this war: creating enough deterrence vis-a-vis the Hamas, to make the terrorists think twice, and three times, before launching rockets into Israeli cities. Within this context, I have an idea of a deterrence system that, whilst might seem a little harsh at first, might just do the job.

Israel set up an early warning system (EWS) so that every time a rocket is launched from the Gaza strip, a siren (known as "Red Colour") is sounded in the cities and villages of southern Israel where the rocket is likely to land. Depending on the distance from the Gaza strip, this warning gives people 15-60 seconds to find a shelter. I'm proposing that this automatic EWS be connected not only to the siren system but also to an unmanned, computer-operated, artillery battery that has its cannons aimed at the Gaza strip. Every time the "Red Colour" siren goes off, the computer will point the battery cannons to a random point in Gaza and fire a salvo of shells to that point.

The system will not be operated by Israel. In fact, Israel will guarantee that there isn't a single soldier within a radius of one kilometer from the battery (except for routine, scheduled maintenance). The system will be operated de-facto by Hamas itself, every time a rocket is launched from Gaza. It will be Hamas' decision whether it wants to shell its own population.

Despite its harshness, I am confident that this Pavlovian contraption will serve as an effective deterrent against the cowardly bastards that hide among Palestinian innocent civilians to fire rockets at Israeli innocent civilians. It might take a while, as the Hamas' learning curve seems to be longer than that of a dog, but eventually they too will learn.

The only question is: will Israel have the guts to use such a deterrent? I think the answer is obvious.

Why Israel is Winning the War

In the modern age wars are seldom decisively won. Especially wars between unequal sides, like the current war between Israel and Hamas. To win a war against a terrorist organisation that masquerades itself as a legitimate governing body, nothing short of total destruction will suffice (something which the Sri Lankan government is close to achieving against the Tamil Tigers, but you don't hear much about that in the news, do you?). But such a total win would be a Pyrrhic victory, at a devastating cost to the winning side.

However, within the constraints of a limited war against para-military terrorist organisations such as the Hamas, Israel is actually winning this war. Just like, contrary to popular wisdom, it has won the war against Hezbollah in 2006. Here's why.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas are leading an ongoing war-by-proxy against Israel on behalf of Iran, whose declared policy is the destruction of the Jewish state. Iran does not wish to engage Israel directly (for obvious reasons), but the Iranian leadership is willing to fight Israel until the last Lebanese or Palestinian is left standing. So Israel must create an equilibrium against Hezbollah and Hamas similar to the equilibrium it has with Iran. This equilibrium is borne out of enough destruction and death on the other side to make it think twice, and three times, before initiating acts of hostility in the future.

The current war will end pretty much the same way as the 2006 war with Hezbollah did. Hamas will fire the last shots (or, rather, rockets) thus allowing its leaders - after they emerge from their hiding hole under Shifa hospital - to declare victory. Fair enough, no harm done. But it is Gaza that will need rebuilding, not Israel. It is Gazans who will bury more than 1,000 people, not Israelis. And it is the Hamas leadership that will face tough questions from within and without, not the Israeli government. So Hamas will think twice, and three times, before launching new rocket attacks against southern Israel.

Soom after the end of the 2006 war, Hezbollah's leader Nasrallah confessed that had he known the extent of Israel's response he would not have authorised the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers (an event that triggered the war). And despite his recent belligerent rhetoric, Nasrallah decided not to open a new front against Israel in the north, and hastened to deny that it was not Hezbollah that fired the few rockets against northern Israel. Why? Because Nasrallah spent the last couple of years acting more as a building contractor than a political leader, given that entire neighbourhoods were flattened during the 2006 war. His people will not readily accept a renewed destruction of their homes and lives, so he's being careful. He's thinking twice, and three times, before acting.

Israel is close to achieving the same equilibrium against Hamas. And this is why Israel is winning this war. True, every equilibrium in nature eventually disintegrates, requiring a new equilibrium to be found, but this is unfortunately the best Israel can hope for when dealing with a terrorist organisation that refuses to recognise its right to exist. One can only hope that when the time comes for the future equilibrium to be found, it will be an equilibrium achieved by diplomacy and negotiation, aimed at reaching some peaceful modus vivendi, and not another war.

A Proper Welcome

Hey, I want one of these!

VaYechi - The Blinding Light of Knowledge

ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים שבע עשרה שנה, ויהי ימי יעקב שני חייו שבע שנים וארבעים ומאת שנה

(בראשית מ"ז, כ"ח)

Parashat VaYechi is a "parasha setuma", a closed paragraph, meaning there is no gap in the Torah scroll between the end of the previous parasha, VaYigash, and the beginning of our parasha, which opens with the words:

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years.

(Bereshit 47, 28)

In Hebrew, setuma means shut or unknown, and Rashi offers two explanations for VaYechi being a "parasha setuma". With the death of Ya'akov, the eyes and hearts of the people of Israel were "shut", and they didn't know that the Egyptians would soon enslave them. A second explanation is that Ya'akov, on his deathbed, wished to tell his sons what the future holds for them but God "shut" the future from him and blocked him from revealing the "end of days".

The death of Ya'akov marks the birth of the people of Israel, the moment a family turns into a nation. It is only natural for Ya'akov to want to tell his sons what the future holds, to prepare them for this journey. Such knowledge would have strengthened them in the hard times ahead, knowing that despite the hardships they will face in Egypt, redemption will come and they will be saved and taken to Israel.

But knowing the divine plan also has negative aspects. A person who knows what happens at the end is exempt from planning his life or thinking about his actions based on his interpretation of reality. Knowing for certain that the current situation is going to change is dangerous, as it might make us ignore the day-to-day life and lead us to immoral deeds in the name of the future redemption. The people of Israel might have given up all hope of trying to shape their destiny, relying instead on the prophecy of Ya'akov that redemption will arrive.

Rambam makes this point very clear in Hilkhot Melakhim. He states categorically that nobody knows what the future will bring and what life would be like in the days of the Mashiach. He urges us to spend very little time on the stories about the "end of days" and the coming of the Mashiach, and he quotes the Talmud to curse those who busy themselves trying to figure out when Mashiach will come. The sages teach us that redemption is a tricky matter, now you see it - now you don't, just like a deer running in the forest. We have nothing but our eyes and our brains to guide us in the world and we should not waste time trying to figure out the endgame.

A vivid illustration of this appears in our parasha. Yossef's brothers are afraid that he will punish them for having sold him away in his youth, but Yossef tells his brothers not to fear. He tells them that despite them having done harm to him, God turned it to good and he is now in a position to save his people. He teaches them that all their calculations were turned upside down because man cannot forecast the future and God's plan is what matters.

Knowing the future is a great source of light. But when one is exposed to a powerful light source, one is also blinded. God, in His mercy, stopped Ya'akov from revealing the great light of the future to his sons in order not to blind them, in order to enable them to lead meaningful lives by making their own decisions, dreaming their own dreams and having their own hopes for the future.

"Like Riding a Tiger"

I rarely write about business on my blog, but this one is simply too big to ignore.

Ramalinga Raju, the Chairman of Satyam Computer Services, one of India's biggest IT companies, admitted today that over 1 billion dollars of assets listed on the company's balance sheet are "non existent". To put it in proportion, the total assets are just above 1.1 billion dollars, so 94% of the company's assets were fraudulently reported. The resignation letter Mr. Raju sent to the board of directors is suprisingly frank and open. He describes the experience using these words: "It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten." Very poetic. In the letter to the employees the new interim CEO writes about "a series of extremely unfortunate events", which reminded me of the wonderful books by Lemony Snicket.

Satyam as a company is finished. It will likely be sold to a competitor (Infosys, Wipro, and the like) for a pittance, and many of the 50,000-plus employees will find themselves out on the street. The entire episode is already being labelled as "India's Enron" and the repercussions on corporate governance in India will be harsh and long-lasting.

And now for the personal angle (without going into too many details). Last year I signed a contract with Satyam, which was signed on their side by the "other Raju", Satyam's CEO, Rama Raju. I met a couple of the people mentioned in Mr. Raju's letter to the board mentioned above. But this seven-figure contract was not honoured by Satyam and we never got the money from them, so the matter is now in legal proceedings. The news today does not add to my confidence about Satyam's business practices or those of Indian companies in general.

39 Steps (Israel)

A couple of years ago I watched the play 39 Steps at the Criterion theatre in the West End. It was a brilliant production, with four actors playing dozens of roles in a comic rendering of the 1935 Hitchcock movie (which, in turn, was loosely based on the 1915 novel by John Buchan). I enjoyed it very much. So last night I decided to take my wife to see the Israeli version of 39 Steps at Bet HaChayal in Tel Aviv (originally, it played in HaBima).

The Israeli version is an almost exact copy of the British version. Same set, same clothes, same mannerisms. But not everything can be successfully duplicated. The play takes place in Scotland, so the Scottish accent and dialect of some characters in the British version played a major role in the story (the farmer going to tend to his "coos" was particularly funny). This was completely lost in the Hebrew version, even though the actors did their best to put on different accents. Disappointingly, even the relatively "translateable" German accent of the Annabella Smith character was lost in Hebrew.

Two of the actors are Moni Moshonov and Avi Kushnir (top two in the picture), who are famous comedians here. However, I felt this played against them. Both are strongly associated with the successful long-running TV comedy sitcom Zehu Ze of the 70s and 80s, which was a funny show but mostly used shallow and noisy humour. At times it seemed like the play risked degenerating a re-run of Zehu Ze with Moshonov and Kushnir cracking up at their own funny jokes.

In short, I was quite disappointed with the Israeli version of the play, but I guess it isn't entirely fair to compare it to the award-winning British version. I would still recommend it to friends, especially if a trip to London isn't something they're planning in the near future.

1,100 Books and Growing

A few months ago I started cataloguing my library, in the hope of having an online catalog of all the books I possess. I've now passed the 1,100-book mark and I estimate I still have 200-300 books to go, most of them sifrei kodesh (religious books), which will probably need to go in manually as these publishers aren't big on ISBN... I realise that it would be impossible to upload every single volume in my house, but I'm hoping to get close.

I tried to rate most the books I remember reading. I have given 3 stars to most books, as they are just "a good read". I gave 4 stars to really good books, and 5 stars to books I think are a must read (very few of those). I don't have many 1-star and 2-star books for the simple reason that it's unlikely for me to buy a book without knowing something about it first, so the chances of me really not liking the book are slim. But there are some notable exceptions.

Although the statistics are not 100% accurate, I learnt that I have roughly the same number of books in English and in Hebrew (although with the sifrei kodesh the balance will go in favour of Hebrew). I also have only a handful of books in Italian and French; even though I read more in these languages, I don't actually own these books.

Israel's Achilles' Heel

Again Israel is fighting. The Gaza operation, which started five days ago, is still ongoing and two questions are being asked today: whether ground forces will enter Gaza, and whether a temporary truce should be considered. Both questions are a reflection of another, unspoken question: how many soldier casualties will this operation cause?

Fear of casualties in war is Israel's Achilles' heel. The process started in the first Lebanon war in 1982, or rather during the prolonged presence of Israeli troops in Lebanon after that war (Israel withdrew from Lebanon only in 2000). The continuous toll of casualties in Lebanon gave rise to various protest movements, most notably "Four Mothers". This decades-long process brought about a paradoxical shift in the attitude towards war casualties: we fear more the death of a soldier than the death of a civilian.

This is a paradox because the primary role of the army, in any democratic society, is to protect the civilian population. A soldier is supposed to risk his or her life in order to avoid casualties to civilians. And yet most Israelis will be more tolerant of civilian casulaties than of military ones. Not one soldier has lost his life in the past five days, but several civilians died as a result of the Hamas rockets fired indiscriminately into Israeli cities. There is not one word of protest against this situation.

The expected toll of soldier casualties is the hidden barometer by which decision makers operate here, in both the government and the IDF, although few will admit it. The Winograd commission, set up after the second Lebanon war, pointed this out very clearly. Our enemies know by now that Israel is unwilling to risk the lifes of its soldiers in order to protect itself. It will fight mostly from the air or using technological means, thus minimising the risk of casualties. This respect for life is very commendable on one hand, but in the long run it works against the interests of Israel. No country, especially one that is threatened on a daily basis by its neighbours, can survive if it is not willing to use its army to protect itself.

This is not saying anything about the current operation, about which I have mixed feelings. It is a general comment on our warped national psyche.

God, Man and History, by Eliezer Berkovits

This is the second time I'm reading God, Man and History. I read it a few years ago but felt that it deserved a second, much slower, read. So I left it on my desk at the synagogue, and for the past few weeks I've been reading a few pages at a time every shabbat, trying to absorb this masterpiece of Jewish thought more thoroughly.

Eliezer Berkovits is one of the less-known Jewish thinkers of the past century, and the Shalem Institute in Jerusalem should be commended for publishing several of his works in new editions. This edition of God, Man and History was the first book to be published in this series, and rightly so, as it is considered Berkovits' keystone work. It is a small volume (just over 150 pages) and yet it manages to explain in clear language some of the most fundmental questions of Jewish theology.

The book has three sections, corresponding to the title of the book. The first, and most detailed section, deals with the encounter with God which is the core of Berkovits' philosophy. It lays the foundations for the rest of the book. The second section deals with ethics, that is the practical translation of the encounter into Jewish law and deeds (mitzvot). The last, and shortest section, is about the manifestation of God in history (or rather, lack thereof), particularly the history of the people of Israel. As Berkovits himself states in the introduction, the book follows the footsteps of that "most Jewish of Jewish philosophers", Yehudah HaLevi, the 12th-century Spanish philosopher and poet who sought to define Judaism from within (particularly in The Kuzari).

I will not even attempt to summarise Berkovits' philosophy here. But I will highlight one theme that permeates throughout the whole book, that of man's responsibility for his actions. Berkovits solves the paradox of the encounter between God and man by ultimately demonstrating that God cares for His creation and is engaged in its progress and survival. God is not an indifferent supreme being that leaves the world to its own devices (Aristotle), nor is He the pantheistic "God of nature" (Spinoza). However, there exists, and must exist, a separation between God and man, as such separation is vital for man.

The doubts about the existence of God, which derive from the fact that the encounters between God and man in history were extremely rare and brief, are essential for safeguarding man's freedom. God hides from man in order to enable man to believe in Him without compulsion. There can be no intellectual proof of God's existence as such proof would "put the human intellect in chains". We would have no choice but to believe in God; faith would be redundant. For the same reason, there can be no evident and continuous intervention by God in the world (e.g. by preventing evil) as such intervention would crush man's responsibilities and he would be nothing more than a puppet.

This is a most profound idea. We all know to repeat the mantra of man's "freedom of choice". Yet most of us wish for God to be more present, for Him to resolve the problem of theodicy and to govern the world through miracles. Understanding the concept of the "hidden God" and why it is vital for our existence as human beings, is an important step forward in accepting our reponsibilities in this world.

If I were ever asked to make the impossible choice of recommending one book, and one book only, on Jewish thought, God, Man and History would most definitely make it to the short list.

Time to Reboot America

This op-ed piece from Thomas Friedman doesn't say anything new, but it says it well.

For quite some time now, I've been telling my American colleagues that their country's infrastructure and services are below par, always to be greeted with puzzled looks. Perhaps now they'll understand better what I'm on about.

The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years, by Chingiz Aitmatov

Aitmatov is a Kyrgyz writer who passed away this year. I have never heard of him or his books, but a friend recommended this book to me recently. As is usually the case with friends' recommendations, this book turned out to be a real gem.

The story takes place over the course of one day, and includes one major plot and one short sub-plot. Yedigei, a railroad worker in remote Kazakhstan, sets out to bury his old friend, Kazangap, in an old cemetery. Throughout the long journey to the cemetery, Yedigei recounts his personal history and that of the few other souls that live with him at the remote railroad station. The shorter sub-plot involves the discovery of extraterrestrial life by an American astronaut and a Soviet cosmonaut. The location of the Soviet launch site near Yedigei's station serves as the background for this science-fiction background story.

I will not go into the plot itself; it is far too elaborate and clever for me to try to summarise it in a few short paragraphs. Aitmatov paints an achingly beautiful picture of hardships of life in the remote steppes of central Asia under Soviet rule. He succeeds in describing the rich tradition and history of the local people and how their culture and practices are challenged by the laws of the Communist regime. The animal world plays a major role in the story, with Yedigei's camel, Karanar, being one of the main characters in the book. There is an ever-present criticism of the Soviet regime, but it is so subtle that the book does not become an anti-government manifest.

The sub-plot about the extraterrestrials seems, at first, to be entirely disconnected from the main story. However, as details about the discovery become more apparent, and especially the reaction of the leaders of the USA and the USSR to the discovery, it all comes together. Yedigei's earthly worries and dealings are interwoven with galactic events, to make a strong statement about the human condition. The past, present and future are interwoven in an intricately designed masterpiece.

It's hard to do justice to this book by attempting to review it. I learnt a lot about Kazakh culture and the hard-working rural inhabitants of the Sarozek desert. But mostly I learnt that one can tackle the big questions in life through a simple story. In two words, my recommendation is: read it.

Perspective

In these tough times, a little perspective doesn't hurt.

Korean Air and the "Korean Mindset"

Following up on my previous post about Gladwell's Outliers:

I was visiting Korean Air headquarters in Seoul yesterday and had dinner with some managers from the Maintenance & Engineering group. After the proper level of inebriation was attained, I brought up Gladwell's theory about the link between Korean culture and KAL's crashes in the 1990s. I was somewhat apprehensive about broaching this topic as you never know what might be considered offensive when talking about national culture. But the KAL people immediately agreed that one of the main problems that plagued their company was indeed the "mindset" of the pilots, as they put it. They readily agreed that changing this mindset and training the first officer to speak up more directly to the captain was indeed helpful in solving the problem.

However, when I asked them why Asiana Airlines, whose pilots are also Korean, did not experience a similar problem, they were stumped for an answer. After some furious debate between themselves, the explanation offered was that the Korean "mindset" was only part of the problem, and that other issues - such as faulty or missing safety regulations - also needed to be fixed at KAL.

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell purports to explore the root causes for success: what is it that makes people successful. Not just ordinary people, but outliers, those who are so accomplished that they lie outside normal experience. His basic claim is that the characteristics and personality of the individual are not the main explanation for their success. Rather, it is their environment which is the determining factor: when they were born, what culture and values they grew up with and how their family and community shaped them.

Here are a couple of examples:

• Forty percent of successful Canadian hockey players were born in January, February or March. Reason: the cut-off date for selecting players to the children teams is January 1st, so the older the child the more likely he is to be fitter and stronger than his classmates and be selected to the hockey team.


• Successful corporate lawyers in New York will have a similar profile: born in the mid-1930s to Jewish immigrant garment workers. Reason: they went to underpopulated public schools, received inexpensive college education and were barred from mainstream law firms, leading them to specialise in takeover disputes which later became all the rage in corporate America.

By far the most interesting story in the book is the chapter about the relationship between national culture and plane crashes. Gladwell analyses the example of Korean Air, who had a terrible crash record in the 1990s. Reason: the deferential, hierarchical culture of Koreans prevented first officers from challenging the captain's decisions in the cockpit even when these decisions were tragically wrong. (No chance of that happening in an EL AL cockpit, I guess). The same is true, apparently, also in Colombian culture.

Outliers is a very entertaining book, and Gladwell is a gifted writer. But as with his previous books - The Tipping Point and Blink - I was left with a feeling that this is more of a collection of anecdotes rather than a rigorously researched study. It is almost impossible not to be captivated by Gladwell's narrative, but after the initial "wow" effect, one finds several holes in his "theory of success". If Korean Air planes crashed because of Korean culture, why does Asiana (the 2nd airline in Korea) have a good safety record? And if working in the rice paddies shaped the champions of mathematics and science among Asian immigrants, why did the same not happen to West African immigrants, who also grow rice for a living?

It seems at times that Gladwell shot the arrow then painted the target. He had a theory and then looked for examples that support this theory. Not to mention the fact that if you believe Gladwell, then it really doesn't matter how smart you are and how hard you work. If you were born in the wrong generation or to the wrong parents, your chances of becoming exceptionally successful are very small. That is a very discouraging thought, especially in the prevalent American culture, so my guess is not many will like this book.

Zero-Star Hotel

With companies cutting down on travel budgets and asking employees to use cheaper hotels, one can only hope things will not get as bad as this.