Thoughts

I write as if everyone knows the things I am refering to.

HWSNBN is the 45th Potus.

The DSM is the Diagnostics and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders used by mental health practicioners in the USA.

PID is my definition - Post Israel Depression

It is something I experience every time I return from Israel. I am not alone - it is something all my friends who either were born in Israel, or who lived there for a long time, experience on their return.

It is a mixture of the shock of moving from one culture to another. Leaving one's family and friends behind, even though one has family and friends here. I think plane travel is really not normal. It is of course, expedient, convenient, relatively fast. I am not suggesting we return to steam ships or trains! But it is strange that we enter a tube which hurtles through space, and within a relatively short while one steps into a totally different climate, culture, way of being in the world, way of looking at the world, way of experiencing the world. Different language, currency, food, to which we acclimatise remarkably quickly.

I may have written this before, but here goes again. I waa listening to a program on NPR in which the interviewer was asking questions of men who had returned from Everest. The men said they wanted to get to the summit as quickly as possible. Of course they were accompanied by Sherpas who, to their dismay, insisted on resting, and not ascending immediately. They did this all the way to the top. When they asked the Sherpas why they wouldn't hurry their answer was that they were waiting for their souls to catch up. To me this exactly defines foreign travel. I am disoriented and 'out of sync' for quite a while, on either side. I think the definition of jetlag is in fact, a period of waiting for one's soul to catch up.

So here I am, back in the States. Another world, another culture, another reality. One of the reasons I return to Israel at this time is because it is Memorial Day. I lost my husband in the 1973 Yom Kipur War. A long time ago, decades ago, lifetimes ago, and yesterday, and today.

I cannot go every year at this time, but this year I did.

The evening of Memorial Day is a somber time of ceremonies. There is a national ceremony that takes place in Jerusalem and is of course seen on TV stations throughout the country. There is an alternative ceremony that has been taking place for at least 13 years now. It is for Jewish and Palestinian Israelis together. For all the victims of the wars, the terrorist attacks, the suicide bombs, the tragedies that continue all the time. I really wanted to go to this ceremony because I strongly feel that we are all in this together.

I was pleased that my sister and brother-in-law also wanted to attend, as did many of my friends. The ceremony was held in Gan Hayarkon in Tel Aviv. I won't describe it all, because one can read about it, and the other ceremonies. For me it was a very special occasion of communal grief, understanding, brotherhood (of course I also mean sisterhood). It was attended by at least 7,000 people. David Grosman ended the evening with a powerful speech. He spoke for all of us there, in his eloquent, articulate, and gracious manner.

What horrified me was what happened before we walked in to the ceremony. It was night time, and as we approached the security gates I heard shrieks and whistles. Men, they looked young, approached us, calling us whores and bitches. "Motherfuckers". "you deserve to die" "we can spit at you and throw stones at you," "traitors", they did in fact spit. They threw things. We continued to walk quietly, and didn't look at them.

Police were present, some on horseback. During the ceremony these young men revved their motorbikes and blew on vuvuzelas, trying unsuccessfully to drown out the speakers and the choirs. It was deeply unsettling. How universal bigotry and hatred are. Other than hearing Hebrew we could have been in the States, in South Africa, in Germany, anywhere.

But that feeling was not what I walked away with. I walked away with a warm feeling inside, that despite everything, there are still people who want to live together.