Laws, history and life

The debate between Ernest Nolte - whose 1963 Der Fascismus in seiner Epoche tried to go beyond both the Marxist and the Liberal patterns of interpretation of the WWII events and stir lots of controversy- and Francois Furet is impressive by the polite and extremely carefully worded exchange. It is a common place, indeed, but I really enjoyed the language of the letters exchange between the two, since 1995 in the last years of Furet's life. An island of academic freedom and distinctiveness, trying to solve by the force of the words painful and sometimes non-conventional ideas - as the insistence of Nolte regarding how to react to revisionists, not by laws, but by the force of the argument - but the problem is that a revisionist don't intend to change its perspective but to impose it in a well-known totalitarian way and they are not interested to hear arguments being already convinced of the absolute truth of their assertions.

For Furet, the 20th century totalitarianisms are twins, sharing are very much alike. And, Holocaust, as Furet wrote to Nolte (66) "was unique...in that it targeted for extermination men, women and children because they were born as they were". Nolte identified Fascism as a form of resistance to and reaction against modernity. By thus, "the final solution" was the logical outcome of an ideology, national-socialism, identifying the Jew with the modernity. As later Zeev Sternhell commented, national-socialism was reduced to the ideas of Hitler and the burden of Germany was eased. After the fall of communism, both points of view are disproportionately mixed by the new-nationalist ideologies, with an anti-semitic milestone, outlining among others that the communism was instaurated by Jews.

The destiny of ideas is often strange. Translated from books to reality, imposed to this reality with a meaning of change, read by people without education, culture and without the required wisdom they could be deadly weapons. Reading a religion book could be a revelatory experience: you find the answers, the recommended path to reach freedom, happiness, peace or to enjoy any other positive standards and feelings. Nothing similar to be found when you look about how religions are effectively working.

For me it was always complicate to look after laws of history or patterns likely to repeat at certain periods of time - Spengler's succesion of the epoch similarly with the seasons is, to be polite, at least childish. At the first lecture, a historical event is like an equation with a non-specified number of unknown details. Something you will never or aproximatively know - especially when it is about events who took place centuries ago - is how the main actors, the human ones, thought and felt and why they took some decisions, and not others. And it is why, for me, the explanation offered by Nolte is not satisfactory, even explained and explained again on hundred of pages: it is too simplistic, tailored as an intellectual relief, sequential and self-explanatory. Facts of life require more details and assertiveness.

The Boiling Point

an interesting story about drinking coffee and enforcing differences.

How to fit a city in a story. Or to fail to.

I must recognize I was thinking a bit at least twice before deciding to write about this book. No, it was not very difficult or the book too complex to describe. By far. Christiane Wirtz's Ein Jahr in Tel Aviv/One Year in Tel Aviv, is a memoir of a German Christian woman in her 30s deciding to take a year off in Tel Aviv, learning Hebrew, finally finding an Israeli boyfriends, scattering references to the life on the beach, eagerness to see the Bethleem for Christmas, one mention of JDate, relations between Germany and the state of Israel, coffee(s), not-so-tensed-life-as-we-see-on-tv etc. Often I had the impression that it is about recollecting some disparate memories put in a certain narrative form. And usually, memory is a traitor and if your memories are not discerned through a critical viewpoint you risk to be stereotypical, as your first stop in the rememoration process would be exactly what it is common to various representations.

Maybe it was intended to advertise Tel Aviv, celebrating this year 100th anniversary. Possibly, as in Germany the book was distributed with a small stamp marking this event, but it is hardly difficult to find too much about the city, as a potential tourist or individual interested about this city, in general. People are drinking coffees all over the world, or going to cut their hair or men are flirting with single women.

As usual, there are good and bad stories, good and bad writers. A city means memories, understanding of places, interacting with people, catching the whole landscape. After, selecting what it is interesting, attractive, unique. It is available for any kind of "city" stories, as each have its special history. When it is about books, you should be able to stimulate the imagination, to describe by your words images. Not the strong point of this book.

I rediscovered Tel Aviv, through the Flying Camel, a 1994 movie of Rami Na'aman. With not a very smart and sophisticated story, but simple, even absurde, and with structured visual information about the city, mostly about the Bauhaus buildings. And, of course, not forget about the statue of the flying camel - the symbol of the Tel Aviv of the pre-State of Israel, which a Jewish European-Israeli professor and a Jewish Palestinian sanitation worker, try to restore.

The story of the camel is shortly the following. In 1932, after the first international fair was inaugurated in Tel Aviv, it was annouced the designation of the Northern part of the city as a permanent fairground, the Levant Fair. Before this decision was took, the mayor of Yafo derided his Jewish colleagues who were dreaming about a fair, "encouraging" them that this will be established when the camel will grow wings. As the fair was established, the symbol of the Levant Fair was chosed the Flying Camel.

How can

the Haredim be so confident?

Window on Israel: Ghetto revolt

Ira Sharansky

Jerusalem Post

July 17

There is a ghetto revolt in Jerusalem. It began several weeks ago in protest against the municipality opening a parking garage on the Sabbath that served visitors to the Old City. It escalated in protest against the arrest of a woman from one of the ultra-Orthodox communities on charges of abusing her three-year-old son.

The ghetto is always seething to some degree. Protests can escalate at any time on account of opposition to a store selling non-kosher food; the discovery of bones at a construction site; the demand that a road be closed on the Sabbath; advertising posters showing immodest women; or a demonstration of gay pride. The ghetto is not unified. There are numerous congregations tracing themselves to Central or Eastern Europe, or Morocco. Some have a history of several hundred years, and each clings to its traditional dress, nuances in ritual and doctrine. Experts say that it is possible to identify the various camps according to the hats and stockings worn by the men, and the wigs or scarves that women use to cover their heads. The larger communities have integrated into Israeli politics, and exercise their weight in the city council and Knesset. The Chabad (Lubavitcher) reach out to other Jews like missionaries. They introduce outsiders to ritual, and seek to gain their support or even their affiliation to the community. Several congregations operate schools for individuals who had been secular, transform themselves to newborn Jews, and are extreme in their loyalty to what they see as true Judaism. The congregations offer social and material support to their members, and help in the selection of a mate. Some congregations are steadfast in their isolation, and opposition to the heretic state. Disputes between the congregations are no less prominent than disputes between the ghetto and secular Israelis. Placards denounce an offending rabbi in the harshest of terms, and yeshiva students may be sent to attack the property or the students of his congregation.
When one of the communities finds an issue that excites others, the whole ghetto is likely to respond. None can remain behind on an issue that gains traction as defense of Judaism. The woman charged with abusing her child is an example. She had starved her three-year-old boy to the point where he was severely undernourished and weighed only 15 pounds. She was affiliated with one of the smallest and most extreme of the congregations, but the involvement of the police and municipal social services with a pregnant woman was enough to recruit others. The protest spread when the police arrived with their truncheons and horses to clear the streets. The ultra-Orthodox community in Beit Shemesh has begun its sympathy protest. So far other ghettos have been quiet. From 2003 to 2008 the ultra-Orthodox had one of their own as mayor of Jerusalem. Uri Lupulianski engaged with the establishment by serving in the IDF and working his way up the career ladder of municipal politics. His election could have marked the beginning of ultra-Orthodox dominance. They amount to 30 percent of Jews in Jerusalem, as opposed to 10 percent of the Jews throughout Israel. They obey their rabbis on issues of politics, and turn out in municipal elections at rates that reach three times those of secular Jews. Insofar as almost all Arabs of East Jerusalem boycott the city's elections, the ghetto could own the city. In 2008, however, one of its inner conflicts set a major congregation against the ultra-Orthodox candidate. A secular candidate, Nir Barkat, moved into city hall. It was he who ordered the opening of the parking garages on the Sabbath, after frustrating negotiations with representatives of ultra-Orthodox congregations. Currently, in response to several nights of burning trash dumpsters and stoning police, journalists, cars, and buses, Barkat has ordered a cessation of garbage pickups, and municipal social services in the ghetto. The municipality and the national government provide considerable resources to the ultra-Orthodox. They qualify for significant discounts on local taxes and water charges due to their large families. Ultra-Orthodox parties in the Knesset work to assure funding for the schools run by each congregation, most of which ignore the demands of the Education Ministry to provide basic instruction in secular subjects along with their emphasis on religious texts. The parties also demand considerable money for housing, most recently over the 1967 borders in Modiin Ilit and Beitar Ilit. These towns have given the ultra-Orthodox a stake in the conflict over the Land of Israel, and add their complication to whatever can be done about defining the boundaries between Israel and Palestine. Almost all ultra-Orthodox men claim their special exemption from military service. They gain little support from the larger community with the claim to be more effective defenders of the nation than the IDF, due to their study of sacred texts. Each of the congregations also relies on fund raising from affiliated communities overseas, mostly in the United States, Britain and Australia. The occasional need to arouse the enthusiasm of donors may account for the commotions in Israel. Defending the faith against heathen Jews is a way of opening the wallets of ultra-Orthodox millionaires and poor people, and other Jews who respond to Yiddishkeit. Currently one of the main arteries in the city is closed to traffic, and the alternative route is choked as a result. The two major bus lines between French Hill and the center of town are doubtful. There is too much commentary in the media. We hear representatives of the ultra-Orthodox and the anti-ultra-Orthodox, as well as the municipality and the police. It resembles what the media provide during a war: too many voices explaining the position of the Arabs, the Jews, the government and the IDF. One can measure the balance in the media by the insistence of extremists from all sides that they are given a bad deal. It is a time to praise the classical music station, Salvation may not be the right term for what may deliver us from this evil. We can expect a cooling of passions as on previous occasions. A local court has ordered the woman accused of child abuse released to house arrest for Friday and the Sabbath. The police oppose the move out of concern for her other children. The police will release the protesters they arrested, and there will be calming voices of rabbis and secular commentators. Until next time. Perhaps when the parking garage opens again for Sabbath visitors to the Old City. It may all be confusing to those who do not understand, or who cannot understand. The ultra-Orthodox are part of us. They have political weight. They do not dictate policy, but neither do secular Jews.

See also:

The Child was Saved. According to some reports, the mother was an example of patients suffering of the Munchausen-by proxy syndrom.

About Toldot Aharon

Jerusalem Post

The founder of this group,

Aharon Roth, who died in 1947, started the tradition, which continues to this day, that every male member of the sect signs a contract obligating him and his family to abide by the strict dictates of Toldot Aharon. Clothing, customs, even how the hassidim spend their spare time, is carefully regulated. Cohesion is as tight as super glue.

From the History of the Yiddish Presss

and of Hasidic fights.

Parking war

The haredims continued their clashes with the police in Jerusalem this Saturday, protesting over the Shabbat opening of the Carta parking.

The graffiti war

in Jerusalem.

How worthy is a life?

Gilad Shalit’s Plight, and Israel’s Dilemma