Happy holidays

Merry Christmas to all my friends and readers celebrating!
Here in Beer Sheva, we don't get this holiday off, so you'll find me tonight at a training session for new volunteers for Project La'ad at Ben-Gurion University, and tomorrow laying the groundwork to expand our program for the benefit of the Holocaust survivors in nearby Kiryat Malachi and recruiting new student volunteers at Achva College.

Last week, my program brought volunteers from across the country to Jerusalem for a tour of Yad Vashem. This was the second of my nine tours of Israel's national Holocaust museum led in Hebrew, and as always, I picked up some new vocab:
נצר / netzer = stem, shoot.
This is a special usage referring to the lone survivor of an entire family. Our tour guide told us that Yad Vashem knows of 114 such last stems of their family tree who fell in Israel's War of Independence.

Our tour guide also emphasized a list of numbers of Jews by country, compiled during the Wannsee Conference and its Final Solution, a.k.a. extermination of Europe's Jewish population. The list included Estonia, with its relatively insignificant population of a few thousand Jews. So now our job as part of Project La'ad is to reach as many of Israel's roughly 230,000 survivors as possible in clarifying their rights, documenting their life stories in Project LeDorot (a joint program with Yad VaShem), and through a friendly visiting program--all without missing a single town, no matter how small its population of survivors.


At the end of the tour, where the main exhibit opens up to the spectacular rolling Jerusalem foothills, with a group of students from Ein Gedi who recently joined Project La'ad.

--
Speaking of powerful, Dov Lipman's piece here gives plenty of motivation to continue my dad's convivial attitude in greeting everyone he saw with a smile and a 100% genuine "how are you?".

Here's a really powerful Harvard Business Review piece about honesty and making day-to-day decisions with integrity (thanks to my co-aunt (urbandictionary.com's term for my sister's sister-in-law) Jenny).

Dave Brubeck and sitar legend Ravi Shankar left the world in the same week. In addition to catching Brubeck with Dad, thanks to Michigan's University Musical Society, which brought Shankar to Hill Auditorium (and gave students a crazy discount for good measure), I ended that rough week for the music world feeling extremely grateful to have seen both those, among so many other, legends in concert.

Peace and love from the capital of the Negev!
אריק/Eric

Back to normal

The war (עופרת עמוד ענן/Oferet Amud Anan- Operation Pillar of Defense) started as far as I was concerned when I got the following text from my boss:
חיסלו את מפקד החמאס אז תזהר.. בטח יהיו נפילןת [sic]
The Hamas commander was killed so watch out...there are gonna be rocket hits

From there I underwent the longest 17 hours of my life with 20 sirens, made it to Jerusalem (where I was interviewed on WGN), and all the way north to Carmiel, the bag I packed for a week and a half lasted me exactly the correct duration, and then a couple weeks ago I got back home to the South.
Everything, believe it or not, is back to normal. It certainly was odd to report on my timesheet for that "Rocket Thursday" I couldn't get to the office because of war. Anyone reading here ever had to report that on their timesheet???
But I am thrilled to be back in the Beer Sheva I love, that of the pool, the free concert series where I was thrilled to see Peter Rot, one of my favorite singer-songwriters, the weekend spectacular moonlight hike that the student association put together at Yerucham Lake to our south. And this week I've lit candles with some friends from the university. Life is good and I'm very busily back to work.

The incredibly Koby Mandell Foundation opened up its Comedy for Koby shows to Southern Israel residents--I made the trip to Jerusalem for my free show, but will certainly be a regular attendee and help fund raise for their future shows. A friend and former colleague from work at Masa reviewed the show as part of her job at the Jerusalem Post. As Rachel reported- Named for 13-year-old Koby Mandell who was killed by terrorists in 2001, its biannual shows help raise funds for activities benefiting Israelis who have lost loved ones to terrorism. Check out the Foundation's website--I especially enjoyed this list of Koby's favorite jokes.

חנוכה שמח/Chanuka sameach- Happy Chanuka! I enjoyed Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks' basic historical piece on Jewish celebration of this holiday.

Israel's nurses are on strike for the ninth day, sending shock waves throughout the country and the health care system. As the son of a nurse in her fourth decade in the field, it hurt to read the scathing picture this Israeli nurse painted of her work conditions (written very clearly for the layman, for the Hebrew readers among you).

One of Dad's all-time favorites, Dave Brubeck, joined Dad upstairs for a duet (that NPR piece is loaded with fantastic videos). This video of the Kennedy Center Honors performance for Brubeck three years ago is so heartwarming--check out the huge smile on Dave's face when his sons formed a quartet and jammed for his birthday!

Dad--you missed my performance of RSVP for your אזכרה/azkara - memorial last spring, but I'll keep learning your music and give you a nice show upstairs. The Jazz 101 course you taught me was front-loaded with Brubeck. Your enjoyment for his odd time-signatures and unique voice, which so clearly left its mark on yours, passed to me immediately when you got me into his stuff when I was in high school. And then we caught him live at Ravinia at their summer jazz festival, one of so many you came up to Chicago to enjoy with me.

Doctor Sekeres' New York Times blog post on cancer patients holding out for family visits or celebrations before succumbing to the disease hit home especially hard on a week when I received the heartbreaking news that another friend lost his mother to cancer.

Richard Behar, a financial journalist looking professionally from the outside in at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proved himself extremely adept at presenting background on the situation.

Stevie Wonder let me down big time by succumbing to pressure and backing out on his LA concert for the Friends of the IDF. Stevie--if you're reading my blog :), I met you back on Martin Luther King Day in 2003 after you spoke and played at the Northwestern University MLK Day event. Then you urged Bush to stop the war in the Middle East. While I disagree with your decision to cancel your performance, I see that an IDF-related event might not be the best match for you. But I sure would love to see you find an alternative cause in Israel to support. We love you and need you Stevie!

Peace and love,
Eric

Beautiful Israel

After working with my counterpart in the North from her Carmiel office yesterday, I found this beautiful Magen David monument to a fallen soldier during the second to last war, the Second Lebanon War on the way out of town today. Gilad fell at the age of 29. The Jewish star says it all--that conflict, just like the one that ended for now last night, was all about terror organizations aiming to kill Jews so that we could not live here in our historic (and also beautiful, huh?) homeland. I'll get back on here soon to read and translate some of the memorial plaque. For now, enjoy the view behind the monument, where you can see the rolling hills of the Galilee region.

David Horovitz (yes, he's my main man. Ok, I'm obsessed for good reason, as he spoke to my OTZMA group eight years ago while I was Editor in Chief of the Jerusalem Post; he was just the nicest guy) echoed my sentiments from my post last night, writing "Until the next time." And the onion hit Israel's mood today on the head.

Alright, that's enough of everything that's wrong with Israel, what with her all too precarious position surrounded by enemies.
So here's everything that's right about Israel. This song was the NBA on Sport 5's song for those magical 2011 playoffs. Somehow, until now, I had missed this actual video, featuring the stunning Michal Shapira (the land here is beautiful, and so are the women). Enjoy a beautiful Israeli making some sublime Israeli music:

Now it's time for turkey, Jerusalem style! Missing my amazing Dad and our Turkey Trot 8 mile runs so much! He'd usually wax nostalgic around mile 5. A couple times I mentioned frustrations with the ladies.
I remember him replying along the lines of, "You'll be fine, just stay patient and keep looking. You'll know when it's right."
Anyone have Michal Shapira's number?
Kidding.

This guy is super thankful for the lovely Thanksgiving visit with Mom on Skype! Good luck Amy and the boys in hosting their big dinner in Stamford! בתאבון לכולם / b'teavon l'kulam = bon appetit to all!

And I'm out,
Eric

"Over" for now

I just watched my Prime Minister Netanyahu speak nicely, but with maybe 10% of his typical aplomb. He must have seen the survey showing that 70% of the country was against a ceasefire now. But he has the oh-so-undesirable job of leading this fine country, and it was so obvious that he reluctantly chose this to be the least-bad-option for the evening of November 21, 2012.

Now, I have to take a step back and appreciate how well I've, thank G-d, managed to integrate here. Four years ago during Operation Cast Lead, I had gotten my Hebrew up to speed, but in that gap between wars, I picked up more vocab; now I fully understood Netanyahu and used other words which I had picked up on the news or in the newspaper to be fully abreast of what's happening. And I'll continue to soak up new words--today's news further expanded my war-time vocab:

אוֹת קָלוֹן/ot kalon
stigma, mark of disgrace (used by Ben-Gurion University Med School administration staff to describe med students who didn't stay in town for their rotations)

חָפוּז/chafuz
hasty (used to describe the preparation of the Tel Aviv bus bomb)

and
התנסות ראשונה/hitnasut rishona
first time experience (used by Ben-Gurion University President Rivka Carmi to describe those Beer Sheva residents, like me, who were not yet around the last time during Operation Cast Lead)

But after we ceased our fire per the agreement, the terrorists continue to send rockets toward Israeli civilians. I type, they continue trying to kill us...

It's always something

Two and a half years ago, I got news that Dad's cancer had come back after his first round of chemo, the night before my first exam in grad school. That ambush of exams was the hardest I had in one semester, including Pathophysiology, Budget Management and Planning, and Epidemiology (all in Hebrew, of course). I used Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream" one of my aliyah anthems, to help me survive that summer's exams.

Last night I had what I think was my first nightmare of sirens and running to shelter to avoid rocket fire. Now I can only hope and pray that Hamas and their compadres will wise up and finally stop terrorizing Israel with rockets (the ceasefire as of now clearly means zilch to them). And I will catch up on my work, keep one foot in front of the next, and make that dream happen each day despite so many useless, hateful anti-Semities who don't want me here.

More recommended reading:

Michael Oren, who revoked his US citizenship for this moment of serving Israel as Ambassador to the US, giving fantastic historical perspective to the conflict of Israel against its haters.

David Horovitz, wisely warning Israel to beware of Hamas's future attempts to outsmart the Iron Dome.

And a touching personal depiction of his son's response to rocket fire and sirens by big-time Israeli writer Etgar Keret, who also lectures at Ben-Gurion!

With that I'll wrap up my visit to the North and head back to Jerusalem tomorrow morning.

Happy trails to everyone getting back home to the South and the tens of thousands of reserve soldiers returning home. And a רפואה שלמה/refua slema - full healing to all the Israelis injured.

Huge thanks again to everyone who reached out to me or my Mom! It means the world to me.

And Happy Thanksgiving America! Love,

אריק/Eric

Northbound

So my ten minute interview with WGN turned into one sentence. And the mispronunciations of my name and especially Beer Sheva were pretty comical! But the version at this link includes both my photo and my name spelled correctly (I'm 1:40 in).

My impassioned plea for Chicagoans to look past the headlines and truly understand the Israeli perspective in fighting terror--not deemed TV-friendly. But I'm glad I was able to provide the voice of a former Chicagoan so that people can try to relate to Israelis under fire.

45 minutes after I was on the air in Chicago as a Beer Sheva refugee who relocated to Jerusalem (Nancy didn't mention, but the relocation is temporary), a second air raid siren was heard in Jerusalem. The rocket landed outside of town.

So I'll go ahead and abstain from publicizing the next city on my Israel tour--I scheduled a visit up north with my work counterpart there once things got out of hand in Beer Sheva. Getting there from Jerusalem is a much more manageable journey. Looking forward to the change of scenery...

Here's another piece by Khaled Abu Toameh, even further dampening hopes of reconciliation with moderate Palestinians.

Thanks for listening, and a huge thanks to everyone for expressing their concern and support! It means the world to me--I couldn't make it without you!
Peace and love,
Eric

Interview on WGN

Watch/listen live to my interview on WGN offering the Beer Sheva perspective. Huge thanks go to former Chicago roommate Andy Zuick for getting me onto the news of one of my all-time favorite channels. As of now, I'll be on as part of a piece around 11:00, noon CT/19:00, 20:00 Israel.
If you can't catch that, here's an archived link. I speak at 1:10 on that. My ten minute interview turned into one sentence...

After Saturday's news of the 73-year-old Beer Sheva man who fell and died while running to shelter (which has not been reported in the media as it should as a murderous attack), I woke up Sunday to learn that a Holocaust survivor with whom I worked closely passed away on Thursday. This is a woman who survived the Holocaust in Romania, moved to Kiryat Shmona in Israel's North, suffered years of relentless rocket fire on her home there, then moved to Sderot, where she hoped she would experience some peace and quiet. Well, Sderot subsequently turned into Hamas' punching bag, the blunt of the majority of the thousands of rockets launched out of Gaza for the last 12 years.
I got the news too late in order to attend her funeral and have not learned her cause of death, but I do know that her last day on Earth was incredibly unpleasant, as rocket attacks on Sderot and the South intensified beginning last Wednesday night.

I'm working from Jerusalem and enjoying the opportunity to catch my friends here during the week. That meant watching the Cowboys' ugly win Sunday night with fellow Dallas fan Debbie and NFL fan and former roommate Noah. Then last night I caught another friend's birthday party. A facetime chat with Amy, Aron and the nephews will always make my week, but especially so this time! 
But I of course look forward to returning home to Beer Sheva and catching up on a great deal of work. It breaks my heart that so many of my training sessions and events will have to be delayed because of the rocket fire on my region.

Suggested reading/viewing:

Beer Sheva under attack
A portrait of my deserted alma mater, Ben-Gurion University. Now can I express gratitude for having completed my degree in between two wars.
Melanie Phillips' take on the news.
Daniel Gordis encouraging the Jewish community to support Israel, rather than focusing on balance and a universalistic approach. 
An in depth look at the development of the Iron Dome defense system, and the developer's prediction of future improvements of the system.
Khaled Abu Toameh once again shows how impossible it is to be a moderate Palestinian.
My friend Sara on the difficulties of supporting Israel in the academic world.
Amir Mizroch with some military insight on the situation.

And last but not least, in Michigan news, Denard Robinson just thanked me for coming out. Beer Sheva to Arlington for the Alabama game, of all games, was a pretty rough one to watch. But Denard just made it all ok.

An older Israeli dies, Hamas celebrates

I just got back from one last celebration tonight for the bride and groom, Racheli and Mark...

The host couldn't even join the party he organized, as he, like tens of thousands of other young Israelis (several of my friends included) was called up for reserve action. The party went on with another round of beautiful, joyous music by the violinist bride, flautist groom, and accompanists on guitar and hand drums. But of course, conspicuous beneath the ecstatic celebration for the amazing couple, we're all feeling this war heavily on our hearts.

הכל בסדר/ha'kol b'seder/everything's ok

Everything's fine here in Jerusalem (despite the siren Friday evening and two rockets landing nearby. Can't miss David Horovitz's crazy insightful analysis of that one). But back home in Beer Sheva, everything is very much not ok. A 73 year old man collapsed while running for shelter (one neighborhood over from me) during an Air Raid Siren (just one of over ten there on our holy Shabbat day of rest), due to a barrage of rockets fired at the city. Magen David Adom medics attempted to resuscitate the man, but he was declared dead. So I'll make my way to bed completely and utterly heartbroken for his family, my family.

My wish

שיהיה שבוע טוב ושקט/May it be a good, quiet week for the Jewish people. May we defeat the terror emanating from Hamas and their cohorts so that my people will never have to spend another Shabbat running for cover during prayer services. May Hamas stop despicably harming millions of people by aiming murderous rockets at our civilians while launching them amidst their own civilian population. May the world see through their pugnacious lies, stop hating on my people by even considering for a second that terrorism can be justified, and start to understand that we take outrageous efforts to kill only those who would wish to harm us, scrupulously avoiding Gazan civilian casualties. May those tens of thousands of soldiers be wildly successful in their mission to provide septuagenarians and all my brothers and sisters with a normal life in which we will not constantly walk around with a bull's eye on our heads, and may the soldiers all come home safe to their worried families and give their moms and wives and kids a big kiss. May those who are in shape successfully continue running on time to shelter to stay out of harm's way and do their part to keep this from escalating out of control. And may those who are unable to run, please G-d, hear no more air raid sirens. Ever. The Holocaust survivors for whom I work have been through enough already.

Most of all, may our enemies (of which we have no shortage) once and for all figure out that no matter how hard they may try, no matter how much they wish that we, the proud Jewish state of Israel, would cease to exist, that I would die or go back to the US...they will fail! They have failed in their murderous intents for nearly a century, and with G-d's help, we will continue to defeat them.

Yes, I am angry...

But I have nothing but love for you,

אריק/Eric

P.S. GO BLUE, Nice Michigan win for a diversion! While we manhandled Iowa this time, one of my all-time favorite memories was watching with Dad as we made the spectacular comeback against the Hawkeyes in 1997, a huge part of our National Championship run. Now Beat ohio!