To Live in the Land of Israel
by Aryeh Sivan

To be cocked like a rifle, a hand
on your gun, to walk
a tight, hard line, even when
your cheeks have filled with dust,
and your flesh is falling off, and your eyes
Can no longer focus on the target.

They say that a cocked gun
is bound to go off. Well, it isn't.
Anything can happen in this Land of Israel.
a broken firing pin, a rusty spring,

or an unexpectedly canceled order,

as was the case with Abraham on Mount Moriah.

It's from a collection of poems written by Israels regarding peace and war and the Holy Land. It's called Through the Rain and it is very good. And I do not even so much appreciate poetry like I should.

I have a moral question for you Westerners: Can prejudice ever be justified in the interest of national security? If I answer as a Jew, my answer would be no, never. If I answer as an Israeli, my answer would be yes, absolutely.

Funny how they go against one another, isn't it?
 

Hamas says it's going to send Israel a video of Gilad Shalit, but we have to free twenty female prisoners to get it. So it's like, for one kid and his family, is it worth setting twenty Palestinian terrorists free? In Israel, yes.

And remember the hotel they were going to build on Babi Yar in Ukraine over the sight of the massacre during haShoah? The Ukrainian government backed down and said they would construct a monument instead.

I will be in New York City in one month! I am hoping it is still very warm, yes? It is still summer in America, I think.


 

My sister's wedding is coming, and I am in it, so today Shira, my mother, and I all sat down for seriously nine hours to plan out details. Is exhausting! And by the end of it Shira was thinking maybe she did not want this color or that food or this guest...Is like, why is this so difficult, yes?

My best friend just got a job working at a cemetary. She took it. Anything for money .

AND I CAN EAT AGAIN! Do you know how GREAT food tastes when you've been deprived of it for so long? It tastes wonderful. I ate and ate and ate. I do not even really like a lot of what I ate, but I was so hungry.

And now I am going to get a cappuccino and go to the cafe on the boardwalk that I love and read.


 

A long and exhausting today, but I feel wonderful. You cry and yell and argue and laugh and pray, and there's no food or drink or anything all day. The synagogue is hot and outside it is hot and people are loud, and some are angry and some are guilty and some are sad, but all are hungry and tired and hot. Sometimes it is hard to breathe. Sometimes you are not sorry, you have to apologize for, but you must.

It is the most important day of the year, and every year I am so tired at the end of it I can barely walk home. But now I am home, and I am hungry and exhausted, but I feel refreshed and envigorated, all the same.

When your sins, metaphorically or not, are taken from you and you are given a fresh chance? This is good feeling. Even if it is not so true, even if it is just symbolic, is still nice, yes?

Now I can eat and drink and rest. It is a good year, I think, or will be. I will make it good year.

And Hamas tried to attack us. The IAF intercepted a massive rocket launcher before it had the opportunity to do so. We learned from the Yom Kippur War. No day is safe from terrorism, after all.

I am content. It is a new year .
 

Gmar Hatima Tovah. Even though all you Goy can eat.

Fasting is tough. Apologizing is tougher.

Here I am complaining and using technology when I am supposed to be atoning for my sins...

Shalom, all.



 

Dear roommates,

It's two o'clock in the morning. I want to go to bed. I don't want to watch your stupid comedy. Shut up, turn off the damn lights, and stop asking me what the hell is wrong. NOTHING is wrong, thanks. I'm tired because it is two o'clock in the morning and my brother didn't get to come home this Shabbat. I'm tired, it's late, and you're too stupid to put two and two together.

Also, Ninet, you are not the boss. Just because you're gorgeous and you like to pretend you're always sick does not mean you get to have your way all the time. I don't care if everyone guy in the damn world wants to sleep with you. You are not my mother.

Sarah, I don't care how innocent you are. You're not perfect. Stop talking like a little baby and grow up. I'm not going to feel bad for you if you're offend by some random joke in our American movie. Suck it up, this isn't Europe.

And Linor, I am not a fan of you. You're stoic and obnoxious, and you have no sense of humor. I don't care if you think I dress like everyone else. I hate that you try to be weird just for the sake of being different. That's just as bad as trying to be the same.

Stop talking. Stop drinking. Go to bed and leave me alone. I want to sleep, maybe do some reading or listen to some music on my iPod. I don't want to listen to you gossip and I don't CARE about your childhood. SHUT. UP.

It's Rosh Hashanah, and I'm not home because my family couldn't meet. Because the army needed my brother, because Iran is ready to strike. Because my sister and her fiance decided to go to Jerusalem. Because Shabbat just me and my parents is not the same. It's not my whole family and it pisses me off.

I want to go to sleep. They won't shut up. The whole world won't shut up. I just want some peace and some quiet...


 

Iran is like that kid in elementary school who liked to start fights and then tell on the people fighting. And the kid looks really cool for awhile, yes? But then people get tired of getting into trouble and so they get mad. And then nobody likes that kid, and the kid suddenly has no friends so the kid just keeps starting fights. But nobody pays much attention to this kid anymore, until the kid brings a slingshot and rocks and forces everyone to look over their shoulders.

The good news is that we Jews are pretty good with slingshots, right, Goliath?

Yom Kippur is this Monday and very shortly my mother will make every concievable attempt to convince me to participate in the synagogue traditions. Last year, she was sucessful but the year before she was not. We will see how long my willpower lasts.

And tonight I get to see my brother .

Shabbat Shalom!
 

Al-Qaida is threatening Germany. I'm not really sure why I found that really funny. It's kind of a random country to threaten, yes? Germany. Why not like Russia? Germany? I am now craving Strudel, though.

Why even bother with the G-20? Why even bother letting Ahmadinejad speak? Why even bother pretending nuclear weapons will ever disapear?

So many questions. The only answer is the beach .

Also I cannot believe they are making this movie: http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/killingkasztner/


 

Ukraine is building a hotel over the site of the Babi Yar massacre, which if you do not know was the murder of 33,771 Jewish citizens by the German S.S. exactly sixty eight years ago next Tuesday. A lot of people in Israel are protesting, but I am kind of thinking is a good thing. Moving on is sometimes really good. And what use is the land, anyway? Build. Advance.

I am going to try to make American cheese cake again, now.
 

Joke #1:

Isaac goes into temple and says to the Rabbi,"Rabbi my son has switched to Christanity, what
should I do?"

"Well, I will ask God. Come back tomorrow".

Isaac comes back the next day and the Rabbi tells him, "I have asked God, but he says he is sorry. He has the same problem."

Joke #2:

A Priest and a Rabbi were talking one day and the conversation eventually turned as it always did, to the Rabbi's Piety.

The Priest kept on urging him,"Come on Rabbi, this is the 21st century. Why don't you lighten up? When are you going to break down and have a ham sandwich?"

The Rabbi looked at him at length and replied,"At your wedding, Father. At your wedding!"