As we drove down the road to the Lozenge's music class with Rachel his French-Israeli teacher, at either side of the road Israeli flags were interspersed with the French ones - flapping agitatedly in the wind. The traffic was in gridlock as the bodies of the four French Jews killed in the horrific Paris attacks were brought to Israel to be buried.
The film director Roger Graef said recently in a radio interview that he liked to think he had an 'optimistic heart and a pessimistic head' and I would agree this is probably a sensible start. To be aware that human beings are capable of all kinds of terrible actions - both deliberate and mistaken, but to keep the knowledge in our hearts that we are also capable of such startling good.
We arrived at Rachel's house and I expressed my sorrow for her country. But instead of acknowleging it, she shrugged, smiled, and said: 'Well, I am an optimist. I like to think that if we manage to destroy the world, we will also come up with a way to build a new one.'
Then she sent me off to go and collect some natural 'treasure' outside as she taught the Lozenge to play his first tune. I returned with a lemon, two tiny tangerines from nearby trees, a rusty pair of pliers and a tropical looking flower and the Lozenge played me twinkle twinkle little star with his index finger. 'I want him to know he can play any tune, even with no technique. So he will start to have fun,' she said.
Since the Toulouse Jewish school shooting in 2012 there has been a wave of French immigration to Israel that has not stopped, with numbers hitting 6,600 people last year. But President Reuven Rivlin calls on French Jews to immigrate to Israel out of love, not fear. He said at the burial ceremony: "We will continue to fight for your right to live as Jews - wherever you may be.... But returning to your ancestral home need not be due to distress, out of desperation, because of destruction, or in the throes of terror and fear."
Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel plans to settle incoming French Jews in the West Bank, requiring more settlements in this already disputed patch of land.
Ex US President Carter has spoken out, as reported in the Times of Israel, saying that the situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip 'aggravates people' and that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is one of the factors that led to the attacks in France.
If the French Jews coming to Israel are people like Rachel then my heart's optimism will win. But it's unfortunately those who arrive with hate already nailed into their hearts, that will exacerbate this country's dusty road to ruin.
We got back home and while the dwarves were finishing their dinner I escaped to my den to gather my thoughts and listen to the radio. I left the door open. 'We could've been anything that we wanted to be' from Bugsy Malone, rang out through iPad's small speaker.
The Lozenge pulled up a stool in the doorway and sat down on it while he ate a small bowl of pomegranate seeds, and listened with me.
The film director Roger Graef said recently in a radio interview that he liked to think he had an 'optimistic heart and a pessimistic head' and I would agree this is probably a sensible start. To be aware that human beings are capable of all kinds of terrible actions - both deliberate and mistaken, but to keep the knowledge in our hearts that we are also capable of such startling good.
We arrived at Rachel's house and I expressed my sorrow for her country. But instead of acknowleging it, she shrugged, smiled, and said: 'Well, I am an optimist. I like to think that if we manage to destroy the world, we will also come up with a way to build a new one.'
Then she sent me off to go and collect some natural 'treasure' outside as she taught the Lozenge to play his first tune. I returned with a lemon, two tiny tangerines from nearby trees, a rusty pair of pliers and a tropical looking flower and the Lozenge played me twinkle twinkle little star with his index finger. 'I want him to know he can play any tune, even with no technique. So he will start to have fun,' she said.
Since the Toulouse Jewish school shooting in 2012 there has been a wave of French immigration to Israel that has not stopped, with numbers hitting 6,600 people last year. But President Reuven Rivlin calls on French Jews to immigrate to Israel out of love, not fear. He said at the burial ceremony: "We will continue to fight for your right to live as Jews - wherever you may be.... But returning to your ancestral home need not be due to distress, out of desperation, because of destruction, or in the throes of terror and fear."
Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel plans to settle incoming French Jews in the West Bank, requiring more settlements in this already disputed patch of land.
Ex US President Carter has spoken out, as reported in the Times of Israel, saying that the situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip 'aggravates people' and that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is one of the factors that led to the attacks in France.
If the French Jews coming to Israel are people like Rachel then my heart's optimism will win. But it's unfortunately those who arrive with hate already nailed into their hearts, that will exacerbate this country's dusty road to ruin.
We got back home and while the dwarves were finishing their dinner I escaped to my den to gather my thoughts and listen to the radio. I left the door open. 'We could've been anything that we wanted to be' from Bugsy Malone, rang out through iPad's small speaker.
The Lozenge pulled up a stool in the doorway and sat down on it while he ate a small bowl of pomegranate seeds, and listened with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment