early morning, may 18, 1999 rabin square, tel aviv, post election day abraham, isaac, moses, david, solomon, assyria, babylonia, talmud, koran, mohammed, north africa, moors, spain, sephardim, france, italy, germany, poland, ashkenazi, russia, diaspora, america, palestine, israel — everything exists…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 6, the chosen people
may 16-19, 1999 tel aviv back in tel aviv, benny and i take a much needed break from each other, and i shuttle myself around between “servas” hosts. i find myself in the university suburb of ramat aviv with a…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 7, squaresville – the shantipi world music festival
may 19-22, 1999 hadera, israel ever since my arrival two weeks ago, the big event in alternative circles – besides the election – is the shantipi world music festival. somewhere a mix between cultural anthropology, serious party, and rampant capitalism,…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 8, a little (feminist) reflection
may 24, 1999 haifa the train north from tel aviv stops abruptly – like many things in israel – blunt, abrupt – and i am in haifa. it’s over 100 degrees in the shade (fahrenheit), but once again i am…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 9, haifa, akko, and the dungeon master
may 24, 1999 haifa the train north from tel aviv stops abruptly – like many things in israel – blunt, abrupt – and i am in haifa. it’s over 100 degrees in the shade (fahrenheit), but once again i am…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 10, the tzaddiks of svat
may 25, 1999 safed, israel the next day i’m on my own again. i take the bus from haifa to safed, one of the four holy cities in israel. just like the three other holy cities which are…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 11, sleeping with camels
Sleeping with Camels this piece can be heard as it was radio broadcast on npr’s “the savvy traveler” on december 7, 2001. click http://www.savvytraveler.org/show/rundowns/2001/20011207.shtml then click “Listen to the Whole Show”, and fast forward to 32:40. “sleeping with camels” is…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 12, wadi kelt, jericho, marc chagall, & silence
“gold sky jerusalem” by yitzhak greenfield may 26 – june 1, 1999 jerusalem it’s the next day. i’ve taken the “long” bus ride back to jerusalem from the upper galilee through tiberius, the “big” city on the “kinneret” (hebrew for…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 13, the great sinai
june 2 – 6, 1999 finally. this is the place i’ve been hearing about since arriving in israel almost a month ago. everyone, absolutely everyone, says “go to sinai.” they say “the best” israelis go to sinai. the holy no-man’s…
Middle East, 1999, chapter 14, cairo, mother of all cities
june 7-9, 1999 cairo so i never make it further south to another bedouin camp in sinai. i’m too full and content with my own ras es-satan/head of the devil. i do hitch a ride to terabin for a few…