Well, I'm going to have to disappoint the 7 people who took the quiz- I don't have time to post the correct answers right now- I have to leave for the airport pretty soon, and this time you can be sure I'll be at Logan well before 90 minutes before the flight! Yes, indeedy!

The reason I have no time is that I got caught up in a visit to my grandmother, who lives in a nursing home outside of Boston. No offense to the quiz-takers, but spending time with my Omi is more important! She's really upset that my parents are leaving for Cleveland- she won't get visitors nearly as often now. I feel really bad.

My grandmother loves telling the story about how she was saved by the spirit of her mother from Treblinka. My grandmother was born in 1917, and HER mother died from liver cancer just 2 1/2 years later. My Omi was raised by her father and 6 older brothers and sisters in the Polish village of Opatuf. Omi tells me all the time how people from the village would knock on her door at all hours asking for blessings from her father, who was a chassidic rabbi (not the head of any sect, but he must have been very learned and respected). Every morning he would come back from morning prayers with a roll for my grandmother's breakfast, and he'd bring her a basin to wash her hands. To this day she remembers sitting in bed, putting her little fists over the basin and her father pouring water over each hand three times, and all the words to "Modeh Ani."

Years later, she was living with her uncle, and a notice went out that all the people in the village would be transported elsewhere to do work, I guess for the war. My grandmother thought this was strange; how could the old people and little children do any work? Why would they take EVERYONE? She had a feeling something was up. She went to her mother's grave and cried and asked her mother to please send her an answer of what to do. On her way home, she ran into someone else from the village, who asked her why she was crying. "I was at my mother's grave seeking an answer of what to do - whether I should go with the transport." The man told her that in a few days there was going to be a different transport just for the young people, to a labor camp elsewhere in Poland.

My grandmother took this as a sign. A transport just for young people sounded promising; surely the Germans and Poles would be more likely to save those who were strong enough to work. So she went to her uncle's house and told him of her plan. Her uncle would hear nothing of it. "Our family cannot be separated," he said. "Where we go, you go." Still, Omi packed a backpack with food and clothes, to be ready to leave. She remembers one of her little nephews begging his mother to make him a backpack, too, which she did, and the child was so proud to have a backpack of his own . . . I don't think my grandmother remembers the names of her many nieces and nephews . . . I hope whoever that cousin of my mother's was, he died quickly.

The day of the young-person's transport, my grandmother found that her uncle had locked her out of the house, so she wouldn't have access to her backpack. She saw the pack lying inside the house, next to a window. So, she broke the window, grabbed her backpack, and went to the Jewish Community Center to meet the transport. There, she saw an open wagon full of the other teenagers and twenty-somethings from Opatuf, and an SS officer. She told the officer she wanted to come with this transport, and he hoisted her up into the wagon.

My grandmother spent a few years in a factory, doing slave labor for the Germans. She met my grandfather there; his first wife and son had been killed. They used to fantasize about what they would do when the war ended and they got out. All my grandmother wanted was ana stove oven of her own so she could bake some potatoes. All day she dreamed about potatoes.

When my grandparents were liberated, Omi went back to Opatuf, and found that everyone in the village had been taken to Treblinka and gassed. Out of all her siblings, step-siblings, nieces, nephews, only one brother survived- she found him a couple years later.

I asked Omi today why no one else thought it was strange that the whole village was being taken to "work." Why didn't they think anything of it, when she did?

"They didn't know for sure what would happen," she said. "But they certainly didn't think they were going to their deaths." Besides, where else could they go, but where the Germans told them? It was too late to leave, too late to fight. I suppose they didn't allow themselves to believe they might be killed, because at that point they didn't have many options. Besides, hindsight is 20/20.

Omi says that other survivors sometimes made fun of her for continuing to believe in God. Indeed, my grandmother has had a hard life even besides the Holocaust: her mother dying, poverty, my grandfather's death in the 60's, lots of illnesses and surgeries . . . but she's told me many times "It's not that I suffered those things because there is no God. It's because of God that I survived. My mother watched over me and protected me."

And that's how my great-grandmother saved my Omi from Treblinka.

On Thursday night I stayed up until 5:30 in the morning, because I couldn't go to sleep without finishing "The Time Traveler's Wife," which loyal reader Miriam L had sent me. That book is . . . wow!

Wow!

It's a love story! It's science fiction! It's Spiderman and Sleepless in Seattle and Being John Malkovich all rolled into one!

I loved it! I couldn't put it down! I was so tired on Friday, but it was worth it!

After I finished it, I went back and re-read all the parts where the author had set up little mysteries . . . she ties up all the loose ends in such surprising and satisfying ways.

Wow!

So, thanks Miriam for sending it to me (and let me know what I should do with it now . . . ), and also, thanks to Beth (www.houseofjoy.blogspot.com) for recommending it to me several months ago, so that when Miriam brought it up I knew to say "Yes! I want a copy!"

Here's a link to the Amazon page about the book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/015602943X/qid=1099783868/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-3085403-9956116?v=glance&s=books

Happy reading!

Reminder

Just a couple more days to take the Sort-of-annual Chayyei Sarah Quiz. I can't promise, but I'm planning to tally the results and announce a winner on Sunday.

Thanks to those who have already sent in their answers! I feel so loved!

Superstar!

PS Urg, from my parents' computer I can't use the "view HTML" option in Blogger. So here's the URL for the quiz:

http://chayyeisarah.blogspot.com/2004/10/sort-of-annual-chayyei-sarah-quiz-for.html

Superstar!

Grounded.

Hey, check me out! My plane to Zurich is over the Atlantic, and I, Chayyei Sarah, am sitting at my parents' computer writing this post. Yes, the flight left without me. You wanna know why? (Or, in UYO parlance, you want to know what kept me stuck?)

OK, let me preface this by saying:

1. I am not late for things as often as I used to be.
2. When I'm late, I'm typically less late than I used to typically be. (Note: OED says we can split infinitives now)
3. I take full responsibility for my chronic lateness, and do not blame others for the consequences of this, my fatal flaw.

So, part of the story is that I ran very late. I called the taxi about 2 hours and a half hours before the flight, and it's a 20-minute drive to the airport. You're supposed to be there 2 hours before, right? Well, there you go, it's partly my fault. I should have left more time for unexpected events.

OK, enough taking responsibility, on to blaming others . . .

First, the taxi didn't show up for 20 minutes, even though the dispatcher had said it would be there right away.

Second, we hit major-mundo traffic. (I know, that's no one's fault)

Third, Swiss Air is a bunch of classist sons-of-bitches.

Ooooo, Chayyei Sarah is using strong language! Well, you would too if you got to the check-in counter at Logan Airport 70 minutes before your flight and was told "Sorry, check-in closes 90 minutes before the flight. You can't go in." And if you then saw them let through another guy who also just arrived for the SAME flight. And if you then saw them let through 2 more people who arrived AFTER you did for YOUR flight, and continued to tell YOU that you are out of luck. You would use words like *#@$! too, to yourself, never to the clerks, if they explained that BUSINESS CLASS customers can check in up to 60 minutes before the flight. You'd feel put out, wouldn't you, if they would not allow you to upgrade to business class? If right in front of you they put other people's luggage on the carousel and then called the gate to say "we just loaded the last suitcase for the 6:55 flight" when you were standing there with 2 suitcases? If you quietly asked the clerk if she could please squeeze you through with the business class customers, so you could make your connecting flight, and she shook her head and said "Sorry, there's nothing I can do," but you secretly wonder whether she COULD do something for you if she didn't have a pole where it shouldn't be?

I totally understand that they need to offer perks to Business Class people, or else why bother having a Business section at all? The part I hate is when they say "It's for security purposes, they close the gate, you need time to be checked by security, blah blah blah" and then it turns out that all these obstacles COULD be surmounted IF you'd PAID to have them surmounted.

*&%#@! lying sons of %&*!^

[On a related note, no one can tell me that I'm "randomly" chosen for a detailed security check at airports when I'm being checked EVERY SINGLE TIME I FLY. You and I both know it's because my ticket says I'm starting and ending in Israel. Do I pay cash? No. Do I change my flight plans in the last minute? No. Do I fly one-way? No. Do I fly without luggage? No. All perfectly random, right? Because even though racial profiling makes perfect sense in anti-terrorist security, even though I think they SHOULD be scrutinizing everyone from the Middle East, including me, I'm really being checked at EVERY SINGLE AIRPORT because of dumb luck, right?

It's not the geographic profiling I mind. It's the lie. Random, shrandom.

Security checks are random, the gate is closed 90 minutes before for security reasons, and I'm the Mona Lisa.]

Anyhow, Swiss Air offered to fly me to Tel Aviv via Newark, but the plan would have involved losing my kosher in-flight meals and spending a full day in Zurich. For London or Italy or even maybe Paris I would have enjoyed an opportunity for a day of European site-seeing, but Zurich? What's in Zurich?

So, basically, I'm staying in Boston until Sunday and (I hope) arriving in Tel Aviv on MONDAY at 2:35. Ride, anyone? Anyone?

It's OK because I was feeling bad about leaving my Mummy to do all the packing in the Boston house. So now I have a few extra days to help her out.

It's all for the best. My itinerary change, the security-randomness lie, perhaps even Bush being re-elected. The world is a mysterious place.

I'm leaving on a jet plane . . .

1. I don't know when I'll be back again . . .

If anyone in Israel HAPPENS to feel like picking me up at the airport, I'm scheduled to land at Ben Gurion tomorrow (Thursday) at 2:35 pm. Coming in on Swiss Air. A ride to Jerusalem would be most excellent, though I'm not expecting it. I'm expecting to take a cab. With my two full suitcases, backpack, 2 jackets, and the large toaster oven I bought at Duty Free. Welcome home to me!

2. Also, a public and enthusiastic Thank You to my devoted reader, Miriam L, who Fedexed me a copy of a most excellent novel, "The Time Traveler's Wife," on time for me to read it on the plane. I have started it and love it! If you like "Time and Again," you will LOVE "The Time Traveler's Wife."

3. So, Bush won. I'm feeling rather crabby about this. However, I believe that whatever happens is meant to happen, and just hope that Bush won't completely bungle his second term as he did his first. We can hope for improvement, even from him.

Is it just me, or does President Bush have a slightly maniacal look about him? Every time I see him on TV, he's got this smirk and slightly psychotic gleam in his eye. I seriously think there is something clinically wrong with him - not because of what he's done, but because of that glazed, smirky, shifty look he's got.

4. Reminder: Scroll down to take the sort-of annual Chayyei Sarah quiz.

See you in the Holy Land!!!

Pity the Poor Reporters

This time four years ago, I was in a makeshift newsroom frantically trying to figure out how to write a front-page story about the Presidential election when there was not a clear winner yet and the layout editor was standing behind me yelling “I need the copy NOW.”

It was my first year as a journalism student, we were producing a special University/ Journalism department newspaper about the elections, and together with one of my classmates, A., I’d been given the honor of writing the lead story, whose headline we THOUGHT would be either “Bush Wins” or “Gore Wins,” or, more likely, something more snazzy-sounding than that but with the same idea. Writing headlines was never my strong point; that’s what copy editors are for!

A. and I had spent the days before preparing “B-copy,” that is, the text that would appear further down in the article, and which we could write ahead of time. My job was to research B-copy about the Bush campaign, and A. researched the Gore campaign, and on election night, while some of our classmates hit the streets to interview voters and party-sponsored “victory” bashes, and other classmates sat over the computers nearby churning out copy about the Senate races and referendums, A. and I attempted to combine our research into one cohesive article while simultaneously taking quotes from the reporters on the street and keeping one eye on CNN.

We were under a lot of pressure, all of us, since our work that night would become, for most of us, the first "clip" to show potential employers. A. and I knew that neither of us would have a chance to write front-page news again for a long time. The clock was ticking. There wasn’t a clear presidential winner. If we have to submit the copy before a winner emerges, how in the world are we supposed to write the lead?

The TV was blaring, the phones were ringing, the blue states and the red states were stacking up evenly, the faculty advisor was reading our copy over my shoulder and complaining about it, the layout editor had to get the computer files with our paper to the printer by midnight . . . and there was no winner. Florida went to Gore, then to Bush . . . I felt my hair start to stick to the back of my neck.

In the end, the headline read “Fuzzy finish in a close race” and started “Americans went to bed last night without knowing . . . . “ Neither A. nor I recognized our article as ours- the total was so different from the sum of the parts that neither of us were happy having our names at the top of the story. But it was over.

And it had been really, REALLY exciting.

I don’t think I’ll stay up tonight to see what happens, mostly because I know that whatever happens, the other side will probably say “that is not what happened,” and it will be contested, blah blah blah. Fuzzy, and no finish. Let’s hope I’m wrong about this.

Doda love

A few nights ago I babysat my two nephews so my sister and brother-in-law could go out for dinner. I hung out with them, gave them junk food (a special privilege of being babysat in my sister's house), and cuddled in front of the TV. Then I helped them brush their teeth and put them to bed. I sang each of them our new special goodnight song, a little something I picked up at UYO:

How could anyone ever tell you- you were anything less than beautiful?
How could anyone ever tell you- you were less than whole?
How could anyone fail to notice that your loving is a miracle?
How deeply you're connected to my soul.

Since then I've sung it to them each night. I know they don't understand all the words, but they seem to understand the intent behind them. Nathan, who is four, gazes into my eyes while I sing to him, blinking in the half-light with a peaceful look on his face. Ilan, 6, wraps his arms around my neck and I sing into his ear. Then they kiss me and I tell them I love them, and they say "I love you too."

A couple nights ago, as I was closing his door behind me, Ilan said "Doda, you know what the best present is that you brought for us?"

I said "What's that, Ilani?"

He said, "You."

I'm going to miss these guys when I leave tomorrow.

From Moshe to Moshe . . .

(scroll past the next two posts for the annual Chayyei Sarah quiz)

Yet another close, dear friend has joined the blogging bandwagon. Welcome to Divrei Moshe, who made aliyah 2 weeks before I did with his amazing wife and four fabulous kids. I find the simplicity and sincerity of his blog to be inspirational and thought provoking (and often funny). Almost as great as he is in person. Welcome to the blogosphere.

Hollow-een

(Scroll down for the annual Chayyei Sarah quiz!!!)

As we speak, I'm experiencing an aspect of American culture I very much did not miss when I was in Israel this time last year: trick-or-treating.

There are many aspects of Christian-American culture that I do not share, yet can appreciate. Christmas carols and trees, Easter-egg hunts, New Years' countdowns and Auld Lang Syne, that sort of thing. I don't engage in those traditions because they are too connected to Christianity for my taste, but as a religious person and an American, I can see elements that I would enjoy in those traditions were they part of my sub-culture. Even though many of them are commercialized, I can see how religious Christians find meaning and fun in these activities, and how they are harmless and entertaining for secular Americans.

But I do not understand Halloween at all. The whole thing is mean-spirited, literally and figuratively. A holiday (can it be called a holiday if it is an anti-holy day?) dedicated to scary beings of the netherworld, and kids threatening to "trick" you if you don't present them with a "treat"? I don't get it. Is there any religious or spiritual meaning to Halloween at all? Do Christian ministers and priests promote this pagan custom or turn a blind eye to it? Is anyone actively speaking out against it in the American Christian world?

As we say in Hebrew, Halloween is, in my opinion, "lo na-im." In Yiddish we say "pas nicht." English translation: It's just not nice. I'm curious to know what Europeans do to commemorate this night of "All Hallows Eve," or if any readers who celebrate Halloween can given any spin to it other than "it's fun, don't be a party pooper." Anyone?

Kerry/ Bush on Israel: Food for thought

(If you are skipping this, then scroll down to take the annual Chayyei Sarah quiz!!!)

Two articles which I hope you will read if you are one of the people voting for Bush because "Bush is better for Israel." I realize that at this point people have made up their minds. But I want people to remember that there are reasonable people who have reasonable evidence that American policy on Israel will not change, regardless of who wins.

No one can tell the future. We have to vote based on the facts we have and the best judgement calls we can make with that information.

If you believe, as I do, that Kerry is not any worse for Israel than Bush is (and, I might add, there are those of us who live in Israel who don't think that the Bush policy of "hands off" is necessarily constructive), then it frees one to vote for the person whose policies on other issues are more in line with one's own.

Anyhow, here is some reading for you . . .

1. From today's New York Times (requires free registration)

2. From the Haaretz Anglo File section of a few weeks ago (requires paid registration; I'll reproduce it here). Notice that there are quotes in here that could be used by either side to support their views about Kerry/Bush:


Palestinian-Americans largely ignore upcoming U.S.elections
Daphna Berman
Sam Bahour has already requested an absentee ballot for the U.S. presidential elections, but as a member of the Palestinian-American community based largely in Ramallah, he's certainly in the minority. "There's an indifference about the outcome of the [U.S.] presidential election that's hard to explain," he said this week of the widespread voting malaise that seems to have struck a large number of Palestinian Americans living in the West Bank and Gaza. "In the past, we used to have registration drives, and citizen services [from the American consulate in Jerusalem] would come out, but this year, I've heard none of that." According to Bahour, a prominent Palestinian-American businessman who moved to the West Bank in 1995 to spearhead the privatization of the Palestinian telecommunications industry, the disinterest around him is based on a larger belief that neither candidate really addresses the needs of his community. "The gap between the two isn't wide enough that it will make a difference for the Palestinians," he explains. "People feel like it doesn't even matter. I have friends who go back between here and the States and when I ask who they're voting for, they act as if we're in a non-election year." For members of this large, but somewhat politically overlooked community of Palestinian-Americans, the upcoming elections don't seem to be making the splash that they have made among Israeli-Americans. Jewish Americans living in Israel have registered for absentee ballots in unprecedented numbers and organizations like the Association of Americans and Canadian in Israel (AACI) have hosted regular events encouraging Americans here to take part in the election process. Both Republicans Abroad in Israel and Democrats Abroad in Israel have revitalized their efforts in recent months and have hosted a number of registration drives across the country. But as members of the American consulate in Jerusalem confirm, the excitement and energy among Americans in Israel just haven't transferred to their Palestinian neighbors. "Palestinians haven't been as active as the Israeli side," Stuart Patt, chief of the Consular Section at the Jerusalem consulate said this week. "There have been Palestinian-Americans coming in to request forms, but most of the forms go through [local Israeli branches of] the Republicans and the Democrats or the AACI." The number of Palestinian-Americans living in the West Bank and Gaza is difficult to estimate, though Dr. Hazim Arafat, a volunteer with the Palestinian-American Society in Ramallah says that a survey done four years ago found an estimated 5,000 families with dual citizenship, with an average of four eligible voters per family. American officials estimate that some 30,000 Americans live in the West Bank, but that number includes American Jews living in the settlements. And so, while the number of Palestinian-Americans in the territories may pale in comparison to the estimated 100,000 eligible American voters living in Israel, it remains a strong and significant voting bloc, which its members say shouldn't be taken lightly. Still, neither of the major parties has even attempted to target this pool of potential absentee voters. The Democrats would be a logical alternative for a community that sees ousting Bush as a top priority, but Mark Zober, chair of Democrats Abroad in Israel said that his organization has yet to plan voting drives in the West Bank for potential Kerry supporters. The Republicans haven't targeted Palestinian-Americans in the territories either, and though Joan Hills, co-chair of Republicans Abroad, admitted this week from Washington D.C. that it would be a "good idea" to target local Palestinian-Americans, the organization's Israel branch has a Web site with Arafat quoted as calling Bush "the worst U.S. president" and a statement by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon hailing the incumbent president as "Israel's best friend in the White House." "The most important point on our agenda is to get an administration change," said Akram Baker, a Palestinian-American human resources consultant based throughout the Middle East, "and the Democrats should be doing more to bring Palestinian and Arab-Americans to their side." According to Baker, though, a large portion of the local Palestinian-American vote will go to Ralph Nader, an American politician of Lebanese origin who is running on an independent ticket and supports the Palestinian right of return. "Most people aren't interested in voting because they don't see a difference between Bush and Kerry, but those who do care to vote will vote Nader," Shawqi Issa, a human rights lawyer in Bethlehem, predicted. Issa, who holds dual citizenship, sent his American-born wife to the consulate in Jerusalem because his American passport doesn't help him navigate checkpoints given his Palestinian ID card, he says. "If my wife didn't go for us, we wouldn't have had the proper voting papers," the Nader supporter added, obviously unaware, like many in his community, of the possibility to download the proper forms off the internet. Other leading figures in the community confirmed that Nader was in fact the candidate of choice among voting Palestinians who refuse to support either major candidate, and even Bahour, who will probably vote for Kerry as a protest against Bush, says that he would "vote his conscience" and choose Nader if Kerry was pulling ahead in the polls so drastically that Bush had no chance for re-election. The decision on behalf of the Democrats and Republicans to categorically overlook Palestinian-Americans is frustrating, Bahour adds, but not more so than his own community's voter apathy and reluctance to mobilize a grassroots registration effort. "I can't complain that campaigns don't address us as a community," he says, "if we, as a community, don't become more active."
Publication date - 10/09/04
© Copyright 2004 Ha`aretz. All rights reserved