Yesterday, in front of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama delivered an historic speech. Instead of the usual speech that every other politician gives, which basically show affection without backing it up with any specific commitments (’we stand with Israel… Israel is strong… I cried at Yad Vashem… Bla bla bla…‘) - instead of that, Obama made elaborate and unprecedented commitments including:
keeping US aid at 30 billion dollars over the next decade
unequivocal commitment to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon
rejection of the Palestinian right of return
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel - undivided
Now that Baruch Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee, do yourself a favor and invest 35 minutes of your time to listen to one whole speech by the senator. Each day I watch in dismay how the TV channels summarize a speech to a 30 seconds sound bite, and while each day it is a different speech, the sound bites are almost the same: Change-change-change, Hope-hope-hope, Yes we can. People who say Obama has nothing but slogans to offer - this is for you:
On the road last week, an old song by Israeli band Yarkon Bridge Trio was being played on the radio, and it got me thinking about how cultural norms change over time, and how songs can be time capsules, storing the essence of en era. In this particular case the era of Israel in the 1960’s, when all the men were ‘men’, all the women were ‘girls’, and all acts of blatant sexual harassment were considered acceptable foreplay. This particular song was not only extremely popular at the time, but was considered a praise for womankind.
As always, in my translation of the lyrics to English I tried to adhere to the meaning, the tempo and the rhymes, to the best of my ability, but as always, unless you can read the original Hebrew lyrics, you can only get the general gist of it. As Israel’s national poet Hayyim Nahman Bialik put it: reading a work of art in translation is like kissing somebody through a handkerchief.
Don’t Cross the Street Alone - Yarkon Bridge Trio - lyrics:
Stanza 1:
Girl, don’t cross the street alone
With your flowing hair
Girl, don’t cross the street alone
You will set it aflare
Stanza 2:
Each and every man will stare at you
With a look of lust
Each and every man will stare at you
With a killer glance
Stanza 3:
Hey listen,
What if one of them will suddenly break
Your tender heart
He will forever tie you to his bed
Why would you go for that
Repeat stanza 1
Stanza 4:
Each and every man will stare at you
Looking lost and forlorn
Each and every man will stare at you
Each and every one
Repeat stanza 3
Repeat stanza 1
Stanza 5:
Each and every man will stare at you
With a hungry glance
Each and every man will stare at you
With coyote eyes
Repeat stanza 3
בית 1:
אל תעברי לבד ילדה ברחוב
בשיער גולש
אל תעברי לבד ילדה ברחוב
זה משחק באש
בית 2:
כל הגברים כולם יביטו בך
במבט עורג
כל הגברים כולם יביטו בך
במבט הורג
בית 3:
הקשיבי
מה יהיה אם אחד פתאום ישבור
את לבך הרך
אל מיטתו לעד אותך יקשור
למה, למה לך
חוזר בית 1
בית 4:
כל הגברים כולם יביטו בך
במבט אבוד
כל הגברים כולם יביטו בך
כל אחד לחוד
חוזר בית 3
חוזר בית 1
בית 5:
כל הגברים כולם יביטו בך
במבט רעב
כל הגברים כולם יביטו בך
בעיני זאב
Every Jewish person that becomes successful abroad is treated here as an Honorary Israeli: Natalie (Hershlag) Portman, Gene (Chaim Witz) Simmons, the girl in the Yes We Can video - basically if you have experienced worldwide success, no matter how vague your connection to the Holy Land, or how long it has been since you last visited - Israelis will find a way to not only prove you were always one of us, but that your success is directly linked to your being one of us.
I tell you… those Israelis will grasp at anything…
Singer-songwriter and Honorary IsraeliRegina Spektor was one of the artists chosen to sing for the new Narnia film released last week. Have a listen and see if you like the song as much as I and Perez did:
Regina Spektor - The Call - Lyrics
It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
’till it was a battle cry
I’ll come back..
When you call me
No need to say good bye
Just because everything’s changing
Doesn’t mean it’s never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light
You’ll come back when its over
No need to say good bye
You’ll come back when it’s over
No need to say good bye.
Now we’re back to the beginning
It’s just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can’t feel it too
Doesn’t mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stonger and stonger
’til they’re before your eyes
You’ll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye
You’ll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye
I was ruffling through a mobile phones catalogue I got in the mail, appreciating all the glistening new models and thinking my own device is on his proverbial deathbed, when I recognized a Tami4 water dispenser within dozens of harmless looking cellphones. You see, Tami4 is a popular Israeli brand that can filter your drinking water, chill it and even heat it, but it has only one flaw: it has absolutely zero phone transmitting capabilities. Upon closer examination, I found out the water dispenser I was looking at was actually a Samsung Z240 cell phone, but it sure looks like the two are related, even if one is in better shape than the other:
On the road last week, an old song by Israeli band Yarkon Bridge Trio was being played on the radio, and it got me thinking about how cultural norms change over time, and how songs can be time capsules, storing the essence of en era. In this particular case the era of Israel in the 1960’s, when all the men were ‘men’, all the women were ‘girls’, and all acts of blatant sexual harassment were considered acceptable foreplay. This particular song was not only extremely popular at the time, but was considered a praise for womankind.
