CATEGORY: War
31.10.2013
But who is Ita Malka?
Once upon a time in a beautiful orange kitchen from the early 80′s, were sitting a grandma and her little daughter. The little girl didn’t want to eat. She claimed for a story instead. Please tell me the one when you cross the demarcation line. You have to know that the little girl knew the story by heart. But it did not matter it was a really good story. So says the gradma: “i had to take off my yellow david star from my coat when i was on this train taking me to Vierzon. Then I met the lady that helped me cross over the line. It was a dark night and the german soldiers were up on the bridge. We had to be careful and quiet because each moves could cost both our lives. But what happened, asked the little girl? We managed it and when i was on the other side of the bridge i cried , i couldn’t stop.
But where were you going to? the little girl asked. To Avignon, into the free zone to meet your great great grand father who had managed the journey. And then I met your grand father, I fell in love with him and I could eat jams a lot thanks to his mum. Is that what love means? Eating jams? asked the little girl. The grand mother laughed and said ” you know we had nothing to eat at this time so everything was good”.
But where was your mum? the little girl asked. Why were you on her own at 18 dealing with such “tsoures” (problems in yiddish).
Finish your dish answered the grandma . I tell you later the story of Ita Malka, your great great grand mother.
Ita Malka means little queen in yiddish .
04.12.2012
Kosher frogs’ legs, or Israeli diplomacy
Recently, every time Israel has come under withering international approbation – usually for its settlement activity or rounds of retaliation against terrorists – the government reverts to the following line: “Loh naim, loh nora,” which translates loosely into: It’s not pleasant, but it’s not awful either.
When we lose a UN vote by 138 to 9, it’s not pleasant, but it’s not terrible either. We always lose UN votes. It could have been 147 to zero. But even then, it would be uncomfortable, but not catastrophic. When England, France, Sweden and Australia summon our ambassadors to read them the riot act, it’s not pleasant, but it’s also not so terrible. They could have recalled their ambassadors from Tel-Aviv, or even expelled our ambassadors. That would have been awful. But you know what? Awful is still OK; awful is not disastrous.
It’s not only international criticism though. Even internal reports that criticize the government’s handling of, say, road accidents, fires, school exam results, are all met with “loh naim, loh nora.”
It’s not great, but it’s not too bad. In other words, it could be worse. In other words, it can always be worse, so this is no big deal. It sure feels like it’s getting worse, but things really are not so bad.
According to this thinking, when things get worse, they still won’t be really bad. When things get worse, and things really seem to be getting worse here, the government will say “it’s bad, but not terrible.”
“Listen, things are really bad, but they’re not catastrophic. OK, ok, things are catastrophic, but they’re not disastrous. Wow, this is a disaster, but you know what, we’ve had it worse, so it’s really not so bad. We overcame Pharaoh, we’ll overcome this too. It’s bad, but it’s not the end of the world. The sky falling is bad? Sure but it could be worse: it could be the end of the world.” READ MORE
CATEGORIES: Politics Short Story Social Culture Thoughts War
