Stuff on my mind
Phew its been awhile hasn't it! Anyways things have been doing well.
Vacation was pretty cool. Lots of drinking and lots of Chile. Looking
back at the past month however Ive realized a lot has changed with me.
I FEEL a bit more mature, a bit less perpetually worried than
usual...or than before and most of all a lot more confident for some
reason. Maybe this will be temporary or not. My perpetual nail biting
habit stopped when I was in Chile but alas, old habits die hard...at
least back in boston. Perhaps the "Normal Mike" program will resume
once this semesters stress hits me. Hopefully not, I like this new
Mike.
The Chile trip affected me greatly. I went on it not only as a way to
have fun during my vacation but also learn about who I am, a Jew. Now
the program is run by Aish HaTorah (translated: The Fire of the Torah)
which is pretty much an (ultra) orthodox Jewish Institution whos main
goal is to convert secular Jews into fulfledged orthodox ones. My
father had the most reservations about Aish. Being a
secular/not-so-religious Israeli, he harbors much distrust and
resentment (perhaps justifiably but I want to find out myself later on)
against most Orthodox Judaic institutions (This is a very complicated
subject and for the authors sake and bedtime it will not be discussed
in detail here). My father has some right to be concerned after all, my
cousin, who besides my mother and father is my closest relative in the
family recently chose to don a black suit, a black kippah and
tzit-tzit(those strings that hang out of a Jews pants) recently.
Besides some bullshit the Rabbi's taught us while I was in Chile it was
really an experience. I feel as if Ive gained some insight as to what
it is to be a Jew. For now however, I feel confident as Jew. To me,
donning black, praying all day and having 10 kids in the near future
doesnt appeal to me. Personally, I feel happy weaing an "Immortal"
T-shirt and jeans and a buster cap and still feel quite Jewish. And if
there is a god he/she/it would probably be happy if I feel that way
about me also.
Ive also come to realize, and admit that I am a Zionist. Funny as it
sounds its another huge change Ive undergone. I joined BU Students for
Israel before the trip but now I have new perspective on what that
responsibility means. Two months ago I would have never called myself a
Zionist. I tend to be cautious about locking myself into "ism's." I
always like to tread a middle path in anything. Im neither democrat nor
Republican. I see myself as a moderate, not liberal nor conservative.
For some reason I was even scared of associating myself with the word
Zionism. It sounded to extreme. Yet the Chile trip bolstered my love of
the motherland. Im always thinking about Israel, every damn day. I
reading about it every day. Most of all Im trying to find out how
others think of it. Ive got no other choice than to admit that I do
infact love Israel. I am a Zionist.
I remember hanging out at Katherines place during one of her Vegan
Potluck parties when suddenly Alia asked me about an article written in
the Student Underground (very liberal BU student run paper) that I
read. The author wrote how Israeli Anarchist groups within Israel are
taking the country by storm apparantly due to the intafada. The author
knew little of what was going on in Israel and interpreted the
information in a totally uneducated manner. He used examples of an
Israeli Anarchist being wounded by a soldier for climbing a a barrier
and other incidents as a way to show that Israel has been tearing
itself apart over the conflict and subsequently the Anarchist groups
are making headway in Israeli politics.
When Alia shot the question to me I was surprised. I had no idea she
was going to bring the topic up at all, most of all have knowledge
about my opinion of the article. At the time however, I thought there
was no succussful way to argue about such a complicated issue, so why
bother. Admittedly I dodged her question saying just that and that her
opinion was just one side to the issue. I was easy
on her, telling her that the author was mistaken in his views and that
such an issue is way to hard to cover. By the end we decided to agree
to disagree (or perhaps it was just me) and I left the discussion
feeling defeated. Katherine later told me that she popped the news to
Alia about my presumsions of the article. I gathered that perhaps there
was a tone of guilt in her voice but in all respects Im happy that she
told Alia and the latter did bring it up with me.
I should have said what was really on my mind. The author really had no
clue as to what was going down in Israel. First off he cited the
shooting as one of chaos and tyranny. A wartorn country which is on its
knees and is now attacking itself within, decaying within. Yes Israel
is truly an evil empire. A soldier shot a civilian in the leg for
climbing a government structure. What kind of insane empire would wound
a trespasser AND LET HIM LIVE!? Why, a rational utopian nation would
mortally kill this trespasser and cover up such an incident like most
normal countries in the middle east. Secondly he rationalizes that a
group whose membership totals around 100 are speedily becoming popular
in the region. Besides the fact that I never heard of such a group
until his report, he must have forgotten about the rest of 6,999,900
other Israelis who probably have never heard of such a group either.
Besides that however, many people claim Israel is a colonial or
Imperialist or expansionist empire seeking to grab as much land as it
can from its neighbors (the author made no mention of this).
Anti-Israel activits often look back to the Six Day War, The War of
Independence and to a twisted concept of Zionism as a way to justify
such a view. If such is the case, Israel has been terrible at it so
far. After 60 years its size totals that of New Jersey. Some empire.
What kind of imperialist state offers land for peace like offering the
Sinai to Egypt and half of Jerusalem to Arafat, which he declined. What
kind of colonial power wants to return the Golan Heights over to Syria
in exchange for a simple peace treaty?
Finally I would like to say that I am for a Palestinian state. In fact,
most Israelis support it too. What I cannot tolerate is the
justification of Palestinian terrorists blowing themselves up in a
crowded Israeli street. As if the terrorist automatically has a
left-wing reactionary ideology and sees killing innocent people as his
only way to combat an "oppresive regime" and thus such a murderer must
be sympathized with. Yet the Israelis are the real killers. They are
the ones we should be angry with. Instead of simply bombing and
flattening the area, which Im sure other Middle Eastern countries would
do given the situation, those Israeli murderers send infanty soldiers
into the territories, risking their lives to catch these terrorists.
Most un-oppresive regimes would mount rockets against these towns
harbouring these terrorists but Israel, being the mass murder that it
is, chooses to send soldiers.
Vacation was pretty cool. Lots of drinking and lots of Chile. Looking
back at the past month however Ive realized a lot has changed with me.
I FEEL a bit more mature, a bit less perpetually worried than
usual...or than before and most of all a lot more confident for some
reason. Maybe this will be temporary or not. My perpetual nail biting
habit stopped when I was in Chile but alas, old habits die hard...at
least back in boston. Perhaps the "Normal Mike" program will resume
once this semesters stress hits me. Hopefully not, I like this new
Mike.
The Chile trip affected me greatly. I went on it not only as a way to
have fun during my vacation but also learn about who I am, a Jew. Now
the program is run by Aish HaTorah (translated: The Fire of the Torah)
which is pretty much an (ultra) orthodox Jewish Institution whos main
goal is to convert secular Jews into fulfledged orthodox ones. My
father had the most reservations about Aish. Being a
secular/not-so-religious Israeli, he harbors much distrust and
resentment (perhaps justifiably but I want to find out myself later on)
against most Orthodox Judaic institutions (This is a very complicated
subject and for the authors sake and bedtime it will not be discussed
in detail here). My father has some right to be concerned after all, my
cousin, who besides my mother and father is my closest relative in the
family recently chose to don a black suit, a black kippah and
tzit-tzit(those strings that hang out of a Jews pants) recently.
Besides some bullshit the Rabbi's taught us while I was in Chile it was
really an experience. I feel as if Ive gained some insight as to what
it is to be a Jew. For now however, I feel confident as Jew. To me,
donning black, praying all day and having 10 kids in the near future
doesnt appeal to me. Personally, I feel happy weaing an "Immortal"
T-shirt and jeans and a buster cap and still feel quite Jewish. And if
there is a god he/she/it would probably be happy if I feel that way
about me also.
Ive also come to realize, and admit that I am a Zionist. Funny as it
sounds its another huge change Ive undergone. I joined BU Students for
Israel before the trip but now I have new perspective on what that
responsibility means. Two months ago I would have never called myself a
Zionist. I tend to be cautious about locking myself into "ism's." I
always like to tread a middle path in anything. Im neither democrat nor
Republican. I see myself as a moderate, not liberal nor conservative.
For some reason I was even scared of associating myself with the word
Zionism. It sounded to extreme. Yet the Chile trip bolstered my love of
the motherland. Im always thinking about Israel, every damn day. I
reading about it every day. Most of all Im trying to find out how
others think of it. Ive got no other choice than to admit that I do
infact love Israel. I am a Zionist.
I remember hanging out at Katherines place during one of her Vegan
Potluck parties when suddenly Alia asked me about an article written in
the Student Underground (very liberal BU student run paper) that I
read. The author wrote how Israeli Anarchist groups within Israel are
taking the country by storm apparantly due to the intafada. The author
knew little of what was going on in Israel and interpreted the
information in a totally uneducated manner. He used examples of an
Israeli Anarchist being wounded by a soldier for climbing a a barrier
and other incidents as a way to show that Israel has been tearing
itself apart over the conflict and subsequently the Anarchist groups
are making headway in Israeli politics.
When Alia shot the question to me I was surprised. I had no idea she
was going to bring the topic up at all, most of all have knowledge
about my opinion of the article. At the time however, I thought there
was no succussful way to argue about such a complicated issue, so why
bother. Admittedly I dodged her question saying just that and that her
opinion was just one side to the issue. I was easy
on her, telling her that the author was mistaken in his views and that
such an issue is way to hard to cover. By the end we decided to agree
to disagree (or perhaps it was just me) and I left the discussion
feeling defeated. Katherine later told me that she popped the news to
Alia about my presumsions of the article. I gathered that perhaps there
was a tone of guilt in her voice but in all respects Im happy that she
told Alia and the latter did bring it up with me.
I should have said what was really on my mind. The author really had no
clue as to what was going down in Israel. First off he cited the
shooting as one of chaos and tyranny. A wartorn country which is on its
knees and is now attacking itself within, decaying within. Yes Israel
is truly an evil empire. A soldier shot a civilian in the leg for
climbing a government structure. What kind of insane empire would wound
a trespasser AND LET HIM LIVE!? Why, a rational utopian nation would
mortally kill this trespasser and cover up such an incident like most
normal countries in the middle east. Secondly he rationalizes that a
group whose membership totals around 100 are speedily becoming popular
in the region. Besides the fact that I never heard of such a group
until his report, he must have forgotten about the rest of 6,999,900
other Israelis who probably have never heard of such a group either.
Besides that however, many people claim Israel is a colonial or
Imperialist or expansionist empire seeking to grab as much land as it
can from its neighbors (the author made no mention of this).
Anti-Israel activits often look back to the Six Day War, The War of
Independence and to a twisted concept of Zionism as a way to justify
such a view. If such is the case, Israel has been terrible at it so
far. After 60 years its size totals that of New Jersey. Some empire.
What kind of imperialist state offers land for peace like offering the
Sinai to Egypt and half of Jerusalem to Arafat, which he declined. What
kind of colonial power wants to return the Golan Heights over to Syria
in exchange for a simple peace treaty?
Finally I would like to say that I am for a Palestinian state. In fact,
most Israelis support it too. What I cannot tolerate is the
justification of Palestinian terrorists blowing themselves up in a
crowded Israeli street. As if the terrorist automatically has a
left-wing reactionary ideology and sees killing innocent people as his
only way to combat an "oppresive regime" and thus such a murderer must
be sympathized with. Yet the Israelis are the real killers. They are
the ones we should be angry with. Instead of simply bombing and
flattening the area, which Im sure other Middle Eastern countries would
do given the situation, those Israeli murderers send infanty soldiers
into the territories, risking their lives to catch these terrorists.
Most un-oppresive regimes would mount rockets against these towns
harbouring these terrorists but Israel, being the mass murder that it
is, chooses to send soldiers.