checking in on shalom simhon

At my Hebrew level, reading a serious news article is a huge chore. But Nadav and Google Translate tell me that this article says Shalom Simhon lost a court case and will not be chairman of KKL in the near future.

orientation

I'm in Ann Arbor. The first few days of classes were a hyperspeed review of the Real Analysis course I took at GW. So far the people who have run class or orientation sessions have spent far more time than I expected massaging egos--saying things like "you deserve to be here" and "don't worry if it seems hard, you'll be fine". Apparently impostor syndrome is common among graduate students.

The econ program at UM styles itself as a collaborative program. The administration wants everyone to work together and succeed. This is apparently different from some other programs, where individuals in each cohort are ranked and the lower half are rejected after several years.

The administration put us in suggested study groups, which are intentionally diverse. Mine has a Filipino man, a Chinese woman, an Indian woman, and a man from Missouri. Second and third year students told me their study groups became more homogeneous eventually, but so far our study group has worked out very well.

The general paradigm at UM is that PhD econ students take two years to complete course work and three years to write a dissertation. It seems like most students here are now taking at least four years to write a dissertation. I think students are taking extra time to avoid entering a crummy job market. Hopefully that won't be a factor for me.

beit ben gurion, palmach, ha'apalah

Yesterday I went to two museums. David Ben Gurion's house in Tel Aviv and the Palmach Museum. There's not much to see at Beit Ben Gurion, but its free and in central Tel Aviv. Ben Gurion amassed a huge library in Tel Aviv and also in his other house in Sde Boker, which makes me want to read more books.

The Palmach Museum is a very unusual museum. Its sort of like watching a movie from the set where it was filmed, and moving to a new scene every 5 or 10 minutes. Well worth the visit. Makes me want to be a soldier. (But not really.)

I'm also reading a book about illegal immigration from Europe between 1945 and 1948 (Aliyah Bet or Ha'apalah). Its a first-hand, journalistic account by I.F. Stone called Underground to Palestine. Very good so far.

more wzc - the settlement enterprise

The three days of the World Zionist Congress can be roughly broken down as follows:

Day 1 - Siyurim (field trips), corresponding to some committee
Day 2 - Committee meetings, where proposals on a particular topic are discussed
Day 3 - The general plenary session, where resolutions are voted on by the entire assembly of delegates

I attached myself to the sixth committee, "The Settlement Enterprise." Settlement has come to be associated with settlements in the West Bank, but the scope of the committee included the peripheral areas of the Galilee and Negev as well.

The siyur for members of my committee focused on Gush Etzion, the region of the West Bank bounded by Jerusalem to the north, the Green Line to the west, Hebron to the South and the Dead Sea to the east.

It was interesting to go on a siyur planned by someone else after spending the last several months planning siyurim for other people. I couldn't stop myself from deconstructing the siyur into the implied messages that the organizers sent through each component.

Herodiom - An ancient hill fortress, somewhat resembling Masada. The messages: Judea is beautiful, Jews have an ancient connection to the land (and therefore a right to it), anyone who tries to force Jews out of the land is like the Roman Empire.

Kfar Etzion - A kibbutz, abandoned several times under threat of violence and resettled in 1967. The messages: settlers in the West Bank are just like the chalutzim of the second aliya, settlers are heroic because they persevere in the face of technical and political obstacles, Arabs are destructive and violent.

Shaul Goldstein - The mayor of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The messages: settlers are innovative and provide technologically advanced products to the world market, settlers have very good relations with regular Arabs, Arab leaders undermine their friendship and cooperation.

I asked the mayor, "Do you think there should be a Palestinian state?" He said no.

I honestly enjoyed the siyur, even though I felt it was inappropriate for the organizers to have so obviously taken one side (the wrong one) on a controversial issue.

Alternates (like me) were, as a rule, not permitted to attend committee meetings or vote in the general plenary session, but I subbed in for actual delegates in both the committee meeting and the general plenary.

After some initial turbulence, the committee meeting settled down into a very respectful atmosphere, which I attribute partially to the even-handed chairmanship of Hadar Susskind. The final resolution, which I presented on behalf of Habonim Dror, Ameinu, J Street, Hashomer Hatzair and Meretz, recognized a two-state solution as an urgent priority. It passed with a vast majority and the support of Likud after the Labor-Meretz-Reform faction accepted some of Likud's amendments.

After the resolution passed, an orthodox man praised the process even though his political beliefs forced him to vote against the resolution.

Susskind discusses the desertion of the committee by some of its right-wing members and the subsequent fiasco in the general plenary in this blog post. I would add that Liam Getreu from Habonim Dror was one of the "two young Australians from opposing political perspectives" referenced by Susskind.

world zionist congress

I was a delegate to the 36th World Zionist Congress this week. In its history, the congress has served some important functions. Today, its main function seems to be to haggle over who gets to serve in various appointed positions, such as head of KKL. Its also an opportunity to network with like-minded people and exchange nasty words with people who disagree with you.

One question on my mind is whether the congress is a democratic forum. There are clearly a number of procedures that resemble democracy. Voting (on some things), Robert's rules of order (sort of), elections (in theory).

There were no elections for the 36th WZC. Representation was based partially on the elections for the 35th WZC and partially on elections for the Knesset. The number of coalitions, factions, and sub-factions is astonishing. I was a diaspora Labor delegate, which was part of the World Labor party, which was temporarily aligned with World Meretz and the Reform Movement. Together, the Labor-Meretz-Reform faction was the largest, which enabled it to choose the next head of KKL.

This morning, an election was supposed to be held within the faction to choose the head of KKL. Before the election began, the candidates -- Menachem Leibovitch (who was not a serious candidate) and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon (who was anointed by I-don't-know-who) -- introduced themselves. I thought that prior to the vote would be a good time to ask questions of the candidates. Acting partially as a representative of Habonim Dror (and youth movements more generally, which have been impressively united against land privatization), I asked Minister Simhon about his opinion of land privatization and the law suit between Kadima and KKL regarding a controversial vote about land swaps with the state.

Rather than allow Simhon to answer the question publicly, several faction leaders (mostly Reform) deflected it and hurried people into the voting booths. I protested loudly that Simhon had introduced himself partially by trying to establish credibility with youth movements as a former secretary of Bnei HaMoshavim, and yet was ignoring the question that was most important to youth movements. The Reformniks arranged a private meeting between me and Simhon, mostly in order to shut me up.

Nadav agreed to come with me to meet Simhon, who brought along his assistant Aliza and a former director of KKL, Yitzchak Elishiv. Simhon was polite but evasive. We spoke with him for about 15 minutes and he promised to meet with me again. My favorite part was when I told him that land privatization was against Jewish values (Yovel). He responded that even Ovadia Yosef had no objection. I pointed out that Ovadia Yosef doesn't define my Jewish values or Simhon's either.

british airways cabin crew appreciation

So much for getting back in the habit of blogging.

Something wonderful just happened which I feel compelled to share with the world:

I booked my flight home a bit less than a year ago through British Airways. BA caps the amount of time in advance it is possible to book flights, so the arbitrary date I chose was June 9. The program I run (Boneh) ends June 10, and I'm staying in Israel for several weeks after that to be a delegate at the World Zionist Congress. Knowing this, I obviously should have chosen a new flight with BA several months ago. But I didn't do anything about this until last week.

In addition to the $250 change of flight fee (which I knew about), BA requires passengers to pay the difference in the price of the flight (which I thought would be negligible). When I called BA last week, I found out that flights from Israel to the US can be far more expensive in mid July than mid June, to the tune of $300 or more (for a total of $550 or more). I refused to book a new flight last week, hoping that the $300 would be reduced a bit closer to June 9.

Today I checked in on my flight. The BA website announced apologetically that there is a cabin crew strike scheduled for some days in late May and early June, including June 9, and that all passengers who had flights on those days can reschedule for free.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my support for Unite, a union that represents many faithful members of the cabin crews of British Airways. BA wants to make drastic cuts to its workforce, impose a two-year wage freeze, and introduce a second tier workforce. This is an outrage, and I for one stand in solidarity with the workers of Unite.

ironic poetry contest

I was just made aware of a poetry contest sponsored by Tablet Magazine, in which entrants are asked to reinterpret a poem by Judah Halevi, a Spanish Jewish philosopher who lived in the early 12th century. Halevi's poetry often deals with the theme of yearning for Zion, as in this translation rendered by Hillel Halkin of "My Heart in the East":

My heart in the East
But the rest of me far in the West --
How can I savor this life, even taste what I eat?
How, in the bonds of the Moor,
Zion chained to the Cross,
Can I do what I’ve vowed to and must?
Yet gladly I’d leave
All the best of grand Spain
For one glimpse of Jerusalem’s dust.

The grand prize is an iPad. Whoever wins this contest will undoubtedly be as torn as Halevi was, because the he or she will not be permitted to enter Israel with the iPad.