Oh, what a night
So the Corner Prophets Hip Hop event was pretty cool and a massive success. It was quite a social event for me as well. After eating a 350 gram burger at Iwo Burger on Hillel street I met up with my new friend Ari. Ari started a blog recently called “Ari Lives in Israel.” He may sound angry and belligerent in his writing but he’s actually a very nice person in “real life.” We got to the event too early (we were among the first there) so we skipped on over to Diwan, Jerusalem’s best dive bar. By the time we got back to Dalia for the event, the place was kicking and local J-town rapper Segol 59 was reading a poem in memory of ODB (Ole’ Dirty Bastard). I stuck around for Segol 59 and A7 go head to head and also for a performance by Lod resident Tamer Nafar. Nafar was amazing. I’ve never heard rap in Arabic before and I didn’t understand a word he was saying but I was floored by his performance. He just simply flowed… Nafar also rapped in Hebrew and his lyrics primarily focused on identity issues and being a Palestinian in Israel. I couldn’t help but to smirk when I saw these two Israeli kippot wearing fellows bobbing up and down to Nafar’s Arabic raps.
I had the pleasure of meeting both CK Dave of Jewlicious as well as Ariela Krevat of Urban Achiever fame. Meeting people you only know through reading their blogs is kind of cool, yet totally bizarre. Ariela recognized me from the cartoon on the top of my blog, which was funny. So far, most people I have met through the blogosphere real life personas for the most part matched their online ones. It’s hard to tell though if you spend such a short amount of time with them. I might be wrong but I don’t think I put on mask for my blog. I like to think that what I write is who I am. Or at least who I want you to think I am. What?
I must say that it’s getting tiring going to all these live music events without my best friend. I understand this whole “avala” thing is important and all but I really wish it was over already.
the rebellion was there
SUNY Albany 1995.
A brilliant marketing campaign by a college rock band fucked with everyone on campus back in 1995 at SUNY Albany. Jed shares the amazing tale of mystery, paranoia, idiocy and rock and roll over at his blog honesty vs. politics.
Go read the entire story.
As an outspoken Jewish student leader I was suspect in the conspiracy but initially had no idea what it was about. Before I was let in on the ruse by Mike Keaney, I thought it was hysterical that my group was suspect. We had taken over the administration building a few years back and pretty much always caused a ruckus so the Administration always looked at us with a suspect eye. We had an image to uphold, so I didn’t deny anything.
At the time I was Media director of the Student Association so I acted as a mole and agent provocateur for the band.
Good times.
Israeli boxer now 18-0
Israeli Roman Greenberg pummled yet another opponent Friday night in NY. Will the future bring good tididings for the “Tel Aviv Terminator” as the author of this Jerusalem Post story called him? Does the “thinking” boxer have what it takes to go all the way? What the hell do I mean by “all the way?” I don’t know! I don’t know anything about sports.
Hip hop happening tonight in J-town
Kick it old school tonight in Jerusalem.
No business like Shoah business
Is it just me or does anyone else find it bizarre that the lead story on the Jpost website has been “Katsav to ‘Post’: No guarantee against another Holocaust” for the last 12 hours or so? Is this really the most important story that they have to offer? Is this even a scoop of any sort? Strange. I know all about the American Jewish obsession with the Holocaust. I grew up in that environment and for a long time my Jewish identity was pretty much based around it thanks to two trips to Poland and time spent working in Holocaust education centers. But that is a story for another day.
My Israel activist group on campus used to bring a speaker every two weeks to speak about some sort of Israel-related topic. The crowds were usually small. No more than 20-30 people usually. But when we would host a Holocaust survivor we’d have at least 200 people or so.
We used to put up pretty controversial (some say offensive) posters around campus to increase awareness. Many of them had shock value such a large poster with a large star of David that said “you wear this around your neck, but is it in your heart.” We also used the old photo of a bagel with the line “Shouldn’t your Jewish identity be exposed to something more than this?” One of my favorites was “There is a lot more to being Jewish than suffering.” Another poster said “Come join the largest Jewish organization on campus. JEWS WHO DO NOTHING. Everyday, every hour, ever minute, everywhere.” They pissed off a lot people. Which I admit I liked at the time but in retrospect, it perhaps wasn’t the best approach. I remember a non-affiliated Jewish acquaintance of mine (who was very involved in a fraternity that was primarily made up of non-Jews) approaching me alarmed and said he was deeply offended by the poster and just because he isn’t involved with any Jewish organization doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about being Jewish. I asked him “Well, what do you do about it?” He replied “Every year on Holocaust remembrance day I go hear a survivor speak.” I replied “I commend you for going but don’t you think its sad that your entire Jewish identity is based on one day a year when we commemorate the Holocaust?” Arguably, he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed (too many keg stands I guess) and he starred at me expressionless for several moments, not knowing what to say.
Then he just walked away.
Hesder brought this upon themselves
I’ve been thinking about the Army disbanding Hesder units for the past couple of hours and have concluded that the dispersion of the all-religious units is good for the IDF.
My unit was a hodgepodge of Israeli society, perhaps the most diverse groups of people I have ever congregated with. Diversity is good for the Jews. Let me tell you this. It didn’t matter that Roi from Pardes Hana traditionally had a BBQ on Yom Kippur, that Eli from Kiryat Arba prayed every weekend he was home in the Cave of Machpela in Hebron, that the uber-secular Kibbutznik Yossi saw Jerusalem for the first time during our “education week,” that the upper crust Savyon-raised Itzik was gay (he never admitted it, but I got one too many questions about Greenwich Village and San Francisco and I drew my own conclusions), that the Bnai Brak born national religious David lost faith and took off his kippah, that Shai from a small moshav in the north was a kleptomaniac and stole shit from people when no one was around. Actually we did care about that. But you get my point. We were different, but when it came down to it, the only thing that mattered was that we were all defending our homeland - together. And that commonality is what brought us together as Israelis and as Jews.
Hesder is not the only program for religious Jews that combines torah study with army service. There were a bunch a guys in my unit and one of my commanders were in a program where you do a year of study/year of service/year of study/year of service. It’s a shortened army service like hesder but you are assimilated into a diverse unit rather than serving with just religious folks (although hesder soldiers are integrated in a regular unit during their last six months). I think it’s important for both religious and secular soldiers to learn about each other’s lives and to get to know one another beyond the stereotypes. However, the religious needs of soldiers MUST be met and their needs must not fall on deaf ears.
Apparently there has been talk about disbanding Hesder for years. But Hesder Rabbis who spoke out against disengagement and told soldiers to refuse orders certainly expedited this and signed their own death warrants with their abhorrent speeches. This move shouldn’t surprise anyone. The IDF can deny all they want and claim that hesder units “emphasize divisions within Israeli society” but it’s quite clear that this is politically motivated. As well as it should be.
Now what about other specialty units? Bedouin, Druze and Nahal garins? Well, they aren’t the ones threatening that they won’t follow orders when disengagement comes.
UPDATE: Miriam Shaviv called this a couple of months ago. Here are her latest thoughts.
Israeli Black Metal
Admittedly, I watch a lot of TV. Some folks might say too much. Those folks are should shut up. I have my shows that I watch on a regular basis and when I’m not watching them I surf on over to channel 24, Israel’s music channel. I can’t stand the absurd amount of mediocre folk and aging rock starts that litters the screen during the daylight hours and prefer watching the specialty shows. By far, the best is the “Alternative” show shown late at night. I always find nuggets of Israeli genius in the lo-fi videos and fringe acts that otherwise I would never see. 
Last Saturday night as I was coming down from my usual weekend heroin binge I was immediately straightened out when I witnessed for the first time Israeli Black Metal. Yes, there is such a thing. Black Metal is a Satan loving sub-genre of Heavy Metal that often blasphemes religion (usually Christianity) and loves all that is pagan. Normally this would comical but a couple of Norwegian bands took things a bit too far by committing murder and burning down churches. When I was in Norway a couple of years ago I kept my eyes open for followers of Black Metal but did not come across any. However, I did see a lot of trolls, Nobel Prizes, tall blondes, several Thor lookalikes and many fjords.
Anyway,I saw a video for the band Arallu, who describe their music as Barbarian Mesopotamian Black Metal. The song was called “Jewish Devil” from the album “Satanic War in Jerusalem.” “Butchered,” the lead singer screeched his religion-condemning lyrics in both English and Hebrew among the backdrop of the Judean Hills and David’s Tower in the Old City. I love this shit. I was in awe. I HAVE to see this band live.
I wonder if Butchered had a bar mitzvah?
birthright and Masa butt heads
Real smart people. Argue over who is going to bring Jewish youth to Israel.
Some birthright israel officials are concerned that a new Jewish Agency program will provide competition for their organization and channel funds away from the program.Lynn Schusterman, one of the three major philanthropists behind birthright’s 10-day free trips for Diaspora youth, said that she can foresee a “troubling” situation arising as her organization and the Jewish Agency’s one-year Masa program look to the same sources to fund their multimillion-dollar projects.
That should solve the problem of Jewish identity in America.
Full story.
Voting open in Jewish and Israel Blog Awards
Voting for the Jewish and Israel Blog Awards is now open. I am honored to see that I was nominated in several categories. If you happen to think that I have the “Best Humor blog”, “Best Life in Israel blog”, “Best Designed blog” or my synopses of The Ambassador deserves to be “Best Series by a Jewish Blogger” then, by all means, vote for me. If not, well, vote for someone else.
Aliyah onion booty
I’m not sure what I find more disturbing, the fact that someone was googling “aliyah onion booty” or that when you google “aliyah onion booty,” my site is the second one listed.
After doing a little research I learned that “onion booty,” is, well, onion-shaped booty. And I assume the person was searching for Aaliyah, the late singer, not the act of moving to Israel. As far as I remember, Aaliyah did not have “onion booty.” It was closer to a “shallot booty.”
UPDATE: Dan/Mobius informs me that it is not about the shape but rather “it’s booty so fine it makes you cry.”
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