From Russian Pogroms to Nobel Peace Prize

I had an amazing chain of events hearing and reading about the pogroms in Russia in the late 1890’s and early 1900. The stories were first so far away in time and place I could not quite relate to them. 

I wanted to talk to people about the pogroms, but many did not even hear the word. I googled the word:  it is a Russian word meaning total devastation. 

A few months ago, I read a book about Israel where the writer talked about a famous poem in each period of Jewish History. In 1905 the famous poem was: The City of Killing, by the poet H.N. Bialik. 

Bialik was a young journalist at the time of the Kishinev Pogrom. The town was attacked by hooligans who killed and raped and destroyed everything in their path.  Bialik was sent to the town to take testimonies and report on the event. He spoke to the women who were in shock, and to the men, some brave some cowards. In his poem he cries out about the rabbis who made the decree that the women who were raped were not allowed to their husbands. “What dark minded leaders are these?”  Cried Bialik. 

Sometime later I heard about a specific family who was affected by the Kishinev pogrom. This was a presentation about another Israeli poet who just passed away in his 90’s Haim Guri. His mother was always sad. The story was that as a young girl she watched her mother being raped. After that the mother was banned from the family. She used to come at nighttime and watch her children sleeping.  In the end she could not take it any longer, she walked to the river and never returned. This is a real story where the rape of one woman affects not just her but her children and grandchildren. 

This past year my friend recommended the book "The Last Girl," written by Nadia Murad. She is one of the young Yazidi women captured by ISIS.  These women became the slaves of ISIS warriors and were gang raped daily.  Nadia managed to escape, and she became a spokeswoman for molested girls everywhere.  She won the Nobel prize for peace this year together with Dr. Mukwege.  He is the gynecologist who healed the wounds of many women raped in the war in Congo.  In her book Nadia talks about the Yazidi leaders who pondered the fate of their raped women.  They were more enlightened than previous leaders and decreed that it was not the women’s fault, therefore these women are allowed back in society to lead a normal healthy life.

To end this story, I want to mention the biblical story I happened to read to my students: Joseph and his dreams.  Joseph serves at Potiphar's house the minister to Pharaoh and he does a great job.  He is very handsome, and Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him. He keeps runing away from her, but one time she manages to get hold of his clothing and tears away a piece.  When her husband comes home, she blames Joseph for attacking her and Joseph is sent to Jail.  It did not escape my young student that this is an early story of “he said she said.” 

Cleantech and the Battle Against Climate Change

When I received this email, I was wondering what is the connection between Tel Aviv University and the City of Beverly Hills?

I received an email from the office of Friends of Tel Aviv University inviting me to a symposium at Beverly Hills City Hall.  The topic was:

“Cleantech and the Battle Against Climate Change”.

The email stated: We have three amazing panelists, and a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist to moderate.  The symposium will be an in-depth exploration of the many challenges of climate change and the technologies and innovations being developed to tackle this planetary crisis.

A woman was welcoming me as I made my way to the hall and I asked her about this connection.  She told that the City of Beverly Hills has an agreement with the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles to cooperate on environmental and business issues.

Julian Gold, the mayor of Beverly Hills opened the meeting.

The moderator Julie Cart was an environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times. In 2009, Cart and colleague Bettina Boxall won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting.

Tel Aviv University was represented by Prof. Colin Price, head of TAU Porter School of Environmental Studies.  Colin lead a recent TAU study that suggests that weather patterns lead to flash floods may one day be tracked and anticipated by smart phones.

David Nahai was the CEO and Commission President of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, former Chairman of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control.  Today he is President of David Nahai Consulting Services.

Aaron Tartakovsky is the co-founder and CEO of Epic CleanTec, a green technology startup redefining urban sanitation by converting building waste water into clean water and high-quality soil.

The panelists each introduced themselves and talked about their contributions from the academic, government and private sector point of view.  They mentioned EJ:  Environmental Justice. They talked about the crumbling infrastructure of utilities and the best way to repair them.  Is it possible to decentralize entrenched utilities?  We need to build small scale individual power supplies rather than repairing the crumbling infrastructure. 

Solar energy:  solar panels can provide extra power that could flow back to a grid. Part of the solution would be: Energy storage

Nahai predicts that we will have wireless charging soon. 

In the Q&A there was a discussion about the private sector and government regulations.  Clearly the solution is in the correct balance of necessary regulations and incentives for the private sector.

Seth M. Siegel was in the audience and he noted: In California we first need: Waste water and storm water capturing. He wrote the book on the subject: Let there be Water!  Israel’s Solution for a Water Starved World.

I highly recommend this book.  It starts with a time-line of all the innovations in Israel ensuring that the water resources in the region will be plentiful for the growing population.  It goes on to detail the stories of Netafim- drip irrigation, and the large desalination plants.

Israel and Water with Booky Oren

 I am reposting this from March 2015, after I found out about the new book written on the subject: "Let There Be Water, Israel's Solution for a Water Starved World." by Seth M Siegel.

In February 2015 attended a lecture about Israel and water and learned much about the business side of water:

Israel and Water: Collaboration, Innovation, and Global Leadership”

Booky Oren, Chairman and CEO, Booky Oren Global Water Technologies

 

Water shortages persist as a major issue all over the world. In 2013 however, Israel overcame its water challenges through implementing a variety of technological solutions, making 2013 Israel’s “Water Independence Year.” In this talk, Booky Oren will discuss Israel’s innovative water solutions and how they can be leveraged in a global context to create economic growth while also assisting billions of people worldwide.

Booky Oren is not an engineer but an MBA.

He started the talk with two maps of the Middle East.  One from space.  The second one the underground water flows.  In both maps there were no borders.

(Ahhh how many of us would like a world without borders...)

In 1912 the British calculated that the water resources in the area of the Palestine mandate can support a population of 2.5 million.  Today there are 14 million people living in the area.  I would like to stress our human ingenuity, the advances we made in science and technology.  I do not prescribe to any idea of shortages and lack of this or that.  It is in our power to bring abundance into our lives and that of our fellow humans.

Water has been used in war and in peace.  In 1967 Syria tried to block the water resources to Israel as part of their goals in the six day war.  In 1994 Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan where they promise to provide Jordan with all their water needs.  2013 was marked as the year of water independence for Israel.

Booky Oren is interested in the commercial aspects of water.  He was CFO of Israeli companies such as Mekorot and Netafim.  He is now involved in i2i “Innovation to Implementation.”

He claims water technology can solve many problems around the world.  Like me he is convinced that there is plenty of water, there is abundance!  He has a global perspective and he pointed out that politicians are still using water for political gains.  They will keep the same old infrastructure and red tape in any possible way they can to slow down implementations of new technology.  If there is a drought in one place there is flood in other places so this is where we should allow our ingenuity to take over.  He brought the example of desalinations plants in Israel.  For years the budget did not include operation of these plants.  The year there was a drought the operation of the desalination plants was instantly funded.

Israel needs to leverage its technology for partnerships with water utility companies.

In closing the speaker pointed out a list of proven innovative global water technologies that can improve the sector:

Israel: ELTAV www.eltav.com, OUTLOCKS.

Switzerland: Gutermann. 

Canada: viva modeling

Spain: Aqualogy

Germany: HSTsystem

USA: FATHOM http://www.gwfathom.com/

UCLA: NORIA

Opera and the Bible

I have been observing my family and friends attending religious services every week.  It is an important ritual in their life.  Reading the weekly story from the bible, going over the various interpretations of biblical scholars year after year and delighting in the study is something important, they all cherish.  

In the same way I have many friends who are music lovers and they cherish their weekly visit to Disney Hall or Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to listen to LA Phil or watch a grand opera. It makes me wonder if this is the same need for continuity of the weekly ritual.  I stumbled upon a few “opera clubs” in out city.  It does seem like a ritual: You watch the Nutcracker before Christmas and other specific operas around the same time of year.  Opera lovers can watch the same operas again and again and delight on the voice of each new soprano or tenor.

It could be that sporting events are also filling the need for rituals.  Fans get to know the players and their life stories, they record all their great moves and get enchanted.

I just watched the opera “La Fanciulla Del West” by Puccini at the movies: Met Live in HD is showing Saturdays and Wednesdays at the AMC in the Century Mall.  It is a wonderful way to learn about the composer, the singers, the conductor and more.

Jiacomo Puccini was in NY 1907 and he watched the play “The Girl of The Golden West” by David Belasco on Broadway. He decided this story will be his next opera. It premiered at the Met in 1910.

The male role was played by Jonas Kaufman who revealed that he prepared for the poker scene by playing “Five Card Draw” and making whiskey sour. 

The dialogue that struck me was when Minnie says all three of them: bandit, sheriff and a saloon keeper are in the same business of gold and whiskey.

There was one scene that made the connection for me: The lady who keeps the saloon really likes the miners and cares for them.  She even runs an academy and serves as their teacher.  What is the lesson she teaches?  Nothing else but the biblical story of David and Goliath!  This young brave boy who kills the giant with a stone throw!  

Come to think of it, the previous opera I watched at the Met Live was: Samson and Dalila!

Additional notes from my friend Zvi:

As you probably know, the Bible together with the New Testament were, and still are, a major inspiration to infinite number of creations, musical, literature, painting, sculptures and any other art.

As to music, the basis were the monumental pieces written by the church and for the religious ceremonies.

Great works were composed by the Renaissance and Baroque composers - Bach, with hundreds of Oratories, Cantatas and Hymns. These referred mainly to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Immortal Oratories are the "Mateus Passion" the "Johannes passion" and more.

Another great contemporary composer was George Friedrich Handel, that focused on Biblical heroes and events. To mention that Handel wrote in English, tens of Oratories of his are pearls in the music crown.

These pieces I mentioned, and dozens more, consist of Vocal, Orchestra, Solo singing and even stage elements. Thus, these are close to the multi-elements of Operas, adding play to the dramatic content.

My Birth Date

I was born in the year 1947 in Tehran on the second night of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.  My given name was Janet, in the French accent.  It was the custom in the Jewish community from Mashhad to give French names to their children.  This was most likely because the Muslim authorities required the giving of Arab names.  (All my aunts and uncles had Arab names.)

My family moved to Israel in the year 1951, and then I was given a Hebrew name, Sara.  All these years my family was celebrating my birthday at the festive dinner for the second night of Rosh Hashana.  My younger brother was named Mordechai, after the Jewish hero in the book of Esther.  My sister came next, she was born in early spring when the Jews celebrate Tu Bishvat, the birthday of trees.  She was named Elana, from Ilan which means tree.

At the age of 16 I was given an Israeli I.D. booklet.  My birthdate was written as bet Tishre, the Jewish date.

At the age of 25 I met my future husband Moshe who came from California.  We decided to start our lives in Los Angeles and I had to apply for a green card.  I needed to have a Christian birth date and it was possible then to check the 1947 calendar and find out that the second of Tishre was September 16.  I still needed a birth certificate, and since I did not have one, I was told by the American embassy that my mother has to sign an affidavit that she indeed delivered me in Iran on September 16, 1947.  In addition I needed a letter from the police that I have no criminal record. 

That is how I became Sara Janet Bassilian.  Since then I celebrate my birthday for a few days between the second of Tishre and September 16, which happens to be different every year.   In my close family I am still known as Janet.

The Bedouin Professor: I want to be in the Big Wide World

Muhammad Hugirat in Dialogue

I find it amazing to feel a strong connection with a man that I hear on a radio interview for the first time.  I have never heard of this man before, but what I found out in this one hour conversation with Muhammad Hugirat confirmed my gut feeling that there is a very common humanity in all of us.
Professor Hugirat is the deputy head of the Arab Academic College for Science Education in Haifa, Israel. He is a Bedouin Israeli from the Village of Bir al-Maksur.
The interviewer is Kobi Barkai on a late night radio program named "Hidabrut" a Dialogue. 

Professor Hugirat's message is: "Keep the framework of old traditions but build a new world where we are all together contributing.  We cannot live in our imagination.  We have to be part of the wide world and go forward."

There are 9,000 citizens in Bir al-Maksur village.  All are Bedouins from the Hugirat tribe.

Muhammad started his life in a family of shepherds with 14 siblings.  His parents were illiterate but they taught him the morality of being a shepherd.  Unlike his poor father, his mother was the daughter of the Muchtar, the head of the tribe.  They fell in love and despite the difficulties they got married.  They were known as the great love story of the village.  He has 5 brothers older than him and 6 younger brothers.  They all built good lives for themselves.

Muhammad thanks Kobi for the interview.  This is the first time he is speaking on the Israeli Hebrew media.

Kobi comments that it is known that good leaders start their lives as shepherds.  He asks: What does a shepherd learn from his flock?

Muhamad answers that he often ponders about his life as a shepherd in a two hour meditation in a dark room: A flock of sheep is a responsibility.  If a sheep gets lost it is a great financial burden.  Dealing with animals teaches you about humanity: you have to treat a sick sheep or one bitten by a snake.  You need to take care of them.  In emergencies like that your personality erupts!  You are never a lone shepherd.  There are other flocks all around and you need to respect the boundaries of each one.  "If you ask me today am I a leader?  I say yes, not necessarily politically.  I tell the people in my village: We need to contribute to the society.  I say in the Arab media: We should have a speech about needs.  We shouldn't have the National speech.”

(When he is using the word speech he really means dialogue, or conversation.  I translated literally, however he means to say: This is the issue, this is what we need to talk about:  What are our needs?  If we talk about the Nationality then we are missing the point.  This issue is very essential and universal:  What is the point of borders?  We are all one humanity with the same needs.  We should put our minds and creativity to solve common problems, rather than focus on history and old traditions.) 

Muhammad tells Kobi about the early members of his tribe, a charismatic father and his two sons, who arrived in Israel from Syria via Jordan.  They saw this beautiful place and in the summer they took their flock to the well.  The sheep ran through the fence and broke it, so they called the place broken well, and that is the origin of the name Bir al-Maksur.
Kobi asks: How does a shepherd get educated in Bir al-Maksur?
Muhamad says his is an interesting story.  As a curious boy he was attracted to listen to the elders in the tribe.  The old men used to meet in a place called Divan.  He used to sit outside by the door and follow their conversations.  He watched TV for the first time in 1976 when electricity was installed in the village.  He did not see the sea until the end of his freshman year in University.  There were no books in their home.  The school teacher was their only source of information.  When he saw the school library he was amazed at the amount of knowledge those books contained.  When he finished elementary school his father said "You have studied enough.  Time for you to watch the sheep." His math teacher came to the house and talked to his father.  It was difficult but she convinced him that Muhammad should go on with his studies.  He loves her dearly to this day.  She lectures at his college.  He stands up every time she enters the room and he waits until she is seated.  He finished high school at the top of his class.
His father expected him to marry and have 12 children.  It was his mother who gave him money and encouraged him to run away from home and go to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  At first he had a difficult time.  He had a professor of Physical Chemistry who encouraged and supported him: Haim Lebanon.  He loves him as a human being.  He trained in the field of ESR Electron Spin Resonance. He was sent to Fry University in Berlin where he developed the method and excelled at it.  He has many articles and books about it.  But he realized that he is really an educator and a writer  and he preferred to practice Science Education and deal with human beings rather than with electrons.  He also wished to write of his experiences and he wrote a series of 4 short stories.  He received an award for these stories from the Education Department.  He also wrote 20 children's stories.  He writes in Arabic and only one story was translated to Hebrew.  Kobi tells him to hurry and get the other stories translated.

Muhammad supports equality and liberty for women.  His wife had no college education when they got married.  He supported her going to school and completing her education.  She now runs a nursery school.  He brags about their 4 children and their accomplishments.

Kobi asks if their tradition is tribal.  What is the tribal tradition, the music, literature, food?
(What is tradition?  In the past each tribe was uniform in their way of life, meaning they spoke the same language, ate the same foods, prayed in the same manner, and played the same music.  According to Muhammad in this tribe the previous generation was illiterate, but the current generation all had the opportunity to go to school.  So the point here is that with more people getting higher education, with the new technologies of smart phones and information available to all, more of the old traditions merge.  This is really a major development as many people (everywhere in the world) prefer to stick to their old traditions.)
Muhammad's answer is that now all Bedouins have the same tradition.  But his message is that today the whole tribe structure is disintegrating and shattering.  Muhammad himself does not believe in the idea of the tribe any more. "I am a man of the large world!  I cannot exist within boundaries.   My contribution is to the Israeli society first and then to the wide world."
He says what happens in the whole Arab world also affects the Bedouins.  He believes they should keep the beautiful sides of nostalgia and tradition but should be in the large world contribute to it and receive from it.  He repeats this again and again "Keep the framework but build a new world where we are all together contributing.  Sometimes I sit with my children and tell them stories but they go to their computers and smart phones."  We have to go forward.
I can see myself saying the same words, expressing the same ideas if anyone cared to interview me!

Musings on Scenes from Westwood

A few days ago I was stopped at a red light in the corner of Sepulveda and Santa Monica Blvd in West Los Angeles. I noticed on my left across the four lanes of the boulevard an interesting man standing at the street corner. A tall upright man, dark skinned, dressed in a long black winter coat going down to his bare ankles. I seem to remember he was wearing black shoes.  A sleeping bag was spread in front of him on the pavement and nothing else. For a moment I thought he is one of the homeless people you see in this part of town. But as I was waiting for the red light to change I observed his rhythmic movements from side to side. And it looked like a beautiful dance. Was it a dance or was it a reaction to some drugs he injected?  I will not know the answer as the light changed and I was on my way to my writing group.
My hair dresser works in a Salon near the supermarket on Westwood Blvd. She is one of the Jewish immigrants who came to California from Iran in the eighties. She is an intelligent woman who used to work as a nurse. She is very warm and friendly and often wants to talk about what is going on in my life. I told her about my last visit in Amsterdam and my tour of the Portuguese Synagogue there. The synagogue was built in 1675 and still stands in the original architecture with no electricity. People continue to pray there until today. At nights they use candle light. It was built by Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal by the inquisition in the 15th century. I asked if she heard about this expulsion. She had No recollection.

Amsterdam's Portuguese Synagogue

At the Landmark Theater in Westwood they are now showing the movie RBG about the Supreme Court judge. She is the second woman in history that was nominated for the Supreme Court. I loved this movie and recommended it to my friends. You will be surprised to hear how many people in Westwood never heard of her. So I continue to ask them in the same line: Do you remember the French Revolution?  Liberty, Equality, brotherhood?
They remember nothing!
There was a homeless woman who sat at a street corner a few days. She was covered with old blankets and her dirty clothes were piled in a supermarket cart. I saw her once in the supermarket restrooms washing her long hair in the sink. What does she know of freedom and democracy? Maybe she once learned to dance in her youth?