Bureaucracy

Are people at the Jewish Agency supremely inefficient? Or are they being extra careful about who they're letting into Israel right now?

Whatever the reason, they having been dragging their feet. In March, their representative asked for five items that Nefesh b'Nefesh had not requested. Now she has changed the requirements again and wants one document that, when I specifically asked about it in March, she said did not matter-- "whichever is easier to get."

This has been going on too long and I'm frustrated. I could do this: JUST GO! Pack a suitcase, fly to Israel, and visit Cyprus every three months so I can keep an up-to-date visa in my passport

I can't seem to intelligently evaluate whether or not that would be a good plan. There are just too many unidentifiable emotions swirling around inside me.

My biggest fears are failing to become fluent in Hebrew and not being able to make a living.

No.

Actually my biggest fear is that I might never make aliyah.

5776 Powwow

Yes, of course I went to the powwow! But, unfortunately, for only one day this year. 

It would have been nice to be there both days and would be nice to reflect and write more than I’m going to. My time (and attention) is limited and I want to be able to remember at least some of the experience.

The atmosphere was a little  different this year. Photography wasn’t permitted at all, even during the grand entry.

A Navajo was headman. I liked what he said, but the tone was definitely different than other years. He emphasized that we were on Yavapai land and that it was stolen land.

The head girl danced alone. The headman asked that no one join her. She was dancing for her grandfather who had passed the day before. I stood during her dance. Because.

Then she gave gifts.

People will still believe anything...

This is not verbatim, merely my recollection a variety of similar texts I read in a Medieval history course.

Near the cathedral, I heard a voice screaming for help and I ran towards it. When I got there, no one was in sight, but I saw drops of blood leading away from the church. I followed them to the Jewish neighborhood. 

As I got closer to one home, I heard the screams again. Looking in a window, I saw Jews gathered around a table. A wafer, the flesh of our god, lay on the table. A bearded man with a long, hooked nose was repeatedly stabbing the wafer with a knife. Each time the knife pierced its flesh, the wafer cried out. 

This tale would might be laughable, except for the fact that hundreds of Jews were killed because people believed this falsehood.  

It is one thing to confront historical narratives that led to tragic consequences for certain groups. But we forget how deeply people believed that absurd accusation. We don't recognize that many of today's false charges are just as ridiculous and just as false. Today's new false charges include the buzzwords of this era, thrown about without with no consideration given to their possible accuracy or inaccuracy.

Without understanding history or the present day, how can we make the world better and achieve what we all want: a society that is free, tolerant, inclusive and compassionate.

Wikipedia's description of this image: "a 15th-century German woodcut of the host desecration by the Jews of Passau, 1477. The hosts are stolen and sold to the Jewish community, who pierce them in a ritual. When guards come to question the Jews, they (the Jews) attempt to burn the Hosts, but are unsuccessful, as the Hosts transform into an infant carried by angels. The Jews, now proven guilty, are arrested, beheaded, and tortured with hot pincers, the entire community is driven out with their feet bound and held to the fire, and the Christian who sold the hosts to the Jews is punished. At the end the Christians kneel and pray."