Calli, that's exactly what I got. I did hydrogen peroxide and dish soap first, then white wine, then the Woolite Oxy stuff. I think I got it out although I left it alone at bed time.

A Scene:

My mom was watching some kind of pre-Independence Day TV show. As usual, my guts went 180 degrees in me while listening to it (I was folding the laundry at the time, in the living room). And then I told her that while I think my country has every right to exist, when the "responsible adults" are using the usual arguments (we will die right now if we won't have a country).

Now, I know it's more complicated than that - it's always is. I also know I'm privileged enough not to encounter with any antisemitism because I live in Israel, and it's extremely rare to see it here.

So I said that it needs to change, if the so called leadership don't want to lose me and others like me, who think that Israel should exist, but we're not in 1948 anymore. My mom agreed, and then continue to say that there is a great failure of the education system with "youngsters" who don't know the circumstances on which the country was established upon, and that they can be exposed to "propaganda" which no one can control and that's why nobody's enlisting these days.

We pretty much ended the discussion there.

5 minutes after it my mom calls me from my room (I started then putting the clean laundry back in the rooms): "Little Women is on!".

So much for my whole speech on "stuff that used to work before, NSM now".

I'm also considering going to Combatants for Peace's Alternative Memorial Day Ceremony (Memorial Day Eve is tomorrow). It's a wonderful initiative, IMHO, but it ends very late in Tel Aviv, and I'm not sure I'll be able to do the logistics of finding a place to stay and all on such sensitive day. But damn, that's exactly the kind of activities we need here to bring more tolerance. It's not just our or their pain: losing young people in vain is everyone's problem.

Shir, I really appreciate you posting your thoughts on what's happening in your country, and the rest of the world as well. Yours is a perspective that I wouldn't necessarily get otherwise. I can watch BBC News, but that's not the same as hearing what something is like from someone who's a part of it.

True for all the other non-USAians here, too, of course. Being part of this community has led to feeling part of events in the world that once I would have felt very remote from.

Had to skip because I just read Erin's description of her wedding and reception and it was just too wonderful for me to b=not skip to the end and gush and sniffle. Erin, you're all married and have the bestest pictures and stories to prove it!

Glitter and love and whatnot on us all

{{{Shir}}}} it is such a complex issue. Your clear-headed sense of justice and mercy are beautiful and precious to me. Antisemitism is alive and well and killing people in other parts of the world, so I am glad that Israel exists as a haven from that. But yeah, dousing the fires of antisemitism in a flood of injustice to Palestinians or anyone else, isn't really solving any problems, is it?

Daniel went upstairs to take a shower over an hour ago. I think he may have passed out on the bed up there.

Thanks, Zen and Wind.

While I know there's antisemitism, I hardly feel it's real. When I traveled to the U.S., I did thought every now and then if to say where I am from when I was asked. But I did, and didn't really feel threatened by it. Including the church in Seattle where people were excited to tears to hear where I'm from, and wanted to shake my hand. Same goes for my "solo female traveling" experience. Other than moving my ring to indicate I'm married (and much later I discovered I did it wrong), I didn't change anything about myself, and I wasn't harassed the entire month I spent on my own, meeting strangers. I was having the time of my life. And trust me, not all of my calls were safe - and it's very easy for me to feel uncomfortable.

So all I'm saying is that I prefer to use my own experience and judgment before letting a bias to control my actions. I just wish I could be there tomorrow, but I don't think I can bring myself to question my friends about their activities on this eve: it's the most personal thing, so I won't take a chance of accidentally hurting their feelings/grief.

Anyhow, I recently wrote a post on my blog which started from a similar place. If you'd like to read it, it's here: [link]

Congratulations Daisy Jane's sister!

{{{Shir}}} I wish it was easier for you but I do feel lucky to be able to read your posts and see things from your perspective.

For breakfast I tried the thing where you make a hole in a slice of bread and fry an egg in it but the toast cooked faster than the egg. D says he's done the same thing with the same results. Has anybody pulled this off? What's the secret?

Shir I would say that while anti-semistism exists in the U.S. it is not maybe as big as you might here is Israel. I encounter stuff I'm sure is anti-semitism once every few years, and stuff that might be every couple of years or so. And OK we occasionally get pyschos who focus on Jews, but the U.S. is a violent nation and we occasionally get Pschos who focus on cops, or soldiers or aerobics classes, and I don't think Jews are more of a target. Heck I think you have a lot better chance of being killed by an anti-Semite in Israel than you do anywhere in the U.S. Maybe more of chance of encountering milder forms here, but not enough to worry about. In terms of extreme dangers (being killed or subject to violence) and less extreme dangers (employment, remarks, general atmosphere) you get a lot more shit for being a woman than for being a Jew. Now the U.S. may be an exception. I get the feeling that Britain has a much bigger anti-semitism problem than we do, but of course I'm not there. And I'm absolutely sure that there are plenty of nation on earth with a serious anti-Semitism problem. Even so I just can't see Israel as a thin wedge protecting the Jews of the world. OK there were the Ethiopian Jews. But most of the time it is the other way around. Jews worldwide give money, and put out political effort to help Israel, and don't really get much in return. And right now a lot of Jews outside the U.S. who support Palestinian rights also still support Israel and see this as a way of helping Israel. But as Israel goes on doing awful stuff, that can change.I mean a large minority of young Jews in the U.S. no longer think there is any special relationship between Jews worldwide and Israel. And at some point that can become a majority.

In the US it's not fashionable to hate on Jews out loud, so there's a lot of code words involved, but there are plenty of people who still secretly believe that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is real. (And many more who would never admit to being bigoted conspiracy theorists, but act like it's just common sense to believe that Jews control the media and the banks. I mean, it's not antisemitic if it's true, right?)

OTOH, a friend of mine in Zurich on a business trip was called "Jew" as a derogatory term to her face, and was refused service at multiple stores on the basis of such. It took her three days before she found someone willing to sell her a subway ticket. (Or maybe it was a trolley. Public transit, at any rate.)