CKCKCKCKCK ... armiel

Over ten years ago, I spent some time in the little northern city of Karmiel (also written with a C ...) I lived in a ugly ugly orange building with 3 other guys in apartment 1221 (see photo circa 1996) . The building we lived in was the tallest building in the area -- truly tallest building for miles. We used to joke the farthest south Syrian missiles could hit was Karmiel and we lived in the one tall bright orange building in the entire area. (Not as funny anymore, considering last summer, Karmiel was often hit by rockets from Lebanon)

Karmiel is the main city in the central north of Israel and while being very nice is very very boring. If people know Karmiel for any reason it's because each July they have a rather large and famous Dance festival that bring troupes from around the world. It's also surrounded by a lot of Arab villages and is close to Sachnine one of the major Arab cities in the North.

Anyhow, I revisited Karmiel last week for a little while. Karmiel is a unique city -- it's home to about 50,000 people and many of them are recent arrivals from Russia. I remember clearly having some serious issues with the Russians that lived in our building. There are still a host of Russians in Karmiel as well as Ethiopians, Argentines and immigrants from all over the world.

Karmiel is actually a rather successful development town and unlike many of the other ones across the country has done a pretty good of absorbing new immigrants. Part of this is because of it's location with good access to industry and jobs (only 30 minutes from Haifa). Other reasons have to do with strong local government, a good number of sabras and some luck.

It was neat to get back to Karmiel (see photo of me above circa 2007 - i looked thrilled to be there) ... i actually remembered it remarkably well and had a tiny (oh so tiny) sense of nostalgia from being in the Big K or the Big C

Israel Hoops Update

One of the main reporters here at "Searching for Doron Sheffer" traveled to Tel Aviv for the finals of the Israeli Cup. (Israel basketball has a 1 and done tournament that is played in addition to the regular season -- it's a ton of fun) In a total total shocker Maccabi Tel Aviv was upset in the semi-finals.

Without having knowledge of Israel basktball it's hard to imagine how big of a deal Maccabi's loss was, for example let's say that the State of Connecticut played a 1 and done tournament -- UCONN would be like Maccabi Tel Aviv. There would be other DI teams (Fairfield, Hartford, Yale, etc... ) in the tournament and maybe even some years a DIII team (Trinity) would sneak in, only to be promptly eliminated in the first round. Well as you can imagine once every decade or two UCONN would have an awful season, some other team would be very streaky and bam a major upset would occur. Well this year happened to be that year.

Just a note -- in general Maccabi is a little better than a DI team and the other top teams would be about DI level. It's would be a lot of fun to see Maccabi play UCLA or Florida or another top DI team.

Maccabi lost in the semis and the finals pitted Jerusalem vs. Bnei HaSharon (the team that beat Maccabi). Well the Jerusalem fans (which i am one of) could smell blood and they trekked to TA for the finals, which they had lost 6 times in the last 10 years all to Maccabi. The game wasn't even close Jerusalem dominated Bnei HaSharon and won by about 18 points. However, the game was fantastic and the fans were incredible (none of this corporate MSG shit). Singing, dancing, jumping the entire game. There were even flares in the stadium and the stadium was shaking with noise. The players got really into it as well and at the end of the game, some of the players climbed into the stands to celebrate with the Jerusalem fans.

Some other highlights:

*** I love finding old American players (each team is allowed 4 foreigners) and in the finals i had appearances from among others, Lee Nailon (former Knick as well as a handful of other NBA teams, that's him on the foul line), Julius Page (a force on the early 2000 Pittsuburg teams) Mario Austin (Miss. State Univeristy -- who was easily the best player on the floor) Ed Cota (UNC -- he's 7th man for Jerusalem), Cookie Belcher (Nebraska)

*** My favorite was Scott Greenblatt (or something like that), some Jewish Kid who was all-ivy at Princeton last year and who, since he is Jewish, can play in the league without the team having to give up one of the foreigner spots on the roster. He's probably 5'9 and can hit a jump shot from any place on the entire floor. He only played in garbage time.


*** On another UCONN note -- former Husky Albert Mouring is playing ball in Israel. Remember him? He was a silky shooter who played on the 99 championship team with RIP and Khalid.

*** One of the coolest things about being in Israel is the songs that the fans sing. One of them is "Jerusalem of Gold" which we know as an Israeli folk song and was sort of made the cities national anthem after the 6 day war.

*** Nothing funnier (and I may have mentioned this before) to see the American's playing basketball in Israel with large large Tattoos of crosses.

*** The president of the Knesset (Israel's Nancy Pelosi) was on hand to present the final trophy and the fans booed her relentlessly. They would have booed anyone that had anything to do with the government -- Israeli's are rather fed-up -- it was quite enjoyable.

Hope that gave you a sense, it was an incredible experience. Loved just being able to go a game especially one that will be remembered for years in Israel. Jerusalem is having a very good year and has a chance to win the Euro Cup that they are in the middle of -- i'm going to keep on going to games.

Temple Mount Troubles

Serious happenings in Jerusalem these days. I'm confident that you've seen the news over the temple mount/dome of the rock/al aqsa/western wall/etc... that has threatened to cause the old city and other Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem (and Israel) to erupt into chaos and violence.

A brief synopsis, construction of a new pedestrian ramp going up to the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa has been going on immediately to the south of the Western Wall. The construction of the ramp requires excavation and many in the Islamic world believe that the excavation is being used to undermine (and potentially destroy) the Temple Mount which is the 3rd holiest location in all of Islam. The Israeli government says that the construction (which is being done in the Jewish Quarter) is totally safe and doesn't threaten the foundation of any structure and that Arab leaders are using the construction solely as an excuse to insight riots and induce violence.

As with everything in the Arab/Israeli conflict there is plenty of blame to go around. While I have no proof, I'm quite confident that the ramp construction would not in any way threaten any building or structure on the temple mount and I know that many radical Muslim leaders would use any excuse to spew hatred against Israel and encourage intifada.

However, the Israel government consistently fails to acknowledge the pressure point that is the Temple Mount and acts in a way that seems (or may even be) remarkably unilateral and without a doubt flames legitimate Muslim fears. Twice in the last 10 years, once with the opening of an underground tunnel and the second with Ariel Sharon's public visit to the Temple Mount, have major and deadly skirmishes stemmed from conflicts at the Temple Mount. (some consider, Sharon's visit as one of the catalysts to stopping the peace process of the late 90's and starting the second Intifada.)

So as with much that occurs in this country, spin the wheel and cast blame in whatever direction you seem fit. My hunch is that things will calm down rather quickly, hopefully cooler heads will prevail and the threats of a major escalation of violence will be averted.

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As you can tell, I've figured out a way to include some photos in the blog (it was really easy and a 4 year old could have done it for me), I'll try and keep getting a few more pictures on line so you can see. The photo I'll leave you with is one from about a year and a half ago -- you may have seen it before. The story behind it is that the bastard who took it couldn't get the camera working and got the photo 5 seconds after we had shook hands and BO had already turned to the news media. Anyhow , it was the second time I had met the man and I still don't have a proper photo with him!!!!

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is pretty much everything Jerusalem is not ... which is quickly making it one of my favorite places in Israel. It's about a 45 minute ride from J-town and sits directly on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and in terms of style, people, history and character couldn't be more different than Joe Biden and Barak Obama.

Unlike Jerusalem, Tel Aviv is a brand new city, it was founded only 100 years ago and has tall skyscrapers, super trendy neighborhoods, a rather funky music scene and everything that young, middle class young people could want: boutiques, beaches, soy lattes, chicken pad thai, gay bars, tattoo parlors, boardwalk, shopping, surfing, bar hopping, jogging, etc...

It also is usually about 10-15 degrees warmer than Jerusalem.

The Tel Aviv v. Jerusalem division really marks the entire country. On one hand you have the holy of holiest cities with a history dating back thousands of years. Jerusalem has the government, the main museums (Israel Museum, Holocaust), the most popular tourist destinations, ancient ruins and religions of all shapes and sizes.

Tel Aviv has the best theater and dance, the locations for major political demonstrations, the dominate basketball team, premier restaurants and bars, the stock exchange and everything secular you could imagine.

I've started to spend a bunch of time in TA. It's a real fun city, and one I could see myself living in. It also, holds the best future for liberal Judaism in Israel and if liberal Judaism was ever to truly blossom it would have to stem out of Tel Aviv. I've hung out with my friend Yoav who lives in Tel Aviv (see photo of us in front of the map of Tel Aviv)

editors note: I seem to have lost the last part of this post, you'll have to take my word that it was witty, funny and probably the best thing i've ever written. Also please note that in the lost part I was able to determine a mathematical way of proving absolute zero.