Oldnewlands #9
The Stream of Consciousness Edition
Something New
I have intentionally not jumped on the rattling bandwagon of live commentary as historic events unfolded in rapid succession, despite feeling the urge to do so. Pinball machines used to stand out in their grotesque ways of testing the player’s ability to keep a coherent view of what the hell is going on. On Monday, even screens split into four didn’t seem to allow for a congruent story to be presented. I genuinely believe that one of the people who was instrumental to creating the world we live in today is Vince McMahon. World politics has turned into a WWE pay-per-view. Because of that, I try not to rush to get my opinion out there the moment things happen.
On Monday, we got our living hostages back. We can breathe again. We can now think not only about the tactics necessary for stopping our national bleeding, but also process what has happened, and make plans for a better future. I can’t express in words, yet, the extent to which this event has affected our society. One thing I know for sure — it has not triggered any one, particular emotion, but all of them at once. Deep sorrow for the fallen and their families; unrestrained joy for the redeemed hostages and their families; and trepidation in deciding what’s in store for this country in the future.
Yes, there is also some good old schadenfreude for those who cried “GENOCIDE” and had to see Israelis gather around the consensus of celebrating life and mourning its loss at the same time. Their silence, not followed by even a sigh of relief from their incessant worrying for Arab lives, tacitly confirms their beguiling nature: “Stop the Genocide” is a call for MORE heads to roll, not less.
As I said, Monday was packed with action. Mixed in with the emotional release from seeing the living hostages being freed was the summit in Sharm El-Sheikh. The signed document is very vague and, in the eyes of a war-weary Israeli, is as concerning as it is hopeful. Since it emphasizes respectful and civil dialogue between Middle Eastern nations, it should not be long before Erdogan stops calling Israelis Nazis, Egyptians stop producing antisemitic TV series especially for prime time during Ramadan, and Palestinians stop giving stipends to terrorists. It should be easy, so I expect to judge the success of this summit by looking at these things.
I said this would be a stream of consciousness, and right now I feel like the stream has ended. I’m also not confident enough as a writer to imagine you’d want more than a few paragraphs from me. It is more than likely that I totally neglected to address something major, so you are always welcome to demand a closer look at something from me. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to hear Alon Ohel play the piano. For whatever reason, his story was one that pierced my heart early on, and I’ve been wanting to get it healed by listening to his playing, which we’ve heard so much about in these past two years…
A Few Words of Gratitude
I started this newsletter after the 12-day war with Iran. On the eve of the Israeli offensive, I was touring with a lovely family from Charleston, SC (shout-out! I’m hesitant to write names here), and had a great schedule ready for July. That trip, and the ones that were planned, all were abruptly canceled (and rightfully so).
When I started the newsletter, I had a few ideas that would synergize well with each other in mind:
This is a good way to keep in touch with people, and share some ideas that I think are both interesting and important
This is a good way not to go crazy and frustrated while I’m professionally stalled
This is a good way to give something, which tends to lead to receiving in the future
One thing I never considered is asking for any immediate and measurable return - and I will never. That being said, it turns out that more than a handful of people pledged to pay for a subscription if I ever enabled paid memberships, which I can’t do, due to technical reasons having to do with the payment processing system Substack uses.
I am very grateful for the generosity shown by a high percentage of subscribers. Very, very grateful, and honored.
My pledge for the near future is to set up a Patreon page, or something similar, that allows for one-time donations or paid subscriptions to be made. The pledged sums have become significant, and it means a lot to me that you want to contribute in this way - it’s not my place to block the good things from flowing.
I hope you will continue to enjoy this little newsletter of mine :)