A One in a Lifetime Moment

On the morning of the of June I woke up to the sounds of my mobile phone. It was playing the beginning of Ludwig Van's 5^th Symphony, and I believe one can imagine how irritated I felt at that point. I did not know who called me during that morning, and I answered the call when my eyes were practically close.

"Moshe?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"It is your mother"

"Oh, why did you wake me up? You know I am sleeping"

"Yes I know, but I think I found you a job"

For a moment I was happy, as I was looking for a job since I arrived; indeed, it was a worthy cause to call me.

"Great, where?"

"In a factory in Kiriat Gat. Minimum wage".

"Kiriat Gat?" I said in a very confused tone. After all, this city is located 45 minutes from my town, "car time" of course. I wanted to inquire how my mother thought I'll be able to wake up every morning, in order to reach the boundaries ofKiriat Gat, and thus I did.

"There is an arranged transportation service from Sderot to Kiriat Gat, so you should not worry about that. Take this number, call them, tell them **** sent you, and schedule a meeting."

"Ok thank you, I will"

"Anything else?" asked my mother

"No, have a nice day"

I closed the phone, not before my mother of course had to call me in my "family nickname", yes the one I somewhat despise – Mush.

So that was settled. I called the phone number my mother provided me – an office that sends people to temporary jobs – and scheduled an appointment for 12:00. After taking a shower to the sounds of Alexander Scriabin's Prometheus: Poem of Fire, one of the greatest pieces ever created in the opinion of myself for its mere simplicity and instability. It was a great experience, though not special at all, especially as soon after I'll experience a much more marvellous sight.

When the clock hit 11:30 I realised that I should be off my way, as I was walking to an office which was 20 minutes away from my house, "walking time". I took the path which goes parallel to a grove. As soon as I walked through this path the alarm went off. I knew that in around 12 seconds a rocket is suppose to land somewhere in the area, unaware, of course, to the location of the landing, as one cannot really foresee how primitive rockets are functioning and where they are going to land. I decided not to move. It is the best solution. If I'll move perhaps I will end up alive in 7 seconds (time passes you know), but at the same time perhaps not. The equation was similar if I was not moving from the place I was at the time. Then, the rocket landed in the grove. I was listening to the "Lord of The Rings" soundtrack and when the rocket landed the track of when Gandalf is being imprisoned in the tower of Saruman and then this peculiar flying creature is "telling" the wizard that the eagles are about to come. It is a wonderful track, and it fitted the scene perfectly, as after the rocket landed the grove started to slightly burn. For a minute I was captured by this situation, and felt I was in a film. The scene was beautiful, the music was ideal. I felt I will never experience a more perfect situation. It was sublime, divine and inspiring. A one in a life time moment, that I would buy over and over, until I'll end up addicted to it. I am not even able to describe this situation properly, just as Moses was unable to say how it was to meet God. It was a moment I do not want to change, though the rocket could have landed 20 meters from the grove, exactly where I was. Once again I almost encountered death; once again the town of Sderot encountered the flames of violence. But I? I was satisfied for being a witness to, probably, the greatest event I will ever witness to. The fact I was also alone, until the police came and called for the fire department just made the situation ever greater. For a minute I was the only person in the world, witnessing an enchanting event, with a soundtrack that fitted the situation perfectly. For a minute I was standing there thinking Shakespeare was right; 'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women are merely players'. But just for a minute, because then the world became the world once again, and I was a simple man who just witnessed a falling rocket, causing damage to a grove. One can think or argue that, perhaps, I am insane, but I don't care. I was there, and the one who think or argue was not. I experienced a magical moment and he did not.

Every day there are at least two, but since the war within the Gaza Strip has erupted, it is staying at that level (in the days of my graduation from Red Cross Nordic UWC the average was about 30 rockets). However, the fight in the Strip is about the end, and a "Hamastan Strip" has already been established. People here are afraid from that, especially as there are no more Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, and it is no longer an occupied territory. The most frightened thing is that because the people in Israel are hearing and watching how cruel and brutal are the Palestinians to each other, then they believe the future would be even crueller, at least when it will come to attacks against the State of Israel. Some other people, though. are quite content, saying that 'finally the Arabs are killing each other', and of course hope for more Palestinian internal fighting and more casualties among the militants. I think that only a small minority will say that, but I am sure many think the same but are too embarrassed to express it in front of others. At least this is what I perceive from the faces people and the discussions that are carried among them, in both the media and the streets.

The government also did not know how to react to the violence in the Gaza Strip. Intervention could have brought Israel back to the strip, and that is something Israelis do not support, at least not the majority of them. The strip was always described as a "Time Bomb" or a "Wasp's Nest" for Israel, and it continued to be described as such even after the evacuation of all Israeli settlements and military forces. The bomb called Gaza exploded this time, and the only Palestinian movement that is willing to negotiate for a long term peace with Israel, Fatah, is now officially out of the nest.

I watched some broadcasts from Hamas' T.V. channel today, and it seems the hate between them and the Fatah is immense and bloody. I believe one can point out the elections in 2006 as the turning point, or perhaps choose the death of Yassar Arafat instead. I no longer believe peace is possible with the Palestinian people, at least not when they are so divided, and when people from the two different Palestinian territories - the West Bank and the Gaza Strip - are so distinct and foreign to each other. Today several interviews were held with people who live in the West Bank, and most of them clearly stated, as a general theme, that 'We, in the West Bank, are not like the people in Gaza. We are rational, they are not' (that is at least from the interviews I watched in the worldwide and Israeli news channels).

It seems like Israel's past hopes that the people of Gaza will see themselves as one type of people and the people of the West Bank will see themselves as a different type of people - and I am sure former government did try to achieve it - are fulfilling themselves now, yet this time without a direct or indirect Israeli intervention (I shall say hallelujah. Quite amusing that some Fatah officials complained that Israel did not intervene). It is interesting indeed, and I think it may be fascinating to be inside the strip in these absurd days. Fascinating but frightening. I hope I'll manage to get a permission for Hashem to leave the strip from the border with Israel in order to attend his interview with the Americans in Jerusalem. However, the latest events might indicate that such thing would not be possible, due to the fact Hamas militants are now, apparently, controlling the border line from the Palestinian side, and who knows if they will allow people to leave.

I have one thing to tell them though: You could have built a flourishing and better Gaza Strip instead of occupying yourself with the purchase of guns and investing your time, efforts and money in rockets and other weaponry devices. That was the intention of the Disengagement Plan, when Israel left the strip. So why? I really don't get it.

I thought again about the sight of the slightly burning orchard. When I think about it now it was beautiful but one can interpret it as frightening. However, I took enough philosophy classes in order to understand that life worth nothing, so it does not matter when it ends if you enjoy it as long as it lasts.

The day after this experience I started to work at that factory, but after two days working there I quitted as I did not fancy the nature of the work I was entrusted to do. It was was boring, some of the people were vulgar and I did not like travelling 45 minutes every morning and 45 minutes every evening, back and forth, as I was a yo-yo. But more important, the day after I quitted the première of my sister's film happened, in the Southern-Israel Film Festival. It was an enjoyable film indeed. Not too many parts of my college videos were included (only the view and the Belt fight Jon, Austeja Eleanora and I had in Serbia – a year ago, I can't believe it…). Well it was still worth watching and worth taking videos in the college. My comments there were the best of course (my mother and I were talking on Skype once, and she told me her co-worker was killed by a rocket. My response was brilliant, yet harsh and cold: 'Well, people die'). I think I have a very amusing family in a way, and I reckon that this is the reason why we are always feeling annoyed. Too many sarcastic comments in the air. Another good part was when my father was trying to tape something with a sellotape, but did not manage very well. He was talking at the same time about how he wanted to go back to the centre of Israel, where he was living before. Suddenly a rocket fell, quite near to the house, as the sound of it was rather loud. All my father could say was: 'I think it was close' and 'bastards, they are getting better' and continued to try and tape this box or whatever it was employing his casual mannerism. There are, of course, other good parts, and I think that overall it is a well-made film. It is going to be shown in other festivals soon, in Israel and abroad, and on T.V. It is a part of a three-films-project. All were selected by my sister's college and donors to the project out of about ten proposals.

On Thursday that week (day after the première) I went to a classical concert, of the "Israel Philharmonic Orchestra" together with some other 2,759 spectators, including my dear father. We did not know which pieces are going to be played and the composer-theme of this concert, as I wanted to try and guess while the orchestra is playing. I guessed correctly the composer, the famous Johannes Brahms and the first number, the 2nd Symphony. I did not manage to guess what the second piece was, and I was too lazy to check later on. I reckon that I will never know unless I'll encounter this piece once again. It was an enjoying concert indeed, though the conductor was not good enough, at least in my opinion. It is surprising he is a worldwide conductor, as I did not find him special at all. His coordination was mediocre and it seems like he was unable to lead the orchestra and was rather led by it. And this, my friends, is definitely not the role a conductor should play.

The day after I met a person I did not meet since last August and I was happy for that. I went to his Kibbutz and we played football with his Kibbutz mates, and then went to the pool. He is at the moment participating in a military programme that should make him a pilot by the end of the process. After 5 months or so, there are only 120 people left out of 260. At the end, in two years time, only 40 are suppose to "survive" the programme and continue as pilots for 9 more years I think (I do not recall the exact number of years, but it is around this region), alongside studying in a university on the expense of the IDF of course.

That night I also went to a pub with four friends of mine. It was a bit too noisy, so eventually we went back rather early (around 1:30 I think) and then I started talking to Jon I think. Not really interesting, but at least I had some drinks…

On Saturday I met two other friends of mine and we went to a concert that was part of a larger (but rather small) Jazz festival, and ended the evening with watching a film with a younger friend of mine (15 years old I believe) who is planning to apply to UWC next year and my parents. We watched the film "Beaufort", an Israel film that his director won the "Best Director" award in the Berlin Festival. It is based on a book, which is much better as expected.

This week I watched some other film (I think about 5-6), one of them was Swedish actually, "Lust och Fägring Stor" (or something like that), and I did enjoy it in a way. I cannot be bothered to mention the rest of the film I watched (and Ted, did you ever watch the film I mentioned above?). Oh, on a second thought, another worthy film I should mention is "Life is a Miracle". It was the third time I watched it. You all should watch it at least once.

This week was also the "Book Week", which means books were sold in extremely cheap prices. Instead of buying one book for, about, 146 Norwegian Crowns (I converted for your convenience), I bought about 10 books for 14 Norwegian Crowns a book. The prices are going to return to normality next week, but I now have a sufficient number of books to read throughout this summer. One of them is a book written by a Norwegian author, Per Petterson. The book is called "Out Stealing Horses". Did you read it Andras?

I bought, as I said some other books, so during the break I'll tell you about them. First though, I need to finish the sixth^th Harry Potter (I decided to read Harry Potter again after a long break. I have read the 5^th book and now I am approaching the end of the 6^th) and Peter Pan. I finished few days ago "Tale of Two Cities", which is a wonderful book, describing events in such a precise and stunning way. I was really impressed by the book, and I advise you all to read it. Yet, regardless of all the aforesaid literary excitement, I am especially looking forward to read a book written by an ex-Member of Parliament, who became post-Zionist. The book supposes to criticise quite a lot the Israeli state and Israeli society, while also addressing in a negative manner the concept of nationalism as a whole. I think it would be my first book after the two I mentioned above. It is called "Victory over Hitler", as its main argument is that the Israeli society is still paralysed by the Holocaust and by the image of Hitler, and therefore the Israel society is somewhat incapable of acting on a rational basis. Well, I need to read it first I guess. We will see the quality, but at least it is interesting.

Oh yeaa, and I started working in a petrol station; great, now I smell of petrol all the time.

Another problem: Dreams, the ones that stick with you until the next morning...

Cheerio until next time.