Comments on: September journey part 17: Deja vu

By: noam

noam — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:59:15 +0000

“All manifestations of inter-ethnic disturst stem from the same places.”
one of the best phrased, precise comments i’ve read in a while. thanks.

By: sh

sh — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 20:42:21 +0000

I love the analogies and the way disparate themes come together and make a weave of lessons and connections in Yuval’s pieces about his journey. Kind of music-like when you think about it. The difference between Wannsee and the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews of Spain is about 500 years, which, I imagine, is why one is a little more relaxed about the one than the other. Sylvia has misinterpreted it as racist in the Ashkenazi v. Sephardi sense. At my predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish galut school we were taught all the grisly stories about the catastrophe of the exile from Spain and nothing at all about the holocaust, I suppose because half our teachers at the time were holocaust survivors and too close up to the subject to be able to tackle it.
.
I write this to the sound of the lovely improvised duet Deïr Yassin posted. Thanks.

By: Henry Weinstein

Henry Weinstein — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:56:52 +0000

@ Yuval
Strangely John Kenn Mortensen is not Israeli
> http://johnkenn.blogspot.com/

By: Yuval Ben-Ami

Yuval Ben-Ami — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 08:03:05 +0000

People often mistake drawing analogies for making comparisons. It would be ridiculous and indeed offensive to suggest that the activity of “Yad La’achim” is in any way similar in magnitude to that of the Royal court of Spain, but in spirit it is. All manifestations of inter-ethnic disturst stem from the same places.

By: Henry Weinstein

Henry Weinstein — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:34:18 +0000

@ Sylvia
Je comprends, Sylvia. Moi non plus je n’aime pas que des intellectuels qui n’y connaissent rien parlent en mon nom. Cela me met hors de moi. Zone interdite aux touristes, ce qui s’est passé. Kaddish.
Mais ce que Yuval écrit au fil des jours, c’est un journal de voyage, pas un manifeste politique. Il y a beaucoup d’humour, de naïveté aussi parfois, et toujours une bonne dose d’auto-dérision.
Yossi, c’est différent: il a grandi dans un environnement ultra-normatif, ultra-fermé, et très clairement pour moi il régle ses comptes avec sa famille, cette éducation ultra-orthodoxe (même diagnostic pour Judith Butler, et tant d’autres). Ce sont des choses qui arrivent: en France, les ennemis les plus acharnés contre l’Eglise Catholique sortaient tous de familles ultra-rigides, d’écoles catholiques ultra-répressives!

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:52:17 +0000

“You can always boycott him as you boycott Yossi”
And both interestingly for exactly the same offense unrelated to politics: for debasing Sephardic culture through its symbols. One for calling Maimonides a monster, and the other reduced the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews of Spain to the mere level of two nuts distributing pamphlets in Jerusalem against mixed marriage.
Your knee-jerk reaction is out of place.

By: Deïr Yassin

Deïr Yassin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:31:48 +0000

It’s a English-speaking blog here so maybe you guys could continue your “tête-à-tête entre francophiles” elsewhere. And if you have things to say about Yuval why don’t you say them to him in English, instead of speaking behind his back.
You can always boycott him as you boycott Yossi …. you won’t be missed.
And it goes for this blog as for the country “if I had the same feelings, I certainly wouldn’t stay” you write. Well, ciao ….

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:38:47 +0000

J’ai du mal à croire que si c’était le Protocole de Wannsee qu’il avait assimilé ainsi à des prospectus maison produits par une organisation constituée en tout et pour tout de 2 personnes, tu aurais trouvé que cela mérite une argumentation raisonnée et raisonnable.
Or, c’est l’Edit d’Expulsion des Juifs d’Espagne qui est ici banalisé. Une solution finale, totale et qui plus est, officielle.

Qu’il s’en prenne à sa propre culture de « protektsia » et de népotisme qui a engendré ce qu’Israël a connu de plus médiocre dans toute son histoire au lieu de s’attaquer à la culture des autres à laquelle il ne connaît rien. Ou qu’il parte.

Si j’avais eu les mêmes sentiments, je ne serais certainement pas restée ici.

By: Henry Weinstein

Henry Weinstein — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 01:17:53 +0000

@ Sylvia
It hurt me to read such a hatred comment coming from you.
I mean, someone I respect even after this.
Whatever one can think of Yuval’s travelogue tale, it’s certainly not a piece of trash, and there are no good reasons to POST such harsh words.
I mean, Yuval is not responsible for this, it comes from you.
We must fight against such sub-intellectual impulse if we don’t want to join,the psychokillers’ mob, Sylvia.
Life would be Sartre’s Hell if good-hearted people like Yuval were banned to speak freely and genuinely.

By: Deïr Yassin

Deïr Yassin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:13:33 +0000

@ Yuval
Coming from Sylvia, I think you should actually consider it a compliment ….
I loved your hint at the Nakba when Lea asked what the key is symbolizing.
One of Palestine’s best ‘oud-player, Adel Salameh, with Andalusian Eduardo Niebla: “Jardines del Corazon” [the gardens of the heart]. To a time when Jews and Arabs lived and flourished together in al-Andalus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kocAOqx3c0