So I tried to put Declan in gan (Israeli daycare/preschool) after the Pesach holidays. That lasted for...one day. In the end, besides the factors of the new baby, the large number of children, him being the youngest child, the gannenet's reluctance...the biggest reason why I decided to hold off on gan for a few more months at least is because it looks like it'll take Declan awhile to get used to the new day-to-day schedule, and if we decide to go with this particular gan even after our current apartment lease is up, it would drastically limit our future sublet options. I would far rather find a more permanent gan later on in the fall that I can rest assured would be the place for Declan to form friendships and pick up Hebrew for the rest of our time in Israel. And who knows...maybe, by then, I'll be so used to taking care of the kids all day every day by myself that I would rather both of them continue to stay home with me the whole time. Maybe. A big maybe. Although I do see, currently, the greater value, of Declan's varied routines with me rather than the (already really nice) gan environment in which he would otherwise be immersed right now.
These two weeks are the highlights in Israel's national holidays. National as in non-religious, but having to do with the whole country. The first of the three happened this past Monday, called Yom HaShoah i.e. Holocaust Remembrance Day. An air siren went off at 10am through the entire country, while I had just strapped Declan into his stroller en route to Mommy & Me. Everything and everyone stood still. At the park across the street, all the adults stood up from their beverages and child-minding. The children slowed down and stopped their play to imitate their adults. Old men on the sidewalk stood, looking down at the pavement. Cars halted, and drivers and passengers alike got out to stand by their car doors. In the two minutes that life paused throughout this entire country, and all one hears is the warning blare that would otherwise only be heard during an air attack, I was really struck by the magnitude of the genocide the Jews faced during WWII. Struck in a deep, profound way for the very first time. There is a side to some of the Jewish culture here that I am growing in dislike. For instance, some people really are quite racist here. I don't know if they're more racist than the general American (and Chinese) cultures, but they're certainly more--like everything else--upfront and blatant about it. But, on Yom HaShoah, I see the lasting trauma that the Holocaust impressed upon a people's psyche and I think I can forgive and understand some of the people's reserve towards the Other... from the perspective of one who has been othered for so long and with such consequences.
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day). There are flags everywhere in preparation for the concerts and parades, and on one hand, I am very happy that Israel exists. I believe very strongly in the right to self-determination for persecuted minorities, and even without the Holocaust, the Jewish people truly need a nation of their own. If I were Jewish, I would want that. I would be so tired of the ebb of flow of anti-Semitism that never goes away, and the doubt of ever really being able to set roots in other countries that have historically (so who's to say it wouldn't happen again?) expelled/evicted Jews who had lived there for generations. On the other hand, I'm starting to learn about the Nakba, and about the very real tension between Arab villages and encroaching Jewish settlements that are often illegal. The fact of the matter is, as much as a lot of the media campaign against Israel is unfair and shoddy journalism, Israel is not innocent in this long-standing Middle Eastern conflict. It is placed in a difficult situation, and as a worldly power, has chosen and is choosing in several areas to use unjust means itself for a gambit at survival.
It is very similar, I find, to why Taiwan was under martial law for as long as it did and went through a period called the White Terror. Why, even now, the United States has not paid reparation to African-Americans for slavery, and have military bases everywhere in the world, and undisclosed locations holding terrorist suspects without trial. Why basically every single country that has ever existed has performed unjust acts in favor for itself and against its perceived adversaries in order to stay in power. To hold Israel to a higher standard than the rest of the world's nations seems...really hypocritical. So I plan to celebrate with the best of them here, without justifying away the darker sides of the wonderful reality of this country and how far it has come...and how far it could still go as a truly great nation.
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