YOWZA!

I had the supreme pleasure of watching Eurovision Finals again this year with Little Miss and Young Sir. We were glued to the tube, watching every act do its thing. Some were pretty weird, some were exceptionally good and we cheered for those. Of course, I took a picture of the kids watching the opening and sent it to our friends in Israel...who immediately sent us a picture of them watching it! The kiddos went wild at the idea we were doing something with them in real time. Ain't technology grand!?!?!?!?!

Israel's entry was  Eden Golan; her song was incredible...but would have been even more so had the Eurovision producers not insisted they change the lyrics and change name from October Rain to Hurricane because it was "too political." A commenter on Reddit posted the lyrics side-by-side:

It was not political; it was a reflection on Israeli reality. Golan's voice echos the pain we as Jews are experiencing at the moment...the same moment she is booed, that Bambie Thug says her heart weeps because Israel made the finals. The ceaseless attacks on Golan and other Israelis were normalized in that event. It didn't matter what her lyrics said...as soon as she opened her mouth as a Jew and an Israeli, she was castigated for living. 

Ireland's entry, Doomsday Blue sung by Bambie Thug whose fingernails were painted with little Palestinian flags, was probably the most controversial of the entries for a number of reasons. Little Miss, who is not yet in double digits, remarked, "Well, that was inappropriate!" I couldn't disagree with her. Never mind Bambi Thug is an anti-Semite, that she complained when Israel's KAN network told viewers with children that her performance was scary. It was. It was also sexually explicit. Okay, a number of the performances were sexually explicit and not really all that suitable for children, but the satanic rituals depicted in the act were a bit over-the-top, even for me. Her Eurovision version is not posted yet, but her music video is tame by comparison. Bambie Thug's complaints were not as effective as they might have been...Israel finished in 5th place....Ireland was 6th. We cheered.

Her politics aside, I did not find her performance compelling in the least. It was not edgy; it wasn't even shocking from the sexuality and innuendo, I thought her appearance/costume was distracting at best, and frankly, prosaic. Boring in an oddball sorta wall. And I'd bet you a buck, she didn't know some of her lyrics are actually Aramaic words. Or am I the only one who noticed "Avada Kedavra, I speak to destroy / The feelings I have, I cannot avoid ? Or, perhaps that is not so symbolically directed at us. Hard to tell.

Lots of LGBTQ+ performers also sported "secret" Palestinian and Hamas symbols. I would urge all of them to visit Gaza as soon as possible to show solidarity with their LGBTQ+ siblings....if they can find any. Don't these people know who they are supporting?

Obviously not. 

By the way, Switzerland won. They were the first non-binary winner of Eurovision...that we know of. Maybe we can all give each other a break and let music be music; let it reflect who we are and what we hear in our hearts. Music is best shared...not lobbed as hate missiles at performers and populations. Just a thought.

The kiddos watched the whole thing, right down to the vote tallies. We had a great time, they snarfed up dinner, I got to introduce them to Luigi's Italian Ices (OU- Parve!) and they even let me sleep until 7:30 a.m. when they decided they needed food. Mostly mango, strawberries, and blueberries. After which we adjourned to their house for a delightful Mothers' Day brunch. Having the noodniks overnight is totally the best! Spending it laughing with the kiddos...priceless.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.... From the what a difference a day makes divison:

Today was not one of those great days due to an unexpected incredibly stupid I-shoulda-known-better kinda injury. This bright-star moment probably happened several weeks ago, had nothing to do with being knocked over by my 98-year old grandpuppy, but now it has decided to rear its ugly head in a painful way. I sorta remember when I stepped funny on a stone on the walkway in front of my house.....

Seems my ankle rolled and I did what I always do: I walked it off. Schlepping heavy bags of groceries up stairs for Pesach surely did not help the cause, and I started to feel the occasional twinge. About a week ago, I noticed a sharp, shooting pain straight through my left ankle every time I stood up. And I did what I always do: I walked it off. And kept on walking it off because I could. Until Sunday night...when I couldn't just walk it off. 

It's not that I'm impervious to pain...although I do like to think that....I just have an exceptionally high tolerance for a whole lotta reasons, most of which come from ballet, tap, jazz, and screwing around. That I rarely bruise and almost never swell also means stuff gets blissfully overlooked and/or ignored. By me. Despite full range of motion in the ankle, I had to admit to being in a fair amount of trouble. I mean, I hurt like a sonofabitch!

Viking Hell (as some of us call the giant Viking practice complex with the lights that used to shine right into the kids' windows of the old house because they were that high and bright) has a deal with Twin Cities Orthopedic that includes an urgent care on site. Of all the urgent cares around, this is a serious ortho center and (bonus!) it had the shortest wait time posted on the website. Plus, it's really close. So I went over. 

Good choice. I was seen right away, the ankle immediately x-rayed...then x-rayed again from a completely different position...and the ankle PA was with me in a matter of minutes for one of the most thorough joint exams I've ever experienced. She expressed amazement that I was walking if off for as long as I was, assured me all the bone parts looked great, but when she squeezed right where I indicated I hurt the most...and I damn near flew outta the chair. I kinda shrieked, "YOWZA!" She sorta chuckle-snorted. "Yowza?" she asked. I just grinned and shrugged...and thought of Ziggy. 

Seems I have a pretty severely sprained ankle. The ligament does not appear to be torn (thank G-d) but I am now the proud owner of a really nifty brace. It's pretty cool, supports my ankle in all the right places, and while it still hurts when I stand up, it mitigates much faster. There will be PT involved later in the week. I will whiz right through that 4-6 week recovery because:

I AM SPARTACUS!!!!!

Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

This is really a tip from the Senior Son.

If you haven't sent this book to YOUR mother,

you should.

I laughed my motherly head right off. 

We, the Jewish People, do remember. We, the Jewish People, do not forget.

Well, being on the triennial cycle and all, Friday was UP MINE Day. I've written about colonoscopies before...twice....for my previous two, ergo I will make short note of the one last Friday. All I can tell you is that things looked just fine. Of course, I wasn't looking becauses the good anesthesia fairy came and knocked me on my butt while respecting my raging IV-phobia. "You're not the first and you certainly will not be the last," she told me with a grin. I like that woman. And my hot GI guy told me (before he looked up by butt) that I looked terrific and when he saw my name on the list, he knew it was gonna be a good morning. Apparently, I'm funny.

Come on, folk. What's Plan-B when someone announces he's gonna stick a probe up your butt and he's not even an alien?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

As I write this, I am acutely aware that  יום השואה - Yom Ha'Shoa began at sundown Sunday night and is observed all day today, Monday.

Yom Ha'Shoa is a recent and necessary addition to the Jewish calendar. We remember the Holocaust every day, but on Yom Ha'Shoa, we take time for silence, a silence that echoes the voices lost, never to be heard again. 

I grew up in a world where it was not in the least bit unusual to see numbers tattooed on arms because the arms were Jewish arms. Where friends had no grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins not because they were never born, but because Jews were not allowed to live. Where Volkswagens, BMWs, and Mercedes Benz cards were not merely frowned upon, but they were often spit at. Where 8-year old me followed the Eichmann trial closely, along with my friends and their parents, knowing in horrific detail what he ordered for our people. 

I knew all about genocide by the time I was 8. What it means. How it works. How it's done. How it's managed. From first hand testimony. From my neighbors and my parents' friends. And from my dad who was there in the aftermath.

As an adult, I knew other survivors, and I even knew a sonderkommando. I spent time listening and learning their stories. So I could transmit them to my kids.

We, the Jewish People, know about genocide. If we wanted to rid the land of Palestinians, trust me when I saw they would already be gone. 

But they're not, nor should they be. They deserve to have their own state, a state they have been offered multiple times...only to have their leadership reject it in favor of prolonged terrorism.

Yes, what's happening is grotesque and horrible, and a tragedy. But that's what happens when chooser hate, murder, and terrorism over self-determination, an economy, and peace. When you start a war, people die. When you use your population as human shields, your population dies.

Israeli soldiers didn't crawl beneath a border through tunnels to massacre children in their homes or kids at a music festival. Let's not lose sight of the rape and carnage of October 7th.  

Photo Credit: X/@taliahkhan_MIT

And let's not lose sight of the Hamas charter that DEMANDS the wholesale destruction of Israel.  What makes it all so sad for the Palestinians is that with Hamas, they have never had a chance to be a nation, to have an economy. They scream for the destruction of Israel when isn't being Israel what they really want?At MIT, the lady in the red keffiyeh is chanting in Arabic. This is what she says:

 

 

We wish to say it loud and clear: we don’t want to see Zionists here

From water to water, Palestine – Arab.

From water to water, Israel destroyed

We will sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Palestine

Free Palestine - Israel  get out.

Free Palestine – Zionists get out

The iron gates of Al-Aqsa – open for the martyr

From water to water – death to the Zionists

From water to water? Are we supposed to throw up our hands and just walk into a river or a sea? You don't happen to know which river or which sea, do you?

Most protestors have proven through interviews and conversations that they really do not know. Just like LGBTQ for Palestine makes no sense whatsoever. What do you think happens to LGBTQ people in Gaza? Rainbow parades?....Right off the roof, maybe. One might think that's attempted genocide against LGBTQ people....but then again...why would they think that?

Because they don't know what genocide is. 

When Germany began its war against the Jews, they began by chipping away at our identity as Jews. Jews were barred from attending schools. Jews business were taken over. Synagogues were ransacked. Yellow stars were mandated for clothing. The conscious attempt to shame, humiliate, and degrade Jews were core to the erasure of us from Europe. The camps were only cleaning up the mess. 

The so-called "anti-Zionist" protesters are attempting to do the same thing. They are trying to bar us from entering educational institutionls. At UC Santa Clara, they are demanding the removal of Hillel from campus. Other schools will follow. By removing Hillel, they are removing Jewish communal presence from campus and denying Jews a place of their own. If we have no safe place to gather, Jewish students will leave campus....and isn't the desired outcome

This is not about land or government. This is a war against Jews. We are .02% of the global population. Surrounded by 22 Muslim nations, Israel takes up .1% of the Middle East land mass. Not 1%....POINT ONE percent. Here's an interesting graphic. 

Countries ranked by land mass:

Israel doesn't even take up .01% of the global land mass. So why is it such a big deal to wipe it away?

One word: JEWS. 

Take another look at the protests, the signs, the slogans, and the chants. 

If you have family or friends who are out there protesting on behalf of Hamas and Gaza, ask them what they think the end game is? 

Ask them if they believe Hamas will make life better for the Palestinians. 

Ask them if they understand what intifada and jihad mean in terms of their own lives. 

Honestly, they probably don't even know.

But we've lived through this before: we know what it is and what it looks like. And we will live through this again. The difference this time is that we are better prepared. 

Almost all the Holocaust survivors I knew are gone now. I miss guys like Henry Oertelt who witnessed Krystallnacht in person as it was happening. I miss Sam Saide who had some of the scariest, most hair-raising experiences after his family was deported from Lodz in Poland to the concentration camps. I miss Phil Biel who survived because he went into hiding, and always did the prayer for Rosh Hodesh, the New Moon, because he was alive and he could. And I miss Rene Slotkin, a Mengele twin, who, over pastrami sandwiches in a kosher deli, told me about seeing his mother murdered in front of him when he called out to her across a fence. 

If anyone is committing genocide in Gaza, it's not the Israelis. Hamas is doing a fine job with Iran's backing. They are murdering their own people and blaming it on Israel. They reject every ceasefire deal by upping the ante to a place where it cannot possibly be met. Hamas doesn't want peace. It doesn't want a two-state solution that would be supported and nurtured by just about every nation on the globe. 

Hamas does not want that. They want dead Jews. 

And apparently, so do a lot of American students. They chant, "intifada now!"

So you should ask them:

Once the Jews are gone, who's gonna be next? 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you know any Holocaust survivors, talk to them NOW.

    Do not put it off.

All too soon, there won't be any eyewitnesses left.