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Sunday, July 13, Last Updated 12:00 GMT

JERUSALEM, Israel — In a rare move of self-awareness and humility, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, had been decorated this morning with a bold caption in white that reads “Ko’ach Mash’chit” — a translation of “Power Corrupts” to Hebrew. It is not clear yet whether this is a very elaborate prank or part of the entrance wall’s scheduled refurbishment, which has been in planning for several months now.

The Knesset Spokesman, Giora Pordes, was very decisive about the manner. “The white painting was certainly not approved by any official authority, and that section of the wall was quickly fixed within the hour.”

However, former Minister of Education, Yossi Sarid, expressed his disagreement with Mr. Pordes. “I did not expect this to happen, well, ever. But there was a very similar suggestion I submitted to the chairman in 1999 regarding the inscription of Lord Acton’s famous quote somewhere within the assembly hall itself. As you can imagine, there wasn’t much support among other Knesset members, and the suggestion was quickly forgotten.”

A Closer Look

Mr. Sarid has retired from the political life by now, although he remains influential via his weekly commentaries in various Israeli media. “I don’t know whose idea this was,” he continues, “but I think it comes at a very interesting time, and I hope it’ll be left up there, because, you know, it’s just true. At the end of day, power corrupts, and we lawmakers should have the minimal amount of humility to acknowledge that, to admit that we’re human. I don’t think it shows any disrespect — on the contrary, the public will only respect the legislative authority if it shows signs of ‘I’m willing to change; I’m willing to learn from my own mistakes’.”

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (known commonly simply as Lord Acton) is believed to be the originator of the famous dictum in 1887: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.“

As indicated by Mr. Sarid, the mysterious white painting appears on the eve of Talansky’s cross examination, when PM Olmert is sunk up to his neck in corruption allegations. This weekend alone, another allegation surfaced in the media regarding his flight bills at the time when he was mayor of Jerusalem.

More answers are likely to clear up in the coming days, as government officials and Knesset bureaucrats will have to face with the aftermath of this successful prank and the implications it may have on the public atmosphere.

OK….that was way more fun than I thought it would be!

It seemed like as good a way as any to let you all know the latest news, and it was actually way more fun that I’d anticipated. Humor me, indulge me, and read it even if you don’t comment…

xxx
D

Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your friends. Change all the answers so they apply to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6 am. It was a mistake.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds. Yeah, baby.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Bee Movie, with the Trolls.

4. What is your favourite TV show? So many shows, so little space.
Currently making a point of catching up on the last series of Six Feet Under, and the as-yet-unreleased-in-Israel series of Dr Who.
Loves me some Torrentz.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Coffee, vegetables and 5% white cheese.

(more…)

Summer is the annual time of beach goers. Racquets, ice lollies, and bikinis — there’s plenty to look out for. But there are also several things to look out from.

Jelly fish is a known annoyance along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Those sting-inflicting cold-blooded animals migrate northward around this time of year, and according to recent reports, they’re well on their way at the moment.

Another menace that signals the onset of summer is the appearance of snakes. There has been news of numerous snake bites in recent weeks, which resulted in several people hospitalized in critical conditions, especially in the northern parts of Israel.

In case you get bitten by a snake, don’t panic and run. On the contrary, you’d want to slow down your blood circulation, so that the venom couldn’t spread too fast to vital organs. However don’t lie down flat, as you’d want the bitten area to be lower than the heart. Here are a few common tips about treating snake bites anyone should be familiarized with before going out on a field trip.

And if you do go out on a field trip in Israel, we’ll be glad to feature your travel story and your photos on our blog. You may contact us at editor@OneJerusalem.com for any contributions, comments, or questions.

Picture by NRG

Yesterday I walked down the street and noticed someone walking a few meters before me. I could only see his back. But there was something about him — perhaps his walk, or his haircut — that intuitively made me think he’s Japanese. So I hastened my steps and walked passed him, turning my head to take a quick glimpse of the man… and yes, he was indeed Japanese.

This event made me think about my travels abroad. It’s a common joke among Israelis that we can easily spot each other overseas, even before the other opened his mouth. I assume it’s true for other cultures as well, and it makes me wonder “How this phenomenon works”. And it is just an illusion?

I wrote two weeks ago about Chinese stereotypes of Jews and raised the question whether it can be considered anti-semitism. Now I once again stir up the issue, from a different perspective. I don’t focus on Jews this time, but rather on the Israeli mainstream culture. Personally I do believe that a culture has the social power to greatly modify a person’s behavior and mentality, starting with the way people think and the associations they’re most likely to conjure, and up to the way they move their body and their patterns of personal grooming.

I want to emphasize that I’m alluding to the power of cultural socialization, and not to inborn motifs of race. I do not believe there are any innate differences between a Japanese baby and an Israeli baby. I do believe they grow up to conceive the world differently. In fact, it’s scientifically proven that language plays a pivotal role in this issue. There is also a debatable notion in linguistics, titled the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, which states pretty much what I had just said at the end of the previous paragraph.

Can we assume from this that cultural stereotypes (as opposed to racial stereotypes) have some basis? Are German people truly pedantic? French folks really impatient? And Israelis genuinely…

…What? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

King Solomon Legend exports Judaica items all over the world. Having more Jewish folks who live abroad than Jews in Israel, this business has a large potential of succeeding, while also strengthening foreigners’ affinity to the state of Israel. The web site announced its launch yesterday, and I wish it the best of luck.

Picture by ZIM

Barack Obama finally clinched the desired amount of delegates to win the Democratic Party nomination. I searched the internet and tried to locate a speech or a statement in which Obama declares why he decided to enter the presidential race. I couldn’t find it — and I’d thank the readers if they could refer me to such an instance. Yes, he’s constantly declaring why he’d be a better president than the other candidates, but it’s not the same as revealing your personal motives for hopping into the political swamp.

Yesterday I took upon myself to map the possible motives that drive people into the political arena, arranging these motives within three categories: Pragmatic Reasons, Psychological Deficiencies, and Moral Imperatives. Today I want to cover the remaining two categories….

B. The Psychological Deficiencies that haunt politicians:

1) Frank (fictional name) had a difficult mom. She was always disappointed of him. Later in life, he felt intimidated around successful people. See, Frank has issues of self esteem. So he took an intimate oath to prove the world he’s worth more than it seems at first glance. No less important, he needs to prove to himself that he’s a man, that he can achieve something major in life. At night he dreams how he looks down at his former classmates and say to them “Look at me now! You didn’t believe I’d make it this far, did you?”. Well, what signifies success better than being a top-rank politician?

2) Margaret (Frank’s fictional colleague) dislikes uncertainty. In fact, she can’t stand it. She always has a pesky need to know “what’s happening”, and “who’s playing against whom”. In other words, Margaret is a control-freak. She doesn’t like to take directives from others, and she’d be infuriated if you leave her “out of the loop”. Her psychiatrist claims she has trust issues, but she doesn’t trust his diagnosis. She ventured into politics because everyone else is so inept, and it’s about time things would be done her way.

C. Finally, some politicians do what they do not because they want to, but because they feel obliged to help other people:

1) Obama (a fictional character?) looks around him and feels a great discontent with the way things are being done at the present. Many people are suffering, and he dreams of making a difference. He’s an idealist, and couldn’t be idly sitting by when action needs to be taken. He doesn’t like to get his hands dirty, but whenever he tried in the past to avoid being socially and politically involved, he quickly became restless and anguished with feelings of guilt. Can he turn his back to all these children, crying out his name for help?

…Nevertheless, his critics accuse him of having the same condition as Margaret. At least she doesn’t cover up her need for control with delusional thoughts.

2) Bush (a real-life phenomenon) has a calling. God sent him on a mission to save humanity. His church leaders urged him to spread their values across the country and in the lands of the infidels. He’s doing what he has to do, merely executing what’s been asked of him. Along the way, he’s also securing his place in heaven above.

Unfortunately, Moral Imperatives are the worst of the Psychological Deficiencies politicians can have.

Do I have a conclusion? Yes - Choose your candidate on the basis of his platform. Whatever drives him to put forth a certain platform doesn’t really matter, as long as his psychological/moral/financial needs go hand in hand with our political agenda.

As Israel stands on the verge of possible general elections, and America is nearing the end of its primary season, each of us — as private citizens — has to make up his mind, and pick his favourite candidate. How should we tackle this crucial task? Should I choose to vote solely on the basis of the candidate’s promises? Her past record? And what about personality? It’s a proven fact that personality plays a critical factor in this decision.

But then, what aspects of personality should I take into account? His family status? Do I find it significant whether she displays herself as a warm and open character, or as a bold and intelligent person? And finally, what about his motives? Should I care why he made it into politics in the first place — Would it imply how good of a politician he might play out to be?

I want to list the major factors that drive different people into the violent fields of the political game. I don’t think we could ever really know what motivates a certain person — mostly, he doesn’t fully know it himself. Nevertheless, defining these possible motives is something I would like to attempt here today.

Please note that the human psyche is a very complex phenomena. Accordingly, each person may accommodate a range of different — and even opposite — motives at the same time, at different ratios. These ratios may change over time. Yes, (some) people do change.

Okay, enough with the chit-chat… let’s start: We can divide the factors that drive a certain person into politics to three distinctive categories: Pragmatic Reasons, Psychological Deficiencies, and Moral Imperatives.

A. What Pragmatic Reasons are there?

1) A person who isn’t especially good at anything discovers that the political arena doesn’t require special skills or a university diploma. He has to make money somehow, and it’s the only place where he could find a job.

2) Another person ventured into politics to make a change. He’s in the game for twenty-thirty years. He’s already lost the spark many years ago. Cynicism covers him as he lies in bed, and indifference walks beside him as he enters another lobbyist’s gathering. But it’s now a habit. It’s too late to change profession after so many years.

3) A third person tried to make money in the private sector. Then he realized that nepotism is the name of the game; that without publicity, you’re nothing in this world. So he offered himself as president… This way, he could befriend a lot of rich moguls, who would line up to invest in his new business when he resigns office. Or he’ll be invited to sit in a corporate board of directors. Or he’ll travel the world and charge $1,000,000 for a single lecture. There’s also a book deal around the corner… But seriously, even if he isn’t one of the lucky few who exit politics straight into the tight embrace of Capitalism, he can still arrange a nice job for his niece, or have the bureaucratic leverage to receive a delicious bribe or two. (In short: Politics is a way to develop business relations, and to earn a high Market Value for oneself.)

Tomorrow I will continue this post.

Yair Lapid hosts a weekly television newsmagazine called “Ool’Pan Shi’Shi” (Friday’s Studio). This last Friday I watched a piece in Ool’Pan Shi’Shi about Israeli entrepreneur Avi Shaked who set out to establish a chain of coffee shops in Shanghai, China. You see, apparently the Chinese favour the traditional tea over coffee, and drink it only because it’s trendy and it symbolizes the West.

In any case, this Israeli brand, titled Citta Caffe, has currently only 3 branches in the entire country — while the competing Starbucks already has 350(!) branches in China. Yet, according to the reporter, the Chinese people see Citta as equal in dominance and relevance to Starbucks, a widespread notion that derives from the way the Chinese view the Israeli. As evident from the piece, Jewish people are considered in China to be intelligent and savvy in the business world. One could find books in Shanghai titled “How to make money like the Jews” and so forth.

What really caught my attention was one innocent quote… At the end, the reporter asked a young Chinese woman what she thinks of Israel and its people, and the woman responded that “the whole world is controlled by the Israeli people, but the whole world is made in China”. This tongue-in-cheek answer, which may seem at first like an attempt at flattering, turned a red light in my mental dashboard.

Is this reputation true? We’re intelligent? We’re business savvy? Well, of course there are many intelligent Jews, and many who succeed in business, but there are just as many successful Americans, rich French, or savvy Chinese. See, it’s true that historical reasons drove a large percentage of the Jewish diaspora into the business world as they were forbidden to engage in many other professions, and it’s also true that the Israeli culture promotes its members to be daredevils and to claim their place in the world. I don’t think it’s a bad thing; on the contrary, I’m proud of my culture. But these characteristics cause our tiny country to be very “noisy”, from a global perspective, relative to its size — and this notion fosters hostility and envy by many.

When the Chinese revere Jewish people as smart and successful, it may be a sign of affection and respect on their part — yet I can’t help but to think how these very same stereotypes were so prevalent across Europe in the 1930’s.

As written in the previous post, we’ve seen Bush make a speech at the Knesset this week, and even opening it in Hebrew. Well, I would suggest Mr. Bush to take the next step, and join a Hebrew class — it would do good to his intelligence.

Many Zionist immigrants (Olim Ha’dashim) complain that Hebrew is a tough language to master. One of the reasons for this difficulty is the way Hebrew is written and read. Vowel signaling is mostly optional in Hebrew, and it is normally used only by children learning to read.

Suppose you see the word “presume” like this: “prsum” — Could you make out what’s hiding behind these consonants?! Well, that is, more or less, how most people read Hebrew, as omission of most of the vowel letters is conventional. Again, since it is posing a significant barrier in the acquisition of reading abilities, children in primary school usually use a special punctuation subscript called “Ni’kud”, but as they grow up, they don’t need it anymore.

The point I’m trying to make is that reading and writing Hebrew properly requires more activation of the brain’s cognitive faculties than is the case with writing and reading English (or French, for that matter). What cognitive faculties am I talking about? Well, first of all, there is the increased amount of memory needed to store the different options of punctuating the same transcript. The same set of letters is used differently, and is pronounced differently, in alternate contexts. And this brings me to the second capacity which the Hebrew transcript develops: a stronger inclination to mental association. As just mentioned, the pronunciation of a word differs according to its meaning, and the meaning is dependent on the overall context of the word.

Going back to the “prsum” example. One can choose to pronounce it like “preesuma” or like “prosumeh” or like “presume”. Since among these three options, only “presume” is a real word, the choice is simple. But in Hebrew we have many cases where several of the possible pronunciations are valid options. Thus, quick analyzing of sentence structure is the associative capacity every Hebrew writer is expected to acquire by the end of primary school.

In addition, nouns in Hebrew are all gender specific, just like in French. This feature isn’t unique to Hebrew, however in comparison with the previous feature I mentioned, this one is present in both spoken and written Hebrew, so even young children just learning to speak have to confront this hurdle. Again, this feature of the Hebrew language requires the increased use of memory and of associative analysis, since each gender necessitates the use of alternate words with distinctive punctuation.

A good example for this would be the use of “his” and “her” in English. We can say “his score” for Danny and “her score” for Rachel, but we use “its score” for the Basketball team. However, in Hebrew, a basketball team is a female noun, and it is virtually impossible to refer to it as a genderless word.

In sum, learning to master the Hebrew language is good for your brain, since it forces you to allocate more “cognitive power” in order to process this ancient and complex language.