Should've been Heaven

So, for two weeks, I was in a place called Machlon Chezgiyahu. What was so cool about this whole thing, was that this was of my dreams come true. The entire point of these two weeks was to argue. Really. They had me in mind when they came up with this thing.

OK, it wasn't exactly like that. What you have to understand is that Israel is comprised entirely of factions. See, in America, there are two major parties, Democrats, and Republicans. There are many other itty bitty parties, but even Ross's party is not really that much of a factor when it comes to swing votes. In Israel, there are also two major parties, Labor, and Likud, but neither has over 50%. Elections here are like big games of Othello, each side trying to turn the majority of the chips over to their side.

Actually, that's not the best example, because that makes it look like conversion. Try it like this. There are hundreds of Legos on the floor. There are two big pieces (Duplos?) on the side. Each of the big pieces has to try to have the biggest shape, so therefore, they have to convince the other little pieces to join them. In the political world, this is done by taking issues into platforms, or by appointing certain people to certain positions.

Therefore, every minority has a respected voice, and more often than not, these voices can't stand each other. It always impresses me that one of the two party can actually convince half of the country to go along with them. But, the point of this is that Israel is divided into different groups, all of whom think the other is wrong. Not just in politics, but in religious views, in militaristic views, in just about everything. I haven't yet heard the Hebrew word for "consensus."

The point is, at Machlon, we had representatives from nearly each one of the little groups, who would try to convince us of their opinion.

I suppose that even last year, that would have been a wish of mine. I still argue, and I still was able to get a few of them angry as I showed flaws in their arguments. A couple left in a huff, saying that they had never seen such unpatriotic Jews. All I had done was compared the King David Hotel bombing to the Luisitania. Really, no bad language, no insults, just straightforward paralleling. But the whole point was to try to understand the different vectors in Israel today.

All in all, we had nearly every division in the religion come talk to us. (though, sadly, no Arabic, Armenian, J for J, or Christian speakers.) Rightwing, leftwing, promilitary, antimilitary, pro-land-for-peace, anti-land-for-peace, survivors, people who say that the Holocaust was misunderstood, and in addition half a dozen museums, all in the span of a week and a half.

What it really taught me, instead of being the blissful moment that I would have thought, is that the old complexity where everybody has a point to make, and therefore it'll never go anywhere, is very much correct. Whether they are right or wrong, the arguements that they present, for the most part, show that they all believe what they say.

I suppose that it's a little late to be learning this. But every time, when somebody else's argument could be made into a quick joke, they were discredited in my mind. It's easy to see and say that there are two sides to every argument. Realizing that both are correct is a hard pill to swallow. Now that my soul has gone from the black, to the red, I suppose what is really needed to be in the white is the ability to work out the compromises between the two rights.

The thing is, that people told me that when I came to Israel, that it would be for experiences. True, I've had quite a few. Apparently though, as I had been also told before, that ^some people^ get their epiphanies in the Holy Land. I'd say that this is a rather important one to get, especially if I do go into politics. They are almost always right as well, and you should have to help them as you help your side.

Get me outa here!!!

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Michael Kadish

"Nothing is more certain than incertainties,
Fortune is full of fresh variety;
Constant in nothing but inconstancy".-- Richard Barnfield

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