Driving over to Passover

   Friday evening, Khitam and I drove to Ganei-Am, a suburb of Tel Aviv in Israel, to share a Seder meal with Tani and Ireet Halperin, friends of Khitam.  Since this particular Seder marked the beginning of a weeklong celebration of Passover in Israel, traffic was heavy; fortunately for us, it was mostly headed toward Jerusalem which we were driving away from.  An hour and a quarter from leaving Khitam's and after passing Tel Aviv, we turned off for Ganei-Am, and within minutes, we pulled up to Tani and Ireet's.
   Their house would not be out of place in southern California or Florida.  One story and spread out, cool and shaded, it offered entrance to a different world.  Ganei-Am appears to be fairly new, an offshoot of Tel Aviv's growth.  Yanid, their son-in-law, was playing in the small yard with a golden retriever.   His wife, Leet, and her younger sister Ma'ayn come out, hugged Khitam and met me, followed by Tani and Ireet.
   Tani is a big man, maybe six feet and barrel bodied.  He looks Teutonic.  He was dressed in shorts and a short sleeve, partially buttoned shirt.  He smiles a lot and listens, commenting when nudged by the conversation or when asked.  He was born on a farm in Israel and raised there.  Now he works in real estate in Israel and Boston.  For much of our visit, he was busy cooking and then cleaning up.  In stature,  In stature, Ireet is a robin to Tani's hawk; in personality, it appears to be the other way around.  She's a mother and grandmother, wife, psycho-drama therapist and political activist.  Leek - Khitam thinks her actual name is Eleanor - is the oldest of three daughters, Ma'ayn the youngest.  The middle daughter was with her husband's family for this Seder.  Leek and Yanid and their two young children are immigrating to the States as soon as they get their green cards.
   Leek studied at Brandeis for a year, Lesley, where Khitam and Ireet both studied, for a year, then returned to Israel.  She found Brandeis' reputation for liberalism selective.  During an organized protest at the school against oppression, she mounted a display of art illustrating the oppression in Gaza and the West Bank and was soon told to take it down.  Raised an activist - "It wasn't possible to grow up in this family and not be a political activist," she said - she found Brandeis hypocritical and left after a year for Lesley.  "I was disappointed in the quality of education I was offered.  It didn't measure up to the standards I expected coming from Israel."
   Now she and Yanid are waiting to immigrate.  She said Israel is getting more and more conservative.  "I feel there's no place for us here anymore.  A lot of people like us are emigrating.  Others have become conservative or avoid politics.  They don't even vote."  Later, when I asked Ma'ayn about her generation and how they feel, she said: "I don't express how I feel anymore.  There's no one to talk to except at the university."  She goes to Hebrew University in Tel Aviv.  "There are Arab students there and a lot of liberal students."  She expresses her views there.
   I asked her about her generation and their beliefs after they're out of university.  "It's different here. After high school, there's compulsory military service for two years.  Then they need a couple of years to find themselves or recover from PTSD, so they travel, get laid, smoke weed and then go to university.  Both sisters commented that Israeli students are much older than the typical American college student.  I think Ma'ayn is 23 and just finishing her freshman year.  Once finished, she said they think about getting a good job, starting a family and they get busy "and don't have time for anything else, or don't have the will or energy to make time."
   We talked about Nasser in response to questions about who I was working with besides Khitam.  I spoke about his commitment to the kids, to making a fair peace, to non-violence.  Nasser has told me: "I missed childhood and I don't want my kids or any kids to miss that experience."  As Khitam and I talked more about his work with kids, teachers and communities, Yanid said: "I want to meet this guy.  This is not what we're told about Palestinians."
   These are people I want to see again, want to know better, and I think I will.  Ireet and Tani are coming to the States this summer for a trip to Alaska and a few days in Boston.  They'll see Khitam in Boston and plan to come to Maine for a night to visit and eat lobster.  I will certainly look up Leek and Yanid when they move to the States.  Meanwhile, I will try to visit them next time I'm in Palestine.