War, Fire and All that Jazz

Three unrelated topics about yesterday and the day before.

I. War
June 5th marked forty years since the beginning of the Six Day War. Our Hebrew teacher was a girl then and she recalled the atmosphere of the time. She told us how everybody was expecting war and you could feel the fear in the air. People bought up spaces at cemeteries, newspapers were printing that "The Second Holocaust" is coming, every soldier was called up. There were no young people on the streets for weeks before the war because they were all in the army. Waiting. Women baked cookies and made sandwiches and set up "road restaurants" for anybody in uniform. The country prepared for the worst. And then a miracle happened. The most incredible victory in modern military history. The war started close to 8am and before 11am the same day, Egypt and Syria were defeated. By the time that it officially ended a few days later, Israel stretched from Sinai to Jordan river. Jerusalem was whole again. Nineteen year old tiny country proved once again that it's not moving. Even today, there is still a feeling in Israel that the Six Day War changed everything. This was the war for existence that couldn't have gone any other way.
Now, forty years later, the newspapers are writing about the next war. Every day this week somebody makes headlines with predictions that the summer will bring another round of fighting with Hezbollah with Syrian military involvement. The papers are comparing resources, showing enemy's capability, discuss how far the rockets can reach and what IDF is doing to prepare. And yet, there is no fear in the air like our teacher has described. There is confidence that regardless of anything, we will still be here tomorrow. So we go about our daily business and worry about small things that make up our everyday life. No one is buying grave spots. No one is baking cookies.

II. Fire
Summer is wildfire season in Israel. The grass is yellow and dry and any spark goes up in flames that makes ground black. Yesterday, the large free area between my absorption center and the houses up on the hill was burning. The security guard rushed to assemble a hose and started pouring water on the flames. However, the fire fighters yelled out to him that everything is under control and he should not be interfering with their work. The hose was dropped and everyone went back to their usual things without a worry. Fifteen minutes later, as the flames started burning the center's property, the same security guard was back fighting fire. This time he was yelling at the fire fighters for not doing anything to prevent it from happening. As the fire spread to an area too large for one person to cover, the residents of Beit Canada started helping. In less than half an hour, the excitement was over. Ironically, two guys from Chicago and a nineteen year old girl had to "save" Canada House.

III. Jazz
Another night, another free concert in the park. Same place - near City Hall, different band - Karmi. For an hour and a half, I and some friends enjoyed the most weird jazz. Jazz that probably wouldn't be heard anywhere outside of Israel and is most definitely a creation of Jerusalem. In addition to traditional instruments, like guitar, drums and a trumpet, Karmi used a variety of things what I'm even hesitating to describe. I need to find out what the names of the twisted guitar, a long banjo, a noisemaker, a wooden blowing tube and a big bass thingy are but it all sounded remarkable. The members of the band are Hassidic and their brand of Jazz combined kleizmer and Middle Eastern music. Distinctly Arab sounds mixed with unmistakable shtetl motives in an organized chaos that is jazz. A good ending to a good day and another page of my life in Israel.