Standing by the Gate has been read in over thirty countries, primarily the United States and Israel. During 15 months of posting I’ve gotten a lot of feedback. Most readers visit the blog to share in Marcia and my experiences living in Jerusalem. That’s more than fair; it’s the stated purpose of the blog. So I’ve begun another that will deal more with ideas than activities. It will be easy enough to follow or avoid and its existence will allow Standing by the Gate to stick more closely to its original intent. The new effort is those near and far, and the first post is up, dealing with Martin Luther and his 16th century condemnation of the Jews (and how he got nearly everything wrong, but one thing right). Hope you enjoy it.
Archives for June 2012
Except for one thing…
Sometimes an idle comment hits the mark more accurately than a careful analysis. Marcia and I have now lived in Jerusalem for over a year. Marcia and Penn_E have friends. I have a driver’s license. (The licensing process here makes traditional American red tape look like a shot down a water slide but that’s another story.) We have discount cards at the nearest super market, know our way to the post office and are unafraid to ride the bus (except when we’ve drawn a certain mad operator on Line 17 with a kippa, a death wish and a union card). But it has sometimes been difficult to accurately and concisely answer the simple question, “What’s it like there?” from our perspective and in general.
But something clarifying snapped into focus recently thanks to someone we met at the King David Hotel.