#aviv silver

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — Vivian Silver, a Canadian-Israeli peace activist who had been presumed kidnapped by Hamas, was declared dead after her remains were found at her home.

Her death was confirmed to JTA by multiple activists who said they were in touch with Silver’s family. Shifra Bronznick, a prominent Jewish social justice activist and lifelong friend of Silver’s, learned from Silver’s son that her remains were identified via her DNA. 

“Vivian was always persistent in the pursuit of peace and justice,” Bronznick told JTA on Monday evening. “She was a lifelong feminist, a committed activist, a fearless leader, an exceptional friend and a loving mother, wife and grandmother.”

Until Monday, Silver, 74, was assumed to be among the more than 200 people held captive by Hamas. She is now among the approximately 1,200 people murdered by the terror group in its Oct. 7 attack. Hamas terrorists killed more than 100 people at Silver’s home community, Kibbutz Be’eri, in one of the day’s worst massacres. 

She is one of several peace activists to have been killed or captured by Hamas on Oct. 7. Hayim Katsman, 32, who worked with Palestinians in the southern West Bank, was killed in his home in another community on the Gaza border. Yocheved Lifschitz, who helped ferry Palestinians from Gaza to medical care in Israel, was taken captive by Hamas and released in late October; her husband Oded, also involved in peace work, remains missing.

“A woman of infinite, deep, ongoing compassion, humanity and dedication to Arab-Jewish partnership and peace. Yes. Peace,” Anat Saragusti, an Israeli writer and feminist activist, wrote on social media in a post announcing Silver’s death. John Lyndon, the executive director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, wrote that “she wanted to be free & at peace. Rest in power, Vivian.”

Silver’s sons, like the family members of many of those presumed hostage, lobbied extensively for her release, traveling the country and speaking to journalists around the world to call attention to her story. One son, Yonatan Zeigen, stood out for his calls for a ceasefire, an unusual position in Israel. He said he had learned from his mother to seek peace above all else.

“I would tell her, ‘Israel is dead. It’s hopeless,’ and she would say, ‘Peace could come tomorrow,’” Yonatan, a social worker in Tel Aviv told the Washington Post in a story published last week.

Chen Zeigen, her other son, is a doctoral student in archaeology at the University of Connecticut. She is also survived by four grandchildren.

On the day of the massacre, according to the Washington Post story, Silver took a call with a radio station where she pushed back against the idea that the Palestinians were “insane.” In messages with Yonatan, she expressed fear, frustration and love. “I’m with you,” he wrote to her. Her last message back to him was, “I feel you.”

Born in Winnipeg, Canada, she was the longtime director of  the Arab Jewish Center For Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation, which organized projects joining communities in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In 2014, after the last major war between Israel and Hamas, she helped found Women Wage Peace, which promotes peace-building actions among women from all communities and across the political spectrum.

Speaking to Forbes in 2021 for a series on women who assist the vulnerable, Silver said she remembered feeling relief after the government built bomb shelters in Kibbutz Be’eri, which had been subject to rocket fire from Gaza for more than a decade.

“In 2009, the [Israeli] government only built shelters for communities that were four kilometers from the border. The community I live in is four and a half kilometers from the border, so we didn’t have shelters then,” Silver told Forbes. “Now we do, so psychologically we feel better, and we feel safer, and in fact, we are safer, we’re a lot safer than the people in Gaza.”

At a 2018 Women Wage Peace event on the Gaza border in 2018, she said that the Israeli government needed to change its approach in order to bring peace to the area. “Show the required courage that will bring changes of policy that will bring us quiet and security,” she said then, addressing the government. “Returning to the routine is not an option.”

Appealing to women across the border, she said, “Terror does not make anything better for anyone, you too deserve quiet and peace.”

Bronznick first met Silver in the early 1970s when both were involved in organizing a national conference of Jewish women. They remained friends and, for a period of six years, took an annual trip together — the last one was to Santa Fe, New Mexico. When Silver would stay at Bronznick’s home, she would prepare an Israeli breakfast, Bronznick recalled. 

“She would be passionately advocating for peace right now,” Bronznick said, referring to Israel’s war against Hamas, launched following the Oct. 7 attack. “She never gave up on bridge-building. She never gave up on making change. She never gave up on people… She always focused on people, children, what motivated them, what meant something to them.”

Before Oct. 7, Silver was due for another stay at Bronznick’s home in New York City in early December. On top of each of the days in Bronznick’s calendar, she had written “Viv.”

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

The IDF estimates, maybe based on a baby bottle that was found where hostages are known to have been held, in the basement of the Rantisi hospital in Gaza, that a woman who was kidnapped while pregnant, has given birth in captivity. That makes her child the youngest hostage, at the age of a few days at most.

While our kids and babies are being held hostage in dark basements and tunnels, Israel is offering Gazans medical assistance for their kids. At this link you can listen to a subtitled conversation (the article is in Hebrew, just scroll to the first embedded vid), where an IDF officer is offering the Shifa hospital manager to place at the entrance to the building 37 incubators and 4 respirators for the kids and babies. The officer also vows to the manager to help protect as much as possible the patients, wards and staff in the hospital. During the conversation, the offer is accepted, but the IDF says later it was rejected. As I can't see who would outrank the hospital manager, I'm guessing the "No" came from Hamas.

Rockets continue to be fired into Israel. Today, a rocket barrage at Tel Aviv, at a kids playground, left one person seriously wounded, and two moderately.

Thank you so much to the Israeli Nonnie who sent me this vid. Yes, that is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned in my update yesterday, this is Hamas attacking Palestinians in order to take over this aid truck and get all of the food for themselves (the relevant footage starts 11 seconds in):

Jeremy Corbyn, the man who could have been the British Prime Minister, and who British Jews called out on antisemitism, was interviewed by Piers Morgan. He was asked 15 (arguably 16) times to answer the question whether Hamas is a terrorist group, but refused to give a reply.

I was listening to this interview with Ella Keinan (it's in Hebrew), an Israeli travel vlogger, who has started posting about the Israeli POV since Oct 8. She didn't say anything I didn't know, but I thought the way she phrased things was powerful, so allow me to translate:

They created a brand called Free Palestine, which is not actually freeing the Palestinians and giving them what they want, but under this brand it's possible to do anything nowadays, it's possible to rape, it's possible to slaughter, it's possible to kidnap, it's possible to abuse, to kill, it's possible to hurt and kill Jews in LA, it's possible to attack them at universities, and you'll still be applauded. Meaning, you'll still be popular. That's how powerful this brand is.

Meanwhile, Israel's foreign diplomacy has officially been shut down due to a lack of budget. A lot of government offices are being shut down, and their budget is being re-directed to help the evacuated, the families of the murdered, the injured, financially supporting people whose businesses have collapsed, compensating those whose homes were destroyed by Palestinian rockets. So when you hear people dismissing regular Israelis' posts as paid propaganda by the Israeli government... what a fucking joke, Israel can't even currently pay professionals in this field, let alone regular people.

This is 19 years old Noa Marziano.

Yesterday, Hamas published a vid of her as a hostage. The Israeli media refused to cooperate with the psychological warfare, no one published it. Today, the IDF was able to confirm that Noa was murdered in captivity.

This is 12 years old Liel Hetzroni.

Her mother Shira, after gaving birth to her and her twin brother, suffered brain damage, and couldn't take care of her kids, so they were raised by their grandparents. Liel's grandfather and brother's bodies were already found. Today, after having been missing for 38 days, Liel's death was also pronounced.

This is 75 years old Vivien Silver.

She was a peace activists. Among other things, she used to volunteer her time driving Gazans to medical treatments in Israel. She was thought to be kidnapped in Gaza, but today her body was identified.

May their memories be a blessing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[twistiraki]

🎀Headcanons how Twisted Wonderland boys met you and what kind of family you'd have 🎀 Ignihyde and Diasomnia

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗ TᗯIᔕTEᗪ ᗯOᑎᗪEᖇᒪᗩᑎᗪ Characters Leona, Ruggie, Jack, Azul, Jade, Floyd x F!Reader Warnings none ‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗

💀Idia Shroud

Idia and Y/n's paths crossed at an anime convention where they both shared a love for games and geek culture. Y/n donned a cosplay of one of Idia's favorite game characters, catching his eye instantly. Nervously, he mustered the courage to ask for a photo, and to his delight, Y/n gladly agreed with a bright smile. However, underneath his hoodie, Y/n noticed a faint glow, and her curiosity was piqued. Blushing and feeling anxious, Idia admitted that it was not a cosplay but his actual, blue flamy hair. Y/n found him even more exciting and beautiful, and without hesitation, she asked him on a date. Idia tried to deny it, but his heart had already been stolen by her charm. Unable to resist, he agreed.

Idia and Y/n are blessed with two wonderful children. Their daughter, Lyra, has inherited her father's shy and withdrawn nature, but with Y/n's gentle encouragement, she blossoms into a confident and creative young girl. Their son, Darius, is the spitting image of Idia, with the same blue flamy hair and sharp teeth. He shares his father's enthusiasm for gaming and engineering, and together with Y/n's support, he excels in both fields.

🐉Malleus Draconia:

Y/n worked as a knowledgeable guide at an old castle with intricate gargoyles. She, a knowledgeable guide, led tours and noticed Malleus returning again and again. He couldn't resist coming back for her tours, enchanted by both the castle's beauty and Y/n's expertise. On the third tour, she couldn't help but recognize his unique horns. Intrigued, she asked him what fascinated him so much about the tour, and Malleus couldn't resist sharing that he was captivated by the castle's most beautiful gargoyle – Y/n herself. As they exchanged stories and knowledge, their hearts connected like magic. To express his gratitude, Malleus invited Y/n to his palace, where she was not only in awe of the magnificent gargoyles but also utterly charmed by Malleus's princely demeanor. It was love at first sight, and their hearts were forever intertwined in a fairy-tale romance.

Malleus and Y/n are proud parents to four lovely daughters. Each girl possesses a unique blend of her parents' traits. The eldest, Aviv, takes after her father's calm and respectful demeanor, often displaying her magical talents with grace. The second daughter, Aurelia, shares her father's yearning for connection with others, and she has a caring and nurturing nature. The third daughter, Aspen, shows signs of Malleus' naive and childish side, bringing joy and laughter to the family. Lastly, the youngest daughter, Arun, is fiercely protective, just like her father, especially when it comes to her sisters.

🦇Lilia Vanrouge

Y/n's dreams came true as she performed on stage with her new metal band. Amidst the electrifying music and energy of the crowd, she noticed a guy in the audience with an infectious smile, singing along to her solo. Their eyes met, and in that moment, time seemed to stand still. Feeling a connection like never before, Y/n impulsively took off her bracelet and playfully tossed it to him. With a wink, he caught it, stealing her heart in the process. After the show, Lilia approached Y/n backstage, returning the bracelet with a cheeky smile. However, he had a mischievous request – he wanted a date with the talented and enchanting rockstar Y/n. Flattered and blushing, Y/n happily agreed, and their love story became history.

Lilia and Y/n's family is a harmonious blend of both biological and adoptive children. Their biological son, Goldewin, is playful and friendly like his father, and he loves teasing his brother and friends. Silver, Lilia's adoptive son, has found a loving home and a caring mother figure in Y/n. Together, the family creates a warm and inviting atmosphere, filled with laughter and camaraderie.

💤Silver

Y/n's pet bunny escaped in the park, and she frantically searched for him. Panicking, she searched everywhere until a sweet and gentle boy with shimmering white hair appeared, holding her furry friend in his arms. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Y/n insisted on showing her thanks, but Silver simply smiled and declined any reward. Instead, he expressed that helping her was enough. Impressed by his kindness and adorable airheaded nature, Y/n insisted on repaying his kindness with a cup of tea at her home. As they sipped tea and shared stories, their hearts warmed, and Y/n discovered that Silver was not only a kind soul but also the missing piece to her heart's puzzle.

Silver and Y/n embrace the joys and challenges of raising triplets. Their daughters, Marin and Kathrine, have inherited their father's serious and reserved demeanor, but they also show glimpses of Y/n's thoughtful and caring nature. The youngest son, Kayden, takes after Silver's airheaded moments but has a strong sense of responsibility like his mother. The family shares a deep bond, and Silver is particularly cautious and protective of his children, ensuring their safety with unwavering dedication.

⚡Sebek Zigvolt

Y/n's path crossed with Sebek's in a hilarious mishap. He accidentally tackled her to the ground, assuming she was a threat to his dear Liege Malleus. Though Y/n was perfectly fine, Sebek's genuine concern touched her heart. Amused by his hot-blooded and prideful nature, she reassured him, but he couldn't believe it. From that day on, whenever Y/n had something to do in Briar Valley, she would catch glimpses of Sebek trying to help, with endearing and poor results. To try to make the damage less as possible, Y/n decided to invite him on a tour of the romantic spots in Briar Valley. Sebek was over the moon with excitement, and as they explored together, their hearts raced with laughter and love.

Sebek's household is full of energy and passion with his three children. His son, Kai, is a mirror image of his father, proudly displaying Sebek's traits and taking on the role of the family's protector. His elder daughter, Anaya, has inherited Sebek's loud and prideful nature, while his younger daughter, Poppy, balances it with Y/n's gentle and honest qualities. As a father, Sebek encourages his children to be true to themselves and embraces their individuality. The family's love and respect for each other create a lively and dynamic atmosphere in their home.

You can find the other parts here! Hearstlabyul Savanaclaw/Octavinelle Scarabia/Pomefiore Ignihyde/Diasomnia (You are here)

[blueiscoool]

1,700-Year-Old Coin Hoard Reveals Details About 4th-Century Jewish Uprising

Many of the silver and bronze coins were minted during the Gallus Revolt during the Roman era.

A hoard of 1,700-year-old coins found in Israel provides new evidence about the last known Jewish revolt against Roman rule.

Archaeologists found the hidden coins while conducting excavations inside the remains of a newly discovered public building dating to the Late Roman-Early Byzantine period in Lod (also known as Lydda), a city in what is now central Israel that the Romans renamed "Diospolis," according to a statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

Despite the building having "suffered violent destruction" at the time of the revolt, its surviving foundation protected 94 silver and bronze coins dating to between A.D. 221 and 354. Whoever's stash it was, they likely "deliberately placed" it inside the building in hopes of returning to collect it when the situation calmed down, according to the statement.

"This is essentially an emergency hoard, meaning a hoard that people hide in anticipation of a catastrophic event," Mor Viezel, an excavator with the IAA, said in a translated video.

Many of the coins were struck during the Gallus Revolt (A.D. 351 to 354), a tumultuous time when Jews rebelled against the rule of Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus, the half-nephew of Constantine the Great (the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity) and ruler of the Roman Empire's eastern provinces at the time. Lod was just one of several Jewish communities that revolted as the Romans "burned and destroyed" several cities' buildings, according to the video.

Other cities that were attacked include Tiberias and Sepphoris, Viezel added. By the time of the Gallus Revolt, Jews in Judaea had been revolting against Roman rule for hundreds of years. During the First Jewish-Roman War (A.D. 66 to 70), the Romans destroyed the Second Temple, and later during the Bar Kokhba Revolt (A.D. 132 to 135), the Romans crushed the Jewish resistance that was fighting for an independent state.

"This building, destroyed down to its very foundation, is a clear indication that the revolt was forcefully put down with violence and cruelty, and was not simply a local uprising event as some earlier studies contended," IAA excavator Shahar Krispin and Viezel said in the statement. "From Talmudic writings we know that Lod was a most significant [Jewish] center in the aftermath of the Second Temple's destruction in Jerusalem."

In addition to the coins, researchers found "impressive stone and marble artifacts" containing Greek, Hebrew and Latin inscriptions. One item, which is currently being studied further, mentions the name of "a Jewish man from a priestly family."

However, it's unclear how Jews used the building before it was destroyed in the revolt. "It is difficult to determine if this magnificent building served as [a] synagogue, study hall, meeting hall of the elders or all three of these functions as one," Joshua Schwartz, a professor and chair of the IAA, said in the statement.

The findings will be presented at the Central Israel Region Archaeological Conference in Tel Aviv on June 20.

By Jennifer Nalewicki.

[pwlanier]

A Silver and Copper Purim Grogger, Moshe Smilovici, Tel-Aviv, Circa, 1945

Hammered copper handle and frame, engraved in Hebrew: "cursed Haman, blessed Mordechai", on the front, and in the back is engraved "Haman and all the members of his household on the gallows were hung" . A Silver plaque depicting a seated Mordechai and the horse, are soldered to the grogger and decorated with an encasement of semi-precious stone.

Moshe Smilovici, 1912-1962, a Tel Aviv silver and goldsmith, who worked in silver, sometimes enhanced with niello or gems.

Appel Auctions

[ingek73]

Interview

Michael Moore on how Harris-Walz can defeat Trump: ‘Do weird and cringe until the debate, then nail him’

Edward Helmore

Progressive film-maker says he’s more optimistic than he’s ever been since Trump announced first run eight years ago

Thu 15 Aug 2024 11.00 BST

With Joe Biden looking for re-election Democrats feared they were looking at an electoral catastrophe. Now, with Biden dropping out and Vice-President Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, it suddenly feels like it is Donald Trump who is staring at possible defeat.

The liberal film-maker and Democratic whisperer Michael Moore says he’s more optimistic than he has ever been since Trump stepped on to the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his first run for the presidency eight years ago.

“This isn’t just a sugar-high or what [recovering] heroin addicts call a pink cloud,” Moore says. “It was so depressing for so many weeks and then it was instantly not depressing. I am hopeful now but it’s ours to blow – and we have a history of blowing it.”

Moore, 70, has in recent years become something of an electoral sage. He predicted Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, in part because of the sense of political-cultural superiority Democrats emanated and because he had noticed that the campaign was fearful of inspiring Maga supporters. He predicted, too, that Democrats would buck the trend and be fine in the 2022 midterms.

In this election cycle he is in some ways in line with the pollster Nate Silver, who recently said that “the strategy of the Harris campaign should be to triangulate the strategy of Hillary 2016, the Harris 2020 primary campaign, and Biden 2024, and do the exact opposite.”

But Moore says he understands why Democrats are nervous that the Harris-Walz ticket could come apart, though it shows no current signs of doing so, particularly if Harris gets tarred with Biden’s unpopular “Bidenomics” or responsibility for his full-throated support of Israel’s war in Gaza.

“Biden, sadly, is going to be remembered for funding the war in Gaza and providing the armaments to Netanyahu, not arms for protecting Israel, but extra money to kill Palestinian civilians,” Moore says. He remains “saddened and surprised” that Biden, who had refused to meet Netanyahu last September, flew to Tel Aviv after the 7 October Hamas cross-border attack and hugged him.

“You can say what’s in a hug?” he says. “But ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce Neville Chamberlain to you. It doesn’t take much for history to see that in the moment you needed to display courage you did the opposite.”

But he’s cautiously optimistic that Harris is signaling a change of direction. She did not pick as expected the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, who had harshly called out student protesters against the war in Gaza and settled a former employee’s claim that she was sexually harassed by a senior aide.

Harris, he applauds, went against the conventional wisdom, upending the predictions of many TV pundits, and chose “this guy from the midwest, a football coach who had offered to be adviser to the gay student group. It’s pretty stunning.”

And while as vice-president Harris has no power to speak against Biden on Israel, Harris has made her feelings plain. She declined to sit in on Netanyahu’s address to Congress, which echoed Pope Urban II’s 1095 call for the first crusade, instead traveling to a Zeta Phi Beta sorority meeting in Indianapolis.

“Couldn’t they have made up something that sounded important with foreign policy attached to it? No, She’s busy at a sorority meeting … and she refused the traditional diplomatic “grip-and-grin” after meeting with Netanyahu. It was very public.”

The first days of the Harris-Walz ticket have shown precisely the change of direction that Moore has argued for. The ominous but complicated “threat to democracy” anti-Trump platform has been dropped for “threat to freedom”. Trump’s folk story confabulations resist fact-checking, so that’s been refined to a kind of medieval textual charm, “weird”.

Jibes over JD Vance’s “couch capers” and eyeliner discussions work in much the same way. What Harris-Walz are doing is much as Moore advocated when he offered the Clinton campaign “satirical support” to come up with lines that would get under Trump’s thin skin, especially in a televised debate.

“I think I’m going to see what I was hoping for for eight years,” he says. “Once anybody gets under that thin skin anything can happen. On live TV? Trump could explode, start talking like a 12-year-old, though no offense to 12-year-olds, or get up and leave.”

But didn’t Democrats bet on the Biden-Trump debate being a success? And the Trump prosecution in New York? The Republican candidate’s polling and fundraising went up after both.

“It’s a holding pattern until she gets on that stage with him. I understand why people are nervous it might be a sugar high but Harris and Walz are people of substance. They’re being slow and cautious enough to get it together. It’s just been a couple of weeks. They are going to have to tell us what they’re going to do and hopefully come up with the right thing. And there will be mistakes.”

As the Harris-Walz campaign “humanize” the ticket it is clear that the November election represents, on the Democratic side, a generational shift.

“I’m so happy to hear Gen Z and X are over half the vote because it’s called facts and data,” Moore says, pointing out that the number of boomers over 65 who have died since 2016 is exceeded by Gen Z and millennials who have become eligible to vote. “How many of them do you think are going around in hats saying Make America Great Again”? They’ve never known it to be “great”, let alone “again”.

“It’s not just a cultural shift – it’s a generational shift. The boomers may not be the No 1 voters in this election. And that’s why Gaza is so important. Young people hate war and they’re totally against Biden and his support of the war.” Harris, he says, needs to tap into “affordable housing, student debt, peace and the dying planet”.

His prescription? “Do weird and cringe until the debate and then nail him,” Moore said. “But nail him with irony, satire and a simple way to point out the beyond weird absolute idiocy and insanity of what these two men are talking about. Reach them on a commonsense level so it doesn’t matter if you’re Democrat or Republican.”

“Once anybody gets under that thin skin anything can happen. On live TV? Trump could explode, start talking like a 12-year-old, though no offense to 12-year-olds, or get up and leave.”

[girlactionfigure]

Here’s what you need to know about the situation in Israel, and it’s really all you need to know. Israel evacuated 10,000 Jewish families from Gaza. Not one Jew left there. Israel handed Gaza to the Palestinians on a silver platter and said “Here you go. It’s time for peace. Take this land and make a state.” Half of the Israeli politicians didn’t support that move and everyone agreed that if one rocket falls in Israel, Gaza will be taken back. Since then, tens of thousands of rockets have rained down on Israeli cities. As for today, Palestinians are firing endless rockets into densely populated areas like Tel Aviv as we speak, and maybe even worse than that, they’re firing them from densely popular areas in Gaza so when Israel retaliates, innocent Palestinians will suffer. There. Now you know the situation.

@hilzfuld

[hannahherzberg]

Silver Trash Ballons, Tel Aviv January 2024

[spot-the-antisemitism]

Got one for you.

socalgal repeatedly shares pro-terrorist and antisemitic rhetoric on her blog.

Here's one where she shares the Houthi's response to Israel responding to their attack in Tel Aviv. https://www.tumblr.com/socalgal/756577459294683136?source=share

Sharing posts that call certain attacks massacres and obfuscating/omitting that Hamas was active in civilian zones.

https://www.tumblr.com/socalgal/755943387090255873?source=share

Now, they do call out oxford comma, but that's the silver lining to them sharing stuff from fairuzfan and others.

UUMMM No everyone hates oxford comma because he's an islamophobic piece of shit this does nothing for her tankie credibility

really anon do you think that's a redeeming trait it's like hating trump

also she blocked me so no screenshot for you

[female-malice]

Vivian Silver, Missing Israeli-Canadian Peace Activist, Confirmed Killed in Oct 7 Hamas Attack

A founding member of the Israeli-Palestinian Women Wage Peace movement and other peace organizations, Vivian Silver was thought to have been kidnapped by Hamas and taken to the Gaza Strip

Judy Maltz and Haaretz | Nov 14, 2023

Vivian Silver, the veteran peace activist who was believed to be among the approximately 240 Israeli civilians and soldiers kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, is now confirmed to have been killed on the morning of the attack.

More than five weeks after the attacks, forensic experts informed Silver's family on Monday that they had successfully identified her remains.

A longtime member of Be’eri – one of the kibbutzim on the Gaza border invaded by dozens of Hamas terrorists on October 7 – Silver had volunteered for years to help Palestinian residents of Gaza in need of medical aid in Israel.

Silver, who had been widowed several years ago, lived alone in Be’eri. According to her son Yonatan Zeigen, she was last heard from Saturday morning at 11:07 A.M. Before that, she notified friends and family that she was hiding behind a closet in her safe room.

“First we spoke by phone, but then when we heard the gunshots getting closer, we decided it was best to move to text messaging,” he told Haaretz.

In his last message to his mother, Zeigen recounted, he wrote “I’m with you.”

“I feel you,” she responded.

Describing his mother as “a very resilient person,” he relayed that in their last phone conversation, she joked that she had not brought a knife with her into the safe room. “For us, that was funny because my mom was such a pacifist,” he said.

Zeigen, who lives in Tel Aviv, had planned to come with his family to Be’eri for the weekend in order to spend the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah with his mother. “In our phone conversation, we both said how fortunate it was that I hadn’t come,” he relayed.

Silver’s other son Chen lives in Connecticut.

The 74-year-old, born in Winnipeg, immigrated to Israel 50 years ago with Habonim Dror, a Socialist Zionist youth movement. She was among a group of young North Americans who helped found Kibbutz Gezer in central Israel.

A grandmother of four, Silver moved from Gezer to Be’eri with her family in 1990 and has lived there ever since. She was a founding member of the Israeli-Palestinian Women Wage Peace movement, which was established in late 2014 after the last major war in Gaza.

Just a few days before her kibbutz was overrun by terrorists, Silver had participated in a march that Women Wage Peace holds each year during the Sukkot holiday.

In an interview with Haaretz six years ago, after yet another round of fighting between Israel and Gaza had ended in a truce, she said: “With what’s happening now, I think our message is more timely than ever. The only way to bring all this violence to an end is by negotiating a peace agreement. This cease-fire may last a few weeks or a few months, but until the two sides sit down and talk, it’s not going to be over.”

Silver was particularly active in promoting equality for the Bedouin communities in southern Israel, located not far from her own kibbutz. She served as the co-CEO – together with Amal al-Sana – of The Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation, which promotes shared society among Jews and Arabs in Israel and peacemaking efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.

Among her various volunteer activities over the years, Silver was an active member of Road to Recovery, an organization that helps transport patients from Gaza to hospitals in Israel so that they can receive proper medical care.

She had decided to immigrate to Israel after spending her junior year abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1974, a day after she completed her final exams at university in Canada, she boarded a one-way flight back to Israel.

In 1981, Silver founded a department promoting gender equality within the kibbutz movement, and she later served on the board of the New Israel Fund.

In 1998, she was appointed executive director of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development in Beersheba. Until the outbreak of the second intifada in the early 2000s, she traveled to Gaza frequently as a participant in various people-to-people peacemaking initiatives.

Colette Avital, a former diplomat and Knesset member who was friends with Silver, said, “Whenever and wherever I met her, she was always enthusiastic about some new idea, embracing some new initiative, always optimistic, always ready to help, always with a smile on her face.”

She continued, “I cannot help but think, to try to imagine what her last thoughts must have been, when she saw the men for whom she fought, the men she helped, come to brutally take away her life. And I cannot stop my tears. For her, for peace."

[britneyshakespearess]

2023 Recap

Goal: 35 books

Books read: 50 11 nonfiction 39 fiction

Pages read: 15,896

My 5 star reads (in order by which I read them):

The Winter of the Witch Katherine Arden

The Catcher in the Rye (reread) J.D. Salinger

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma Claire Dederer

Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros

The Anomaly Herve Le Tellier

White Wedding Kathleen J. Woods

We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival Natalie West (editor)

Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor

Jawbone Monica Ojeda

Acts of Desperation Megan Nolan

How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti

Educated Tara Westover

Sharks, Death, Surfers: an Illustrated Companion Melissa McCarthy

Minor Feelings Cathy Park Hong

Best book I read this year:

Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor

Worst book I read this year:

In the Woods Tana French

The books I thought I was going to love but didn't:

The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls

Idlewild James Frankie Thomas

Biography of X Catherine Lacey

How Music Works David Byrne

Bluebeard's Castle Anna Biller

The book I didn't expect to love but did:

Acts of Desperation Megan Nolan

How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti

The books I haven't stopped thinking about:

The Anomaly Herve Le Tellier White Wedding Kathleen J. Woods We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival Natalie West (editor) Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor

Jawbone Monica Ojeda Acts of Desperation Megan Nolan

How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti

Educated Tara Westover Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma Claire Dederer Nails and Eyes Kaori Fujino What Was She Thinking? Zoe Heller How to Blow Up a Pipeline Andreas Malm Treasure Island!!! Sara Levine Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh At the Edge of the Woods Kathryn Bromwich Lament for Julia Susan Taubes

The complete list and my ratings (in order by which I read them):

Ninth House Leigh Bardugo (reread) 4/5 Hell Bent Leigh Bardugo 3.5/5 The Winter of the Witch Katherine Arden 5/5 What Was She Thinking? Zoe Heller 4/5 Spells for Forgetting Adrienne Young 3/5 Elektra Jennifer Saint 3/5 How to Blow Up a Pipeline Andreas Malm 4.5/5 Now Is Not the Time to Panic Kevin Wilson 4.5/5 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger (reread) 5/5 Treasure Island!!! Sara Levine 4.5/5 The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World Malcom Gaskill 4/5 Milk Fed Melissa Broder 4.5/5 Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh 3.5/5 Bunny Mona Awad 3.5/5 Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma Claire Dederer 5/5 A Crack-Up at the Race Riots Harmony Korine 4/5 Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros 5/5 Delta of Venus Anais Nin 4.5/5 The Only One Left Riley Sager 4/5 Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us Rachel Aviv 4/5 The Anomaly Herve Le Tellier 5/5 A Court of Silver Flames Sarah J. Maas 4/5 At the Edge of the Woods Kathryn Bromwich 4.5/5 How Music Works David Byrne 3.5/5 Call Them by Their True Names: American Crises Rebecca Solnit 3/5 Boy Parts Eliza Clark 4/5 White Wedding Kathleen J. Woods 5/5 Lament for Julia Susan Taubes 4.5/5 In the Woods Tana French 2/5 Biography of X Catherine Lacey 4/5 The Near Witch Victoria Schwab 4/5 Divine Rivals Rebecca Ross 4.5/5 We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival Natalie West (editor) 5/5 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 5/5 Starling House Alix E. Harrow 3/5 Nails and Eyes Kaori Fujino 4.5/5 Jawbone Monica Ojeda 5/5 Small Favors Erin A. Craig. 3/5 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 4/5 Bluebeard's Castle Anna Biller 3.5/5 Iron Flame Rebecca Yarros 4.5/5 Acts of Desperation Megan Nolan 5/5 How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti 5/5 Educated Tara Westover 5/5 The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls 3.5/5 Idlewild James Frankie Thomas 4/5 The Guest List Lucy Foley 4/5 Ruthless Vows Rebecca Ross 4/5 Sharks, Death, Surfers: an Illustrated Companion Melissa McCarthy 5/5 Minor Feelings Cathy Park Hong 5/5

[charlottefinn]

It’s the third Monday in May.

Superman sat on top of the mountain that he had built, in a temporary high-backed chair that he dug out of the ice. He leaned back his head, closed his eyes and listened. He listened for everything. He turned on his full super-hearing, not simply the directed senses that he had trained himself to use in homing in on random conversations or on the noise of a distant underground rumble before the Earth moved somewhere. He turned on the whole thing, and in a moment he realized that he had never done this before.

From his perch at the top of the world Superman heard the clatter of trains making their ways among the towns of central Europe, the hissing of a cobra in the basket of a Pakistani fakir, the tuning sounds of the Boston Pops Orchestra and the orchestra of a high school in La Paz as respectively they rehearsed “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and the Second Brandenburg Concerto. A geyser bubbled below the surface of Colorado. A company of humpback whales howled an ecstatic, intricate symphony whose orchestration stretched for half the width of the Indian Ocean. Quintillions of snails dragged quintillions of jellied tails over the surface of quintillions of leaves.

The slap-slapping of a runner’s feet against the outskirts of Kampala made a perfect syncopated rhythm with the singing of a thrush in Singapore. When the thrush stopped for a moment, the runner would stop for a gulp of water from his wineskin. When the runner stepped up his pace, the thrush soared into a new rhythm, as though the man in Africa and the bird in Asia were following signals from the same conductor.

The wind-songs ripping through the Andes made a counterpoint for the wagging tails of the dogs in the Bide-A-Wee Animal Shelter on the south shore of Long Island.

An ant’s breath, as it struggled to press a cake crumb up a centimeter and a half high hill in Bali, traced the precise pattern of the whirring of a machine mixing cavity filling in the office of a dentist in Tel Aviv.

The hums of all the beehives and all the Xerox copiers in all the world together created an eerily beautiful collection of sound that clearly constituted a fugue.

An angry golfer in Palm Beach, when he smashed his putter against a tree, compensated for the drummer in the Sussex disco band who missed a beat.

Then something even more remarkable happened. There was a flutter of flying fish in the Caribbean west of Bermuda whipping past the cruise ship Raffaelo. Together, in a pattern whose precision Superman could now begin to notice, they flashed out of the water and splashed back in, soared up, fluttered, tumbled back, broke the water again. And as they arced through the sky two of the fish hit the hull of the Raffaelo and broke their part of the pattern. A line of people who applauded as they watched the fish performance from the liner’s rail did not even notice the falling out of the two members of the school. And as Superman heard, from his icy throne, the sound of the pair of flying fish splashing clumsily into the sea, a few chunks of ice chipped off the rest under his heavy arm and scattered down the hill, making a noise comparable in quality to the noise of a flying fish duet fluttering on the wind and splashing into the Caribbean.

Superman was part of the song.

He had an instrument in the orchestra of this Earth.

He was not, in the overall scheme of things, an outsider.

He listened to the world, sitting in one of its most desolate spots, and he began to put together the pieces. He heard the howls of wolves, the roiling of cyclones, the bouncing of children’s balls, the sounds of his own digestive system, the clicking of the mandibles of ticks attaching themselves to the skins of dogs’ ears: everything, working together to create an ineffable symphony.

Maybe Superman, today, was the first one ever to hear the music that Earth made in totality. Maybe, on the other hand, every human who ever composed a concerto, wrote a song, whistled a tune, or listened intently to the heartbeat of a woman carrying a child had heard the song of the Earth in his or her own peculiar set of perceptions. Maybe Pythagoras, Mozart and McCartney had heard the song, had spent their lives trying in their primitive ways to imitate it. Maybe every whippoorwill and meadowlark Superman heard today was imitating the Earth as well. Maybe that was what Superman had been doing – bouncing to the rhythm of this planet that teemed with life and melody, ever since the day he first arrived on Earth.

- from Miracle Monday by Eliot S! Maggin

I know that in part, my fondness for the Bronze Age era of Superman is due to my age; I came up on Blue Ribbon digests full of stories from that whole stretch of pre-Crisis continuity from the 60s on to the mid-1980s. They imprinted on me as surely as your favorite interpretation imprinted on you.

But I don’t understand how anyone could love this character and not find something to contemplate in this lovely passage from Miracle Monday, where Superman takes a breath to mourn the loss of his other self Clark Kent, to listen to the symphony of life on Earth, and to prepare to rise and stare down the Devil for the most precious thing in all of creation: a single innocent life.

[blueiscoool]

Very Rare Half-Shekel Coin From Year Three of the Great Revolt Discovered

Recent excavations by archaeologists from the Hebrew University in the Ophel area south of the Temple Mount uncovered the remains of a monumental public building from the Second Temple period that was destroyed in 70 CE.

Numerous Jewish coins, the majority of which were bronze, from the Great Revolt (66-70 CE) were discovered in the destruction layer. This collection also contained a particularly uncommon and rare discovery: a silver coin with a half-shekel denomination that dates to around 69/70 CE.

The Great Revolt was the first of several uprisings against the Roman Empire by the Jewish population of Judea.

The revolt was in response to the Romans’ increasing religious tensions and high taxation, which resulted in the looting of the Second Temple and the arrest of senior Jewish political and religious figures. A large-scale rebellion overran the Roman garrison in Judea, forcing the pro-Roman King Herod Agrippa II to abandon Jerusalem.

A coin discovered in the ruins of a Second Temple-era building was most likely used to pay an annual tax for worship at the site; most coins of this type are bronze.

The dig was carried out by a team from the Hebrew University, led by Prof. Uzi Leibner of the Institute of Archaeology, in partnership with the Herbert W. Armstrong College in Edmond, Oklahoma, and with the support of the East Jerusalem Development Company, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The rare coin was cleaned at the conservation laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology and identified by Dr. Yoav Farhi, the team’s numismatic expert and curator of the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.

“This is the third coin of this type found in excavations in Jerusalem, and one of the few ever found in archeological excavations,” said the researchers.

During the Great Revolt against Rome, the Jews in Jerusalem minted bronze and silver coins. Most of the silver coins featured a goblet on one side, with ancient Hebrew script above it noting the year of the Revolt. Depending on its denomination, the coins also included an inscription around the border noting either, “Israel Shekel,” “Half-Shekel,” or “Quarter-Shekel.” The other side of these coins showcased a branch with three pomegranates, surrounded by an inscription in ancient Hebrew script, “Holy Jerusalem.”

Throughout the Roman era the authority to produce silver coins was reserved solely for the emperor. During the Revolt, the minting of coins, especially those made of silver, was a political statement and an expression of national liberation from Roman rule by the Jewish rebels. Indeed, throughout the Roman period leading up to the Great Revolt, no silver coins were minted by Jews, not even during the rule of King Herod the Great.

According to the researchers, half-shekel coins (which had an average weight of 7 grams) were also used to pay the “half-shekel” tax to the Temple, contributed annually by every Jewish adult male to help cover the costs of worship.

Dr. Farhi explained, “Until the revolt, it was customary to pay the half-shekel tax using good-quality silver coins minted in Tyre in Lebanon, known as ‘Tyrean shekels’ or ‘Tyrean half-shekels.’ These coins held the image of Herakles-Melqart, the principal deity of Tyre, and on the reverse they featured an eagle surrounded by a Greek inscription, ‘Tyre the holy and city of refuge.’ Thus, the silver coins produced by the rebels were intended to also serve as a replacement for the Tyrean coins, by using more appropriate inscriptions and replacing images (forbidden by the Second Commandment) with symbols. The silver coins from the Great Revolt were the first and the last in ancient times to bear the title ‘shekel.’ The next time this name was used was in 1980, on Israeli Shekel coins produced by the Bank of Israel.”

The precious silver coins are thought to have been minted inside the Temple complex, according to a Monday statement from the Armstrong Institute.

[finishinglinepress]

FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: Kinship by Maxim D. Shrayer

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Maxim D. Shrayer, bilingual author, scholar, and translator, was born in Moscow in 1967 to a Jewish-Russian family and immigrated to the United States in 1987. A professor at Boston College, Shrayer has authored and edited more than twenty-five books. His recent poetry collections include the Russian-language Stikhi iz aipada (Poems from the iPad, Tel Aviv, 2022) and the English-language Of Politics and Pandemics (Boston, 2020). Among Shrayer’s other books are the literary memoirs Waiting for America, Leaving Russia, and Immigrant Baggage. He is the recipient of a 2007 National Jewish Book Award and a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Dr. Karen E. Lasser, their daughters, Mira Isabella and Tatiana Rebecca, and their silver Jewdle, Stella. #Jewish #Russian #Soviet #poetry #book #history

PRAISE FOR Kinship by Maxim D. Shrayer

“Maxim D. Shrayer‘s new collection radiates the sad airy warmth of a home lost but never forgotten. There is a gentle, inviting glow to the poems, though the light they shed often lands on tragedy. With Kinship, Shrayer has expanded his place in the pantheon of émigré lyricists.”

–Boris Dralyuk, author of My Hollywood, poems and translator of Isaac Babel’s Odessa Stories.

“In Kinship the poet Maxim D. Shrayer takes on our troubled times—including COVID-19, January 6th, the Russian invasion of Ukraine—as well as troubled past times, gracing these events with his honesty, sorrow, and multi-cultural perspective. Born in Moscow to a Jewish-Russian family, then immigrating to America, Shrayer comes to these moments with sensitivity and a unique eye. He sees bats at sunset as “ugly, soft, and fast/ like old snapshots of the Soviet past,” and understands, even lives, “how time can history backward.” One is wiser for reading these poems, and richer for their beautiful language.”

–Elizabeth Poliner, author of What You Know in Your Hands, poems and As Close to Us as Breathing, a novel

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[laineystein]

What to expect at 🇮🇱Ben Gurion🇮🇱 Airport:

✈️ ARRIVING

When you get off the plane you will need to stop at the passport kiosks. They are not labeled. They’re the silver machines with screens to scan your passport. No one will tell you to use them but I highly suggest you stop and scan your passport. It will give you an entry pass. This will come in handy later.

Go down the ramp. I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this you do not hold Israeli citizenship, so you’ll want to stick to the right. It’s actually very well labeled. I say “actually” because things in Israel rarely are. This line will be much longer than the line for Israeli passport holders. Wait in it and deal with the merge/bottleneck situation that occurs before passport control.

At passport control you’re going to hand over your passport and your entry pass. If you don’t have an entry pass they’ll give you a dirty look so get the entry pass (at those inconspicuous scanners I mentioned earlier). Go up to the window with everyone in your party - if you don’t, they’ll ask you who you’re arriving with and then you’ll need to call those people up. They may then ask for some people in the party to step back as they ask one or only some people questions. Just answer their questions. Usually it’s brief, they give you your card and you’re on your way.

Out of passport control you’re immediately at more scanners that look like the passport kiosks I mentioned before (that I hope you stopped at!). You’ll scan the card passport control gives you, the gate will open, and you’re in baggage claim.

It’s the Wild West now. Grab your bags (can’t miss baggage claim or the screens assigning flights to belts). Declare things at customs if you need to (can’t miss the sign - it’ll be on your left as you’re heading out into the main area of the airport). Genuinely, once you’re through passport control things get much easier and it’s very easy to figure out. (Signage isn’t great in Israel but the signage we do have is in Hebrew, Arabic, and English so I have the utmost faith that you’ll be able to figure it out.)

Getting out of the airport - call a Gett or take the train to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem or wherever you’re staying. The airport train is decent but I don’t recommend it if you have a ton of luggage. If you’re taking a taxi, sometimes they’ll charge you extra for putting your luggage in the trunk so hold it on your lap, if possible.

Shalom! You’re in Israel.

✈️ DEPARTING

If you are not checking bags -> proceed to the line straight ahead. It will be shorter and no one will have big luggage. This is the line for people that are not checking luggage. [Skip to 3]

Assuming you are checking bags -> When you arrive to the airport to leave, look to where your airline is. There will be two long lines on either the left or the right. Go to the line that is nearest to your airline’s ticket counter.

Wait in the line. Sometimes it takes ten minutes, sometimes it takes an hour. This line is not for your airline — this line is interrogation 1/♾️. Do what you did in passport control: approach with whoever you’re traveling with and answer the questions they ask honestly. They may tell some of the party to step back so they can speak to specific people, just let them do their job. Their questions may feel a bit intrusive (Why did you come to Israel? Where did you stay? What is your relationship with the people you traveled with? Who packed your bags? What’s in your bags? Have you been to Israel before? Do you speak Hebrew? Do you have family in Israel? Do you belong to a temple?) but they exist for a reason. Once they find your answers satisfactory, they’ll put a sticker on the outside of your passport (We’ll come back to the sticker…)

For those who are checking bags -> After they put the sticker on your passport they’ll also put tags on the luggage you plan to check. Proceed to your airline’s ticket counter. Give them your passport. Put your bags on the belt to be weighed…all standard airline ticket counter checking bag business.

Proceed toward security. There will be two security lines. One of the left and one on the right. If you’re reading this, I can almost guarantee you’ll be in the lane on the left. The right is the line for Israel passport holders…the exception being any that have visited high threat countries recently or that the security agent felt needed more vetting. If you’re confused and want to make sure what lane you’re in, show an agent that handy dandy sticker. That number on the sticker will help them determine your lane.

The line on the left, because it’s typically non-Israelis, is always longer and always involves more questions and scanning. Wait in line. You get called up to an agent one at a time. We don’t take off shoes. We do put electronics and anything in pockets in a bin. We also require you to open your bags and let the agent look around. And by look around I mean they’ll shove an explosive trace detector (looks like a microphone) in your bag. If you have a suitcase, you’ll need to open your suitcase. Even though no one is right over your shoulder, you are still very much in view of everyone else so I don’t recommend having anything you don’t want anyone to see at the top of your suitcase. They may also ask you to move items so they can see what’s at the bottom…basically, pack with this in mind. I guarantee they do this with checked luggage as well but at least when it’s checked, the underwear I packed is being viewed in private.

Once they’ve deemed your packing to be sufficient they’ll bring your bin to the scanner and put it through. You push your bag through. Then you walk through the metal detector. The agent will be watching your items as they go through. They are watching while there is also a radar tech watching. If they proceed to ignore you, you’re good to go. I don’t know what to tell you if you get stopped for any reason…

Congrats! You’ve made it! Go to duty free! Daven at Chabad! Stop at what is likely to be your last kosher McDonald’s for awhile! Israel has thoroughly criticized and judged you in a way that only Israel can and you survived. Proud of you. 😏

[jewellboxx]

Works Cited

Popular:

“Antique and Vintage Jewellery Boxes.” AC Silver, www.acsilver.co.uk/shop/pc/Antique-Jewellery-Boxes-c182.htm#:~:text=Jewellery%20boxes%20were%20in%20common,to%20keep%20such%20items%20safe.

“#JewelBoxDiaries - a Brief History on the Jewellery Box.” Radiant Bay, 20 May 2017, www.radiantbay.com/blogs/ornamentals/30198529-jewelboxdiaries-a-brief-history-on-the-jewellery-box.

Elliott, Amy. Intriguing Origins and History of the Jewelry Box Revealed in New Book. 16 Mar. 2020, www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/history-of-the-jewelry-box.

Scholarly:

Ben-Tor, Amnon. “A Decorated Jewellery Box From Hazor.” Tel Aviv, vol. 36, no. 1, Routledge, June 2009, pp. 5–67. https://doi.org/10.1179/204047809x439442.

“Antique Jewellery and Trinkets.” Google Books, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SoxCAQAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=victorian+era+jewel+box&ots=qpxfYhIwjo&sig=F8EsBA2tIijBWDGT5QwDpYfUT4A#v=onepage&q=victorian%20era%20jewel%20box&f=false.