Beauty Queen of Jerusalem and Some News Comments

We just finished watching  The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem Israeli Season  2.  Wow.  It was intense.  

Beauty Queen is an Israeli historical fiction series that follows the Ermosa  family - a Sephardi Jewish family living in pre-independence Israel.  Part one of the series originally aired in Israel in 2021 - as a 44 part series.  Each episode was about a half-hour long.

Over the first season, the show moved back and forth between earlier and later decades, which some viewers apparently found too confusing.  The series was still a big hit in Israel and Netflix picked it up in late 2021.  Netflix divided the first season into two season of 10 episodes each - of just under one hour in length - and of course added subtitles.  At first, Netflix only released the first 10 episodes but I believe the "second season" was subsequently released.  However, Netflix did  not release it all over the world - only in certain countries.

Last year, we watched the first Netflix season, which made up one half of the first Israeli season - about  20-25 of the 44 episodes, which Netflix edited and turned into 10 episodes of about an hour each.

We were determined  to see  the rest so we found a way to watch the series on YesTV in Israel  - but that meant no English subtitles.  I guess my  Hebrew got a chance to improve somewhat.  In order  to see everything - we had to start watching at about episode 18 and watched through the original 44. 

The series is based on a book by Sarit Yishai-Levi.  I have the book but I admit I have not read it yet, though I probably will very soon.  The first full season - (the first two Netflix seasons) run from pre-World War I to approximately  1940.  The cast is a who's who of Israeli acting including Michael Aloni (one of the main stars of Shtisel), Itzik Cohen (Captain Ayub in Fauda), and a range of other excellent actors including, in particular, Hila Saada (as Rosa), Swell Ariel Or (as the  brilliant Luna), Irit Kaplan (as Mercada) and several others.

The  series deals with a variety of themes and sub-plots.  One constant is the historic backdrop.   The  series follows the  development of the State of  Israel  before  1948 - while it was under Ottoman and  then British  control.  At first, the Ermosa family, like everyone else in the Ottoman area, is seen managing and dealing with the  Turks and Turkish authorities. Following  World War I, this  transitions to British rule and authority.  By the end of  Israeli series II (the latest parts),  we are  at approximately 1943/44 - and still under British control.

A key part of the series is the  story of the  Ermosa family - and its struggles as a family.  Perhaps one  might characterize some of this as "soap opera" type content, including infidelity, dysfunctional spousal relationships, love, parenting, the relationship to religion, gender equality issues and limitations in this time period.   But we found it extremely compelling.  The actors were sincere and believable.  The drama was intense though some episodes were  particularly violent.  Others were emotionally draining.  We couldn't stop watching.

This year, YesTV released the next 26 episodes.   This  will  probably all make up about one season on Netflix when it is eventually released of perhaps 10-13 episodes of one hour each or so.  For  now it is only available in Hebrew so we had to watch it on "Yes On Demand," which we have as part of our cable  package.

We finished it this week.  It was simply intense, emotional, well-acted and thought provoking.  For the newest season, YES changed the format and eliminated the back and forth.  It is now mainly chronological and less confusing that way.  The new season continues the old season themes but also deals with some very difficult issues - including domestic violence, the relationship between the growing Jewish community in Pre-Israel Palestine and the British (including some harsh looks at the "Lehi" group), Jewish-Arab relations during this time period, religious issues, and other related issues, all against a backdrop of World War II  and the horrors taking place in other parts of the world.

I am not going to do a detailed plot analysis here or provide any spoilers but I would say that I think it ranks up at the very top of Israeli productions that I have seen.  I will also say (and this is not intended to be a spoiler) that there are some scenes that are extremely violent, that there is a great deal of tension throughout the series.  The show is emotionally wrenching and draining.  But isn't that what you would want to say about a great production?

Israeli News

I don't intend to provide ongoing details of everything going on in Israel - I would have to become a full time news outlet to do that - and I do have another career....

But here are my few noteworthy items....

The Israeli army fought some of the biggest  battles it has fought in recent times today in Jenin.  It faced significant resistance  from a range of armed Palestinian groups while seeking to arrest some alleged terrorists.  Several Israeli soldiers were wounded, some seriously - and a number of Palestinian fighters were  killed.  This may well be the start of a significant escalation for both sides in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). 

The Israeli Bar Association is  holding its elections tomorrow for a new president.  This has been making quite a bit of news, partially because of the current political landscape across the country.  Some 77,000 lawyers will be voting.  The candidate, who is apparently the current front-runner, is Amit Becher, a staunch opponent of the Levin-Rotman proposals to "reform" the  judicial system and someone who regularly speaks at protests in Tel-Aviv and across the country. Becher is the current interim leader.  His opponent is a former head of  the IBA, Efi Naveh.  Naveh is a supporter of Levin and Rotman.  He is also someone who has been convicted of border fraud -  and charged with a range of other offences including criminal sexual harassment.  (Those charges were  dropped because some of the evidence came from an illegal wiretapping of Naveh's  phone).  Perhaps it is no surprise that someone who has been convicted of a criminal offence is out there running as the biggest supporter of a government that is full of convicts, politicians facing charges - and a leader in the midst of a major criminal trial.  The good news (from my perspective) is that it seems likely that Naveh will suffer a significant loss.  The polls could be wrong and I guess we will see soon.

The current Israeli government continues to flounder around - like a game of Whack-A-Mole.  It seems that every few days, the government has to deal with a crisis emanating from a statement or action of one of its coalition members.  Last week, the government faced a secret vote in the Knesset over who to appoint to the Judicial Committee (charged with appointing judges in Israel).  Netanyahu decided to pull his candidates and have nobody elected.  (To help  his own political maneuvering) One of his own Likud party members Tali Gottlieb, decided to run anyways against Netanyahu's wishes. She failed to get the votes which was quite embarrassing for the coalition.  On the other hand - the Yesh Atid (opposition candidate) Karine Elharrar won a seat, which means that several Likud members voted against their leadership in this secret ballot.  Netanyahu reacted by barring any meetings of the committee for an indefinite period.   So it is unclear when any judges will be appointed.  The whole thing was a major embarrassment for this current coalition - though not enough to jeopardize its governing status.

Apparently, the government intends to push ahead with plans to bring back its "judicial reform."  If they do proceed, I expect that we will see massive protests across the country.

Sports and Other Distractions

Just to finish off the news from my last post - as you might know, the Israeli national soccer team lost to Uruguay 1-0 in the semi-final of the U20 World Cup.  Uruguay went on to win by beating Italy.  Israel played a consolation game against South Korea and won 3-1, which meant third place and a bronze medal for the Israeli side.  This was a huge accomplishment for the Israeli team and for the Israeli national soccer program in general.  One of Israel's best international tournaments ever - if not the best.

I didn't really wind up watching  much of the Las Vegas-Florida NHL finals or of the Miami-Denver NBA finals.  From my perspective as a sports  fan, it is a pretty low time of the year now with all of these playoffs having concluded.  Sure the Blue Jays look pretty good  some nights - but no NFL until September (real games I mean), no NHL  until October etc.,  I guess this gives me the chance to catch up on my watching of  some great TV series, read some books, get lots of  work done - and maybe try to lose some  weight.  And of course play some games on the amazing site - boardgamearena.com - which has been expanding tremendously.  My latest favourite games include ArkNova, Barrage and several others.  I just wish they would add Brass Birmingham and a whole collection of Vital Lacerda games (Lisbon, Vinhos and others).

I should have time to come up with some interesting blogs in the coming months.  Wishing everyone a wonderful summer.

 

  

President Biden's Israel Visit, Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, Fiddler on the Roof in Hebrew and other comments

It has been quite a busy day in Israel for news stations, talk radio and Jerusalem commuters.  President Biden arrived in Israel on Air Force One for his first Presidential visit.  For Israelis, this meant that Highway 1, which connects the airport to Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem, was completely shut down for a good part  of the day.  The President's convoy, alone, would create a traffic jam in Israel.  But with all  of the security concerns, travelling to Jerusalem today was probably not a good idea.  (That is an extreme understatement, almost  comedically so)  So we watched from the comfort of home.

This is President Biden's tenth visit to Israel, though his first as President of the United States.  First on the agenda was a short press conference at the airport.  The president of Israel, Isaac ("Bougie") Herzog, spoke first.  Then  Prime Minister Yair Lapid and finally, President Biden.  No one said anything of great significance as far as I can tell but there were gushing expressions  of friendship and the usual statements about the closeness of the relationship between Israel  and the U.S.

Biden's  next stop was a military stop to look at one of Israel's newest missile defence systems, a project which Israel has apparently developed along with the U.S.  After that, it was off to Yad Vashem, where President  Biden spoke with two Holocaust survivors for more than 10 minutes.

Optically, this has already seemed like a far better visit than President Obama's first visit, even though Biden might ultimately carry some similar messages.  But unlike Obama, Biden has gone out of his way, initially, to stress the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship and to do so with warmth and attention to messaging.  It remains to be seen what follows.

Israeli political leaders  were falling over themselves trying to be photographed with Biden.  Former Prime Minister Bennett inserted himself into a runway walk along the red carpet before officials whisked him away.  Current  Prime Minister Lapid made sure that he had some wonderfully photogenic moments with Biden.  Former Prime Minister and current leader of the opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu made sure that he actually got a warm handshake from Biden  - even though Biden was generally giving fist pumps to  most of the other attendees.  Even Yamina leader Ayelet  Shaked managed to  make her  way over to a position right  next to Biden.  It was actually quite amusing watching all  of this.

In any event, it is a strange visit since not very much is expected.  No  major breakthroughs with the Palestinians are likely to take place and it sounds unlikely that there will be any major deals between Israel and the U.S.   So what  is the purpose of this visit, which was  planned before the current Israeli government  imploded?

There seem to be three answers.  For one, President Biden is  trying to round up support for the American approach to Iran and  its quest for nuclear weapons.  He is flying  from  Israel to Saudi  Arabia, directly (a first) on Friday and will also be discussing  Iran with the Saudis.  So  one objective is to try and bolster support for a potential revival of the Obama orchestrated nuclear deal.  Neither the Israelis nor the  Saudis are too excited about this prospective deal and, in fact, the Iranians have  not even agreed to it. So it is unclear what, if anything, will happen on that  track.

Secondly, President Biden is visiting Saudi Arabia to discuss oil and to see if the Saudis can help the current  U.S. situation by increasing  daily production of oil and, hopefully, lowering  the  prices.   This is something that Americans are deeply concerned about as oil prices have rocketed up recently, as they have all over the world.  

Finally, there  is a geopolitical side to this as well.  Biden is hoping to continue to build on the "Abraham  Accords" by moving  Saudi Arabia and,  possibly other countries, closer to becoming participants.  Saudi Arabia has, to date, indicated that it  seeks a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians as a pre-condition to joining the accords.  At the same time, Saudi Arabia is looking to protect itself against a potential Iranian threat and some  sort of deal with Israel and the  United States would  be quite helpful in that regard.  So it will be very interesting to see what, if anything, is announced in Saudi Arabia about the Saudi relationship with Israel.  Rumours here are that more  airlines from  Israel will be able to overfly Saudi Arabia en route to the far east, which will save Israeli travellers many hours of  travelling time.

President Biden also agreed to a very interesting interview with Channel 12  Israeli reporter Yonit Levy.  She pushed him with some probing questions  about  his plans for  2024 (no comment), his relationship with Netanyahu, the real reasons for this current visit and whether or  not  he would authorize force against Iran  if they won't join a nuclear deal (he said he would as a last resort).  In particular, Levy asked him whether, if Netanyahu gets elected and becomes Prime Minister, there will again be a great "freeze" in the U.S. -Israel relationship.  Biden answered that the relationship is  with the country and not any particular leader - and that he would work with anyone who is elected.  Great answer, I thought.  This is really what Prime Minister Netanyahu should have been saying during the last U.S.  election campaign but of course he  chose to be partisan instead,  almost stumping for Trump's re-election campaign.

Overall, it should be an interesting few days.  President  Biden is scheduled  to attend  the opening ceremonies of the Maccabbi games, which will take place tomorrow at 7 p.m. Israel time. (12 p.m. Eastern).  There are some terrific Israeli musical acts scheduled to perform.  I am really looking forward to watching.   At $500 a ticket, we decided not to attend but I'm sure it will be great on TV.  It would  also be crazy getting in and out  of Jerusalem.  Aside from the opening ceremonies, I am also looking forward to watching my niece compete in the swimming competitions.  

Israeli TV update

Over the past couple of weeks, we watched the Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.  Of all the Israeli shows that I have seen over the past few years, including Fauda, Tehran, Shtisel and  others, this was probably my favourite.  I have always enjoyed historical fiction.  Beauty Queen traces the fictional Ermosa family, a  Sephardic family living in Jerusalem, from pre-World  War I through to the mid 1940s (in the first season at least).  

While at times the show  might seem like  a bit of a soap opera, it is set against the backdrop of life in Jerusalem, mostly in the 30s and 40s.  It deals with the relationship between the Jewish community and the  Ottoman rulers  initially - then subsequently, the British authorities and the tensions  with the Arab community.  The politics of the time also play a role.  There is discussion of the power of the Histadrut (the largest Israeli workers'  union of the time) balanced against the "revisionists"  (the pre-cursers to the modern more free-market Likud party).   The show  also looks at the pre-Independence military organizations in Israel (the  Hagana and "Etzel") and  the different  types  of operations these  groups were carrying out.  This is of course also set against the heavy backdrop of the rise of the Nazis in Germany, the  outbreak of the second World War and initial reports of the Holocaust.   

The first  season of the show was originally aired by YES TV in Israel in 2021 over 44 episodes, each of which are about half  hour in length.  This year, Netflix picked up the series and edited the first 44 episodes into two seasons of 10 episodes each, with English subtitles.  So  we watched the first  10 episodes on Netflix - which covers about 20-22 episodes of the Israeli version.  The rest hasn't yet been released on Netflix.   So we were left hanging....what  to do...

We  found that all 44 episodes are available on sdarot.buzz but without English  subtitles.  We couldn't resist and watched the 20 or so episodes that are not yet on Netflix.  It was quite compelling - we just  couldn't  stop watching.  Perhaps it is not for everyone.  Some  people have  apparently found  it a bit slow and  it does  flip back and forth between the 1920s  and the 1930s - sometimes you don't know what year you are  in.  But it all  comes  together.  It helps if you are a history  buff, particularly if you enjoy Israeli history.  But  I think that there  is enough in the show to enjoy it even if you are not so keen  on pre-Independence  Israeli  history.  Netflix has the English subtitles.  To watch on Sdarot, you will need fluent Hebrew.

In other Israeli TV news, the fourth season  of Fauda is  now out  - or is being released  weekly.  The first episode was shown  on Israeli TV tonight and  it will run for the next  10 Wednesdays (or so). After that, apparently, it will be released on Netflix worldwide.   So  if you are a big Fauda fan, you will get another round  of Fauda on Netflix this year.  It was action packed, suspenseful and entertaining  but it is too early to comment on the fourth  season  as a whole.

Finally, although this is in a slightly different category, we went  to see Fiddler on the Roof,  in Hebrew, at at the Cultural Centre  in Tel Aviv a theatre in the heart of the city.  I have, of course, seen the play many times in English  in New York  and Toronto.   This was my first time in Hebrew though I had heard the soundtrack.  Overall, it was an excellent production.  The lead character, Tevia (he is named  Tuvia in the Hebrew  Production) was played by Natan Datner and  he did an excellent  job.  He was a very convincing Tevia  with a powerful  voice.  Some  of the other performers were a bit weaker (for example Tevia's wife, Golda) But the Hudel performer was excellent as was Motel the Tailor.  

Even though I have seen the play many times, it is still an emotionally draining  experience, on so many levels.   The complete disappearance  of the Jewish communities of Europe is very real and personal.  It is the story of my  grandparents and great grandparents as it is for some many Jews around the world.  Together with that, the play touches on the challenges of maintaining tradition in the face of post-enlightenment modern realities and that is a also a subject that is very close to home.  What, if any, traditions will our children continue?  And even the subject of intermarriage, which was already a big  challenge for the U.S.  Jewish community when the play was  adapted in the 1960s (from Shalom Aleichem  stories written at the turn of the century) seems  to have an even more  powerful  impact in 2022 when U.S. intermarriage rates are higher than 50% and Canadian rates are not too far behind.  So there is lots to think about as the town of Anatevka is eliminated and the population is expelled.  I won't deny shedding a tear or two (or maybe more than that).  

Quick Political Comment

As you may know, Israel is in the midst of another election campaign with voting to take  place on November 1, 2022. I will write some more detailed election related blogs as the election draws closer.  I will simply say  at this point that it is too close to call.

Former Prime Minister Netanyahu is in the midst of his criminal trial, which is getting lots of  press these days.  He is hoping that  he  can come up with a coalition of  more than 61 seats and get himself back in to the Prime Minister's chair.  So far, polls seem to be indicating that  this is possible but far from certain.  

Former Prime Minister Bennett has announced that he is dropping out of politics.  His party, Yamina, is now being led by Ayalet Shaked and it is not clear that Yamina will  pass the electoral threshhold.  Yamina may well join Likud or some other party before election day.

Current Prime Minister Lapid is polling at anywhere from 22 to 26 seats.  It would be quite a feat for him to stay in power but anything is possible.

There are a  variety of other  political suitors pushing in different  ideological directions.  Should be quite entertaining over the  next two months. I anticipate that there will be all  kinds of mudslinging, underhanded tactics, insults and lies.  Everything  that western political campaigns seem to have these days.

Final  Comment

I couldn't leave this without stating the obvious - that airports are crazy these days and flights between  Toronto and  Tel-Aviv are completely full, incredibly pricey and more  disorganized than ever.  Airport waiting  times are very long.  It can take 2-3 hours to get through all of the security and check-in procedures to leave Israel.  Arriving in Israel is fairly efficient  generally, in contrast to arriving in Toronto  these days, which is a complete disaster.  

With El Al scheduled to discontinue its Canadian service at the end of October, 2022, prices  will  undoubtedly rise sharply, which is unfortunate.  I can't  say that I have been a loyal  supporter of El Al, since the benefits of  flying Air Canada were overwhelmingly superior.  But I know that many Israelis prefer to fly El Al since it "feels like  home."  They will be very disappointed that this option is no longer available to and from Toronto.

I suppose,  soon enough, you will be able to fly Saudi Arabian Airlines to Tel-Aviv from Toronto.  After all, you can already fly  Emirates, though I haven't tried it yet.  However, you might want to get  here, Israel will be happy to welcome you.

And with that I will sign off on this one and  wish you  all the best until next time.