An Ode to YouTubers

When I began my longish break from work last year I had no idea how I would be spending my time here in Tel Aviv. I did wallow in self-pity and thought if I could sleep all day, I would somehow get through the day. It was a struggle to find purpose beyond just dusting the house and doing the laundry. Even though I had the general idea that I wanted to spend my time learning new things, I had no will to begin. I also did not know where to begin until I began trawling YouTube for a direction and inspiration. I started with learning to crochet from videos on YouTube and went from a novice to making stuffed toys in a matter of two months! Around the same time I discovered some more YouTubers whom I now totally consider pals.

Amigurumi Minion

I do not remember when, but one day early this year I discovered Hank Green. Hank (Yeah, I am on first name basis with him now. Sshh! He does not know) is an Internetainerpreneur. He is the creator and host of multiple shows on YouTube that focus on science education. But that is not how I first found him, I happened upon his vlog channel vlogbrothers, where Hank and his brother talk about everything under the sun, from Goat birthing and 15 hours in Target to the 2016 US elections and the refugee crisis. They are committed to spreading awesomeness in the world. I was hooked to Hank and his 'in four minutes or less' take on life and everything else. I may be exaggerating, but Hank is like a friend and mentor to me. I have learnt so much from him and he has consistently been the person who articulates my innermost thoughts on every issue every time.

Once I discovered Hank, I was hurtling through SciShow and CrashCourse videos every day. I was taught many things in school, but learning was limited. There was so much to catch up on. It was an overload of information at first, but once I was up to speed with the Green brothers and their co-creators like Phil Plait (another favourite) I could revisit some old videos and improve my learning.

It is a bonus that Hank's brother happens to be John Green. Yes, John Green of Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars fame. John creates and hosts videos on World History, Politics, Culture and Literature on CrashCourse. John is cut from the same cloth as his brother when it comes to being a responsible human being but for his uber cool hair. I cannot tell you how much the Brothers inspire me. They both have chronic illnesses that could potentially interfere with their daily lives, holding them back from doing all the awesome things they do, but they have each found ways to deal with it. That is no measure of their awesomeness but it is just one of those things that makes you realise how small your problems are in comparison and that a break in one's career is hardly a pin prick.

Before Hank Green, I was (still am) an ardent follower of Derek Muller. Derek, the man behind Veritasium a channel that looks at teaching science using demonstrations and mostly interviews with public through which he tries to deconstruct scientific phenomena and dispel common misconceptions. In his PhD paper entitled Designing Effective Multimedia For Physics Education he describes how students who were taught using the lecture style found it effective but did not perform well in the test that followed whereas students who were subjected to a dialogue with a tutor where the tutor addresses several alternative conceptions found the method confusing but performed better that the first group of students. You must watch him in action to understand how the dialogue method works for the learner.

There are many other educational YouTubers I have learnt from in the past year -- Smarter Every Day, ViHart, MinutePhysics. When I was struggling with getting out of bed and doing something, each of these guys taught me something new everyday. I also picked up an entire hobby from YouTube creators - Crochet. Who would have thunk?

A scarf I made this year

Christmas Eve in Bethlehem

Christmas is the only festival I remember celebrating as a child. I remember a star going up on our front porch every year even if we never lit a single lamp for Deepavali. My Christian neighbours would create a cozy corner where they would set up the nativity scene. After school it was a ritual for me to visit their home to check the progress of the mustard seed sprouts that were spread out thickly around the crib a few days prior to Christmas day. If they had sprouted, it had to be Christmas.

Since then, I have pictured Bethlehem to be a quaint town that is always merry for Christmas. A town where every family recreates the manger scene for Christmas, lights up the home and joins the Christmas procession to the Church of the Nativity on the eve of Christmas. This year I visited Bethlehem to witness the merriment I had always imagined Christmas to be. 

A bus dropped me off around two kilometers from the Church of the Nativity. Ridding myself of persistent cabbies, I joined Christmas revelers donning Santa hats who were walking down to the church. I had pictured a sea of red hatted people making merry on the streets. Here, I was mistaken. I saw three groups of 4-5 people each. The number of Palestinian cops manning the street outnumbered the tourists/pilgrims. The street was decorated for Christmas but it looked like the town was downplaying the festival. Ornamentation was skeletal and posters and banners at frequent intervals called for a peaceful Christmas. 

The West Bank has been going through a phase of unrest since September and Bethlehem has been no exception. In the middle of the high season here in Bethlehem hotels are not even half full. Christmas fireworks were cancelled and only a few streets have been decorated for the festival. Pilgrims and tourists like me are scared to travel to the West Bank. I too was undecided about visiting Bethlehem until I woke up last morning and was on the bus to Jerusalem. Though my trip was without incident, unrest continued in towns and cities neighbouring Bethlehem. One of the cabbies in his appeal to me said, "This is Palestine, we don't have business like in Israel, come with me. This is the season for my business." He was right. It is only tourists like me who come on our own and not with pre-booked tours in big buses who are his potential customers.

Mosque of Omar at Manger Square

Christmas tree at Manger Square

 When I finally reached Manger Square, the public space adjoining the Church of the Nativity, I found the merriment I was looking for. A huge tree stood in the centre of the square, a live band was singing carols and Christmas revelers sipped on hot tea to keep themselves warm in the Bethlehem winter. The tight security around the square did moderate the Christmas spirit though.
All said and done, Christmas in Bethlehem is like no other. Only here will you listen to the solemn azaan ring in your ears as a band sets up to start singing Christmas carols. I could not have asked for a better Christmas eve this year. 

A Palestinian girl poses with a poster
seeking the freedom of a
Palestinian youth

While a big tree sparkled at the centre of the square, at the back of the square an uprooted olive tree joined the festivities albeit on a somber note. "This tree we decorate today has come all the way from Beit Jala after it has been uprooted by the occupation forces a few months ago, from its land in Beir Auneh to build the apartheid wall and expropriate Palestinian land for the interest of illegal settlements," read the note about the tree. The tree was decorated with barbed wire, tear gas canisters were nailed into it. This alternative resistance Christmas tree is set up by a group that identifies itself with the Committee of Popular Resistance in Palestine. The group began the tradition three years ago. 

If you have been to the West Bank you will know that conversations here can easily turn political. Everyone wants to tell you their story because they know you must be coming from Israel, the country that is eating into their land everyday and smothering their lives. The cabbie attributes traffic jams to the IDF check posts. "Israeli," he says as we slow down near a check post. That is all he needs to communicate to me and the rest is left unsaid. As we drive past Herodian, I notice the star of David fluttering above the entrance gate. "Israeli," the cabbie points to the flag. Indeed, it is the flag of Israel flying high in Palestine. Somehow an archaeological site inside the Palestinian Territories is part of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The shop keeper in a souvenir store while explaining the significance of a particular image makes sure he tells me that the Church where the particular image is from was torched by Israeli vandals in June 2015. 

Before I knew anything about Israel and Palestine, I associated just one thing to Bethlehem - the birth of Jesus. Then I learnt about the the conflict and there more I learnt the more curious I got. Now Bethlehem for me is a city with immense history but more importantly it is like any other West Bank city surviving the Occupation in hope for sustained peace. 

Graffiti on the Separation Wall around Bethlehem 

Soldier testimonies and why they are important

I was the last soldier in Gaza, or so I thought. 

When I joined the IDF I thought I was being trained to fight other soldiers from Syria or Egypt. Instead, I found myself stationed in a residential neighbourhood facing civilians not an army. I received one command there - shoot if you have to. Soon we were bulldozing our way into homes of innocent Palestinians and taking over their homes. In one home we entered was an old lady who could not even speak clearly. Once we were in her home, she had no freedom. She had to seek permission to use the toilet, in her own house. We did not know her name, so we just named her Fatima. We would take turns to guard her with our weapons, ready to shoot if needed. New Year was approaching, so we even joked, 'who will kiss Fatima'. Three days later the Red Crescent came to rescue her, until then, it was a problem to monitor her, help if needed and do our job. I was embarrassed. I had kept an old lady prisoner in her home after taking over her house. Between 2003 and 2006 I experienced many moments like this one. - An ex-IDF soldier stationed in Gaza 

Israeli Soldiers stationed in Hebron

This is the story of one Israeli soldier who broke his silence on what the Occupation really looks like. He is a member of the NGO, Breaking the Silence, which collects and publishes testimonials of soldiers to inform the Israeli public and the world at large about everyday life in the Occupied Territories. 

There are hundreds like this soldier who have shared their stories with Breaking the Silence for 11 years now. Despite these testimonials that document in no uncertain terms the abuse to which Palestinians are subjected, cases of destruction of property, looting and the general violation of human rights, the public in Israel is hardly aware of what the occupation means or looks like. In addition, the right-wing in Israel is now stifling the voice of the left, putting democracy to the test in this country. 

In November 2015 a lecture organised by Breaking the Silence in a Be'er Sheva pub had to be cancelled after BtS activists and the pub owner received threats from pro-occupation right-wing fanatics. Despite BtS complying with all the security requirements, the police issued a last minute restraining order preventing the NGO from going through with the lecture. One would have hoped for the police to offer protection to the NGO, instead the police submitted to the threats of violence issued by the right-wing activists. 

On a larger scale, a bill is being proposed by the justice minister to isolate left-wing NGOs that receive foreign funding. This special tag will enable the government to mark NGOs that receive a majority of their funding from foreign governments and international organisations and limit the funds these NGOs receive. It is probably worth mentioning now that a recent investigation by Haaretz found that a number of tax-exempt nonprofits handed out more than $220 million to Jewish communities in the West Bank in 2009-2013 alone. 

The reason NGOs like BtS are crucial to Israeli democracy is because they shed light on what the public here finds easy to ignore. There is a vast gap between what the average families know and the reality. And it has been easy to create this gap given that Israelis even use a different term to refer to West Bank. Israel refers to the Israeli Administrative region as Judea and Samaria and not West Bank. To those who advocate the use of the term Judea and Samaria, this usage gives them more claim (because it has a Biblical history) over the land as opposed to West Bank which according to them is an artificial construct. The different groups use different terms to refer to this area thereby painting their respective religious narratives.

"An average Israeli family does not discuss the Occupation, they may just know that something bad happens there, but not exactly what," an Israeli told me once. He said, "I did not know what Occupied Territory meant, what Palestine meant." It is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.

Posts following my visit to Hebron with Breaking the Silence:
Hebron - Part 1
Hebron - Part 2

Breaking the Silence organises tours in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills. You can find the details here. The Hebron tour is on hold now because of the security situation in the city. 

Happy Hanukkah!

Tel Aviv's City Hall lights up for Hanukkah 2015

If you have grown up watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S you may believe that Hanukkah is the Jewish equivalent of Christmas. It is not. It is hardly Christmas, it is hardly a major Jewish festival. So there is no point trying to compare it with the most important Christian festival of all time.

I came to Israel with the same misconception that I am now trying to dispel. Last year I witnessed Hanukkah for the first time. It is a festival of lights, so Hanukkiahs (nine-branched candelabra for Hanukkah as opposed to the traditional seven-branched Menorah) are sold in grocery stores along with candles and Chabad representatives light massive Hanukkiahs at major social spaces in the city. That apart, you don't get an inkling that a festival is being celebrated by the country.

Being mostly passive participant of Jewish festivals I have come to superficially understand Jewish festivals. My learning is as follows:

The holy days follow a general set of principles:
1. Significance of the festival: Someone attacked/enslaved the Jews; the Jews fought and emerged victorious/escaped the horrors
2. Rules: More rigorous than shabbath. The general principle is to mourn the event that is being remembered and therefore many pleasures or luxuries must be given up. All that in addition to the absence of public transportation. Lord, have mercy!
For example -- for Passover or Pesach, wheat based food products are not to be consumed; on Yom Kippur even personal hygiene should be set aside as bathing is prohibited on this day
3. Feast: No matter what the misery the ancestors survived, a feast to commemorate the holy day is non-negotiable.

A Hanukkiah is lit up in a fruit juice stall on the third day of Hanukkah 2015

Considering the history of the religion and its followers, it is not a stretch to imagine that most Jewish festivals adhere to Principle 1. As does Hanukkah (Revolt of the Maccabees). Despite that, it is still a minor Jewish festival. I risk the chance of over simplifying but my simple reason is this: the buses are running, there are no major rules to follow, life goes on like any other day of the week. That says a lot about a Jewish holiday, to me.

Also, Hanukkah is not a Biblical festival. Its origins are not in The Book but in another book which is like an appendage to The Book. 

This may seem like a trivial detail but families get into major Biblical arguments over this stuff. I was once part of one very enlightening discussion between two cousins about the 'legitimacy' of Hanukkah. The general happy holidays greeting in Hebrew - Chag Sameah - apparently should not be used in the context of Hanukkah. Because the Biblically more knowledgeable cousin says that since Hanukkah is not a Biblical festival it can't be classified as a chag - festival of a Biblical nature. The liberal cousin argued that in modern society the status of chag has been diminished and so you can hear some people wishing each other chag sameah even for Hanukkah.

So, there you have it. Hanukkah is not anything like Christmas save for the proximity between the two festivals. Its origin story is quite mystical though, something about oil that was meant to last for one night ended up lasting for eight days. Therefore, lighting of one candle every day for eight days. Google will tell you all about that and the Maccabees (not the Israeli football team).

Sufganiyot! Attack!

Finally, Hanukkah involves food, but most unhealthy in nature. Oil, as you now know, is key to Hanukkah. What better way of honouring oil than by deep frying things in it and then stuffing your face with that? This brings us to sufganiyot or jelly filled doughnuts which are central to any Hanukkah celebration. Other fried delicacies include, potato latakes, pancake variations, etc.

Time now for me to go gorge on some sufganiyot. Doesn't sufganiyot just sound a million times better than doughnuts? I'll leave you with that thought.