B’Aretz, we’re watching the American election campaign closely. It is very important to us… all 7,000,000 of us… not only the 25,000 citizens of Israel who are also American citizens and can actually vote in the American election (like me). The Israeli-American relationship is Israel’s and America’s most important. We’re watching your election closely.
B’Aretz, we’re in an election cycle, as well. This week, the ruling Kadima party will conduct a primary. Members of the Kadima party will be voting for a new leader of the party. The current party leader and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not standing for election. He faces serious criminal charges and may soon be indicted. He has announced that as soon as a new party leader is in place, he will resign. That could happen before the end of the week.
Four people are running for the leadership of Kadima: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, Minister of the Interior Meir Sheetrit, and the Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter. Today’s polls indicate Livni will receive 47% of the vote, Mofaz (who, if elected, would be the first Mizrahi – non-European-origin – Israeli prime minister) will receive 32%, Sheetrit 8% and Dichter only 6%. It is likely that by next Shabbat, the Kadima party will have its first female leader and Israel will be well on its way to having a woman as prime minister for the second time.
B’Aretz, we hear a lot about the families of John McCain, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Sarah Palin. We know about marriages and children and divorce and addiction. It seems to us, B’Aretz, that the American public seems to crave way too much personal information about politicians and their families. B’Aretz, those kinds of things don’t seem to matter.
This week, I decided to engage in an experiment. I decided that for two days, everyone I would meet, I would ask the following questions about the person apparently most likely to become our next prime minister. I asked:
1. What is Tzipi Livni’s husband’s name, how long have they been married and what does he do for a living?
2. How many children does Tzipi Livni have, how old are they and what are their names?
Well, my experiment was very interesting. I spoke to about two dozen people and from each and every one I received exactly the same response. To question #1, everyone replied with another question (as Jews sometimes do): “Tzipi Livni is married?!?!?!” and question #2 always received the same astonished response: “Tzipi Livni has children?!?!?!?” And, it isn’t just Tzipi Livni. The responses would have been the same if I asked about Mofaz, Sheetrit or Dichter. I can remember living in Jerusalem in 1977 and people wondering the same things about Menachem Begin (does he have a wife? Does he have children?) Our President Shimon Peres’ wife lives apart from him and plays no role as First Lady of our country. When it comes to the family lives of our leaders, the public is uninformed and unconcerned. How different it seems in America!
I’m tempted to leave it there. But, I know you Americans. You want to know the answers to the questions! OK, here’s what I know about Tzipi Livni: Her parents were Irgun activists, close personal friends of Menachem Begin, and both were arrested by the British in Mandate days, sentenced to long prison terms, only to escape from British custody. They were the first couple married in the State of Israel - May 14, 1948 - and their daughter Tzipporah (Tzipi is short for the name of Moses’ wife) grew up “a Likud princess” spending every Shabbat with her parents and the Begins. She is married to Tel Aviv accountant and advertising agent Naftali Spitzer, whom she married in 1984, after her army service and a brief career in the Mossad. Livni and Spitzer have two teenage sons, Omri and Yuval. One more very important fact: Foreign Minister Livni is a vegetarian.
Tzipi Livni will be answering many questions in the coming days… questions that probe her knowledge and position on Islamic terrorism and the defense of Israel, the economy, the sorry state of our schools, and lots, lots more. But she won’t be answering questions about her family. No one will ask any. Seems to be the way it should be.
If Tzipi Livni becomes prime minister, we may see her husband and sons beaming proudly as she is sworn in. They may be asked (especially by the American press) how it feels to have a wife/mother as the leader of the nation. Perhaps, but probably not. Just one of those things that, Ba’Aretz, we do a little differently.
Shabbat Shalom!
B’Aretz, we’re in an election cycle, as well. This week, the ruling Kadima party will conduct a primary. Members of the Kadima party will be voting for a new leader of the party. The current party leader and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not standing for election. He faces serious criminal charges and may soon be indicted. He has announced that as soon as a new party leader is in place, he will resign. That could happen before the end of the week.
Four people are running for the leadership of Kadima: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, Minister of the Interior Meir Sheetrit, and the Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter. Today’s polls indicate Livni will receive 47% of the vote, Mofaz (who, if elected, would be the first Mizrahi – non-European-origin – Israeli prime minister) will receive 32%, Sheetrit 8% and Dichter only 6%. It is likely that by next Shabbat, the Kadima party will have its first female leader and Israel will be well on its way to having a woman as prime minister for the second time.
B’Aretz, we hear a lot about the families of John McCain, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Sarah Palin. We know about marriages and children and divorce and addiction. It seems to us, B’Aretz, that the American public seems to crave way too much personal information about politicians and their families. B’Aretz, those kinds of things don’t seem to matter.
This week, I decided to engage in an experiment. I decided that for two days, everyone I would meet, I would ask the following questions about the person apparently most likely to become our next prime minister. I asked:
1. What is Tzipi Livni’s husband’s name, how long have they been married and what does he do for a living?
2. How many children does Tzipi Livni have, how old are they and what are their names?
Well, my experiment was very interesting. I spoke to about two dozen people and from each and every one I received exactly the same response. To question #1, everyone replied with another question (as Jews sometimes do): “Tzipi Livni is married?!?!?!” and question #2 always received the same astonished response: “Tzipi Livni has children?!?!?!?” And, it isn’t just Tzipi Livni. The responses would have been the same if I asked about Mofaz, Sheetrit or Dichter. I can remember living in Jerusalem in 1977 and people wondering the same things about Menachem Begin (does he have a wife? Does he have children?) Our President Shimon Peres’ wife lives apart from him and plays no role as First Lady of our country. When it comes to the family lives of our leaders, the public is uninformed and unconcerned. How different it seems in America!
I’m tempted to leave it there. But, I know you Americans. You want to know the answers to the questions! OK, here’s what I know about Tzipi Livni: Her parents were Irgun activists, close personal friends of Menachem Begin, and both were arrested by the British in Mandate days, sentenced to long prison terms, only to escape from British custody. They were the first couple married in the State of Israel - May 14, 1948 - and their daughter Tzipporah (Tzipi is short for the name of Moses’ wife) grew up “a Likud princess” spending every Shabbat with her parents and the Begins. She is married to Tel Aviv accountant and advertising agent Naftali Spitzer, whom she married in 1984, after her army service and a brief career in the Mossad. Livni and Spitzer have two teenage sons, Omri and Yuval. One more very important fact: Foreign Minister Livni is a vegetarian.
Tzipi Livni will be answering many questions in the coming days… questions that probe her knowledge and position on Islamic terrorism and the defense of Israel, the economy, the sorry state of our schools, and lots, lots more. But she won’t be answering questions about her family. No one will ask any. Seems to be the way it should be.
If Tzipi Livni becomes prime minister, we may see her husband and sons beaming proudly as she is sworn in. They may be asked (especially by the American press) how it feels to have a wife/mother as the leader of the nation. Perhaps, but probably not. Just one of those things that, Ba’Aretz, we do a little differently.
Shabbat Shalom!
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