Somedays in Israel, you just can’t see the forest from the trees. But lately, the focus has been more on the actual plants than the metaphorical ones, as Tu B’shvat was once again celebrated last Wednesday. Actually, Israelis have been marking the occasion throughout the past week. Just like Pesach, Tu B’shvat has within it a concept of a “seder.” In Judaism’s history of freedom, participants relive the Exodus from Egypt. With the Jewish New Year for Trees (so named because it’s the date for counting the age of trees, which is needed for biblical commandments relating to tithing), the traditional meal revolves around tasting different fruits from the Holy Land.

In yet another example of a living, dynamic Judaism --- a Judaism that is vibrant, growing and out in the streets --- this holiday, which was relegated to minor-league status in the Diaspora, has taken on new life in the formerly desolate and now newly blooming landscape. Every kid in the country sings songs about the trees, generally with a healthy helping of fresh fruit and nuts. The symbolic planting of trees and day-long outings into the forests is prolific. Heated rivalries are put aside as political opponents stand side-by-side to plant saplings. Jewish takes on environmental and ecological issues come to the fore as educational institutions open their doors for free lectures and learning events.

Somedays in Israel, you just can’t see the forest from the trees. But lately, the focus has been more on the actual plants than the metaphorical ones, as Tu B’shvat was once again celebrated last Wednesday. Actually, Israelis have been marking the occasion throughout the past week. Just like Pesach, Tu B’shvat has within it a concept of a “seder.” In Judaism’s history of freedom, participants relive the Exodus from Egypt. With the Jewish New Year for Trees (so named because it’s the date for counting the age of trees, which is needed for biblical commandments relating to tithing), the traditional meal revolves around tasting different fruits from the Holy Land.

In yet another example of a living, dynamic Judaism --- a Judaism that is vibrant, growing and out in the streets --- this holiday, which was relegated to minor-league status in the Diaspora, has taken on new life in the formerly desolate and now newly blooming landscape. Every kid in the country sings songs about the trees, generally with a healthy helping of fresh fruit and nuts. The symbolic planting of trees and day-long outings into the forests is prolific. Heated rivalries are put aside as political opponents stand side-by-side to plant saplings. Jewish takes on environmental and ecological issues come to the fore as educational institutions open their doors for free lectures and learning events.

A very special thing happens every year in Israel, one that makes me extremely proud to be an Israeli. Just a week after Pesach, the holiday which we celebrate our freedom from slavery and the beginning of the Jewish people’s nation building-- we halt everything for a moment and remember the tragic event of the Holocaust (Yom Ha'Shoah).

Many Israelis connect to this day through the media; all the Israeli TV stations are switched to commemoration mode. Lots of movies, interviews with survivors, memorial services (Tekkes) and more are broadcast throughout the day. I personally read a lot on Yom Ha’Shoah-- trying to learn something new about the Holocaust and hear another voice of a survivor. There are so many difficult and unbelievable stories; it's hard to really understand them all. This individual process of recognizing and identifying with the past occurs throughout the country.

March 24^th is an important mourning day in our country. Yesterday marked 35 years since the beginning of the last dreadful dictatorship (1976-1983) in Argentina, in which more than 30,000 people were "disappeared" by state terrorism and about 500 children were kidnapped and given to adoptive families denying their identity.

The purpose of this day is to remember and to pursue justice, and this is the meaning of the demonstration at Plaza de Mayo (an important square situated in front of Casa Rosada - the government house) and the reason why this day was declared a national holiday.

The construction of every democratic, pluralistic and fair society requires policies that consider the issue of memory.  It means that something has happened in our history that it is still among us. There is something that it is missed and, in spite of significant efforts, cannot be recovered at all. This is the deep meaning of tragedy: something is inevitably lost. However, there is something to do. We have to be fair with our heritage. As Jacques Derridá explains, “one always inherits from a secret – which says “read me, will you ever be able to do so?”.

Reflections on South Africa’s Human Rights Day

This week South Africa commemorated Human Rights Day, this year marks 50 years since the inauspicious day on 21st March 1961 that became known as the Sharpeville Massacre. On this day, which has since been declared the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by the United Nations, police shot dead 69 unarmed protestors and injuring 180 more who were protesting the carrying of the dompass, an identity document meant only for black South Africans.

This event proved to be a watershed in South Africa’s liberation struggle, it lead to widespread violence and bloodshed around the country, made international headlines around the world and culminated in the banning of black political parties a month later. In many respects it propelled Black South Africans’ struggle for freedom to a new stage in the struggle against Apartheid. The  African National Congress (ANC) went undercover, many ANC members went into exile and the party’s military wing Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) was established the following year. It would take 30 years however until the ultimate goal of establishing a democratic South Africa would be realised.