So, as a part of the ROI network, I was invited to attend the Israel presidential conference. This was a very fancy conference hosted by President Shimon Peres (and it was also kind of a 90th birthday party for him.) It featured very famous speakers like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and... Robert Deniro. The conference was under some attack in Israel because it cost so much money when lots of people in Israel are really suffering financially. But, I think it was money well spent. One aim of the conference was to raise Israel in the world's eyes and reaffirm its legitimacy, which it did, according to what a lot of the attending diplomats said.
I had food poisoning so I skipped a lot. It was also really crowded and you had to wait for hours to get into some of the panels and sometimes still didn't get in. I'll just post some pics and talk about some of the highlights....
Dr. Ruth was there. The sex doctor. I love Israel, that they invited her.
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| She was adorable |
"They gave me half an hour (for this talk) which means this is like a quickie. A terrible mistake."
-She doesn't let her husband attend her talks, because he always stands up and says, "Don't listen to her, it's all talk." And when Diane Sawyer asked him about putting her work into practice, he responded, "The shoemaker's children don't have shoes."
-On the issue of Viagra, she said: "He went, he got a viagra, now he has an erection from floor to ceiling, he thinks it's going to be the last erection of his life, and he says, "honey, hop into bed!" and his wife tells him what do do with his erection!"
-In the Jewish tradition, husbands are obligated to provide sexual satisfaction for their wives even after menopause, which she says implies ex is not just for procreation but also for recreation.
"Jewish tradition says sailors have sex every six months.. I told my daughter not to marry a sailor."
-She worries about a libido enhancement pill like Viagra for women, because she thinks people would rely on it and not take time for foreplay.
-The argument "no time for sex" should not exist. "You have to make time for caressing and pornographic literature!"
-True, erections and orgasms are not as intense after menopause and later in life, but so what? You have to do what's available to you.
-"It's a mitzvah (good deed) to have sex on Shabbat, so pretend it's Friday, pair up, go back to your hotel and have sex in a new position. I'm here all day tomorrow, so come back and tell me how it went. Maybe I'll learn something new!" (This made me laugh and the orthodox man next to me shift uncomfortably in his seat.)
"Don't make a big to-do about the G spot and female ejaculation. Just put a towel down!"
-Old people should have sex in the morning because they are more energetic and men have more testosterone in the AM.
-A man once asked her what to do because his girlfriend liked to toss onion rings on his erect penis. She said, "Hey, you're two consenting adults. Go home and have fun with the onion rings."
-Boredom has to be thrown out of the bedroom! Shake it up!
****
This entry is about to get a lot less exciting.
Next I saw Member of Knesset, Yair Lapid, speak. He was a good speaker but he didn't say much of substance, it was all pretty fluffy about how a handful of Holocaust survivors became a nation of warriors who founded a state, which is true and very nice, but I'd just seen Dr. Ruth speak...
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| He's rather handsome, I think |
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| Dan Gilbert on the right |
Then Harvard Prof Daniel Gilbert spoke about human reactions to various threats. (Shout out, Jason!) Some highlights:
-Human brains care about threats that are: 1) intentional 2) immoral 3) imminent 4) instantaneous. This is why we respond so strongly to terrorism and hardly at all to global warning, when the latter is a much more serious threat to our species.
-"Climate change is not trying to kill us, and that's too bad. Because if climate change were an evil plot by a bad man with a mustache, we'd declare war on climate change and give up our civil liberties to end it."
-He pointed out our brains are programmed to deal with ancient threats, fight vs flight etc. "We are sailing a new sea with an ancient vessel. We're made to be good at decisions about running, jumping, and hiding, not about how susceptible a nuclear facility is to a tsunami."
Then we all stood up when Shimon Peres came in to watch:
There was a big party that first night with a live band. I ate a lot of free appetizers for dinner... the potstickers were great!
The next day, one highlight is I saw Dan Ariely speak about online dating. Some points:
-Height is one of the most important factors for women when considering men online, the other is money. In order for a man who is 5'9" to rank as highly with women as one who is 5'10", he has to make about $40,000 more per year. WOW.
-For men, the biggest factor is Body Mass Index. Men prefer a BMI slightly in the anorexic range, and no amount of money or anything else can make up for a higher BMI. WOW.
-On average, people spend 6 hours on online dating sites for every 1 coffee date they have.
Then I watched a talk by Sharon Stone. I heard an Israeli describing her speech as "blah blah blah, love love love," which is pretty accurate. Some points:
-Love comes from affinity. Love comes from shared reality. Love comes from interaction.
-All we really want is love; someone who stands beside us and loves us for who we are, who sees in us who we dreamed we could be when we were 5 years old.
(when I was 5 I dreamed I was empress of the universe and now I really, really don't want a man who sees me that way... just saying.)
I started falling asleep so I went to the shuk and bought a coffee:
I started falling asleep so I went to the shuk and bought a coffee:
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| Iced Coffee from Aroma. NECTAR OF THE GODS. I mean... er... one true God. |
Then I went to a panel on women's equality in Judaism, in which Rick Jacobs said, "Ultra Orthodox Judaism is a legitimate choice for those who choose it, but it must no longer govern the status of women in the state of Israel." WORD. As well as, "God didn't decree the current inequality. Men did." DOUBLE WORD.
Mordechai Neugroschel said, "There's no way to have a reform Torah. Reform Torah is like a dry rain."
In contrast, Ruth Gavison said, "There is no viable legal system, even a divine legal system, which does not change."
Then we had to suffer through about 2 hours of security to get into the final panel. With as much security as Israel does, it boggles my mind that they didn't have a better system. We were corralled into this outdoor pen and crammed in like sardines in the heat for over an hour while we waited. I was fine, just uncomfortable. But some old people fainted!
While waiting for the panel to start, I struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me, Linda Bennett, who was on the board of trustees of Hebrew University. She told me her daughter was one of the 9 people killed in the 2002 suicide bombing of the cafeteria at Hebrew University. She said her daughter, Marla, loved Israel so much, and when she was killed, Linda debated whether to lock herself away at home in the US. But she decided to get involved with Israel to honor Marla's memory. I said that I was so sorry, and she shrugged and said, "Honey, that's life. So enjoy it every day."
The first to speak was Natan Sharansky, who is head of the Jewish Agency, the group responsible for bringing Jews from around the world to Israel to live, among other things. He said some funny stuff, such as:
"Right now, the average life expectancy in Israel is 80+, but in Russia it is 65. So if someone immigrates from Russia, and the Jewish Agency pays for your ticket, you just got a bonus extra 15 years of life. Right now, Americans on average believe today is better than tomorrow will be. Israelis believe tomorrow is better than today. So if you make aliyah from the USA, you turn from a pessimist to an optimist on the Jewish Agency's dime."
Then, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke. I'll be honest, I'm a total beginner at Israeli politics. It seems like most people I know don't like Netanyahu. I like him in a superficial way because he represents Israel and I love Israel, he has a booming authoritative voice, he lived in Boston, and he seems logical to me. Here are some highlights:
-"'Ultimately' is not good enough for the Jewish People. Ultimately the forces of light defeated the forces of evil in the last century. But the Jewish people paid a terrible price. We cannot let it happen again."
-He talked a lot about how Iran has to quit making weapons and being awful.
-Israel must move towards a free market economy and reform ports, open markets in Asia and Latin America
-He wants to make a unified rail and road system throughout Israel
-He wants to improve information technology especially in currently underdeveloped towns
-As for peace, he said the only way to end negotiations for peace is to begin them, and he hopes Palestine will come to the table. He said the reason there is no peace now is that there is fervent opposition to a Jewish state regardless of boundaries. He said Palestinians fall mostly into two groups: 1) People who refuse to recognize a Jewish state and 2) People who refuse to confront the first group.
At maybe three points in his speech, someone rose from the audience and started screaming (In Hebrew? In Arabic? Not sure) protestations against him. The first time this happened, he smirked at President Peres and said, "Shimon, you can see our exemplary democracy in action..." and we all laughed it off. But by the third time, it was really creeping me out. I haven't see this happen in America. These people somehow got invited to the conference, got through all that crazy security, and lied waiting for their chance to scream. And when they did, they were dragged off by security with news cameras in their face. It made me very uneasy.
I left during Peres's speech to go catch the bus to meet Rivka! But here's a pic:
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| Ruth was amazing. She's lecturing at my program in a few weeks! |
While waiting for the panel to start, I struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me, Linda Bennett, who was on the board of trustees of Hebrew University. She told me her daughter was one of the 9 people killed in the 2002 suicide bombing of the cafeteria at Hebrew University. She said her daughter, Marla, loved Israel so much, and when she was killed, Linda debated whether to lock herself away at home in the US. But she decided to get involved with Israel to honor Marla's memory. I said that I was so sorry, and she shrugged and said, "Honey, that's life. So enjoy it every day."
The first to speak was Natan Sharansky, who is head of the Jewish Agency, the group responsible for bringing Jews from around the world to Israel to live, among other things. He said some funny stuff, such as:
"Right now, the average life expectancy in Israel is 80+, but in Russia it is 65. So if someone immigrates from Russia, and the Jewish Agency pays for your ticket, you just got a bonus extra 15 years of life. Right now, Americans on average believe today is better than tomorrow will be. Israelis believe tomorrow is better than today. So if you make aliyah from the USA, you turn from a pessimist to an optimist on the Jewish Agency's dime."
Then, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke. I'll be honest, I'm a total beginner at Israeli politics. It seems like most people I know don't like Netanyahu. I like him in a superficial way because he represents Israel and I love Israel, he has a booming authoritative voice, he lived in Boston, and he seems logical to me. Here are some highlights:
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| It was exciting! |
-"'Ultimately' is not good enough for the Jewish People. Ultimately the forces of light defeated the forces of evil in the last century. But the Jewish people paid a terrible price. We cannot let it happen again."
-He talked a lot about how Iran has to quit making weapons and being awful.
-Israel must move towards a free market economy and reform ports, open markets in Asia and Latin America
-He wants to make a unified rail and road system throughout Israel
-He wants to improve information technology especially in currently underdeveloped towns
-As for peace, he said the only way to end negotiations for peace is to begin them, and he hopes Palestine will come to the table. He said the reason there is no peace now is that there is fervent opposition to a Jewish state regardless of boundaries. He said Palestinians fall mostly into two groups: 1) People who refuse to recognize a Jewish state and 2) People who refuse to confront the first group.
At maybe three points in his speech, someone rose from the audience and started screaming (In Hebrew? In Arabic? Not sure) protestations against him. The first time this happened, he smirked at President Peres and said, "Shimon, you can see our exemplary democracy in action..." and we all laughed it off. But by the third time, it was really creeping me out. I haven't see this happen in America. These people somehow got invited to the conference, got through all that crazy security, and lied waiting for their chance to scream. And when they did, they were dragged off by security with news cameras in their face. It made me very uneasy.
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| A woman being escorted out after shouting. |
I left during Peres's speech to go catch the bus to meet Rivka! But here's a pic:
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| There's something about him that makes me think at any moment he might shout, "IT'S A TRAP!" |
Tomorrow we're going on a two day excursion up north and camping out. I go with some trepidation. Camping is not my forte. Well, I'll post again when I get back!
Remember your tea bags.
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