בס״ד

Sarah Yael Ciko

We are limited by our senses and the stories we tell each other.

As [former Secretary of State Henry] Kissinger observed at the time, “Never has a government achieved so many unreciprocated things from another government for an agreement which is basically in its favor.”

When I told [Hedley Bull] I wanted to write my thesis on U.S.-Israeli relations, he looked at me quizzically and said, “Why would you waste your time on that topic? It's clear that Israel cannot survive.”

Unlike Bull, Kissinger cared whether Israel survived. His Jewish identity gave him a special sensibility toward the Jewish state, and a distinct sense of responsibility. He felt uncomfortable talking about that responsibility, beyond acknowledging that “one cannot live the life I’ve lived without feeling a common destiny with the Jewish people.”

He believed, however, that the relationship between Israel and the United States needed to transcend such personal considerations. As he told an American Jewish audience in January 1977, just after he left office, “The support for a free and democratic Israel in the Middle East is a moral necessity...to be pursued by every administration.”

—Martin Indyk, Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the art of Middle East diplomacy, 2021

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President Truman added in his memoirs:
I told [Director of the Bureau of the Budget] Harold D. Smith that one thing was certain—this country wanted no Gestapo under any guise or for any reason.
We should have no Gestapo.

—Allen W. Dulles, The Craft of Intelligence, 1965

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As the olive does not give of its precious oil except through adversity, so Israel does not bring forth its highest virtues except through adversity. —Exodus Rabbah

emits showers of sparks

this is a summer of fireworks
the protest of a fuse, the crack of a report, and pungent smoke
towering trees bend toward the immense dusk sky of deepest blue
wind through the leaves breathes praise to its creator
make a skid mark with your bike
what's it like to wear glasses?
oh, you have freckles
down the street, they have dirt and walkie talkies
up the street, they have sweat and smell and pheromones
down the street they have sparklers in the handlebars
up the street we have kissing
then an awkward touch
up, up and then

Subway shots by Louis Mendes.