Coffee, East and West

One of Jerusalem’s lesser-known gems is the Museum for Islamic Art, a handsome building situated not far from the Jerusalem Theatre complex and the President’s residence. As well as exhibiting a fine array of objects of Islamic art it houses a unique collection of clocks and watches amassed by the late David Solomons. A large part of that collection was stolen from the museum some forty years ago, but by a series of strange events and coincidences was returned to its rightful home about ten years ago.

But that is not what brought me to its portals. The museum also hosts changing exhibitions on allied subjects, and the current one, entitled ‘Coffee, East and West,’ was enticing enough to induce me to visit it.

Alongside the wide variety of utensils – some purely functional, others more decorative, even ornate — used for the preparation of the brew, which are on display, are informative notices explaining its history and cultural associations.

Thus, the origin of coffee stems from Ethiopia where, so legend has it, a shepherd noticed that after his goats had eaten certain berries that grew locally they would leap about energetically. He decided to try them for himself, and found the taste to his liking. The process of grinding the beans and boiling them in water developed in the region, eventually spreading to the Arabian peninsula.

Initially, coffee was drunk only by men, whether in the home or, later, in coffee-houses, throughout the Islamic world, where women rarely left their house (or tent) and certainly did not participate in public life in any way. The process of preparing coffee entailed the production of special implements, first for grinding the beans into a powder and then for cooking or boiling the liquid to make it more palatable. The exhibition contains a fascinating video of a Beduin grinding the beans in a rhythmic, almost musical way, and this is also echoed in the sound-track to part of a delightful animation video depicting the history of coffee and the journey it has taken to reach the Western world.

Inevitably, the custom of preparing and drinking coffee spread throughout the Ottoman Empire, reaching the dusty region known as Palestine. The coffee-houses were frequented by the local male inhabitants, both Moslem and Jewish, though some rabbis disapproved of the habit-forming brew.

Travellers as well as the failed attempt of the Ottoman army to conquer Vienna brought the drink to Europe in the seventeenth century, and the institution of the coffee-house became increasingly popular. Once again, it was only the male of the species who frequented these establishments, and the idea of women sitting in a public place and drinking coffee was generally frowned upon, Johann Sebastian Bach even went so far as to compose an amusing cantata, the ‘Coffee Cantata,’ in which a father forbids his young daughter to go to the coffee house (one can listen to the music on headphones in the exhibition). The daughter finds a way around this by agreeing to get married, convinced that she will be able to persuade her husband to let her indulge in her passion for coffee. Women were apparently responsible for introducing a less potent form of coffee, mixing it with milk and sugar.

As the custom of drinking coffee spread throughout Western Europe the devices for its preparation and consumption became ever-more elaborate. The exhibition displays delicate porcelain coffee sets and jugs, some with hand-painted decorations, made by the foremost European producers of china. The twentieth century has brought a plethora of refinements in the production of the coffee we drink, with percolators, espresso machines and all manner of electric and electronic devices. Whether we use a machine to make our coffee or simply take a spoon of powdered coffee and mix it with boiling water in a cup, it’s a far cry from the pestle and mortar with which the potent brew originated.

Two things were lacking in the exhibition: the enticing aroma of the drink and the ability to get a cup of coffee there. Notwithstanding its defects, the exhibition is interesting, aesthetic and informative, and it’s certainly worth a visit.

England, Their England

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This book by A.G. Macdonell aims to provide an account of life in England in the 1930s, i.e., in the period between the two world wars. Despite claiming that it is not a book about war, the first chapter describes a particular battle that took place in the First World War, using it as an opportunity to mock, deride and defame the structure, function and comportment of the various ranks of the British army, and the officer corps in particular.

.The reader is able to witness the efforts of one Donald Cameron to study the nature of the British national character. He is a young man who has abandoned his late father’s failed farm in bleakest Scotland and makes his way by train south to London. Wanting to be a writer, he finds himself undertaking various free-lance journalism tasks, and this sends him to a number of areas and situations in and around. London, in his quest for ‘local colour.’

One of his first assignments is to cover – and participate in – a cricket match between some upper-class chaps he meets while seeking employment as a journalist, and a team of villagers somewhere in Essex. His account of the game, which was supposedly alien to him, and the behaviour of the participants, which consisted mainly of going off singly or in pairs to the local pub, which opened and closed according to the whim of its owner rather than the official opening hours in effect at the time, reads more like an account of a Commedia del’Arte performance, replete with comic entrances and exits, flippant remarks and a fair amount of bullying and blustering from all concerned (but mainly from the ‘toffs’ from London).

Another, similarly facetious account, accompanies the chapter devoted to a football (soccer) match played in a London stadium between two teams which have been longstanding rivals. His description of the behaviour of the supporters of the rival teams, both inside and outside the stadium, seems to be in accord with the behavious of British football fans today.

There are accounts of fancy dinner parties attended by such worthies as Sir Ethelred Ormerode, Captain de Wilton-ffallow and the beautiful Esmeralda d’Avenant. The latter seeks to befriend the author after mistakenly assuming that he is a distinguished journalist who can provide her with publicity in his newspaper. And so it goes on, with the facetious tone being maintained throughout the book, and the inimical British way of life with its class system, antiquated rites and often meaningless rituals (especially those associated with sport) being held up for constant albeit gentle ridicule.

The book was considered a classic in England in the 1930s, but to my mind it has not withstood the test of time.

Turning the Clock Back

A reunion of people who, like my husband, were born in 1940, i.e. now aged eighty, might sound over-optimistic, but these were no ordinary people. These were men and women who were born and brought up in Kiryat Haim, a settlement situated on the coast slightly north of Haifa. Kiryat Haim was founded in the early 1940s by people, halutzim, idealists who had come to Israel from Russia and Poland to help build the Jewish State. They were all Labour Party stalwarts and their offspring attended the local high school and became devoted members of the Working and Studying Youth Movement (Noar Oved veLomed),

Inevitably, the reunion organisers were at pains to point out the many gaps and losses in their number, but nonetheless, some fifty former members of the youth movement, accompanied by spouses, came from all corners of the country (and one even from the USA) to participate in the event. Most of them seemed relatively sprightly, though one participant was in a wheelchair, one or two of them were using walking sticks, and of course there were many bent backs and instances of bald heads or scanty grey hair, but on the whole the overall impression was of a crowd of mentally and physically active pensioners with a lively sense of humour. These were people who had been involved in every stage of Israel’s existence, and represented the best of its population.

Every participant was equipped with a tag bearing his or her name and a photo of themselves from the time when they had all been eighteen years old, just about to enlist in the army or to embark on whatever path in life they had chosen. There were many exclamations of surprise and delight as the old-timers peered at one another’s name tags and rediscovered one another, many of them bearing very little resemblance today to their youthful selves.

The event was well-organised, providing a welcome spread of coffee and cake as everyone arrived after having braved the traffic and traffic jams on the way to the meeting place. After allowing an hour for everyone to greet and re-establish old friendships, a session was devoted to speeches by the organisers, who had dug out the minutes of the meetings held in the youth movement and read out reports of the activities undertaken at the time. Others of the participants went up to the microphone and shared their thoughts and reminiscences. One participant had even written a poem for the occasion. All this occasioned much appreciation, laughter and friendly banter as long-buried memories were brought back to life.

As is essential on such occasions, a generous buffet lunch was provided, offering a wide variety of aesthetically-presented salads and quiches, served on recyclable plates and cutlery, followed by a delectable dessert. Cold drinks (but no alcohol) were on hand, and it was a joy to see the senior citizens tucking into their food with gusto as they chatted to one another, trying to catch up on the events of the sixty years in which they had not had contact with one another.

As people ate a series of photos from those youthful years appeared on a large screen at the back of the hall, and people took pleasure in recognising themselves and one another. In those far-off days they all wore shorts and singlets, though none of them would venture to wear that kind of attire today. The meal was followed by a recital by one of the participants, Eitan Vardi, who is a veritable virtuoso on the recorder – playing and explaining the various categories of instrument, all of which were made in Kibbutz Geva. Accompanied by a talented young musician on the piano, he demonstrated and talked about the pieces he played for almost an hour. Before moving on to the next activity, everyone was summoned to the stage to pose for a group photo.

And finally came the pièce de resistance, as song sheets were handed out to the assembled throng and, led by Eitan Vardi on the recorder, roared out the songs they had sung as youngsters. A few insisted on singing the International and the movement’s anthem. Some of the participants were visibly moved and could hardly hold back the tears as they sang. The final song on the song sheet was one that was composed only at a later date, a touching and surprisingly optimistic song called ‘The Party’s Over’ by Naomi Shemer. But I must confess it was truly inspiring to hear the crowd of eighty-year-olds enthusiastically sing the words ‘Time to get up the next morning and start all over again.’

Let’s hope they all find the strength to do just that.

The Anatomy of a Spy; a History of Espionage and Betrayal

It is very rare for a book to elicit loud exclamations of surprise, delight or amazement from me while I’m reading it, but this did indeed happen on several occasions while I was engrossed in this remarkahle, well-researched and enlightening book by Michael Smith.

After providing a detailed analysis of the biblical story of the betrayal of Samson by Delilah, providing insights and hypotheses as to what happened and why, Michael Smith gives the reader a series of detailed and insightful chapters on the way real-life spies have operated and what their motives were for doing so. With chapters entitled ‘Sexual Relationships,’ ‘Money,’ and ‘Patriotism,’ amongst others, the reader is introduced to the characters who have worked to pass on the secrets of their own or other countries in European, Asian and American history and in modern times.

The author has had access to a vast array of sources, both official and unofficial and so, using these as well as his extensive knowledge of modern history, he gives the reader a fascinating glimpse into the lives and minds of a wide range of individuals who have engaged in the undeniably risky occupation of spying. Giving the occasional nod to the James Bond character in the novels of Ian Fleming, Michael Smith reveals the ways in which the various national intelligence agencies managed their secret agents, thereby obtaining information they considered damaging to countries perceived as a threat.

This was particularly the case during war-time, and the information obtained by the British and American intelligence services during the two world wars, provided by foreign nationals as well as their own agents, proved invaluable in determining the ultimate victory of the Allied forces. On the other hand, the spies who worked to undermine the West, such as the ‘Cambridge Five’ in England and agents working for the Russians in Germany, the USA and elsewhere, caused untold harm to those countries, passing on invaluable information and essentially enabling Russia to develop its own nuclear arsenal. On the basis of the intelligence provided by a ‘mole’ inside the Russian military establishment President Kennedy was able to call Khruschev’s bluff over the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, bringing the threat of a worldwide nuclear conflagration to an end.

A particularly telling chapter near the end of the book recounts the way the Russians manipulated social media, and thus public opinion in the USA, to discredit Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential election. By investing massive and sophisticated resources, the Russians were able to get their preferred candidate elected, despite his obvious personality, intellectual and administrative flaws.

Altogether, this book provides an eye-opening account of the ways in which spies have operated through the ages, their motivations for doing so and the benefits (or detriments) thus gained by the countries for which they worked. It is altogether a fascinating, well-written and instructive book which I highly recommend.