Monday, February 25, 2013

Dr. Ruth Kalderon's Maiden Speech in the Knesset

Since becoming a civil servant in 2011, with the obligation to stay away from public expression of political opinions, I've mostly stopped blogging. Even when I still do blog from time to time, I try to stay away from politics. I'm not about to change that.

And yet. We recently had an election, you may have noticed, and following the election a new crop of Members of Knesset took their place in the legislature. The negotiations towards creating a coalition are still underway, and we don't know, at this stage, who'll be in the government and who not, nor which positions in the Knesset will be filled by whom. We're still waiting.

In the meantime, however, the new MKs have been making their maiden speeches. The one by Dr. Ruth Kalderon, a new MK from Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party, stands out above all others. Actually, it stands out above all other speeches given by anyone to the Knesset, for quite a number of years. Its you-tube version has gone viral, and by now, less than two weeks after it was given, I don't seem to know anyone left who hasn't seen it; most people agree that it's an unusually fine speech.

I"m posting it with English subtitles. It's about 15 minutes long, and if you're interested in one of the most exciting cultural phenomena in Israel these days, take the time.

Update: and here's an interesting article explaining why some people are so excited about her.

4 comments:

Stop BDS Park Slope said...

A somewhat abridge version in english is available here at the website of the new york newspaper The Jewish Week:
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/israel-news/talmud-lesson-knesset

Nycerbarb

Silke said...

just in case the Shulamit Lapid she mentions at the beginning of her speech is the author Shulamit Lapid whose who-dunnits I like so much, then somehow the story telling talent is shared by both.

Thanks for posting that one Yaacov - it was quite a treat.

Silke said...

Yaacov
just in case you have your English subtitles available as a text - could you post it?
thank you!

After having slept on it, I think it is the best speech of the "let's do it together" kind that I have ever come across.

It is extraordinary in so many ways and I am wrecking my brain where else a combination of highly gifted story telling (of the kind that evokes camp fires or kettle on hearth) and an effective rallying cry might be possible without my little cynicism alert cells not only not starting to fire but to want more more more. Of course the speech was perfect in length also, why else would it make me want more.



Piet said...

Wow. What a beautiful Speech — thanks for sharing!