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1005 MAG 01-13 Cover Z MAY 10, 2019 ON TRACK OR OFF THE RAILS? THE ‘MAGAZINE’ INSPECTS THE NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN ISRAEL’S TRAIN SERVICE CONTENTS May 10, 2019 Cover Sections 8 The Jerusalem fast train vs. the 4 Letters powerful media 7 Refections • By GOL KALEV 24 Arab Press 12 Israel Railways: Across-the-board failures 26 Trending • By URI BOLLAG and 28 Wine Talk CASSANDRA GOMES-HOCHBERG 30 Food 14 Jerusalem by rail 32 Travel 30 • By PEGGY CIDOR 34 Observations 6 The astrology of independence 37 Psychology • By ERICA SCHACHNE 38 Books 16 Chats with writing legend Joyce Carol-Oates 42 Judaism • By MOSHE DANN 44 Games 18 The gig economy 46 Readers’ Photos • By ILANA STUTLAND 47 Arrivals 20 Eating disorders: A growing Middle Eastern issue • By MAYA MARGIT 21 Menstruation: A shift in Egyptian attitudes • By TARA KAVALER COVER PHOTO: Reuters Photos (from top): Dror Katz; Meital Sharabi 32 SAY WHAT? PHOTO OF THE WEEK | MARC ISRAEL SELLEM BY LIAT COLLINS Ayom v’nora איום ונורא Meaning: Dreadful Literally: Terrible and awful Example: The extremes in the weather are horrible. One day hot and the next day cold. Ayom v’nora. Z Editor: ERICA SCHACHNE Literary Editor: AMY SPIRO Graphic Designer: HANA BEN-ANO EMAIL: [email protected] www.jpost.com >> magazine 2 MAY 10, 2019 COVER THE JERUSALEM FAST-TRAIN VS. THE POWERFUL MEDIA During the six-month test period, early-adopter passengers on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv train line got an insider look at the phenomenon of mind-setting through negative news ADMIRING THE view in September: ‘The ride is not just reliable and luxurious, it is also quick.’ (Gol Kalev) 8 MAY 10, 2019 After 3,000 years as a landlocked city, during most of which it was surrounded by walls, Jerusalem now has a ‘beach’ THE RAILWAY station in • GOL KALEV ous, it is also quick. The 47-minute ride of previously canceled Jerusalem trains. Jerusalem, 1914. from the capital to the White City (soon Needless to say, there is no word on the (Photos: Wikimedia ailways and the power of media to be shortened to 28 minutes) makes the dozens of bus lines that get canceled every Commons) – two new things that shaped train a quicker, safer and more convenient day. (Imagine a breaking-news headline 19th-century Europe – were alternative than taking a car or bus – the like this: “The 10 a.m. 480 bus got canceled; both of great interest to Theodor previous modes of transportation that passengers boarded the 10:10 a.m. bus Herzl, the founder of Zionism. connected Jerusalem, which now, like the instead.”) RSome of Herzl’s Zionist thinking oc- horse, seem increasingly outdated. Of course, there is legitimate criticism curred while riding on trains, and as a pow- During the experimental phase, there about Israel Railways, its management and erful journalist for one of Europe’s leading is a simple transfer at Ben-Gurion Airport unions, as well as about its prioritizing this newspapers, Herzl fully understood how from the electric train that descends from line over others, but the intense negativi- newspapers could shape public perception Jerusalem to a regular train that leaves ty that is directed specifcally at the high- of political developments and events (such from the same platform. One can either speed Jerusalem line entrenched a mindset as the Dreyfus Affair). continue working on the train (there are among Israelis that is disconnected from The new train line between Jerusalem 10 minutes until the electric train revers- reality. and Tel Aviv seems to be such a case of es course back to Jerusalem), sit in the Herzl understood that mindsets are dif- media shaping public perception. The line outskirts of the platform on the spacious fcult to change. Jews in his time viewed that Herzl envisioned over 100 years ago benches, use the bathrooms or listen to Judaism through a particular prism that was inaugurated in September on an exper- sounds of a piano occasionally trickling included a yearning to return to their imental basis and for free, running every 30 down from the station upstairs, while ob- homeland, but only in a theoretical, de- minutes. serving new arrivals to Israel as they de- featist, “some day” dreamlike way. Even Having ridden the train about 100 times, scend the escalator from the airport into before he launched Zionism, Herzl un- only once was a train canceled. Offcial the platform area. derstood that the Jews would not listen Israeli railroad statistics show a similar pat- Only 47 minutes after departing to him, given their sagging spirits and en- tern, with fewer than 1% of trains being Jerusalem, one arrives in Tel Aviv. slavement to such a mindset. canceled. In nearly all other cases, the To make his case, Herzl resorted to trains! trains left and arrived precisely on time. BUT THEN a bizarre phenomenon occurs: He argued that when railroads were frst This makes the Jerusalem line one of the telling people that you took the train is constructed, some people “were of the most reliable modes of travel, even during met with a strong reaction. opinion that it was foolish to build certain its experimental phase! “Why are you risking your life? Every lines because there were not even suffcient It is not just reliable, but also relatively other train gets stuck in the tunnel.” “It passengers to fll the mail coaches.” luxurious. The double-decker cars are takes an hour just to get through the Railroads were an astonishing leap in impeccably clean, well-maintained and station.” “You need to take a bus from the human progress that occurred during usually quiet. Given the generally sparse airport.” These are just some of the com- Herzl’s century, replacing animals as the use by the general public, each passenger ments one hears. Some even refuse to ac- primary mode of transportation, radically gets his own suite, which includes a table, cept that it took only 47 minutes, opting to shortening distances and facilitating ex- dual electricity plug and foor-to-ceiling believe what they think they heard on the pansion to new frontiers. And yet, far too windows through which one can view the news rather than an eyewitness account. many people were stuck in old mindsets astonishing miracle that Herzl dreamed. Regular passengers on the train report that were shaped by journalists and others: This frst-class-like travel experience makes similar reactions upon arriving in Tel Aviv: if there are not many who people travel the ride productive and inspiring for “The Jerusalem line is a national disaster, from Vienna to Paris, why invest a massive business travelers, writers and casual trav- and please don’t let facts get in the way.” amount of money to build railroads? elers alike. Just as Herzl came up with great Not only is there substantial negative “They did not realize the truth – which ideas while on train rides through Europe, press about the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv line, now seems obvious to us,” said Herzl. so do some of today’s Zionist innovators but when a train does get canceled, it turns “Travelers do not produce railways, but come up with their great ideas while on into national news! Israeli major news sites conversely, railways produce travelers.” train rides through the Jewish state that consistently report service interruptions As Herzl intuited, the reality of a fast, Herzl seeded. as news items and when doing so, they convenient and reliable railway between The ride is not just reliable and luxuri- usually include in the article the history Jerusalem and Tel Aviv would likely alter www.jpost.com 9 COVER the dynamics of the two cities. He under- stood that just as obsessive naysayers spoke ill of the trains, they would also speak ill of Zionism. He described them as “nothing more than men sunk into the groove of daily routine, unable to emerge from a nar- row circle of antiquated ideas.” But at the same time, he understood the power of media and other opinion-leaders. “Their adverse opinion carries great weight and can do considerable harm to a new project.” THE LAUNCH of the Jerusalem train pro- vides a case study for such “great weight.” It might also be indicative of a broad- er reality, that those who read Israeli newspapers and consume Israeli media often have a more inferior understanding of Israel than those on the outside. That is because the negative knowledge acquired from domestic media at times surmounts the positive information it provides. This is neither new nor unique. The foundation of Zionism was laid from the outside and by an outsider, Herzl, who had very little to do with the Jewish community. Similarly, some of the con- temporary innovative Zionist thinking is done on the outside. Indeed, Diaspora Jews and non-Jewish friends of Zion can con- tribute tremendously to the development of the Zionist story – as they can see things that newspaper-reading Israelis, sunk into the groove of daily reporting, cannot. When infuenced by the media, it is indeed sometimes diffcult to emerge from a nar- the ultimate and infnite ideal that unites spective to the “I want it, I got it” mantra. ‘IT MIGHT take a neophyte 20 row circle of antiquated ideas. Israeli Jews, and through which non-Jews The train, therefore, can also turn into a minutes to go through security To be clear, criticism is crucially relate to the Jewish state. This was evident vehicle to spread the Jerusalem optimism and make it down 80 meters important in a democracy, even at the risk in the recent elections; nearly all Israeli to vibrant Tel Aviv.
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