Jewish Holidays and Culture

Snakes and Angels: Shavuot Learning on Sderot and Gaza

May 24, 2007

It’s traditional to learn Torah on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot which began this past Tuesday night. Nine-year-old Aviv’s class had a pre-Shavuot student-parent study session at school earlier in the week and my wife Jody and I went. But by the time we walked out, I found myself drawing political rather than religious conclusions. […]

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The Royal Mikve – Jpost Talkbacks

May 4, 2007

Last Friday the Jerusalem Post, as part of a new arrangement to reprint articles from This Normal Life, published my piece “The Royal Mikve,” Jody and my adventure searching for a mikve while on vacation at the Dead Sea. The story, which chronicles a less than modest encounter with the staff in charge of the […]

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Matisyahu: No Chasid Where There’s No Chesed

April 26, 2007

Nothing upsets me quite as much as when someone deliberately goes out of their way to harm one of my friends. That’s apparently what happened with Hasidic reggae superstar Matisyahu who I wrote about previously in this blog. I recently had a chance to catch up with pal Aaron Bisman, Matisyahu’s longtime manager and the […]

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Wandering Jews

April 19, 2007

Lately I’ve been using a new Web 2.0 Internet service called Geni. It’s deceptively simple and intensely addictive. The Geni website basically makes building a family tree fast and easy (“Geni” is short for “genealogy”). When you first come to the site, Geni asks you to enter your name, your parents and any siblings. You […]

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“Not Fit for a Dog”

April 1, 2007

Following the successful conclusion of her first dog-sitting job, my 13-year-old daughter Merav has been looking for ways to expand her business, especially now that she has extra time due to the two and a half week Pesach vacation that began last week. An article last week in the Israeli daily newspaper Idiot Ahronot may […]

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Israeli rockers to get by with a little help from.. Oleh! Records

February 15, 2007

Friday afternoon is a time when many Israelis are winding down, preparing for the Sabbath or taking a break at the end of a hectic workweek before heading out for a night on the town. But at Tel Aviv’s Levontin 7 club, situated in a seedy, rundown neighborhood in the south part of the city, […]

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Thanksgiving in Israel

November 23, 2006

Every year, just about this time of the month, I get a flurry of emails from friends and colleagues all with pretty much the same message. It goes something like this: “Happy Thanksgiving, that is if you celebrate it over there…er, do you?” So, what do immigrants from the U.S. to Israel do on the […]

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The Middle Ground

November 9, 2006

There are a few constants in this world: siblings will rival, property taxes will rise, and following a trip to North America, I will wax nostalgic for the “old country.” Our most recent family vacation was no exception. The trip was book-ended by two gala smachot – festive family events that included the bar mitzvah […]

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When Words Fail

September 29, 2006

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are the highlights in a year of Jewish holidays. The importance ascribed to what are known as “the High Holydays” is second to none on the Jewish calendar. When it comes to liturgy, though, they are also among the toughest days of the year. The prayer service, you see, is […]

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Royal Response

July 11, 2006

My recent post on “The Royal Mikveh” generated more than the usual amount of response. Not since I was branded a “settler” for living in West Jerusalem have I received so much feedback on a blog article. So I wanted to share a little of what readers have told me. If you haven’t read the […]

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