It’s Official: Tel Aviv is Cool. But Where are Tel Avivians Really From?

May 31, 2012

It’s now official: 60 Minutes has declared Tel Aviv one cool city. The venerable CBS television news magazine ran a 12-minute report on Israel’s beachside metropolis and Tel Aviv came out glowing. Of course, this being television, 60 Minutes had to “frame” the segment. It starts out: We went looking for a place of calm […]

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Ambivalence on Jerusalem Day

May 21, 2012

Yom Yerushalayim was yesterday, but this post on Israelity generated so much comment, I’m reprinting it here on This Normal Life. Motta Gur before entering the Old City in 1967 I’m never quite sure what to think of Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day in English. The day commemorates the reunification of the city following the […]

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Cell Phone at the Supermarket? You Can Save Big

May 18, 2012

YouPhone is one of the new cellular carriers hitting the Israeli market Israelis won’t be saying “hallo” on their cell phones, but that doesn’t mean low prices aren’t coming. A few weeks ago, a much-rumored new discount-priced Israeli cellular phone company called Hallo dropped its plans to launch after it emerged the company didn’t have the contacts […]

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Indie Rock Discoveries at This Year’s Jacob’s Ladder

May 8, 2012

Jacob’s Ladder is my favorite weekend of the year. Indie rock discovery: Jenny & Gilad Located at the picturesque Kibbutz Nof Ginosar, on the banks of the Sea of Galilee, the festival is billed as “a unique bluegrass, folk, country, blues, Irish and world music extravaganza.” It is in equal parts a chance to catch up […]

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Srugim Co-Creator Tells All in Jerusalem Lecture

May 3, 2012

Poster advertising Laizy’s appearance in Jerusalem For its three season run, I was hooked on the Israeli TV drama Srugim. The program told the tale of four religious (and one formerly religious) young Israelis living in Jerusalem’s singles-centric Old Katamon neighborhood, affectionately known as the “swamp.” The show won praise from both religious and secular […]

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Audited

April 18, 2012

Fortunately we don’t have to file taxes as in this picture from 1920 in the U.S. For the 17 years that we have lived in Israel, we have been boy scouts when it comes to paying our U.S. taxes. We file our 1040s dutifully, even though there is rarely any tax to pay (we pay […]

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Emek Tzurim Park: a Hidden Treasure in Jerusalem

April 17, 2012

The beginning point of Emek Tzurim File this one in the “who knew?” department. During the intermediary days of Passover, my wife and I had the opportunity to join a guided tour through the Tzurim Valley that begins at the Mount Scopus campus of Hebrew University and ends at the Dung Gate entrance to the Old City, […]

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The Most Memorable Seder

April 10, 2012

Chabad Kathmandu As an early icebreaker just before we began to read from the Passover Haggadah Friday night, my wife Jody asked the assembled family and guests to name their most memorable Seder. For me, there was no question. Exactly one year ago, our family was sitting in a luxurious ballroom at the Yak and […]

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Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Pelephone?

April 3, 2012

Orange has a nifty iPhone app that shows you exactly where they’re ripping you off Last week I wrote about my new iPhone 4S on the Israelity blog. I took a rather crafty approach in obtaining the phone. The local cell phone operators – Orange, Pelephone and Cellcom being the largest – are more than happy to […]

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REM returns to Israel in the form of Robyn Hitchcock

March 29, 2012

Peter Buck and Robyn Hitchcock on the left In 1995, I got fired from a job. It was the first job I’d had in Israel and the first time I’d ever been fired from anything. Suffice it to say I was pretty despondent on that day. REM saved me. The night after I was laid […]

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