Unaccompanied Minor

August 19, 2011

I took my 13-year-old son Aviv to the airport last night. He was flying as an “unaccompanied minor” to Los Angeles to meet up with his grandparents who have promised him two weeks of unmitigated American fun (roller coasters, beaches and all you can eat sushi – yum, I wish I was 13 again!) The […]

Read the full article →

Dueling Eicha’s…with Wheels

August 9, 2011

Segways at the tayelet The holiday of Tisha B’av has befallen us (yes, pun intended) and Jews all over the world are spending the day reflecting, fasting or otherwise using the holiday’s restrictions to avoid shaving and bathing for a day. On the evening of Tisha B’av, it is traditional to hear the book of […]

Read the full article →

A Capitalist’s Take on the Tent Protests

August 4, 2011

Tent city in Tel Aviv I’m not quite sure what to think of the tent protests that have taken over the country in recent weeks. On the one hand, the rising costs that have plagued Israel in recent years have hit our family quite personally. On the other, I remember the days before Israel’s so-called […]

Read the full article →

Aviv’s Nepal Blog Part 2 Now Online

August 1, 2011

Just a quick announcement that the second part of Aviv’s amazing online diary of our trip to Nepal and India is now available for your reading pleasure. Please take a peek and be sure to leave a comment – it’s great feedback for Aviv as he nurtures his budding writing career! Here’s the link.

Read the full article →

Aviv’s Bar Mitzvah Blog Chronicles our Trip to Nepal

July 28, 2011

Tiyul #13 – at Rusape Falls in Nepal This week, instead of my usual post, I’d like to point your attention to Aviv’s bar mitvah blog. You may have already been reading it – in the year leading up to his bar mitzvah, we undertook 12 tiyulim (hikes) all over Israel and Aviv blogged about […]

Read the full article →

The View from Inside

July 20, 2011

From Broadside.net How often do you turn to your doctor and say – please give me a very unpleasant and painful procedure? But that’s pretty much the drill as we hover around the age of 50 and ask our family physicians to schedule a colonoscopy. The health funds recommend that everyone 50 and up get […]

Read the full article →

Modern Minimalist Train Brings Steve Reich’s Music to Jerusalem

July 11, 2011

Steve Reich’s Different Trains rumbled into town this past week and the results were stunning – one of the must-see concerts of an already overflowing Jerusalem summer. Reich is the godfather of the modern minimalist music scene, patron saint to more art/pop-oriented artists like Phillip Glass and Brian Eno. His compositions are highly repetitive: the […]

Read the full article →

White Night Shines in Tel Aviv

July 5, 2011

Thursday night at White Night On Thursday last week, Tel Aviv celebrated its 9th annual “White Night,” a city-wide party to mark the UNESCO declaration of Tel Aviv as “the White City,” in honor of its many (white) Bauhaus-era buildings. My wife Jody and I had never been to White Night (“Layla Levan” in Hebrew) […]

Read the full article →

The Latest Holyland Monstrosity in Jerusalem?

June 28, 2011

Planned 24-story tower in southern Jerusalem When the city of Jerusalem canceled the “Safdie Plan” in 2006, urban planners said there would be no choice but to build inside the city itself. The Safdie Plan, a project conceived by world-famous architect Moshe Safdie, would have put upwards of 20,000 housing units in the hills to […]

Read the full article →

A Celebrity at the School Play

June 22, 2011

It’s been a good week for comedy in Israel. First, the twice-a-year Comedy for Koby show has been traveling around the country to great acclaim – I blogged about it earlier this week on Israelity. And yesterday afternoon, raunchy (and embarrassingly funny) U.S. comedian Sarah Silverman improbably appeared on a panel at Shimon Peres’ “Israeli […]

Read the full article →