Red Lines

January 12, 2006

It was only a matter of time before one of our kids demanded access to what may be the most rebellious, dangerous and terrifying activities known to parents in Israel. In this case, the culprit in question was twelve-year-old Merav, and her act of teenage defiance? She wanted to ride the bus. In normal circumstances, […]

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With Pleasure

January 5, 2006

I was leaving a meeting at about 9:00 PM on a Thursday night when I heard my cell phone beep. It was a text message from my wife Jody. It read: “Did you get my other message?” And I thought: uh oh…that meant I had missed something important. I saw that there was indeed another […]

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Scooter Boy

December 21, 2005

As we were coming to pick up our six-year-old Aviv from his third week in first grade last year, his new teacher pulled my wife Jody and me aside. “He seems a little spacey in class,” Yael said. “Like he’s not really paying attention. I’m not sure he’s really ‘getting’ things. I’m a bit concerned.” […]

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Matisya Who?

December 12, 2005

We were on the first day of a two week car trip through Europe. My wife Jody and I and our three kids had packed the rented Nissan Almera full of our gear and were settling in for the three hour drive from the Milan airport to our bed and breakfast in Italy’s picturesque Lake […]

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10 Reasons I Still Love Jerusalem

December 6, 2005

Israelis love to get down on Jerusalem. Every time new statistics are published, pundits bemoan the steady decline of the city and how much better other cities in the country are – particularly those in the Greater Tel Aviv area.   The latest depressing numbers come from the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies (JIIS) in […]

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A Little More “Nuditity” Please

November 28, 2005

Archie Bunker, the protagonist of the massively popular 1970s TV sitcom “All in the Family“ used to decry the increasing amounts of “nuditity” in the world that always seemed out of synch with his less than open-minded views.   I kept thinking about this classic malapropism as Jody and I attended a performance of the […]

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Bat Mitzvah Treasure Hunt

November 14, 2005

Merav’s bat mitzvah had been going great…we’d finished the first round of dancing and the guests had loaded up their plates with homemade ravioli and teriyaki salmon. The bat mitzvah girl was beaming from all the attention and we were generally feeling like everything was under control and proceeding according to our carefully crafted plan. […]

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Parking Problems

November 7, 2005

When family comes to town, I tend to find myself  in the car, driving, more than usual: to and from various restaurants for meals, off for tiyulim, shopping downtown. That was certainly the case in the last two weeks as twelve-year-old Merav celebrated her bat mitzvah. Now, with family safely back in North America and […]

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The Meaning of Bat Mitzvah

October 31, 2005

Our twelve-year-old daughter Merav became bat mitzvah this weekend. It was an amazing event for the whole family. She read the entire Torah portion of Bereshit plus the haftorah, and she gave a stellar drash to boot. Jody and I were shepping nachas big time. I wanted to share with you the talk Merav gave […]

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“I Need to Make”

October 24, 2005

We were in the middle of nowhere, hiking through a flat desert plane between two mountain ridges with nary a bush or significant cluster of rocks located anywhere in close range, when seven-year-old Aviv nonchalantly blurted out:   “I need to make.”   Four words that every parent has heard repeated countless times, in countless […]

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