Israel

The Top Ten Music Festivals in Israel

February 17, 2011

Israel is too often perceived through an exclusively political, religious or historical lens. An equally compelling current for locals is music. The country is chock-a-block full of music festivals. Whether your preference runs to jazz, rock, classical, choral, rap or klezmer; whether you enjoy the desert, the mountains or the heart of the city, you’ll […]

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Secular Rabbis to the Rescue?

February 10, 2011

Rabbi Sivan Maas The Jerusalem Post reported this weekend about a rabbinic ordination ceremony of a very different kind. I was there at the event too, which took place in December. What made it all so unique was that the new rabbis were all entirely secular. And they don’t believe in God, at least not […]

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Religious Mustard and Other Hebrew Acronyms

January 26, 2011

Hodaya, the most famous “datlashit” from the TV show “Srugim” In the U.S. and most western countries, Jews tend to identify their religious affiliation through one of the major Jewish movements, be it Conservative, Reform, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Jewish Renewal, and even Secular Humanistic Judaism. Not so in Israel, where one’s religious standing is far more […]

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War Over the Airwaves in Eilat

December 16, 2010

Resting at the top of the mountain In 1947, the U.N. partition plan designated the sleepy port of Eilat as the southernmost tip of the new Jewish state. It wasn’t until the final days of the War of Independence, however, when Israel took control of the town in an operation that surprised the small platoon […]

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Fake Crab, Great Deal

December 7, 2010

Sushi at Tsunami A new Jerusalem-based group-buying site, appropriately called GroopBuy, is taking the Anglo community by storm. The site, which launched Nov. 1, is the brainchild of a 27-year-old new immigrant, David Shadpour, who says he created the business to help his fellow olim negotiate better deals. He might also have had his eye […]

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A Prickly Suprise

December 1, 2010

Hiking along the Israel Trail from Mitzpe Missua They looked so ripe and delicious. How were we to know that eating sabra fruit in the wild is an adventure intended only for the foolish – animal, human or otherwise? We were in the middle of another wonderful family tiyul in Israel. This one started at […]

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To Brit or Not to Brit

November 25, 2010

We recently attended a brit mila in Jerusalem. Prior to the ceremony, the father of the newborn expressed some misgivings about the whole concept of circumcision. Of course my friend was going to go through with the ceremony – this is Israel, after all, where for a Jewish boy not to be circumcised is rare […]

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Covering Pamela Anderson

November 10, 2010

Pamela Anderson with “thrilled” bodyguard in Jerusalem Sunday (picture from Ynet) It took a visit to Israel to finally get Pamela Anderson to cover up. The famously immodest former Baywatch star, in Israel to appear on the local version of “Dancing with the Stars,” visited the Western Wall Sunday evening, eliciting a snarky comment in […]

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The Most Terrifying Tiyul

October 28, 2010

Plunging into the abyss I am not generally considered a timid man. I have jumped out of an airplane (without it being part of a mandatory army exercise) and fondly recall my youth hurtling down the tallest of roller coasters. But I don’t plan to go back to Nahal Og any time soon. It was […]

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What’s in a Name? For Ethiopian Immigrants, a Lot (Update)

October 18, 2010

Mequonent, Kenubish, Dawit, Workenesh. These are some of the names given to Ethiopian Jews before they arrived in Israel between 1984-1991. Their names after immigration authorities got involved? Asher, Ilana, David and Zahava. The story of how Israel changed the names of thousands of Ethiopians – and the pain and alienation that such a seemingly […]

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