The drink and the album Following a summer partially spent in the States, including a month-long stint in Georgia, the land of free drink refills — we’re talking iced tea, lemonade, soda, and not just the endless cup of coffee — imagine my surprise Read More »
Security personnel inspect the car containing four Israelis which was bombarded with bullets on Tuesday night near Kiryat Arba. Read More »
Eilat – can there be anyplace more kitschy? A little tacky Las Vegas sans the gambling right within our friendly country confines. Read More »
Buffalo Steak House Buffalo Steak House is the kind of restaurant you go to for a special occasion or when relatives have flown into town (and are treating). Read More »
I have a lot that I could say and write about socialized medicine , but I’ll just tell this one story. I was waiting to see my doctor the other morning, a very popular doctor, I should add, given that we all waited about two hours each to see her. Read More »
Here’s a tidbit of useless information: do you know why Tel Aviv’s Gan Ha-Ir mall is called that? Because there used to be a zoo — Gan Hayot Tel Aviv — on the site. Gan means “park”, hayot means “animals”, ir means “city”. So, “animal park” and “city park”. Hence the name. Read More »
Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday night in Jerusalem to mark the 24th birthday of Gilad Schalit, the kidnapped IDF soldier who has been held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since 2006. Read More »
Like any good Israeli, I tend to do a run of errands on Friday mornings, hitting the supermarket for last minute weekend purchases, the bakery for challot, kadeh — incredibly tasty semicircles of dough filled with feta cheese — babka and any other necessary treats, the weekend newspapers and, depending on the time of year, flowers. Read More »
Camping at HaBonim Beach As the school year is quickly approaching, I thought I’d share a little of what we did on our summer vacation. You don’t have to be on holiday, though, to enjoy little downtime in Israel: these tips are handy any time of the year – all the more so in the final week of educational freedom. Read More »
Tel Aviv. It’s Klone’s city and we’re all just living in it. If graffiti artists are, in fact, masters of all they survey — and tag — then Tel Aviv is ruled by graffito Klone , whose handiwork can be seen almost anywhere you look – or places you usually don’t look: highway barriers, unused billboards and abandoned buildings. Read More »
V.v.’s sale ad It’s sale time in the Tel Aviv ‘designer’ clothing world. In these parts, you find out about sales from emails and text messages, often sent personally by the designer, but you can pretty much head into any boutique of your choice and find lots ‘o pickings, which makes it all the more fun to buy some new frocks for the “fall” season. Read More »
Like most parts of the developed world, parking lots are getting quite sophisticated in Israel. But sometimes, the more forward you get, the farther back you go. Yesterday, I had an appointment at the labrynth-like Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem. Read More »
They may not be coming to Israel, but U2 will still have an Israeli tinge to their show next week in Athen, Greece. Read More »
Sunset on the Neve Ilan trail Summer vacation is almost over but the heat remains. Whether it’s a result of global warming or just bad luck, this has been one of the hottest summers in memory in Israel. But don’t let that stop you from getting out into nature. Read More »
A Star is Born finalist Ohad Shraga’i gets ready for the Jerusalem showdown. When does a pop culture song contest become turn into a religious altercation? When it takes place in Israel apparently. Read More »
Get thee to the current outdoor production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at Gan Hapa’amon, which will be playing one more night, Monday, August 22, produced by Theater in the Rough. Bro-in-law Ira as Sir Toby Belch I may have mentioned before that Jerusalem is truly a small village. Read More »
We are traveling this week, in the company of a GPS navigator named Koby. That is to say, our Global Positioning System has a selection of audio interfaces, each language interface has a name and gender identity (you can select a male or female voice), and the male Hebrew-language interface is called Koby. Read More »
With Turkey off the natural list of prime destinations for Israelis this summer, more and more vacationers have been looking closer to home for some r&r. The ‘tzimmer’ – or bed and breakfast industry – has flourished here in recent years, especially in the Galilee. Read More »
It’s not a great summer for fruit in Israel; prices are high as a result of the extreme heat we’re experiencing this summer, and the Farmers’ Association reported that the main fruits affected by the heat wave are peaches, plums, grapes, nectarines, and watermelons. Read More »
Jody in the kitchen of her Culinary Institute Growing up, my mother refused to let my brother and me into the kitchen. While this created a carefree cooking-neutral childhood, it hasn’t served me so well as an adult. Whenever my wife Jody goes away – whether for an evening activity or an overseas trip – I slip into panic mode. Read More »
There is a lopsided love affair between Israelis and all things Italian. Italians think of Israel as the Holy Land. Israelis think Italy is what Israel could be were it not for the matzav — the word used to describe the roiling, boiling political-diplomatic-religio-ethno-social situation that is our constant reality. Read More »
Taking a rest during rock climbing Here’s a tip if you’re considering hiking Nahal Galim in the Carmel Mountains just south of Haifa: bring a pair of shears. Read More »
On the food front, had an unusual slice of pizza the other night. I’m not always all for the Israeli take on foods from other ethnicities, such as corn on pizza or cream cheese and bagels loaded with vegetables. Read More »
The rumors were already rampant in April that world famous US photographer Spencer Tunick was thinking of coming to Israel to stage on of his notorious mass nude photo shoots in Tel Aviv. Read More »
Eden Abergil is seen in this picture, posted on her Facebook page, smiling next to the prisoners. The storm that erupted yesterday when am ex-IDF soldier posted photographs of herself from the army posing with blindfolded and bound Palestinian Read More »
I’m in a kartiv period of my life. Kartiv, for the unitiated, is the Hebrew word for frozen popsicles, but the ice ones, not those made of ice cream. That would be an artik . Israel, being a land of a long summer, specializes in its artikim and cartivim, with huge selections of both everywhere you turn (something like the dairy selection). Read More »
Removing the Gilo barrier. (Photo: Ynet/Noam Moskowitz) It may not be as dramatic as the Berlin Wall coming down, but for anyone who was in Israel during the years of the Second Intifada at the beginning of the 2000s, the dismantling of the concrete Read More »
How about a little virtual trip to the Haifa of yesteryear? Let’s start at the entrance to the city… Ride up to the Carmel… or is that camel? Take a look at the view… And visit some of the neighborhoods both new… Or — closer to the port — not so new… Read More »
Not many seats of government can lay claim to being located on one of the world’s prime birdwatching sites. In fact, Israel’s Knesset may be the only one. The Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) is a 5,000 sqm (one acre) plot of prime real estate, between the Knesset and the Supreme Court. Read More »
(All photos by Debbie Zimelman – www.debzim.com Summer time for kids in Israel is ‘chugim’ time – kaytanot (day camps), specialty courses, sports teams, anything to keep them occupied for the two months school is out of session. Read More »
The original image And now for a bit of irony. The self-portrait of an Israeli photographer reenacting the painting The Scream , so to speak, is being displayed on tee-shirts, posters, playing cards and graffiti art on the streets of Iran. Read More »
Monday night in Jerusalem proved why it’s one of the great cities of the world. In the radius of a mile or two, you had a myriad of activities – thousands of people attending the two-week Hutzot Hayotzer Arts and Crafts Fair outside the walls of the Old City and listening to Aviv Gefen. Read More »
A couple of weeks ago, we attended the wedding of good friends, Sammie and Isaac. The wedding was a blast with all the usual features of Israeli nuptials: chuppah , dancing, speeches and those greasy fried “cigars” stuffed with minced meat (of which I always partake too heartily). Read More »
Israel’s first tourism poster, by Narkis An obit worth noting. Zvi Narkis, a prominent designer of Hebrew fonts, and the well-known Narkis, sans-serif font, died yesterday at the age of 89. His family of fonts was considered revolutionary for their contemporary appearance, according to Ha’aretz. Read More »
Whenever a horrible accident takes place on the roads here, we tsk tsk, say how horrible it is, and then go back to our daily death-defying adventures on the road. The latest tragedy took place on Thursday when a minibus driver plowed through a train barrier into an oncoming locomotive near Kiryat Gat. Read More »
A few months ago, I posted an item about the Women’s Corps , timed to coincide with an exhibit about those brave women of pre-State Israel who volunteered for the British Army. Their service formed the basis for Chen, the Israel Defense Forces’ women’s corps. Read More »
I’ve got a decision to make. Jethro Tull is in town, playing just down the street from me tomorrow night at Jerusalem’s recently renovated train station plaza , and I have to decide if I’m going or not. Click here to view the embedded video. Read More »
Historian Tony Judt, who died this weekend, continued to write even though he was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease for his final two years. His eloquence and logic will be greatly missed. Earlier this summer, his incisive opinion piece in the New York Times was widely discussed. Read More »
When the man at the information booth said we were making a “big mistake,” we waved him off. We had already paid NIS 40 to enter the parking lot for Nahal Amud, a popular hiking trail between Mount Meron and the hilltop city of Safed in the northern Galilee, so we weren’t going to be scared off by some stranger. Read More »
James Van Der Beek stops to buy a lottery ticket on the way to his wedding in Tel Aviv. Despite the oppressive heat wave that has struck our region over the last week, tourists keep streaming into Israel. And among them have been a few choice celebrity sightings. Read More »
The Woodstock Revival II, which took place on Thursday night at Kraft Stadium in Jerusalem, was just as much fun as the inaugural event a year ago. Read More »
Writing about the 3D Israel doesn’t do this site justice. Neither does showing a few still images of what is essentially a dynamic online experience: with just a few clicks, users can experience panoramic 360 degree tours of Israel. How fun is that?! The most popular visits to the site are, of course, to well-known tourist attractions. Read More »
Itzik Rennert piece, titled “Jetlag” We’ve been in the States for the last month or so of our summer vacation, and while returning home is always welcome, it is a little jarring. There are the suitcases to unpack, the treats to distribute, the house to put back in order, work awaits, and of course, there is the jetlag to handle (argh). Read More »
What more is there to write about a wine festival? I’ve already covered the annual shindig, which takes place in the sculpture garden at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, several times in years past. Read More »
What do Israelis do when a brutal heatwave hits the country? Head to the water! And even though we’re in the throes of drought-like conditions with the Kinneret dropping this week below the low red line for the first time this year, there are still some fresh-water places to be found that are bursting with water. Read More »
View from a window at Amirey HaGalil Amirey HaGalil was not our first choice for a romantic weekend getaway in the north of Israel for our 22 nd wedding anniversary. That would have been Bayit BaGalil . But at twice the price (and not including dinner), we opted for the more reasonable option. Read More »
August is one of the busiest seasons of the year in Eilat, as well as its hottest. The kids out of school, summer camps finishing up, and semi-attractive deals offered by the dozens of hotels and resorts in the Red Sea haven all contribute to an influx of tourism from within during the month. Read More »
Sometimes its important to look back at the not-so-distant past and take a measure of how far we’ve progressed — or not. Read More »
You’d be surprised how many ex-hippies originally from North America there are around Jerusalem. Granted they’re grayer or balder, and most of them either sport a big kippa if they’re male, or a colorful head covering if they’re female, but they’re still out there. Read More »
It’s only Friday and already Sunday’s massive forest fire has all but disappeared from the headlines. To recap: about 450 acres of forest (this figure according to the Keren Kayemet Leyisrael -Jewish National Fund ) in the Ora-Aminadav area went up in flames . The fire started at two separate points. Read More »
Some 3,000 people marched from Jerusalem’s Independence Park to the Knesset in yesterday’s annual Gay Pride parade. My daughter Merav and I were there to support the community. It’s been a long time since I was at a gay parade – I used to regularly join the massive San Francisco event in the 1970s when I was growing up. Read More »
Let’s hope he doesn’t take in a movie during his visit to Israel and sit in front of you. Otherwise, there’s no downside to the disclosure that NBA superstar Amar’e Stoudemire is here and basking in his Jewishness. Read More »
One of the great equalizers in Israeli society is the army. Of course, I’m talking about those segments of society that actually serve in the IDF – not the ultra-Orthodox haredim, nor the far-Left draft dodgers, nor the Israeli Arab citizens for whom Read More »
Hagit Ofran documents Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank with a pocket-sized camera and a deep sense of mission, often making news well beyond Israel.Her grandfather, the philosopher Yeshayahu Leibovich, taught her that Israelis deserved the oxymoronic epithet ‘Judeo-Nazis’ if they continued encroaching and settling. Read More »
So there we were, my wife and I, right on time for my electromyography (EMG) test at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. The EMG is a technique using slight shocks for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. This is the test which I wrote about earlier, with a five month waiting list. Read More »
Actress Sharon Fauster emcee’d a Tu B’av fashion show in Jerusalem Tu B’av – the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av – is the closest Israelis have to a Valentine’s Day: just substitute a bit of ribald wisdom from the rabbis of the Talmud for a martyred Roman saint and a lot of cuddly Cupids. Read More »
Two and a half years to plan, two and a half years to execute at a cost of $100 million. But on Sunday, Israel’s leading museum and one of the world’s best – the Israel Museum – completed its intensive renovations and unveiled its new, sleek look. Read More »
Tonight is Erev Tu b’Av, the eve of a minor holiday that’s gained a great deal of popularity in recent years. To celebrate this so-called “Jewish Valentine’s Day” we present a few duets that are oldies but goodies. Read More »
Here’s a photo taken yesterday at the Einot Tzukim springs located on the Dead Sea. The discussion among the bathers at the lowest nature reserve in the world wasn’t about the amazing site, only 30 minutes from Jerusalem, and only 20 minutes from my Read More »
Natalie Kaplan sees things a little differently. Given that she’s an cartoon series scriptwriter, it’s only right that she has the ability to animate found objects and imbue each one with life, history and — through their titles — humor. Read More »
