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If you’ve ever been a reader of Glamour Magazine, you’ll remember that there is always a popular item in the back of the mag called “Dos and Don’ts.” As expected, the Dos are outfits photographed on the street that work, and the Don’ts are the ones that, well, don’t. Given that we’re dealing with some very [… Read More »
Israelity 
Life without chocolate
Have you ever tried to go off chocolate? I can tell you from first hand experience, it’s no mean feat. My banning of chocolate has to do with a book I’m reading called Insomniac by Gayle Green. The author, like me, suffers from chronic insomnia and, as with anyone who is sleep starved, she has researched [… Read More »
Ride the Einstein express
Albert Einstein keeps on coming up on my radar. Seems that to mark National Science Day and Einstein’s birthday on March 14, Hebrew University and Israel Railways are organizing a ‘Science Train’ crossing Israel from Beersheva to Haifa, part of their ongoing monthly ‘Scientists on the Trains’ lecture series. Read More »
Economic aliyah surges in Israel as US recession bites
Fed up with the tough job market inside the States, more young American Jews are choosing to wait out the recession in Israel, where the government heavily subsidizes their stay while they intern, learn Hebrew or volunteer. It harks back to the exodus of Argentine Jews to Israel during their meltdown in 2001-2. Read More »
Cellphone coexistence
Anyone’s who had a cellphone in Israel and traveled to the Dead Sea region has had the experience of having their phone bleep and let them know that they are now using a Jordanian cellphone carrier. In fact, if you continue heading north toward Beit Shean on Highway 90, the Jordan Valley road, your phone [… Read More »
Seeing Jerusalem upside down
When the Israel Museum unveils its extensive renovation work in July, museum-goers might be excused for thinking that things were done upside down. That’s because one of the highlights of the $100 million makeover will be a reflective stainless-steel-surfaced sculpture by world famous artist Anish Kapoor. Read More »
Digging for trouble – sacred and profane archaeology
Dig beneath Jerusalem’s sacred stones in the name of science, and you’ll incite threats and preemptive arrests. At the very least, insults and rocks will be hurled. Read More »
Nostalgia Sunday – Commercials Go Way Retro
We are awash in a flood of nostalgia that shows absolutely no sign on abating. As part of that trend, our commercials and TV shows are populated by the stars of yesteryear, trying today to earn some of the cash-o-la they couldn’t back in those modest days. Take, for example, singer-songwriter Mati Caspi, seen lately endorsing [… Read More »
Oscar fever in Israel
We’ll have to either stay up all night or get up at 3 am Monday morning to watch this year’s Academy Awards to see if the Israeli entry in the Best Foreign Film category Ajami takes home the country’s first Oscar. It’s the third year running that an Israeli film has been nominated (after Beaufort and [… Read More »
Foto Friday – Ron Shoshani’s Israel Eye Candy
The first thing people think when they see works by Ron Shoshani is that they aren’t really photographs. They are. But given our generation’s obsession with artifice, Shoshani takes care to ensure that his models – in his case, buildings, cities and even rocks – wear a healthy layer of makeup. Read More »
Flower hunt
After several weeks of putting my nose to the proverbial grindstone, my working partners and I decided it was high time for a day off, one that would help us find new material for our latest project (more later on that), and that would get us out of the city. We had grand plans for hitting [… Read More »
Update: Boycott of Metallica results in lower prices
It almost reminds me of those halycon activism days of the ’60s and ’70s. 26-year-old business and management student Tomer Mussman has proven that the little guy can stand up to the ‘Man’ and make him back down on unreasonable demands. As reported on Israelity yesterday, a growing contingent of Metallica fans were joining a Facebook [… Read More »
Sitting down for Metallica
The thing with concerts in Israel by international superstars, is that if there’s not a call for the artist to cancel the show by the pro-Palestinian lobby, then we have to start our own boycott efforts. The case in question here is the upcoming show, announced last week, by veteran hard rock legends Metallica, who [… Read More »
No place for old folks
This Purim, I began to feel my age. Not the Megillah reading – you can appreciate that no matter how old you are (especially if you’re hard of hearing…helps drown out the din of the groggers). No, it was the party afterward. Every year, my wife and I go dancing at the massive Boogie Purim Party [… Read More »
Art lovers rejoice
Almost since I moved to Ma’aleh Adumim around 16 years ago, work on the Moshe Castel Museum has been going in sporadically. Touted as the city’s first art museum, it was going to put Ma’aleh Adumim on the map as far as having something cultural to offer visitors and tourists. Castel, who died in 1991 at age [… Read More »
Teaching Co-Existance In the Classroom
Ever wonder where Canada’s Foreign Ministry dollars go? When it comes to teaching Canadian-style global democracy and educational values, some of Canada’s taxpayer’s money goes to creating equal opportunities in Israel. Read More »
Rain – a love/hate story
I’ll really hate the rain. Oh, I know it’s good for us and the country desperately needs to refill its reservoirs. I just wish we could get all our rainfall at night, when I’m sleeping. Getting caught in a daytime downpour is one of my most dreaded activities. It’s cold, my glasses get pelted so [… Read More »
Nostalgia Sunday – Purim Parties Past
One of the hard truths of life in Israel is that it always rains on Purim. It is as if the weather conspires to prove that we Jews can never hold a joyous celebration without breaking a glass or making a little baby boy cry. And events conspire as well. A few days ago, Magen [… Read More »
Haman rears his ugly head
Maybe because it’s Purim, and we Jews are obsessing with bad guys trying to annihilate us, but didn’t the photographs of Syrian President Bashir Assad, Iranian President Ahmadinajad and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah sitting around a goodies-laden table at the end of the week in Damascus evoke a shiver down your spine? It was like one [… Read More »
Purim 2010
Purim’s approaching for the Jerusalemites — we’ve got ‘walled city’ status because of the Old City walls — so we celebrate on Shushan Purim, which is tonight and tomorrow, and not last night and today, like the rest of the country. But in any case, the signs are all around. People are already posting their [… Read More »
Purim costumes
Purim is here, and amid the remains of a lightning-filled 48 hour winter storm, we’re headed out to hear the Megilla at our local havurah gathering. It’s interesting to be part of – and the instigators – behind an egalitatrian minyan in a community where most people are either secular or orthodox, and where the [… Read More »
I Finally Meet My Prince
Karin meets Prince Hassan of Jordan at a water security conference in Switzerland last week. It was a meeting of minds, water minds. Read More »
Foto Friday – Ancient Masks and Rattle Relics
Growing up as daughters of a rabbi, biblical scholar and part-time archeologist, my sisters and I never questioned the historical roots of Purim. So, I find it both amusing and disturbing that most people regard the Purim story as a myth or fairytale when what it is really is a docu-drama. Or, as my father [… Read More »
HMO bait and switch?
When I received a call from our Maccabi Tivi, the complementary medicine branch of our local HMO, offering a massage and reflexology treatment for only NIS 100 (just over $25), I jumped at the chance. After all, my favorite luxury vacation has always been a trip to a spa (of which there are now plenty [… Read More »
Hebrew U.’s sugar daddy
So I’m watching some Baby Einstein videos on YouTube with my boys the other day, and I notice at the end of the credits that it says Albert Einstein and Baby Einstein are trademarks of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This came as something of a surprise to me. Baby Einstein is actually related in [… Read More »
Lego my toilet
Here’s one that gladdens the heart. Tamra, an Israeli Arab town in the Lower Galilee, is hosting the regional high school competition for LEGO robotic construction, as part of the FIRST Lego League. This is the sixth time the competition has been held in Israel, but the first time that it’s being held in an [… Read More »
Lovely Rita, American star?
Everyone knows Rita, the longtime queen of Israeli song. But even she was surprised when a remake of one of her hits “Bo,” that she recorded in English a couple years ago suddenly began popping up on American Top 40 playlists over the last few months. The buzz around the song – “Love Has Begun” – [… Read More »
Moral price of the Israeli occupation?
Breaking the Silence, one of the groups supported by the New Israel Fund, is an organisation of former Israeli combat soldiers who want a public debate about the “moral price” paid by Israeli society for the occupation. Read More »
Recruiting Yossi to explain Israel
Talk about putting your best foot forward. Yuli Edelstein, the Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, has decided that Israel’s greatest asset in stating her case on the world’s stage is the average Israeli citizen. Read More »
Idan Raichel project salutes Jerusalem
Two years, Israel’s capital introduced the “Jerusalem Card” which provides discounts on a whole range of Jerusalem attractions – from restaurants and museums to music performances and even discounts on parking and taxis. Read More »