Jerusalem is once again hosting חמשושלים, that period when museums go late Thursday nights and restaurants discount themselves for the weekend.We chose to visit the Menachem Begin Heritage Center. I never felt any specific or strong feelings towards Menachem Begin - the sixth prime minister of Israel and former Beitar movement head and Irgun strategizer.... Continue Reading →
Brothers, sons, teachers, students.
Not quite street art, but temporarily tonight Keren HaYessod street was painted with the anger and frustration of local teachers: The sign reads: "Brother, brother! Your son is my student!" Sometimes, this country seems like one big block party where literally everyone is separated by a few degrees. In this case, the holders of the... Continue Reading →
Playing the PeaceMaker… from your desktop.
Not sure I've ever mentioned this 'out loud' here before, but I maintain a second blog called Better Than Misery which covers my journey as a mediation student. The latest post I wrote is actually relevant both here and there, so I thought I'd bring some attention to it here: Yesterday, Haaretz newspaper did a... Continue Reading →
A bus driver's advice: Sleep.
In the two and a half years I have ridden the 400 bus to Bar Ilan, I have never fallen asleep and missed my stop - until today. What am I, six-years-old? As I walked up to the driver to confirm and to get the best route backwards, I knew the conversation could go two... Continue Reading →
An Israeli workday.
This hasn't happened in a while, but today was a high terror alert in Jerusalem so the police were everywhere. Here's what I watched from my office window after police discovered a suspicious package near the Malha mall: The bomb squad guy getting the act together with (Israeli) man's best friend. Traffic backed up... Continue Reading →
What kind of doctor *are* you?
Why is it that whenever I go to my doctor for an issue, I always end up with a referral to get a blood test? Is that universal to Israeli kupot doctors? Seriously, watch this: "Doc, I think I injured my knee." "We should get your blood count." "Doc, I've been getting weird headaches lately."... Continue Reading →
Serious message from the streets of Jerusalem…
A serious message from the streets of Jerusalem: The Hebrew alphabet is written out with every third letter underlined and the message below is "One out of three women are raped..." Eerie in any language.
Today's word: celeb/סלב
So the Globes article I was interviewed for came out today: My first Israeli 15 minutes of fame... You might call me a סלב (pronounced 'celeb'). Can you guess what it means? Creative, I know. UPDATE: Here's the section of the article where I yap about Facebook. It's the best I could do, they don't... Continue Reading →
Israeli turkeyliciousness.
Happy Thanksgiving 2007. As I've done for my last two Israeli Thanksgivings, I went to work today and am planning a big Thanksgiving Friday night Shabbat dinner of juicy Americanness. It wasn't until I had eaten my first slice that I realized the humor in me choosing Mama Oaf turkey slices for lunch today... Actually,... Continue Reading →