Month: July 2008

  • Prime Minister Olmert's 'big' news.

    Just watched Prime Minister Olmert’s impromtu press release (yes, he is still the prime minister). Nothing new, really. He’ll quit once the new Kadima leader is voted for and announced. He won’t run, but who of us thought he was going to? I will say this: His speech was classily done. The Israeli media has…

  • Jewish news for womyn-folk.

    Just found three headlines from the last couple days that I thought I’d share. Consider it a little taste of news in the womyn’s world. Rabbi Metzger: Married women should give up maiden name “Advice to women from the chief rabbi: Married women should give up their maiden name, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger told…

  • Bring out the big guns: Shmira for Tzur Hadassah.

    We’re now officially Tzur Hadassah residents, no matter what amounts of arnona tax we’ve been paying for the last six months. We got our first shmira (security) service notice in the mail. Of course, it’s not really we, it’s more he. I’m too woman to be standing alone at gate of the yishuv, I suppose.…

  • Dirty geeks with dirty cars.

    A friend sent me the photo below, taken in the parking lot of where we work in the Gan HaTechnologi, Jerusalem. That’s the Technology Park, where a lot of Jerusalem start ups are based. Yeah, I’ll bet you do, Gan Hatechnologi start up geek.

  • That Bezeq parrot invaded my Facebook.

    The Bezeq parrot is back, trying to get at me with it’s creepy feathers via my Facebook account. I found this ad on there today: Well, at least the Bezeq marketing plan includes social networking sites. Even if that means crazy alcoholic parrots. Doesn’t he kind of look like Ehud Olmert from the neck up?

  • Another bulldozer attack.

    I get a URL sent to me at work. I open it. I’m about to reply to my coworker, why are you sending me old news articles? when I decide to look at the date. July 22nd. That’s… today. I didn’t write about the first tractor attack in Jerusalem in the beginning of the month,…

  • For a clean Israeli environment.

    Like everyone else, I’ve been thinking a lot about what my society has done for the environment and what long term changes are being made as the world-at-large starts paying attention to the state of the Earth. I know that on the whole, everything that anyone has done has been a drop in the green…

  • B’kitzur… Israeli advertising is scary.

    So I’m going through my July edition of “בקיצור” (b’kitzur, in short)  which is a newsletter for yishuvim in the Matte Yehuda region. It’s packed with ads and superficial articles, but once in a while there is a gem – or two – that must be shared. Take the following advertisement, for example. It’s a…

  • On coming and going, via route self marking.

    I attended a fascinating discussion last night called “Piercing, Tattooing, and Cutting: Traditional Sources Meet a Modern-Day Trend.” It was held in Merkaz Edna and led by Sarah Halevi, a psychotherapist from Efrat. It was basically a review of the connections and implications of self-marking from sociological, psychological and halachic vantages. While I didn’t necessary…

  • Cross-cultural relativity.

    Conversation between my husband and his Israeli dad: “I’m going to the hardware store, I need to buy one of those plastic buts you put in the wall, to put a screw in – you can call it a trivet or something?” “Eh, you ken call eet a spaghetti eef you want.” <Laughter on our…

  • You don’t mess with the Arab-Israeli conflict.

    Last night I watched 3/4ths of Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess With the Zohan. Really, it was like any other Adam Sandler character acting film; Little Nicky, Waterboy. His extreme characters are not his strongest point for me (I’m more of a Billy Madison/Happy Gilmore fan). I’m always able to enjoy the twisted nature of…

  • The difference direction makes.

    The recipe for aliyah success is a complicated set of characterstics; not because what is required but because I think attaining what is required is seeded way before making aliyah. I’ve mentioned creativity, open-mindedness and flexibility before. One other major ingredient in this recipe, I’ve discovered, is direction. Now, direction is an ingredient for many…