Search results for: “katamonim”

  • Last words for Katamonim.

    Well, it’s pretty much the eve of our moving from Jerusalem to Tzur Hadassah. It hit me the other night that I’m leaving the convenience and culture of living in a city; a friend of mine came over to me as we left a party to wish us a good last Shabbat in Jerusalem… And…

  • Sephardi synanogues of Katamonim.

    Something I’m going to miss about my little Jerusalem hometown of Katamonim are the amazing Sephardi beitay knesset that pepper the streets: Most of the residents in this neighborhood are some strain of Mizrachi, mainly Kurdish, Bucharian, Moroccan or Yemenite. The synagogues carpeted and fluorescently lit, reflect that. I feel 100% comfortable attending services at…

  • Simchat Torah come early… in Katamonim.

    Katamonim never ceases to surprise or amaze. Tonight – despite a major Beitar game just a few kilometers away – my neighbors celebrated the reopening of a beit knesset the only way it knows how: Music, lights, dancing, bullhorn, clapping and a whole lot of M’pei El… The party started at the beginning of our…

  • Getting your feet (ritually) wet: An American-Israeli’s mikvah story

    Perhaps, for a taharat-mishpacha-keeping American-Israeli olah (female American immigrant to Israel who keeps laws of family purity), nothing else can quite epitomize the cultural differences of here and there better than… the mikvah. Because I got married in Israel, my mikva knowledge and experiences have been molded here. The closest I got in the States before…

  • Katamon drama: Not just for new olim anymore.

    I’ve come to respect homemade Israeli television. It’s creative, it’s bizarre, it’s actually pretty good sometimes. Hey, there’s a reason why Jews rule Hollywood, right? Here’s the latest from Yes, coming to a televisia near you: סרוגים (as in, kippa sruga, or the yarmulke associated with the dati-leumi universe), a drama about the religious dating…

  • The plumber just high-fived my husband.

    We’ve been living here for two and a half months and I still can’t get over how freakin’ nice everyone is around Tzur Hadassah. My landlady is a complete doll (read: Polish) and gets everything fixed for us right away. She’s professional, polite and considerate. This is the exact opposite of the experience we had…

  • Don't you be my neighbor.

    It’s a bad day for news making me happy. I guess everyday is, but today I’m paying attention. In case you thought to move to Katamonim/Gonen/San Martin, I want you to know that these are my neighbors: Beitar Jerusalem fans boo Rabin before draw with Maccabi Haifa  The story of Sunday night’s game was not…

  • The five senses of Sukkot.

    Sukkot gets a bad rap.  It’s tough because it comes right after the High Holies of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, so people get sick of the physical aspects of the season, eating feasts and lying low. But Sukkot has so much to it; the holiday is part of the Shalosh Regalim (three pilgrimage festivals).…

  • City feature: Sederot

    Volunteering I’m a bit tired of always saying how good it would be to volunteer ’round these parts. Since I’ve been here, my newspaper has delivered the disengagement, Kassams in Sederot, Katyushas and war in the North, and Kassams in Sederot. We went down to Sederot today to volunteer with Lev Echad, which is an…

  • Superbowl vs. super gooooal!

    Been living in Jerusalem two years, currently residing in Katamonim, and I haven’t been to a Beitar Yerushalayim game? Got a call after shabbat to join some Aussies to watch the game; we are no longer Beitar-virgins. The fact is, we couldn’t have rooted for Ashdod if we had wanted to; if you’re a Jerusalemite…

  • Part of the whole story.

    Someone asked me to tell them about my aliyah experience for a school project so I ended up writing out a lot of the whole story, the first time I ever did that. Here it is, for me to remember, and in case there are holes elsewhere that needed filling in. I grew up in Staten…

  • Burnin' for you.

    My nostrils are burning because bread is burning outside. Everywhere. Last year when we burned chametz on Erev Pesach, I remember there was a group of people standing around and these old Nachlaot men were orchestrating and smoke was going into this woman’s house and she was screaming at them and it was a balagan.…