Category: city feature
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City feature: Caesarea
Caesarea is one of those Israeli cities that, when coming up in conversation, everyone nods their heads and says, “Oh yes, beautiful place, I’d like to get back there one of these days.” After hearing that for over three years, I decided it was time. We took a day of our chol hamoed and drove…
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How they do humor in Tel Aviv.
I needed a sanity check and a little dose of big city, so we drove to Tel Aviv today, parked in the free city-sponsored parking by the Yarkon and then walked through the city for a few hours. It doesn’t take long before you realize that Tel Aviv has its own brand of humor that…
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Playing in our new backyard.
In an effort to clear the mind and explore new territory, we ventured into one of the 726548724 hiking trails around Tzur Hadassah in the Judean Hills this afternoon. It was a small park leading into the ‘backyard’ of a tiny yishuv called Nes Harim, which itself offers a cafe, horse back riding, a winery…
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Living it up (culturally) in Tzur Hadassah.
I got a fun little pamphlet in my cute little p.o. box: Cultural activities for adults, families and children. It’s got a whole bunch of activities planned for residents of Tzur Hadassah over the next month. Since a few people have contacted me interested about moving here, I thought I’d post some of them to…
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Those foggy nights…
The weather went back to bla over the last day, and on the way home tonight a fog descended over the Jerusalem hills like I haven’t seen since my days in upstate New York. If you’ve ever lived there, you know the what I mean: You can’t see past your own hood and your fog…
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Live, from Tzur Hadassah.
The move went surprisingly well on Sunday. We’re here, unpacked and spoiled in this young building with its (existent) heating system and modern tiles. Katamo-who? Alas, I am still exhausted from the last three days of little sleep, zero nutrition and inevitable fatigue, so I will post some gorgeous views from my kumah bet apartment…
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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…
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Vote for Jerusalem as property on the Global Monopoly board.
Check this out from the makers of Monopoly: Have your say in the world’s first global Monopoly! I’m creating the world’s first global Monopoly so I want to know what your favourite cities are! I’ve pre-selected 68 great cities for you to choose from but you can nominate any other city you want – these…
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Tzur Hadassah in the Jerusalem Post – look at her grow!
I haven’t even moved there yet, but I feel like I’m already getting cheerleader-syndrome for Tzur Hadassah. Looks like the Jerusalem Post is either reading my stuff or recognizes the quickly-growing settlement: On Location: Between chalets and minarets The feature article starts off like this: “Nestled somewhere between the hills of Switzerland and the mosques…
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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…
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City feature: Tzur Hadassah
Finally, I have some photos to share of Tzur Hadassah, the yishuv we are leaving Jerusalem for at the beginning of February. The small town is southwest of Jerusalem, settled in the quiet hills. It’s close to Beitar Illit and Hussan but is within the Green Line. It’s home to about 1,000 families, or 5,000…
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Mount of Olives (I hope they’re green).
I haven’t done a city feature in a while, so I thought I’d share these old but cozy pictures… In the week after my wedding, my family took a trip to the Dead Sea and on the way back to Jerusalem, we stopped on הר זיתים or the Mount of Olives. It’s located in the…