Category: what a country
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Re: israel stuff
I’ve been here almost three years, and the other day my mom forwarded me an email I wrote home a few weeks after I first got here in January 2005. Thought it would be fun to remember, especially since things are so different now. Here are some excerpts so you can get a feel for…
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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…
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Milky peppers despite the Rabbanut.
Scene: Me at the counter of our makolet, buying two red peppers and a bag of milk. Kippah-less makolet guy: “Do you want a separate bag for this?” Uncovered-hair Me: “Nah.” Kippah-less makolet guy: “Just asking because if you were cooking the peppers with meat, you might care…” Dissolve the Rabbanut, don’t dissolve the Rabbanut……
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Stop chasing hangovers!
It’s one of the first things you learn when entering into Israeli drinking culture: Israelis have the chaser all wrong. A chaser is something you swallow after you’ve just ingested a stronger drink. That means, if you’ve just had a tequila, a lemon is a complement of a chaser. If you’ve downed a whiskey (and…
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A little too close to home.
Maybe I’m crazy… Maybe it’s just me… But I have a haunting suspicion that this sale, going on this week, advertised by the Mashbir – an Israeli department store chain – has something to do with July 4th… See something familiar? To be fair, it’s an Isracard sale, and Isracard does use red, white and…
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The ordinary citizens of Israel.
I once wrote about the difference between Americans and Israelis when it comes to putting out office fires. Now I have the chance to write about Americans and Israelis in the situation of a roadside car fire. I know, right? On the way home from the North, I was jolted out of my sleep on…
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Sderot challot.
I should have posted this earlier so you could have done it too – but – an Anglo from Efrat started placing orders for challot from Sderot bakers to help support the city’s abandoned economy. His social action project – a part of his bigger organization, Standing Together – grew over the weeks, and challot,…
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The differences between dancing, parading and rioting.
It’s nearly a year since our wedding, and we still get the same reaction when the topic comes up around friends or family: Your wedding was really something – everyone danced together, it was so fun. Everyone was just so happy, for the same reason, and dancing all together. It really was something. The reaction…
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From the mouths of foreigners.
My brother works for an office of the… let’s just say Israeli persuasion. Here he expresses what so many of us Anglo olim think everyday. Preach it, brother: “This office needs to stop thinking Israeli. Literally everyday we have conversations about how we need to change the office, but we never do. It’s all patchwork…
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An immigrant's dozen.
So, Nefesh b’Nefesh is collecting olim’s top 12 favorite things about Israel, eh? Hmm… 1. Hebrew rap 2. Tzfatit cheese 3. Children of olim 4. The fact that Israel only started mass producing ‘real’ orange juice a few years ago 5. Jerusalem bus system 6. The way in which Israeli guys hit on you (except…
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A taste for local stuff.
I was in the mood for local stuff on the sherut back to Jerusalem, which today meant a hit of Hadag Nachash. When I’m feeling bad about Israel, one of the few things that can get me feeling better these days – aside from a seeing a charedi helping a chiloni or vice versa –…
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Cracked-out Sesame Street marketing.
I once wrote about a bizarre and freaky Israeli marketing technique employed by the phone company using a cracked-out bird cartoon for a new campaign. It seems cracked-out Sesame Street marketing is popular around these parts. Call the Bezeq alcoholic parrot the Big Bird approach, if you will. Well, here comes more freakiness – the…