Lizrael Update: babbling about the expat life since 2004
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It’s flag season in Tel Aviv.
Spent the afternoon walking around Tel Aviv. It was the first time I noticed that the flags are out for flag season, or Yom Haatzmaut, which is going down next Wednesday evening-Thursday. It’s Israel’s 60th anniversary this time, so it’s actually more than just personal flags – storefronts, advertisements and highways are more decorated than…
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Snooty Israel-at-60 logo don't bother me.
As I mentioned briefly in my last post, the Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Israel at 60 logo is a no-go for some: Want to use Israel’s 60th birthday logo to help spread the celebration? Not so fast. A request by The Jerusalem Post to use it on its Web site revealed this week…
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The state of Israel in 5758.
This is the time of year when the State of Israel has a chance to really look deep into the heart of herself and understand what condition she’s in. It’s the post-Pessach triangle of introspection: yesterday was Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and next week are Yom HaZicaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Haatzmaut (Independence Day).…
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Holocaust Remembrance in Israel, 5758.
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Today's word: טקס
We attended the Yom Hashoah tekes (טקס or ceremony) tonight, organized by the neighborhood Scouts and Bnei Akiva kids. It was very much a small-town tekes. A few things came to mind while I stood and watched: It never occurred to me before how it must have been for the Mizrachi population to get to…
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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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Ma nishtana ha Pessach ha ze?
What makes this Passover different from all other Passovers? It’s the first one where I’m making my own seder while combining the traditions I grew up experiencing with someone else and his own traditions. I feel like this is the type of thing we all think about and wonder as kids (ok maybe just those…
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A little thing about home(land) cooking.
There is something so completely special – when you can look past the depressing, lonely, sad aspects – about being an olah in Israel, cooking your family’s traditional Passover recipes for your own seder with fellow olim… My grandmother is far far away, but here I am, across the world, continuing her delicious traditions and…
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Something for all Jews to remember around Pessach.
There is a lot going on in these days before Passover. Cleaning our houses, shopping for food, cooking that food… and then of course, eating that food as we tell the story of our freedom from the slavery of Egypt. We are catching up on halachot (laws) of keeping kosher during the Pessach holiday. Some…
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The Computer Engineer's Haggadah.
Had to share this email I got at work today. Bear with me, I work in the hi tech realm; therefore, I thought this was funny: The Computer Engineer’s Haggadah Release ISRAEL ISRAEL running in slave mode, cannot release Set ISRAEL;mode=master Pharaoh already running in master mode, cannot change ISRAEL Set Pharaoh;mode=slave Command ignored Load…
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A Passover bonus for everyone.
This is sweet. My company gave us our usual Passover bonuses in the form of gifts bought via Sderot, so that Sderot vendors make some money off of the deal as opposed to vendors elsewhere. Since the population of Sderot has been suffering for years now, and business has suffered along with it, there has…
Questions? Comments? Advice?