Lizrael Update: babbling about the expat life since 2004
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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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Harry Potter and the Annoying Release Date.
Why did I move to the “Holy Land,” seeking Jewish freedom, if what that means is that a Harry Potter book release party is still going to take place on a Friday night and I can’t even use Shabbat day to read it? In other news, I did place an order for my very own…
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Sderot Solidarity Day.
Join Standing Together Wednesday July 18th We will be visiting Sderot, viewing the damage, supporting the shops and meeting the children and adults who remain in this forsaken city. Tour the city and see damage cause by rockets, Shop in Sderot stores to help the shopkeepers remain open, Eat lunch at the Yeshivat Hesder Sderot…
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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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Good call, Israel.
Calling all Israeli cell phone users (or, all Israelis, as it were): Magen David Adom, Israel’s Health Ministry, cell phone companies and others have come together to launch a pretty clever initiative. Mark someone in your cell phone as your emergency contact, knowledgeable in your medical history, so doctors and paramedics can speedily work you…
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Where we go after we graduate…
It’s incredible (and maybe disturbing) how the older we get, the more we lose control of our memories. There are more memories constantly being made; we don’t realize it until much later on, and by then we’ve lost control over so many more from way before. For dinner, I joined a group of Binghamton alumni…
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The view from my office.
“But ya know what, I can look out my window at work and think how lucky I am to live in Jerusalem and in Israel … and then, with two feet on the ground, get back to work.” Amechad‘s comment got me thinking. Not for too long, not too hard, but I what I was…
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Aliyah realism.
Just met with an old friend who is visiting/studying for the summer. She considers aliyah from time to time. It’s been a while since I’ve sat down for a conversation with a friend from ‘home’. Especially one who considers making aliyah. I listened to myself and realized how realistic I sounded. I don’t mean to…
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Solution for the wee hours…
Yesh! Jerusalem/Egged is introducing a “solution for the small hours” of the night with late-night bus service across town. It extends pretty far and wide, including Gilo, Ramot, Givaat Ze’ev, Mevasseret and even Maale Adumim. I’m actually impressed with the service as listed in the flier below, which I found on the street; why hadn’t…
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My first obit.
In 2001 I started as a reporter-intern for the Staten Island Advance. I had already been freelancing as a teenager, so I knew a bit here and there, but I had never taken a course in journalism. I wasn’t unique. On one of the first days, at our orientation meetings, we reporter-interns were told that…
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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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Clue #287 that you're Israeli…
It doesn’t seem like 2.5 years is enough to forget where you come from and one of the biggest national holidays of your motherland. But I guess it is enough for me. Not only did I forget it was July 4th, Independence Day, quite a few times today – but it took a Brit and…
Questions? Comments? Advice?