Tag: israel
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Good old fashioned Friday fun.
There are 87658345 reasons why it’s awesome to have a car, and today exemplified reason #5374, which is, freedom. Today we ventured to neighboring Gush Etzion, where Rosh Tzurim (next to Alon Shvut) was hosting the annual cherry picking festival – פסטיבל דובדבנים 2008 בגוש עציון. We were going mainly for that reason, but the…
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The best plums are the 'stolen' kind.
It’s amazing what can be taken for granted. Most of the year has passed me by and I haven’t once written about it being a שמיטה (shmittah) year. Living in the greater Jerusalem area, not owning a garden or any trees, and mainly associating with kosher people, I’ve just not had to worry about it…
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Turning new olim into reality TV.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just keep a blog? There is a new show going into production called HaOlim (“The New Immigrants”) which is a sort of Real World for new immigrants to Israel. As Jewlicious reports: “So the concept is pretty straightforward. Eight young olim from different countries live together in a big house…
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And there goes Tommy Lapid…
Pretty soon, that pioneering ‘halutz’ generation of Israeli elders will be just a memory in our textbooks and a prayer in our hearts. Renowned author, journalist, Knesset member, Shinui party leader, Holocaust survivor Yosef Tommy Lapid died today at 77 after a battle with cancer. The full story and eulogies are here.
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Tzur Hadassah: The Q&A breakdown (part 2)
Continuing from the last post, here is an email I wrote after a couple weeks of living here. It’s kind of funny how much more I know now… Which makes me wonder if I had thought I did enough research before moving here… But then again, we moved here on pure recommendation from friends. Here…
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Tzur Hadassah: The Q&A breakdown.
I suppose there isn’t much info out there on the webs about Tzur Hadassah, because every once in a while I’ll get an email from someone asking about moving there. I’m more than happy to share my responses so that everyone can benefit. If you have any other questions, leave a comment. Here’s my latest…
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Welcome home, endangered American Jew.
Here’s the ‘welcome home’ I got while waiting at a bus stop: Hmm. I’m pretty sure it’s not as crazy as they make it sound, but who am i to judge? I’m not living in the wild jungle of dangerousness that is America.* * Ok, ok. I’m being harsh. There is truth to moving to…
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What exactly is a 'happy' Memorial Day?
Can a Memorial Day be happy? Isn’t the essence of the concept to reflect, to introspect, to national-spect? I find that with national-specting comes a bit of shame, a dash of pride and a whole lotta tears either way. To some, Israeli and American Memorial Days might be categorized as fraternal twins, if related at…
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Remembering Israel at 50.
With all the Israel at 60 talk going on, I can’t for the life of me remember the Israel at 50 celebrations, which I would imagine were a bigger deal, as the Jubilee number as well as the generally accepted major number in counting anniversaries. I wasn’t yet in Israel at that point, so maybe…
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There are no jukim in America.
Usually when I touch down in JFK, flying over Queens at dawn, I get teary-eyed and patriotic for my hometown. I’ve been pretty emotional about New York since I left; even before I left. Maybe it’s because I landed here today coming off the Presidents Conference, or maybe it’s been a year and four months…
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Chilling with the presidents: Peres conference overview.
I was fortunate enough to score an invite to President Shimon Peres’ Facing Tomorrow: Israeli Presidential Conference, which went down over the last three days in the ICC. It soon became clear that the opening panel of the first night was the crux of the event, at least for me, holding more importance than President…