Tag: israel
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Today's Word: Senior/בכיר.
In the past week I have read articles and received emails concerning the strike-affected academic schedule and peppered among all of them is the word בכיר (bachir), meaning ‘senior’, as in ‘senior professor’. Only senior professors are striking, because they are the ones being affected by the paycheck problems. Other professors get paid according to…
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Biking for charity in Israel.
The buzz around my corner of Jerusalem these days is the intense 5-day bike ride to raise money for Alyn Hospital dubbed Wheels of Love. Quite a few of my friends are participating and it’s nice to see. One friend created this video on his 24km practice run yesterday… Try to put the motion sickness…
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Two teeth dumber… yet also wiser…
I’m sitting here, post-removal of my last two wisdom teeth, done by an Israeli doctor at my insurance clinic, and I’m feeling – wise. For weeks, people have been warning me about getting my wisdom teeth out here – “Go to an American, go private, pay extra for gas.” Sure, it freaked me out, but…
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Aliyah tip #253: Read.
I’ve fallen back in love with reading. I’ve been a reading maniac lately. I went on hiatus the past two years, thinking that I didn’t have time because I was in school. Which is funny, because I wasn’t doing much reading for school, either. But man, do I love it. Reading is my medicine. It…
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Israel restaurant guide.
Tourist season is pretty much over in Israel… until Chanukah. So it’s a shame I’ve only found out about this now, but you’ll know for next time. eLuna.com is a website listing and rating restaurants from all over Israel. If you register, you can even get Jewpons, sorry, coupons, honoured at many of the restaurants…
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Back to regular life.
Back to work, back to chol, back to regular life in Israel. In case you’re having a hard time adjusting, here’s a reminder of what reality here is like: A Rabbi had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young men, the…
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Learn to read in Hebrew for free.
UPDATE (2011): Found another excellent resource for learning Hebrew online for free… I just came across the website of the National Jewish Outreach Program, which I’ve never heard of before. It seems like a great resource though, for North American Jews who want to become more affiliated and educated in their Judaism. What caught my…
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Nu, how much money?
Mazal tov! Here is a genius website I have to share, for Israeli celebration-goers in doubt of how much of a gift to give (Hebrew-only): KamaKesef? My favorite part is that the ‘submit’ button says, “Nu, kama kesef?’ —————— Brought to you by… Do you work closely with money? Do you need new Credit card…
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City feature: Haifa
Now that summer is upon us, there’s a new series of jokes going around the cynical Israeli circuit, which revolve around the same punchline: “So, what are you doing this summer?” “That depends – when does the war start and end?” “Hey, feeling like a weekend in a tzimmer?” “Maybe; but let’s wait for the…
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City feature: Yafo
This is Yafo or Jaffa, the second half of the area known as Tel Aviv-Yafo. Historically it’s always been a port city and today you can see the ancient ports as well as the modern docks. Its residents are both Arabs and Jews and has a healthy list of places to see and things to…
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Free calls to Israel!?
UPDATE: Apparently the site I reviewed below is now defunct. This page gets a lot of traffic so I thought I’d help out by saying that Skype is a decent option and so is Israel’s very own JaJah. I have friends who use Rebtel, which I find a little convoluted. Google Talk is my main…
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Meet my little friend.
If you know me, you know I’m crazy for dogs – big, chunky, friendly, loyal, happy dogs. Dogs that run up to you when you come home. Dogs that look you in the eye. Dogs that trust you and are trustworthy themselves. Dogs are magnificent animals. For the last 24 years, I never had the…