From the category archives:

Only in Israel

Rain: a Love/Hate Story

March 2, 2010

I really hate the rain. And these past few days have been tough ones for the anti-rain parade. Oh, I know it’s good for us and the country desperately needs to refill its reservoirs. I just wish we could get all our rainfall at night, when I’m sleeping.
Getting caught in a daytime downpour is one [...]

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Idan Raichel Project Salutes Jerusalem

February 24, 2010

Two years ago, Israel’s capital introduced the “Jerusalem Card” which provides discounts on a whole range of Jerusalem attractions – from restaurants and museums to music performances and even discounts on parking and taxis. We bought ours at the opening to the annual Hutzot HaYotzer arts and crafts festival for only NIS 18 (around [...]

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Cliff’s Air Conditioner, Climate Change, and the Jewish People

January 19, 2010

My friend Cliff called this week to say he was getting rid of an old air conditioning unit and would I want to take it off his hands…at no charge? Cliff knew that I had spent much of the summer sweltering in my top floor home office.
I have an air conditioner already but, at only [...]

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Srugim Rocker Erez Lev Ari in Concert

January 10, 2010

The popular TV series “Srugim” is returning to the airwaves tonight after a year and a half hiatus. Season Two of the show, about a group of young religious singles living in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Katamon (known affectionately as “The Swamp”), has been anxiously awaited by its fans (who have established several active Facebook [...]

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Room 124

January 7, 2010

Israeli bureaucratic institutions have been slowly but surely modernizing over recent years. You can get in and out of the infamous Interior Ministry in less than a day…and you don’t have to line up at 8:00 AM just to shove your way in through the heavily guarded front door.
The health funds now have computerized kiosks [...]

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Fruity Beer in Petach Tikva

December 30, 2009

How did a non-beer drinker wind up in a micro-brewery this past Saturday night? That’s a question I was asking myself as my wife and I joined our friends Debbie and Eliot at Jem’s, a hot new gourmet beer factory in Petach Tikva.

Jem’s was established by two immigrants from the U.S. – Daniel Alon, a [...]

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Gilad, Amir and Marla

December 2, 2009

With negotiations heating up over the release of Gilad Shalit in exchange for up to 1,000 hardened Palestinian prisoners, debate on the merits of the deal have been all over the news for days, as well as in discussions within our own family.
Two recent events have made it particularly personal.
The crux of the issue is, [...]

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My Son in Greens

November 25, 2009

On his way back from Tel Aviv, 18-year-old Amir called to ask if I could pick him at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. He was carrying a heavy bag and didn’t want to schlep it all the way home. Fair enough.
I arrived at our agreed upon meeting place but I didn’t see my son.
“I’m just [...]

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Oud v’Rikoud

November 12, 2009

The annual Jerusalem International Oud Festival has become the leading event of its kind on the ethnic music calendar. Now in its tenth year, the festival, which kicks off tonight, lasts for 16 days and includes shows in both Jerusalem and Nazareth. But those of us fortunate to have attended last week’s “Boogie Nights” dance [...]

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A Night in the Desert

October 28, 2009

Feeling stressed out? Need to get away from it all? Here’s a travel tip that will take you so far off the beaten track, there’s barely a road to get there.
Succa Bamidbar (Succa in the Desert) is about as distant from civilization as you can get in Israel. Located 5 km from the already remote [...]

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