Only in Israel

A Subversive Marriage Proposal

August 10, 2010

Rabbi Haviva Ner-David has a subversive proposal for young couples in Israel: don’t get married. At all. And with the recent directives to rabbis at the local marriage registrars that I wrote about previously, her approach is more timely than ever. Ner-David, one of the first (and only) women to receive Orthodox Rabbinic ordination, recently [...]

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Patriotic Pride

August 4, 2010

Some 3,000 people marched from Jerusalem’s Independence Park to the Knesset in last week’s annual Gay Pride parade. My daughter Merav and I were there to support the community. It’s been a long time since I was at a gay parade – I used to regularly join the massive San Francisco event in the 1970s [...]

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Tisha B’av with Helicopters

July 20, 2010

Every year on Tisha B’av, there are pundits who write in the local newspapers that we should stop fasting and start celebrating. Tisha B’av – the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av (which always falls somewhere in super-heated July or August) – commemorates various tragedies which have befallen the Jewish people, first and [...]

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Meet Me at the Mugrabi

July 8, 2010

When I was hired to record a series of conversations to accompany a course on teaching Hebrew to English speakers, I didn’t know I’d be getting a lesson in Tel Aviv nostalgia. The project was to edit a 500-page curriculum originally developed to prepare U.S. diplomats posted to Israel. Along with the written text, there [...]

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Search for the Perfect Knafeh

June 25, 2010

I’ve never eaten it, but I’ve just got to have it. Kanafeh, that is. It’s an Arab pastry somewhat like baklava, but with the addition of soft goats cheese, an orange coating and sprinkled pistachio nuts. I first learned about kanafeh from a friend who was guiding us through East Jerusalem. He pointed out a [...]

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Running the Marathon – Israeli Style

March 24, 2010

My wife Jody and I ran the 10K in the Jerusalem Half Marathon last week. I’ve been running 3-4 times a week for over a decade already, but never in a competitive race. We didn’t come in first, but we were satisfied with a respectable time of an hour and six minutes. We arrived at [...]

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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 [...]

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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 $5) [...]

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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 [...]

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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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