Our friend Joan called last night just as the news broke that the IDF had begun its ground operation in Gaza. Joan was panicked. She knew a number of families in our neighborhood who had boys in combat units. “Why are we doing this?” she said. “Can’t we pull them all out now?” My first reaction was detached, though certainly not uncaring. I had been obsessively following the ...
Happy Chanukah!! It is really such a delight to walk down the streets in Israel and see all the lit menorot that the municipality puts up. There are shining chanukiot on the street lights and Chabad has put up their menorah sans fire truck in the center of town. The chanukah cheer is further reinforced by the amount of sufganiyot consumed. For some reason these fried doughnuts bring a joy and happiness that surpass all other ...
I have visited Israel three times, all within the past five years. Friends and family who visited Israel many more years ago have related stories of the country from days past. I find it fascinating to compare them to my own experiences and see how the country has changed so much in such a short period of time. In particular, one characteristic that keeps coming up in these stories is that of a lackluster ...
Because nobody’s ever questioned me about my involvement with Israel’s top-secret spy agency, the Mossad, I’m now ready and willing to talk. It all began while I was still living in Toronto and planning my escape to Israel. One day I stumbled upon an advert in a national Canadian newspaper inviting people to join the Mossad ...
Stepping into one of the sleek and shiny new light rail vehicles set to zip through Jerusalem in the next year and a half, it’s hard to imagine the controversy the system’s roll out has engendered. CityPass, the international corporation that is building and operating the Jerusalem light rail system, recently opened the doors to its hi-tech transit depot and we joined the tour. We learned more than we wanted to know about the ...
Some folks make aliyah for religious reasons, others for nationalist reasons. And then there are songwriters like me who come to Israel for no apparent reason, and decide to stay, until they're asked to leave. Being the wandering Jewsician that I am, I've recorded in a number of major studios in Toronto, Montreal and New York. But there's no place like ...
The just concluded Jerusalem election, while certainly not as important on a world stage as last week’s U.S. presidential contest, was in many ways spookily similar to its overseas counterpart. For those who supported Nir Barkat, who beat his main competitor Meir Porush by a commanding 9 points (52 to 43 percent), the sheer jubilance that erupted across the city (though certainly not in all ...
Yesterday morning, while going through the 150 or so feeds I try to keep up with, I came upon this video. A report on Jeff Pulver's breaksfast in Tel Aviv pans and interviews some of the attendees. Low and behold if two Jewneric authors weren't there... Ezra Butler and Brian Blum. Pulver, a big name in technology and telecommunications, has ...
I don’t usually write about the same topic two weeks in a row, but, with less than a week to go, the upcoming Jerusalem mayoral elections is so important that I feel compelled to post again. Last Friday, Haaretz published an editorial slamming mayoral candidate Nir Barkat and endorsing “a responsible haredi” (a code word for Meir Porush, the only ultra Orthodox candidate running for the position). Many Jerusalemites like me were outraged. The reason ...
Several weeks ago I gave an Israeli take on the upcoming U.S. elections. But there’s another vote in November that may prove to be just as momentous for this country. I’m talking about the Jerusalem mayoral elections. Five years ago, the status quo was broken when the ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community fielded a candidate for mayor for the first time…and won. Before that, haredi ...
