During the past few days, Tel Aviv was transformed into a spotty patchwork of red and white as a seemingly endless number of soccer/football fans from England could be found wandering the streets, strolling along the promenade, and, probably more than anything else, drying up the local beer reserves. Thousands of English fans streamed into Israel last week ahead of yesterday...
It would seem that all of the antics being played out in government circles until now were merely child’s play – a warm up for the main event, so to speak. Apparently, our brilliant Finance Minister, Avraham Hirshson, has allegedly embezzled millions of dollars over the past few decades. That’s right. Millions. And this is the man who is ultimately...
The latest edition of “Here – Notes from the Present” is out in print and online (in both English and Italian!). This journal was “launched in Italy in Italian in 1999 to gather testimonies, descriptions and observations of and reflections on the private-public times we live in”. A number of something something blog entries were reprinted in the...
I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since we were last in the US. I remember the trip vividly, as though it took place just last month, yet suddenly I find myself making preparations to fly once again. It will be different from last time though, for two reasons. First of all, we will be flying to Florida instead of New York, and second of all, the Little One...
As I mentioned in a previous entry, I spent the year of 1986-87 on a year program in Israel, and even managed to break my ankle during my stay. It actually happened when I’d been in the country for less than a month, coincidentally, a few short weeks after someone, while wishing me good luck, had told me to “break a leg”. So I did, in a really spectacular way...
Given the fact that European Jewry was nearly decimated in the last century, and noting that anti-Semitism has been on the rise for some years now, it is nothing short of scandalous that our government has, at the request of the prime minister, opted not to discuss the genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians from 1915 to 1917. I am usually one of those...
Like many of my like-minded friends, I find myself becoming tired – overwhelmed, even – by the way that Israel is always being portrayed in the news. It is exhausting to see the constant stream of bad press because of our actions in the Territories, our behavior at checkpoints, targeted assassinations etc. It is frustrating, because I know that we are capable of so...
Sometimes an announcement can make you simultaneously ecstatic and depressed. This was the case when I found out that The Police were getting back together. Their album “Ghost in the Machine” was one of the first albums I got when I joined one of those wretched record clubs. You remember those, don’t you? You paid something like one penny to join, got eight...
A major milestone is now being reached in the something something household. We are currently in the throes of potty training, after an unsuccessful attempt was made last summer (resulting in copious amounts of urine being removed from various items that shall remain unidentified, lest you think twice about where to sit during any upcoming visits to our home). We’re...
I spent the academic year of 1986-87 in Israel, participating in a program from which two of my fellow bloggers are also past participants (and one of whom is even a current staff member). It was an exciting, unforgettable year, which began with me unceremoniously breaking my leg and requiring surgery (enabling me to learn all sorts of words that they didn’t teach us in...