IsraelityBlog

Foto Friday - Summer at the Safari

It’s hot! I’m so warm, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going! How about stepping over to the watering hole for a bit of refreshment… Though it’s a bit crowded… Probably best just to stay put. Maybe have a light snack. And wearing that heavy fur coat is certainly out of the question! All of the above photos were taken at [...], Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:40:25 +0000

Steve Vai and Israeli guitar hero trade shop talk

With the media touting doomsday scenarios at every opportunity about a fracture between the Israeli government and US administration regarding the peace process, it’s nice to know Israelis and Americans can still make beautiful music together. Legendary American hard rock guitar virtuoso Steve Vai was in town this week, presenting his Alien Guitar Secrets masterclass [...], Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:02:52 +0000

IDF battles swine flu with extra leave

Whether you call it swine flu or Mexican flu, the number of cases of the virus H1N1 in Israel continues to creep up. Since the flu first reached here in late April, just days after it was identified in Mexico and the US, there have been anything from 300 to 542 confirmed cases, depending on which [...], Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:40:57 +0000

Our first NBA pick

You may have read about it already, but I need to express my excitement about Omri Casspi becoming the first Israeli player to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft. Yes, it’s not the final, final stage in this nail-biting process, but hey, it’s the NBA and he’s Israeli and it’s looking [...], Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:18:23 +0000

From high school into the frying pan

High school graduations are a unique creature in Israel. They’re nothing like the solemn mortar board and cape graduation, and rented tux prom that I experienced growing up in the US. And thank God for that. It’s almost like going to a musical. My daughter’s event took place last night at a posh events hall in [...], Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:39:20 +0000

Cafe Birnbaum

Tel Aviv is a city with many a cafe, and not all of them have appeared in the Aroma/Cafe Hillel stream of the last ten years. One of the best-loved, and with mighty tasty grub, is Cafe Birnbaum, owned the Birnbaum sisters, Penina and Sima. They took over from their father who ran the space [...], Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:56:44 +0000

Nostalgia Sunday - Pop Star

Do Israelis know from the Jackson-5? Puh-leez! This is the country whose government banned the Beatles from performing in the early Sixties on the grounds that they were a degenerate influence on the nation’s youth. But they did know Michael Jackson. In the mid-Seventies, with the advent of third radio broadcaster Reshet Gimmel, which played [...], Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:48:31 +0000

Michael Jackson mourned in Israel

As with every major event worldwide, there has to be an Israeli connection - even Michael Jackson’s death. The British press has been full of interviews with Uri Geller, the Israeli psychic, who called Jackson his best friend. Geller says the stress of readying for a 50-show stint in London this summer may have contributed to [...], Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:39:11 +0000

Fraternities come to Israeli university

The university I attended in the US was not big on fraternities - we were mostly too busy getting wasted without an organized framework to bother with the hazing, initiation rites, etc.. But frats are an American institution, including popular Jewish brotherhoods like Alpha Epsilon Pi, with over 140 branches throughout the country. And now, [...], Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:36:26 +0000

Foto Friday - Butterflies

Gideon Pisanty is a biologist from Israel with an interest in botany, evolution, ecology, genetics, and conservation biology. He is also a prolific photographer of Israel’s flora and its fauna as well. Pisanty is a steady contributor of lepidiotric images to Wikipedia — just search Wikimedia Commons for “Israel” “butterflies” and you’ll see what I [...], Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:54:12 +0000