Bringing artistry to the orchards The Jerusalem Post, September 11, 2009 There’s something new coming from one of Israel’s oldest communities—fruit bearing curious names like Watermelon Plums, Plumegranates, and Pita Peaches. They’re the creative product of Ben-Dor Fruits and Nurseries, which is located in Yesud Hama’ala. Founded in 1883 during the first aliyah, Yesud Hama’ala’s …
The Palestinian village of Bil’in, located in the West Bank, is a flashpoint for the Arab-Israeli conflict. Since 2005, Bil’in has been the site of Friday demonstrations attended by hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals in protest of the impending construction of the separation wall, the division of Palestinian-owned land, as well as the continued …
A different kind of activism The Jerusalem Post, September 11, 2009 It’s Friday afternoon in the West Bank village Bil’in. A crowd of protestors—Israeli, Palestinian, and international—is gathered at the barbed-wire separation fence. Facing the IDF on the other side, they chant in Hebrew, Arabic, English, and Spanish. Their voices are punctuated by the occasional …
Prague from on high The Jerusalem Post, September 11, 2009 Viewed from Old Town’s cobblestone streets, Prague is Europe rendered as a confectionary wonder. Pastel-hued buildings, with baroque curves and curlicues that resemble icing, lick at the spire-filled sky. Even the sharp lines of Gothic structures seem the stuff of children’s birthday cakes—reminding the viewer …
The Missing Mizrahim: review of Rachel Shabi’s Not the Enemy: Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands, and Q & A with the author Zeek, August 31, 2009 Some critics have faulted Rachel Shabi’s Not the Enemy: Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands as one-sided. Shabi neglects the animosity that existed between Jews and Muslims long before …
Not buying it The Jerusalem Post, August 21, 2009 The crowd is small and subdued Friday morning at Tel Aviv’s Hangar 11. Drifts of Israeli Arabs and Israelis walk through an air-conditioned shuk, passing stalls lined with pickles, olives, baklawa, cosmetics, clothes, arts and crafts. One vendor—a tall, lanky man with black hair—sprays puffs of …
After the ‘non-revolution’ The Jerusalem Post, August 21, 2009 I’ve tucked away my guidebook and happily stumbled upon an unmarked bar on a low-key street in Budapest. The scene is relaxed—simple blue jeans on casually crossed legs, uncomplicated drinks like beer and wine on plain wooden tables. The bright lighting, high ceilings, and a …
The Balkan two-step The Jerusalem Post, August 7, 2009 Another shot of ouzo? Why not? I wince as I down the alcohol. I get back out on the floor and study the footsteps of the ring of dancers. I nod my head and mutter to myself—right, left, right, return—and when I think I’ve got the …
An Interview with Adina Hoffman Bookslut, August 2009 In the opening pages of My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness author Adina Hoffman journeys from her home in Jerusalem to the north of Israel. The landscape there is dismal—blocks of rundown apartment buildings show signs of life but remain eerily quiet. If it serves as …
Big trouble in little China The Jerusalem Post, July 31, 2009 As the sky darkens over the sagging cement buildings of South Tel Aviv, Chinese workers gather on the sidewalk outside of Kav LaOved. Inside, the translators that volunteer their time to Kav LaOved every Monday night prepare. “It’s like a party out there,” one …