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14 November 2008
From Barack to Barkat: A Look Back at the November Elections
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 [...]
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7 November 2008
Jerusalem Election Diary: Haaretz gets it so wrong
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 [...]
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31 October 2008
Jerusalem Elections 2008: The Most Crucial in Years
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 [...]
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28 October 2008
Art Show at the Museum of the Underground Prisoners
Just when you think you’ve seen all that Jerusalem has to offer, along comes a surprise in the most unusual of spaces.
For weeks, the Jerusalem municipality has been running full-page ads promoting Art Jerusalem 08, an exhibition with hundreds of mostly new and unknown artists. The setting was the Underground Prisoner’s Museum, just off Kikar [...]
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17 October 2008
Another Israeli Take on the Upcoming U.S. Elections
I just received my absentee ballot for the upcoming U.S. elections in the mail and I’m psyched. Yes, I know that some critics will question whether an American living outside the country has the moral right to vote for a president of a country in which he is no longer living. But I plan on [...]
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12 August 2008
Alone Again (Not) Naturally
The week didn’t go at all as I expected. When Jody made plans for her and Amir to go to Cleveland for Jody’s grandmother’s 90th birthday at the same time as Merav and Aviv were to be in sleep away camp, I thought: this is great. I get the house all to myself. Peace and [...]
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31 July 2008
New TV Show Attempts to Bridge the Religious Secular Divide
A new TV show that debuted earlier this month on the Israeli satellite company YES is the talk of the town across certain sectors of southern Jerusalem. “Srugim” (in English: “knitted kippas”) is an extraordinarily accurate depiction of the religious singles scene in Jerusalem.
Set in our own neighborhood (Katamon and the German Colony in particular), [...]
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22 July 2008
Bulldozer Copycat Attack: On the Scene
My son Amir and I were downtown when the police cars and ambulances started zooming past us, their sirens blaring. We had just finished an ice coffee at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and were waiting at a bus stop to go home.
One after another, the police sped down Jaffa Road. There must have [...]
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10 July 2008
Bridge of Strings: Monstrosity or Beauty?
Some have called it a monstrosity. To others it’s a thing of beauty. One thing’s for sure: the new Bridge of Strings at the entrance to Jerusalem, which was formally dedicated two weeks ago in a multi-million dollar ceremony, has generated a huge amount of controversy both online and with the general public at large.
One [...]
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27 June 2008
What a Dump!
Here’s a Friday morning outing you’ve probably never considered: A trip to the dump. But not just any dump. The Hiria dump – an 80-meter high blight on the landscape that no commuter traveling on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway could miss.
Now Hiria is being transformed from its formerly stinky state into the Ariel Sharon National [...]
