Category: Israel

(Editor’s Note: My mother passed away in 2019) I have decided that were I to try and convey the words my mother just wrote to me, I would be accused of writing what I wanted to hear, not what my mother really thought. Many of you will remember from columns written over two years ago…

Accio toilet paper! Although I don’t think I can write anything fun or amusing about the charming illness of dysentery, enough people have challenged me to see if I can turn my personal misery into something funny, so here goes. Of course, there are much worse things in life than to suffer a really bad…

Disclaimer: 1) The following story is not true. It is a complete work of fiction. 2) Even if it was true, which it isn’t, it didn’t happen to me, it happened to my friend. 3) But it really didn’t. Last week, I had to take my car for the annual inspection/failure process, something about as…

You grew up in a typical dati neighborhood in America. Let’s say Potomac, Maryland. The community was not so huge, and you pretty much got to know everyone who lived there. Every week, your parents invited friends over for Shabbat, or you went out to their houses. You become close friends with the guys you…

A friend of mine recently returned from a trip to the States where she was trying to raise funds for an organization called Standing Together. This group does something simple and wonderful. They get a whole bunch of pizzas, cake, coffee whatever, and drive around to military bases giving the soldiers a nice little surprise.…

Before making Aliyah, my views on Arabs and Israelis were fairly black and white. Years of watching newscasts of Egged buses blown to smithereens along with all the men, women, and children inside had led me to the conclusion that all Arabs were really, really bad. On moving to Israel I would do my best…

Let’s face it, being an Orthodox Jew is pretty weird. I say this with no disrespect intended for the traditions that are thousands of years old and that I believe are a set of rules that our Creator has “chosen” us to follow. But you know, we still do some pretty weird stuff. I just…

.Last year, my wife and I watched with a great deal of nervousness as our children got on their buses for their first day of school since making Aliyah. Although we knew that this was the only way, and that many, many kids had successfully managed to integrate, we were still worried that they would…

Last week, our phone and Internet connection stopped working. I made a quick call to Bezeq and was assured that a technician would be speedily rushed to the scene that day. I was pleasantly surprised when a Bezeq guy did indeed show up not much later. He climbed a ladder, used some tools, and told…