Dateline Jerusalem – My U.S. passport was about to expire in a few days. I schlepped to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to get it renewed. While in the neighborhood, afterwards a couple of friends and I had lunch at a Bukharian restaurant in Yafo, the ancient port city called Jaffa in English. Usually it associated with Tel Aviv as Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Yafo is a suburb of southern Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean Sea. Originally, Tel Aviv was…

Dateline Jerusalem – I haven't traveled from my town for quite some time. This week a friend and I went to Tel Aviv to meet a friend who used to live in Israel and had returned for a few days. Tel Aviv was chosen because it is central and convenient to public transportation. We met at the Azrieli mall, the base of a circular tower between two other geometric shaped high-rises, one square, the other triangular. This is the…

Dateline Jerusalem – Israel, like the United States, is melting pot where people from all over the world seek to live and enjoy freedoms. That results in a gathering of different cultures, customs, traditions, religions, and ethnic dishes. Since food is one of my pleasures in life, I am always anxious to try a new…

Dateline Jerusalem – The word for earthquake in Hebrew is רעידת אדמה, pronounced “ree-daht ah-dah-mah.” As of today, Israel has experienced seven small earthquakes in a week’s time. Like California, people worry the Big One, a magnitude of 7 or more on the Richter Scale, may shortly strike. Like California, Israel is long overdue for a major quake. Although I had learned in the States that small quakes release energy that takes the pressure off a large one, experts here say…

Dateline Jerusalem – In the middle of October the temperature in my town in Israel is still in the 80s. The sky is a perfect cloudless blue, so unique that a palette of oil paints or box of crayons could not do it justice. Palm trees, ferns, and other flora outside my living room window give me a feeling of…

Dateline Jerusalem – The list of Nobel Prize winners is out, and again the tiny country of Israel, whose entire population of 8 million is less than the cities of New York and Tokyo, has distinguished itself among the recipients. Three of the joint winners, in the fields of Chemistry and Physics, have…

Dateline Jerusalem – Have you ever had one of those days? This one was mine. As I walked to the market, and there was a slight breeze. The scenery was beautiful. Flowers and plants still are in bloom, the sky a sea of blue with billowy cottonball clouds. Either I was talking to myself, and I only do that at home, or I was trying to breathe in the fresh air, but my mouth was open while crossing the street. The next thing I knew…

Dateline Jerusalem – Just like riding a bicycle, allegedly once you know how to ride a horse, you never forget. Considering my recent experience horseback riding along a river that feeds into the Mediterranean Sea in the city of Netanya, at my age I do not want to try riding a bike again.

Dateline Jerusalem – One of my favorite holidays is Sukkot, meaning “booths” in Hebrew. It is referred to as “the time of our joy,” coming just after the solemnity of the Yom Kippur Day of Atonement. The sukkah (booth) is a…

Dateline Jerusalem – I must apologize for a short essay this week. I have been ill since Rosh Hashana. What does that mean for me in the upcoming year? Only that my prayers and repentance must be stronger, more sincere, and my charitable contributions greater.