Typical Hostile Olympic Environment for Israel

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Judo fighter Yarden Gerbi won a bronze Wednesday, Israel’s first Olympic medal since 2008. Photo: Rex Features via Associated Press)

Dateline Jerusalem — Having been a klutz most of my life, from sprains to broken bones, “What is your favorite sport?” meant enjoying sports as a spectator, not as a participant. My claim to fame was speedwalking from one end of the UCLA campus to the other in record time while others ran after me asking, “Where is the fire?” … Read More

Honesty Stabbed in the Heart – and Bleeds to Death

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Dateline Jerusalem — The definition of double standard, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “a situation in which two people, groups, etc., are treated very differently from each other in a way that is unfair to one of them.” Perfect examples of disparate treatment occur in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — Israel’s right to defend itself, its methods of fighting terror, … Read More

An Appreciation for Tel Aviv

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Tel Aviv Promenade. Photo: israeltourism from Israel (Tel Aviv Jaffa) , via Wikimedia Commons

Dateline Jerusalem — Lately I have had the opportunity to visit Tel Aviv on several occasions. A must-see for tourists. Along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, it has pristine white beaches. Turquoise and aquamarine clear blue waters make it a popular vacation spot. Known as The City That Never Sleeps, Tel Aviv often is compared to Las Vegas. Both … Read More

Biblical Food for Historic Thought in Israel

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Photo: Pastor Walker / YouTube

Dateline Jerusalem — Living in Israel is living history. Everything in this land relates to Biblical times, from ancient Jewish holy sites to unearthed artifacts from archeological digs to even the plants and trees used in the Jewish diet as described in the Torah (Bible) and Talmud (writings that interpret and explain the Torah). Because I have a particular fascination … Read More

You Are Safer Here Than at Home

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Your choice of transportation mode in Israel. Photo: www.kveller.com

Dateline Jerusalem — I often am asked if it is safe to visit Israel. I had visited Israel several times over the last 37 years, and I finally moved here nine years ago. I can categorically state that I feel safer in Israel than I do in the States. I never have regretted visiting or moving here. Yet back in … Read More

Why My 9th Anniversary Is Special

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Typical young American family of four, making aliyah. Photo: Sasson Tiram / The Jerusalem Post

Dateline Jerusalem — Happy anniversary! Nine years ago, I made aliyah to Israel. It only took me 28 years from my first visit to Israel to finally immigrate to my ancestral home. After touching Israeli ground for the first time in 1979, I knew that the tears in my eyes, goosebumps on my arms and shivers from head to toe … Read More

No Need for Summer to Enter Without Knocking

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Ideal way to beat extreme heat in any country. Photo: Times of Israel / Flash90

Dateline Jerusalem — This may be late June, but the weather feels like August, the hottest, most humid month of the year in Israel. This week the country suffered through unusually hot weather and the forecast for next week is more of the same. It isn’t the heat so much as the humidity that affects me. I am used to … Read More

Israel Knows Diamond Is Girl’s Best Friend

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Ultra-Orthodox Jews work in the trading room of Israel's diamond exchange in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv
Orthodox Jews in the trading room of Israel’s diamond exchange in Ramat Gan

Dateline Jerusalem — When my daughter was 7 years old, she screamed when she found out that the diamond in my ring was temporarily missing from its setting.  Her father came running to find out what happened.  She explained, “Daddy, don’t you know? A diamond is a girl’s best friend.”  After visiting the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in the heart … Read More

The Best Time of Our Year

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Shavuot at Kibbutz Gan-Shmuel. Photo: Amos Gil [CC BY 2.5] via Wikimedia Commons

Dateline Jerusalem –– It seems most appropriate that Jerusalem Day is celebrated in Israel just days before the holiday Shavuot. Jerusalem Day commemorates G-d giving the Torah (Bible) to the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai 50 days after the Exodus from Egypt, 3,300 years ago. Jerusalem Day commemorates the re-unification of the city of Jerusalem after Israel’s capture of the … Read More

Here Is Where to Find the Good Life

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Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem. Photo: Golasso, via Wikimedia Commons (GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)

Dateline Jerusalem — In a month I will have been living in Israel for nine years. Life is definitely interesting, so different from the comfortable, carefree life I had in the States. Despite travails of daily life, my experiences have been mostly positive. Like having a baby. When you go through labor and/or a c-section, you experience pain momentarily. Somehow … Read More