Shachar

Dateline Jerusalem – Every once in awhile I need to get away. Yesterday was the perfect opportunity to travel from Rehovot to Tel Aviv. The weather was warm, the sun was shining, and the cloudless sky was a perfect blue, not like the smoggy haze of Tel Aviv. Usually it is 30 minutes by car or train. A couple friends and I decided to make a day of it. We took the almost hour-long trip by bus via the cities of...

Dateline Jerusalem – What could be better than the aroma of exotic spices and herbs? There are shops in my town devoted solely to their sale. Barrels and bins are...

Dateline Jerusalem – Israel is a service-oriented country. Sherut means service. Sherutim is the plural of sherut, but that actually is the word for bathroom. A monit sherut is a service taxi or minivan that follows bus routes from city to city or within a city. It is on no particular time schedule at all hours of day and night. Unlike...

Dateline Jerusalem – Apologies for not having an essay last week. My computer was on the fritz. Technology should make things easier. For a dinosaur like me, everything seems more complicated as time goes on. However, without Israeli technology, the world would not be so technologically advanced. Thank you, Israel. Although I protest a lot, I do not know what I would do without these Israeli inventions. It is hard to imagine that not long ago I lived without...

Dateline Jerusalem – This has been my week of frustration, reminding me of my first week after moving to Israel 6½ years go. Why am I still adjusting to the various bureaucratic red tape and idiosyncrasies of life here? I should be a pro by now.

Dateline Jerusalem – This week I was guest speaker at an English-speaking women's charitable organization in my town of Rehovot. Ninety-five years ago, in 1918, my scholarly dentist grandfather, may he rest in peace, wrote a book about dentistry and its relation to the Torah (bible) and Talmud (written compilation of the Oral Law explaining and interpreting the Torah). That was the topic of my talk.

Last January, almost one year ago, the city of Jerusalem experienced the largest snowfall in over 20 years. Last night the snow began falling again. Nothing is more beautiful than a snowy white Jerusalem. Snow already has hit the Golan in the north and the mountains of the Negev Desert in the south. I live in Rehovot, southeast of Tel Aviv, northwest of Jerusalem. We won't get snow here, just...

Dateline Jerusalem – Driving in the direction of Be'er Sheva in the Negev Desert of southern Israel toward Moshav Nevatim, the home of Indian Jews from Cochi, India, I observed the miles of once arid Bedouin Arab land sold to the state of Israel. The operative word is "sold." This land was not...

Dateline Jerusalem – Wishing my Jewish readers a happy and healthy Chanukah and all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving. This year is unique in that both holidays coincide. According to some sources, this won't occur again for another 70,000 years. In Israel, we only celebrate Chanukah because our version of Thanksgiving was during Sukkot. Both are harvest festivals in which we give thanks to G-d. The Pilgrims allegedly considered their exodus to the New World (America) for religious freedom to be similar to the Jews’ exodus from Egypt to the Land of Israel.

Dateline Jerusalem – I realize it is the middle of November and the weather should be fall or winter-like. I am spoiled by Israeli weather. It has been sunny and in the 80s, without humidity, under brilliant blue skies, for the last few weeks. Perfect. Today's forecast and for the rest of the week, however, indicates it will be...