A new driver in the house
I recently posted a status update on my Facebook account announcing that my 17-year-old daughter had passed her driving test, and we were now a four-driver family. The reactions were interesting – most of the Israeli responses were enthusiastic ‘mazal tovs’ while most of the American reactions were tempered with ‘oh dears’ and ‘why are you Israelis so happy, there’s another teen driver on the road.’
Well, we are quite happy for her, especially since it was her third test. That’s no reflection on her driving, as most young drivers here fail repeatedly at the hands of the driving instructors, who seem to follow their whim as to what the criteria is on a given day. It’s a wonder that Israeli drivers are as reckless and undisciplined as they are considering how much more difficult it is to acquire a license here than in the West.
After the first two tests, and 28 lessons with an instructor, we had to tell her she was on her own, and if she wanted another test, she’d have to finance it herself. Which she did, which I’m sure added to the satisfaction of the moment for her.
The other reason we’re not upset at all, is that despite having four drivers, we only have one car. So realistically, her actual driving time isn’t going to amount to much for the time being. Plus, she’s required to drive with a parent in the car for the first year. So, despite the young driver, we’ve still got her at arms’ length for a while.
Of course, it would be nice to be able to send her to the makolet for some milk and bread, or take her brother to his guitar lesson. But by the time she’ll be able to do that, she’ll be in the army – where maybe she’ll learn how to drive a tank.
Foto Friday – David Shankbone’s Jerusalem
Filed under: Art, Blogging, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture
David Shankbone is a photographer, writer and vice-president of non-profit organization Wikimedia New York City, Inc. He has also, for the last three years, engaged in a public art project on Wikipedia, in which he has released all his photography on topics ranging from landscapes and cityscapes to celebrity portraits, for the public to use. As Shankbone puts it, “I set out on a project to create a body of high-resolution work whose copyright allowed the public to reproduce it, even alter it, without my permission. Even for commercial purposes, as long as nobody’s personality rights are violated.”
“The totality of the work is a documentation of human existence” states Shankbone, who has photographed everything “from subway stations to Kanye West; from Madison Avenue to Madonna; from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the hills of southern Lebanon.” And, as of this past March, Israel, where he was invited as a guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For his project, Shankbone snapped pictures of Jerusalem that are illustrative…
and poetic…
…ranging from the Old City…
…to the New…
…the past — and possibly the future!
Shankbone’s Wikipedia work is an amazing resource, giving users the benefit of being able to use work from a photographer who is both skilled technically, and an artist in terms of effect and composition.
They can also benefit from his news-savvy. On Wikinews, which is Wikipedia’s news arm, Shankbone has posted over 40 interviews with global cultural leaders. A story about the project entitled, “Why Shimon Peres sat down with David Shankbone” is definitely worth a read as it explains a bit about his history and the project.
Court rules state must fund non-Orthodox conversion courses
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Politics, Religion
UTJ's Moshe Gafni is not happy with neither the court decision nor with Reform Jews.
The ruling was the result of a petition filed by the Reform Movement in Israel demanding equal funding for its conversion classes vis-à-vis those run by private Orthodox institutions.
While the ruling may not have any impact on the status of the conversions themselves in the eyes of the state. it may influence the religious status quo and future court rulings on other questions of funding for religious services, where the Orthodox stranglehold on funding has frozen out other strains of Judaism.
Until now, non-Orthodox conversion programs have not been eligible for funding, which is provided by the Immigration Absorption Ministry to Orthodox schools.
Rabbi Gilad Kariv, director-general of the Reform Movement, said the decision was “very important and constituted one more step in the process of ending the Orthodox monopoly in Israel.”
He added that the ruling “was the harbinger of a series of High Court decisions to come which will eventually lead to a strategic agreement between the state and the Reform and Conservative movements regarding their status in Israel.” But Kariv cautioned that the process would still take many years.
One indication of that was the reaction to the ruling by haredi Knesset Finance Committee chairman Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) who holds the purse strings of the budget for religious funding. He said that he’ll block any attempt to transfer state funds to non-Orthodox institutions involved in preparing converts to Judaism.
“The Reform Movement is not a legitimate form of Judaism,” Gafni told The Jerusalem Post. “The Reform are a bunch of treacherous backstabbers to Judaism. They are jokers who operate without hierarchy and without rules.”
He added that the court’s decision to compel the state to fund non-Orthodox conversion institutes was a slippery slope that was liable to undermine the Jewish character of the state.
“Gafni should know that he, like all other Israeli citizens, must adhere to the law. He is probably just showing off to his friends and supporters in Brooklyn,” Kariv responded.
It looks like this is just the beginning, and not the end of the battle between the Orthodox and the Reform in Israel. Strap your seatbelts.
Israelis go on tour
Springsteen's just a short flight away for Israelis.
But when bona fide heavyweights like Springsteen, U2, The Killers, Coldplay and Pearl Jam are only a couple thousand miles away in Europe, it’s a little hard to get excited about our dubious offerings.
But thanks to a couple of Israeli entrepreneurial endeavors, getting to those superstars isn’t any more difficult than finding parking near Ramat Gan stadium. On.Tour, a Tel-Aviv based online rock & roll travel agency – and similar companies like Kavei Hofsha – provide Israeli music fans with package tours to the top festivals and shows in Europe – including airfare, hotel, transportation and, of course, the coveted tickets to the shows, even those that are listed as sold-out.
And it’s suprisingly affordable – not much more than the vacation without the concert tickets would be. A quick glance at the On.Tours homepage finds a generous offering of summer festivals, including this year’s Rock Werchter, featuring Coldplay, Metallica and The Killers; Denmark’s Roskild with Coldplay, Oasis and Slipknot; Germany’s Rock Im Park (RIP) featuring The Killers, The Kooks and Placebo; Istanbul’s questionably titled Rock & Coke, featuring Linkin Park, Nine Inch Nails and the Kaiser Chiefs; and some of the most popular attractions – the heavy metal festivals like Wacken 2009, The Ozora Festival and Hellfest. The average price for a package, including three or four nights’ accommodations, runs between NIS 4,000 and NIS 5,000.
“Pretty quickly, we learned that Israelis weren’t interested only in music festivals, but in concerts as well. There’s not a lot of top names coming here, and through us, you can go see just about any of the top names touring Europe,” Ido Mart, the company’s marketing director told me last week.
Indeed, the site offers packages for artists ranging from U2 and Springsteen to Britney Spears and Take That, all for prices similar to the festival tariff. According to Mart, On.Tours not only removes the hassle of arranging your own flights and accommodations, it also eases the stress of the biggest task of all – getting tickets to sold out shows.
Lianna Yedida, 25, who has traveled on three On.Tours packages, including two festivals in Europe and is signed up to see Radiohead this summer in Berlin, can’t praise the service too much.
“Everything was great, and of course, it’s easier than doing it yourself. They worry about everything,” she said, adding that the attention to detail was the biggest feature. According to Mart, those details include providing free transportation from the airport to the hotel and back again, and other amenities, like tips on after-show parties and access to them.
So, if you’re going to take a vacation outside of Israel anyway, why not make it a musical one?
Burned
Just a quick post: I was at Shilav, a local baby store in my local mall, two places where I spend a lot of time these days, and was asking Miki, the store manager with whom I also spend a good amount of time talking, whether they’d gotten in any wooden playpens yet. He told me they hadn’t, and the entire country — the entire country! — is out of wooden playpens because there was something wrong with the last shipment…
“No playpens in the entire country?” I asked. “You mean, no other store has wooden playpens?” (Not that I’d buy the playpen at another store, seeing as I have many gift certificates at Shilav and therefore much money to spend there.)
“Nope,” he said. “We all get them from the same importer and the wood was bad, so they burned them on Lag b’Omer.”
Just thought I had to share.
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