Nostalgia Sunday – Jerusalem the Center
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Life, Nostalgia Sunday, Religion, Travel
Jerusalem is central to Judaism. And no day is that fact made more evident than Tisha b’Av, the Ninth of Av, the day on which both the First and Second Temples were destroyed and the Jews exiled. It is a day of fasting and mourning, but also of study, prayer and hope that Jerusalem will one day be truly rebuilt and the Jews returned to their ancient homeland.
To mark the upcoming holy day, here are some pictures of Jerusalem, ancient and modern, courtesy of the excellent Jerusalem Shots website.
© trionfo
© RomKri
© trionfo
© Misha Burlatsky
© G. Eric and Edith Matson
© RomKri
© trionfo
© Олег Велобегов
Only Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Music, Politics, Pop Culture
In between all the clips of flash mobs and dancing soldiers, one of the latest YouTube sensations shows just a young woman sitting solo at the piano.
The unlikely newest viral celebrity is Yedida Freilich, the 22-year-old Israeli resident of West Bank settlement Neve Daniel, whose song “Only Israel” has received almost half a million views since it was posted at the beginning of the month.
The pro-Israel song is a little heavy handed lyrically, as much as it is haunting and moving musically, but it has struck a chord in among viewers who feel that Israel is being subjected to an international double standard regarding what it can do to defend itself.
With a chorus stating “Darfur is ignored, Russian troops in Chechenya, only Israel has no right to defend itself, because the world cares nothing about Jewish blood,” the song is not going to become a Top 40 hit, but long gone are the days when radio is required to make a song popular.
Freilich, a composition student at the Rubin Academy of Music and Dance, wrote the mournful piano ballad along with her father Gabby and brother Yuval, following the Gaza flotilla incident last month.
The video clip of Yedida’s peformance on piano and vocals, with lyrics switching between English and Hebrew, is juxtaposed with images of Kassam rockets, Gilad Schalit, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Richard Goldstone, and the Mavi Marmara.
It’s not very subtle, but it’s certainly effective. And with one svelte swoop, the nationalist camp in Israel has received a new mouthpiece.
Foto Friday – Greenpeace vs Coal Power
Filed under: Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Picture of the Week, Politics, Technology
Greenpeace has been stepping up its activity against coal-fired power stations, coal still being the prevalent form of fuel for electric power generation in Israel. Yesterday, eight Greenpeace activists were arrested upon infiltrating the grounds of the Hadera power plant. The eight — comprising Israeli and foreign nationals — entered the plant via the sea.
This follows an action taken earlier this month, when Greenpeace activists boarded a coal ship, the Orient Venus, en route from South Africa to Israel and attempted to block it from docking at the Hadera power plant.
The three persons who hung the “Coal kills” banner were arrested but later released.
According to the Associated Press yesterday, “Israeli police said six of the activists were arrested on the coal dock.”
“Greenpeace said nine more activists were arrested after their “Rainbow Warrior” boat reached the Haifa port in northern Israel for inspection by Israeli authorities.”
Greenpeace opposes Israel’s plans to build a new coal-fueled power plant off the coast of Ashkelon so stay tuned for more news items about dramatic actions like these.
My Evening with Ted
One of my closest childhood friends flew into town this week for a whirlwind Jewish Federation-sponsored tour of Israel. Ted had a couple of hours free in Jerusalem, so along with Israelity colleague David Brinn and his wife Shelley (who had also known Ted back in the day), we met up at a local branch of the Cup O’ Joe coffee chain.
Ted had been a critical part of my tween and teenage years. We had become close at a JCC summer camp and shared myriad adventures until I took off for college. In the years afterward, we mostly fell out of touch – that is until Facebook brought us together again.
Our meet-up was great. We reminisced about old friends from high school and where they are today and, being Jewish, inevitably discussed politics, religion and international perceptions of Israel (“it’s not a flotilla, it’s a convoy,” the government spokesperson told Ted’s group of Federation professionals).
When I got home, I was inspired to pull out the old diary that I had kept since sixth grade. In-between such mundane entries as “I washed my hair today,” and “the combination for my new locker is 26-10-20” (don’t bother trying it; they’ve changed the locks at least several times since 1974), there was Ted. But not just a mention here and there; he was on nearly every page.
“Today Ted and I took the bus to Berkeley and had a hotdog at the Orange Julius.” “Ted and I went to Audrey’s party and we didn’t come home until 5:00 AM.” “Ted and I talked on the phone for two hours tonight.”
Ted was “my best friend,” I wrote, whom I now remembered was the subject matter for a chapbook of poems I wrote for Creative Writing class during my sophomore year at Oberlin. What a joy to have those memories awakened again!
As I dove deeper into the diary, though, the mood began to darken as the chaos of my teenage years asserted itself: all the confusion and chattering and trying to interpret every infinitesimal move a friend might make as somehow earth-shatteringly significant.
Slowly, I found myself being pulled back into a world I realized I’d idealized over the years, coating it with the pastel sheen of pre-responsibility, before the weight of adulthood, with its financial decisions and career malfunctions, transformed buried torment into hazy memories of “carefree” days.
There were the unrequited crushes; the incessant attempts at re-inventing myself; the four-month break when Ted and I didn’t speak (for the life of me, I don’t remember why, but it must have had something to do with a girl).
I wanted to call Ted and tell him to rush over, to sit with me and pour over the pages. To provide a reality check for my gushing teenage prose. We had such good times together, didn’t we? So why was my nightly analysis so depressingly dour.
But I didn’t call. Instead I turned to my wife Jody and we replayed the 30 years after high school: our tender and happy life together; our three beautiful children; the decision to move to Israel and all the wonder and tragedy that has incurred.
I put away the diary. Will I open it again? Perhaps. Those years will always be a part of me and it was courageous, I suppose, to dwell there, if only for a brief few moments. I will make a point of staying in touch with Ted (Facebook makes that deliriously easy). He was a huge part of my life. He should be again – but in the future, not the past.
T+L Love J-Town
This is fairly hot off the press, as the magazine issue isn’t even on the stands yet. Travel and Leisure magazine has named Jerusalem as the best city in Africa and the Middle East, according to a reader questionnaire that ranked cities according to sights, culture and arts, restaurants and food, people, shopping and value. This was the first time that the holy city received a high ranking since 2000.
FYI, South Africa’s Cape Town was ranked in second place and Tel Aviv in third place, the first time Israel’s Big Orange placed in the survey.
New York was the overall number-one city, while New Orleans and Washington, D.C. (full disclosure, that’s where I am now), made a comeback, returning to the magazine’s top-ten list in the U.S. and Canada, while Bangkok, Thailand; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Florence, Italy; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and Rome, Italy were voted the top five cities overall in Travel + Leisure’s 2010 World’s Best Awards readers’ survey.
According to NY Blueprint’s interview with Israel Tourism Commissioner Arie Sommer, tourism to Israel in 2008 and 2009 broke all records, and early statistics show that 2010 will be the best year ever for tourism to Israel.
Published by the American Express Company, Travel+Leisure publishes its annual World’s Best Awards in the magazine’s August issue, which will be available on newsstands on July 23.
Subscribe
Subscribe to Israelity via email:
Social Media
Categories
- A New Reality
- Art
- Blogging
- Business
- coexistence
- Crime
- design
- education
- Entertainment
- Environment
- Food
- Foto Friday
- General
- health
- History and Culture
- Holidays
- Immigrant Moments
- Israeliness
- Life
- Medical Breakthroughs
- Movies
- Music
- News
- Nostalgia Sunday
- Picture of the Week
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- Profiles
- Religion
- Science
- Social Justice
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- tv
- War
The Face of Israel Today
-
About Israelity
Free newsletter
Stories from ISRAEL21c.orgPopular Posts