Buried in coal in Tel Aviv
Supermodel Bar Rafaeli buried in coal in photo protest
The thought of Israeli supermodel Bar Rafaeli covered up is enough to make many an Israeli – not to mention on and off boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio – cry. But covered up in coal?
That’s the idea behind a new art exhibit opening next week at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. Sponsored by Greenpeace, it’s called “Buried in Coal,” and features stark black and white photographs of celebrities up to their necks in what appear to be blackened briquettes.
The exhibit is intended “to illustrate the terrible danger of producing energy through burning coal,” says Greenpeace.
Coal is the secret polluter in much of the developed world. While most people think of the fumes discharged from cars and trucks, the coal plants that power the electricity grid are an equally noxious scourge. Israel relies on coal.
The Greenpeace show is in part a protest against a plan to build a new coal mill in Israel’s south. Greenpeace again: “The exhibit is meant to call on the prime minister to prevent the building of another mill in Israel, and promote clean energy alternatives.”
So he’s laying in the coal? In additon to Rafaeli, you can find Eurovision performers Mira Awad and Ahinoam Nini (known as Noa abroad), former education minister Yossi Sarid in a ghostly, chalky white pose, and Israel National Basketball Team coach Oded Katash.
The Jerusalem Post has more on the story along with a picture gallery.
Hazal Yellow Pages
Filed under: education, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Politics, Religion
The email life brings interesting tidbits to one’s mailbox. This one came the other day, from the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel.
Depicting a page from the Yellow Pages, it says Workers at the top of the page and the acronym Hazal, which stands for Hachameinu Zichronom l’vracha, or Our Sages May Their Memory Be Blessed, and refers to all sages from the Mishnaic, Talmudic eras and other rabbinic commentators. The listings, are of many great Jewish sages, and their ‘day jobs’, which they all held. Under Tailors, there’s Abba Ben Zimna and Rabbi Yehuda; Rashi, Rabbi Hanina, Shamai and Rambam have their own ‘ads,’ as vineyard owner, shoemaker, builder and doctor, respectively. There’s Resh Lakish, the orchard guard, Rav Ada, the land surveyor, Rabbi Yossi, the maker of fish nets, and many others.
The concept behind this clever ad? Well, as the tagline reads: “Hazal Yellow Pages. If only today’s rabbis walked in the footsteps of the truly great ones.”
The ad is in response to the current yeshiva student stipend issue, the latest battle between Israel’s secular population and the powerful ultra Orthodox community, whose politicians Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is struggling to keep in his coalition. The ultra Orthodox community is small but growing rapidly, and shuns secular studies and service in the army and often does work, with the men continuing to study into their adulthood despite large families.
As a result, many Israelis greatly resent the Haredi or ultra Orthodox community, but Netanyahu has been looking for a way to pay a stipend to yeshiva students after the High Court barred a budget line that gave money to them. He needs the ultra Orthodox parties in his coalition in order to work his way through the Palestinian peace process, and this is one way to win their approval.
As for the rest of the Israeli population, it’s hard not to resent a community that lives off the state, without serving in the army or working for their own bread and butter. After all, our ancient sages were learned men who also worked for a living.
A walk on the wild side
Downtown Jerusalem has changed in recent years
It has been years since I’ve been to downtown Jerusalem at night, but it’s the “in” spot for the teenagers in our house. After our sushi dinner last week, my wife and I decided to take a walk around. Frankly, we were blown away.
I expected to find a run-down city center, its main artery decimated by years of light rail construction. What we discovered instead was a multi-block area of pedestrian walkways, upscale restaurants and seaside-style bars with lounge chairs to chill out (now if only Jerusalem had an actual sea…)
When I first came to Israel over 25 years ago, Ben Shetach Street was a dingy road with the hulking Bituach Leumi (social security) building on one side and the Meuchedet HMO down a dirty side street.
Not any more.
The block reminded me of a European walkway, no less classy than those we once frequented in Italy and France, with sidewalk bistros sporting white tablecloths and meaty menus (by which I mean, a slab of steak for NIS 150 – $40 – and up).
As we continued our exploration, we hit Yosef Rivlin Street – what my kids call “Bar Street” – which was packed with hundreds of post-high school and army young adults sipping beer and vodka and smoking large nargilas (water pipes filled with distilled tobacco and spices). Whoever said that there’s no nightlife in Jerusalem hasn’t been downtown recently.
As we strolled past more bars – interspersed with trendy art galleries – we hit the intersection with Jaffa Road known as “Cat Square,” a significantly less upscale corner – it’s where Israeli troublemakers hang out to drink and pick fights.
Mike’s Place, which started out in Jerusalem several decades ago but left a few years back to focus on its Tel Aviv flagship, has returned big time and set up shop right in the heart of Cat Square, taking over half of the old Village Green vegetarian restaurant that used to be uber-popular but whose healthy quiches and sprout salads can no longer compete with the nearby gourmet ravioli and chocolate mud pies.
A bit further west, though, the downscaling continued: the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall seems stuck in a time warp, reminiscent of the city center I remembered from the 80s, perhaps because it’s night crawling demographics skew lower – mostly rambunctious teenagers. Nearby “Crack Square” is the English-speaking dropout immigrants’ equivalent to Cat Square – we avoided it.
Our final stop was at the Birman bar on Dorot Harishonim Street where a very tall, eccentric man was leading a band consisting of two accordion players and a violin. The man, who’s long mangled white hair seemed more appropriate for Tel Aviv than more staid Jerusalem, looked familiar.
A sign on the wall provided the answer: he was Dan Biran, who ran for mayor of Jerusalem in the most recent elections on a platform espousing that all religion was evil. I saw him deliver that speech in Jerusalem’s Great Synagogue where, I recalled, his proclamations of secular emancipation fell on deaf ears.
It was a perfect cap to a wild evening stroll through the “new” Jerusalem.
A New Year Lip Dub – Shine On – from SolarEdge in Israel
Even though the Jewish New Year was a few months ago, and the Muslim New Year the first week of December, SolarEdge, the Israeli solar tech company that creates solar harvesting solutions has created a new video for the west –– a lip dub from RIO’s song “Shine On.” For the New Year. It’s cute, fun and a nice way to meet the Israeli team. I met the team at the recent Energy Tech Expo in Tel Aviv, and it was neat seeing some familiar faces, and the facilities where the company works and plays.
FTV Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, tv
Will anyone admit to ever watching FTV (the Fashion Channel to those not in the know)? To be honest, I’ve only ever watched it while sitting in the chair at my former hairdresser, who has small screen TVs in front of each chair, presumably to stave off boredom while getting one’s hair cut (I always like to talk to my hairdresser).
But, it is still news to know that Israel’s Tourism Ministry recently launched an advertising campaign on said FTV, with the slogan, “Israel, it’s like magic.” The idea is that the Israeli tourism ‘product’ will be exposed to the broad FTV market, which reaches about 200 countries worldwide.
And so, in order to appeal to this particular market, NIS 3 million was spent on the ministry’s idea of what’s magical in Israel, from vineyards in the Carmel (bad timing, that one) and salt flats in the Dead Sea to the menorah in Jerusalem and Ramat Aviv Mall in Tel Aviv. I’m not saying they’re wrong, but well, take a look at one of them for yourself:
And don’t pay too much attention to their spelling…it’s kind of embarrassing.
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