Apple fanboys rejoice: tech giant opening development center in Israel

December 19, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Technology 

Apple is reportedly buying Israeli chipmaker Anobit for a half a billion dollars.

My friend Eliezer is such an Apple fanboy that, when he heard that Apple is planning to open a development center in Israel in Haifa, he seriously considered moving or commuting there.

While I expect Eliezer will maintain his Jerusalem residence, the news was nevertheless exciting (especially for those – me not included unfortunately – who bought Apple stock when it dipped below $80/share at the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008 – it closed at $383 today – and believe a blue and white connection will boost that price even further). For the rest of us, well: Apple in Israel – wow! And even more so: this will be Apple’s first ever development center outside the U.S.

Apple’s plans materialized earlier this week when a delegation headed by Apple VP Ed Frank, visited Israel over the weekend, touring sites like Haifa’s Scientific Industries Center (MATAM), according to Ynet.

Ynet also reported that Aharon Aharon, former head of Zoran Corporation’s R&D center, has been named the head of the new development center in Israel. The Marker added that Apple has hired a real estate company to find it a site big enough to house about 200 workers.

The move apparently is not dependent on another big Apple announcement: the acquisition of Israeli chipmaker Anobit, currently in the works for some half a billion dollars, but the two will undoubtedly play off each other. Anobit develops flash memory for smart phones, tablet computers and music players – all three of which are Apple’s hottest properties. Faster flash could help speed up Apple’s devices, which would help keep the distance between iPhones, iPads and competing Android units.

How did Apple get interested in Israel? It may have started when the company hired Haifa  resident Johny Srouji in 2008. Srouji is a VP at the company involved in the chip-making field. Never hurts to have a little protexia in Cupertino.

Will a bonified Apple presence increase the adoption rate of Apple tech in the Holy Land? Judging from visits to my local Aroma café, Apple has nothing to worry about: I now see more MacBooks than Windows machines these days.

But hosting Apple’s first overseas development center certainly gives us bragging rights…that is until the next big deal in this hi-tech Holy Land is announced.

Tags:

Meet Israel’s ‘Rosa Parks’

December 19, 2011 by · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, General, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Religion, Social Justice 

Tania Rosenblit meeting with Transportation Minister Yaakov Katz on Sunday.

She’s being dubbed the ‘Israeli Rosa Parks’ but Tanya Rosenblit insists she wasn’t looking to be a role model when she refused demands last week by ultra-Orthodox passengers to move to the back of the Egged bus she was travelling on between Ashdod and Jerusalem. She just wanted to get to work.

But her bravery in the face of angry haredim on the bus line – which has traditionally placed men in the front and women in the back in deference to the high percentage of religious men who patronize the line – has made the 28-year-old a symbol of defiance against religious coercion.

She posted about her experience on Facebook, and soon the Israeli media was all over the story.

“I could tell that the other passengers were looking at me with disdain. One of them yelled ‘shiksa’ at me and demanded I move to the back of the bus, because Jewish men can’t sit behind a woman,” Rosenblit told The Irish Times. “I wasn’t causing any provocation. It’s a normal bus and anyone can ride it. I bought my ticket, just like they did and they have no right to tell me where to sit.”

While the phenomenon of gender-segregated buses has become more prevalent in recent years, the Supreme Court ruling states that voluntary segregation on buses is permitted, but bus drivers must intervene to prevent forced separation. When the Egged driver did just that, the haredim held up the bus for 30 minutes until police intervened and allowed Rosenblit to stay in her seat up front.

Rosenblit turned into an instant celebrity, with Opposition leader Tzipi Livni praising her actions on her Facebook page, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger condemning the incident and the latter suggesting that the haredi community establish its own transportation company, Transportation Minister Yaakov Katz meeting with her, and Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat inviting her to testify before a government committee examining women’s public exclusion.

The gender-seperation phenomenon in Israel is still marginal, (and not worthy of comment by the likes of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), but the Rosenblit incident serves to show that it can affect any woman at any place. Maybe her act of drawing the line on the Ashdod-Jerusalem bus will be the tipping point that will raise public awareness and send religiously imposed gender segregation back to the dark ages.

Tags:

Shattered calm close to an Israeli home

December 18, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, Crime, General, Israeliness, Life, News, War 

The entrance to Ma'aleh Adumim usually looks like this.

To get into our city of Ma’aleh Adumim, you have to pass a compact roadblock usually manned by two people. It consists of a mobile barrier that drivers need to slalom around, slowing down enough for the guards to get a good glance at you.

It’s generally a boring place, despite the thousands of cars that pass daily, and the hundreds of construction workers – mostly from the neighboring Palestinian village of Azariyah – who on foot pass through the barrier on the way to their day jobs.

So, it was surprising to find out on Saturday night, after Shabbat came to an end, that a guard at the entrance had been lightly injured in a stabbing attack that morning.

According to The Jerusalem Post report, “a suspected Palestinian terrorist launched a knife attack against a security guard at the entrance to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement near Jerusalem on Saturday. The municipal guard was lightly injured in the assault. He was evacuated to hospital for treatment. Police and IDF forces were searching the area for the suspect.”

It took place on a beautifully sunny, mild winter’s day, less than a quarter-mile from my house, unbeknownst to the families in the neighborhood enjoying the day with their families.

An odd thing about the incident – generally Palestinians aren’t coming into Ma’aleh Adumim on Shabbat, since there’s no building or repair work going on. So either the perpetrator made a special trip to attack, or he had another reason to be coming to the city.

Either way, whether the attack was the result of cumulative anger, hate and frustration at Israeli ‘occupiers, or he had a personal vendetta about a work issue that left him humiliated or enraged, or whether he was mentally unstable and the guard was a natural target, the ‘business-as-usual’ feeling that passes for reality in the West Bank is a tenuous one that can be broken at any time with ease of a knife’s steel blade passing in the wind.

Tags:

Nostalgia Sunday – Chanukah menorahs of Italy

December 18, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, design, education, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Nostalgia Sunday, Religion, Travel 

Jerusalem’s U. Nahon Museum of Italian Jewish Art is a small gem of a museum whose collection pertains to Jewish life in Italy from the Middle Ages through the present. House in the same building as the Conegliano Italian-Jewish Synagogue, the Museum is well worth a visit, particularly during this month’s Hamshushalaim 2011 celebrations, when it is open to the public free of charge every Thursday night through to the end of December.

The permanent collection includes Renaissance and Baroque arks of the Torah and religious objects. According to the museum website, “The period during which Jewish art in Italy expanded and flourished extends from the end of 15th century till the end of the 19th century, with the most remarkable handicrafts dating from the Renaissance and Baroque period.”

“These were brought from Italy to Israel in the 1960s by Dr. Umberto Nahon… These rare items were found in deserted synagogues that belonged to communities which had completely lost their members. They were kept in spaces adjacent to the synagogue until 1982, when the Museum was officially recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Science and Sport and was opened to the public. through a joint initiative in collaboration with the Jewish communities of Italy and Israel.”

Among the ritual objects are antique and rare Chanukah menorahs. “The lamps are made of silver or brass; they are richly decorated with images of animals, Jewish symbols or motifs inspired by Italian architecture. One the lamps lamp’s design, for instance, clearly recalls the characteristic shape of Firenze’s [Florence's] Palazzo Vecchio and of Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico (both built in the 14th century). The 17th century Italian Jew that created this lamp, could not certainly even imagine that his creation will be eventually exposed in Jerusalem…”

A typical feature of Italian Jewish art is the fusion of ancient and traditional motifs… with the prevailing style of the period…” Because Jews were prevented from working as artisans, “most of the objects were commissioned to non-Jewish artisans that were influenced by their personal taste and skills.”

“Helmets of Austrian soldiers were turned into beautiful Chanukah lamps after the battles of the 18th century. The helmets were made from brass, which was perfectly suited for the lamps, as candlelight reflects beautifully from them.

“The most important metal utilized in the fabrication of the different handicrafts is silver. During the 18th century this was due mainly to the decrease in the price of this metal, but also because it was the favorite material of the European bourgeois in the same period.”

The Museum also operates a Center for the Restoration of Wood and Textiles which specializes in detailed restoration of objects dating from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The specialists, trained in Italy and around the world, use the same techniques as those used during the Renaissance period.

This past year, the center invited to public to observe a wood restoration project of a rare gilded 16th century Italian Holy Ark and a textile restoration project of an embroidered silk, velvet and gold Torah binder from the late 17th century — hopefully, the “live viewing” project will be continued in 2012.

Hamshushalaim 2011 runs for the next two weeks. In addition to free museum entry every Thursday night, there are live musical performances at little or no cost at various locations around the city — including concerts in the Italian Museum newly restored Fresco Room.

Tags:

Generosity and the spouse

December 17, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: education, General, Israeliness, Life, News, Science 

I’m reading the paper the other morning — yes, still read ‘a paper’, and saw an interesting piece about happy marriages and research from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project. They studied the role of generosity in marriage and found that generosity — “the virtue of giving good things to one’s spouse freely and abundantly”, such as making coffee in the morning — is a major component in happy unions.

According to the article in the New York Times, “successful couples say or do at least five positive things for each negative interaction with their partner — not an easy feat.”

Interesting, right?

A little farther down — this is why it does pay to read until the end of an article — it mentioned that social scientists wonder whether this virtuous cycle extends to children. A study of three-year-old twins was mentioned, and the fact that it is being led by Ariel Knafo, the principal investigator and a psychologist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In the study, the researchers have identified a genetic predisposition toward generosity that may be influenced by a parent’s behavior. Also interesting.

And, I realized, my twins have been part of this study, meeting with Knafo’s researchers several times over the last few years. You could say that makes them famous, but I’m thinking that I’d better be sure to be generous with their father/my husband. The apple, they say, does not fall far from the tree.

Tags: , ,

Page 4 of 9« First...23456...Last »

 

© 2012 ISRAELITY | Site by illuminea | Sitemap