Israel’s big gay heart
Amid the sexual scandals swirling around the country’s leaders, it’s refreshing to read something about true love.
Last week, Jerusalem residents Avi and Binyamin Rose returned to Jerusalem after having married in Toronto, Canada, in June.
They were the first gay couple to registered their marriage in Israel following a Nov. 29 ruling by the High Court of Justice requiring the Israeli government to register same-sex marriages of gay Israelis legally wed abroad.
The story got lots of play around the world, and especially made Israel look good in the gay press – like this entry in the Gay/Lesbian News.
Diplomatic traffic
Filed under: General, Immigrant Moments, Life
Former Americans who move to Israel always cite that one of the attractions to living in the Jewish homeland is ‘when you hear news on the radio, it really means something – it affects me personally’.
I’ve always kind of liked that aspect of feeling part of the society I’m living in as well, but it never hit home like it did last night.
I had to drive my daughter into Jerusalem to pick up a math book from a friend because she had to study for a test which was taking place Sunday – on the first day back after Hannuka vacation (why she didn’t have the book home to begin with is another posting and another blog).
After borrowing the text book, we were driving through Rehavia when the 9pm news came on about the meeting taking place between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the PM’s residence.
Cool, I told Sarit – they’re finally meeting, explaining to her that dialogue – even with perceived enemies – is better than no communication. She interrupted me, “Doesn’t the prime minister live in Rehavia?”
Before I had a chance to respond, the light bulb went off in my head at the same time the brakelights in the cars ahead of me flashed on… we were in the mother of all traffic jams a block away from the prime minister’s house, caused by police barricades and massive media presence.
A half hour later, we drove past the throng of humanity outside the barricades, waiting for a glimpse of the leaders. And I had learned a valuable lesson of just how relevant the news really is in Israel.
Brains and beauty team up for Israel
British citizens are certainly going to be receiving a diverse view of Israel in the coming months. Not only has homegrown supermodel Bar Refaeli agreed to participate in opening ceremony next week of the Israeli booth at the World Tourism Fair in London, but superscientist Stephen Hawking has been recruited by the British Embassy to visit Israel and hobnob with its scientific community.
A Ynet report on the Refaeli story stated that the Israeli booth which will include a Dead Sea spa and massage treatments, but did not clarify whether Leo DiCaprio’s better half would be personally attending to clients or not.
And Hawking, who will have a deluxe suite at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem to meet his special needs, will be fostering cooperation between Israeli and British scientists and researchers – a perfect antidote to all that academic boycott talk.
So between focusing on the dual images of Refaeli and Israeli scientific prowess (actually the fact that two Israelis created Refaeli is a pretty amazing scientific achievement by itself), maybe the average Brit will begin to see a different side of Israel.
Of course, with Refaeli’s controversial past regarding a quickie marriage and army avoidance, and Hawking’s rumored upcoming divorce, it’s possible that the British will choose to focus on the beast side of things instead of the beauty.
Flu shot? No thanks
News Item – ‘Health Minister Ya’acov Ben-Yizri gets a flu shot after announcing that there was no connection between the flu vaccine and the deaths of four recently-innoculated people in Kiryat Gat.’
Now, our health minister seems like a nice gentleman, but somehow, it doesn’t instill me with alot of confidence to see him getting inoculated.
Are we all supposed to follow like sheep because he and his minions in the Health Ministry are trying to stem a panic about flu vaccinations knocking off the citizens of the country?
I’ve never gotten a flu shot, and I’ve survived the winters here fine (after all, it’s not quite Maine). I don’t even switch over to long sleeve until December or so.
So thanks for the encouragment Minister Ben-Yizri, I prefer to take my chances with the flu than with a people-killing flu shot.
Milk shake
Popped in to the makolet (superette) in the morning to buy some milk for coffee and found the fridge empty.
I went up to Moshe at the counter and said, “What’s the story Moshe? Where’s the milk?”
He said, “There’s a strike. There’s no milk today.”
“Who’s on strike, the cows?”
“As far as I know, it’s not the cows, but the workers at Tnuva [the country's biggest dairy],” replied Moshe.
So, instead of makolet-hopping to find one that stocked Yotvata milk or another company, I made do with black coffee and joined half of the country walking around with a puckered look on their mouth.
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