Ben and Jerry's Israel ad for their ice cream club

In fact, when I typed ice cream for breakfast into the search bar of Facebook, dozens of posts popped up for celebrants around the globe, from Mexico, Seattle, Louisiana and Philly to Maine, Albany and Shanghai.

According to Serious Eats, all you need to do is eat ice cream, for breakfast, and on the first Saturday in February.

We’ve always celebrated on Saturday, Shabbat in our house, which is the only day that we’re all around, fairly calm and relaxed, and have the time to enjoy the wonders of ice cream for one’s first food of the day. Usually it’s a good selection of Ben & Jerry’s, sometimes with homemade ice cream as well, thanks to my nephew Natan, the artisanal ice cream connoisseur. Toppings? Not always, but it does add to the experience.

Serious Eats also adds that “the holiday was started in the 1960s in Rochester, New York by Florence Rappaport, who let her kids eat ice cream for breakfast on the first Saturday of February to make winter more bearable for them. Now this custom is done all over the world, from Minnesota to Israel to Australia.”

Turns out, there’s an official IEICFBD blog, where you can list your own celebration — there are four in Israel, including one in my own neighborhood of Talpiot (I think that one is hosted by other neighbors of ours) and one down at Kibbutz Ketura, where given the hot weather nearly year-round and a surfeit of American-born kibbutzniks, they’ve been celebrating for some 30 years.

It comes down to the fact that you just need to celebrate sometimes, and even with the upcoming holiday of Tu B’shvat, which, lord knows, offers ample opportunity for celebration, February can be a bleak month. So, if you missed it today, go for it next week. We won’t tell.

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The name takes the hackneyed shopping channel phrase mutzar ha-yom, “product of the day”, and replaces it with the word ayom, meaning “horrible”. And indeed, many of the products are in fact, delightfully dreadful examples of visual wordplay.

Some of the ideas are universal in nature — others are unmistakably Israeli, for example, this toy soldier armed with mother’s cooking…

Water concentrate, as opposed to the ubiquitous sugary red mitz petel, so ingrained in the Israeli child’s psyche — and the Israeli child’s teeth!

A reversed three-fer electric adaptor…

A floor squeegee that actually gets into corners…

And my personal favorite, the real and original dubon coat.

Menkes also runs a Mutzar Ayom Facebook page in which followers are invited to comment on recent postings and share their own imaginary product ideas. Who knows, some might even make it into production — after all, if the Crembox can be an actual product fulfilling an actual need, then anything’s possible.

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Israel To Go is the name of a new cookbook slated for release in the coming months. The book, says Vardi, will present kosher Israeli cuisine with recipes and artwork solicited via crowdsourcing, which is an open call conducted mainly via online social networks, such as Facebook.

Photo: Untitled - Sasha Abramowitz

Contributing artists include Tali and Jonathan Korman, graphic designers with a sideline in fashion. Their T-shirt company, Bubulu Design, features images inspired by life in Tel Aviv — like this one, Hallo Artik, which pays homage to the humble beachfront popsicle vendor.

Photo: Hallo Artik – Bubulu Design

“We are looking for photos, artwork, drawings and graphic works documenting the Israeli culinary experience wherever it is. For example, a family dinner, people cooking, children playing with food, unique dishes, a special angle or places and situations that make your mouth water. Every artist has their own take on things, and their own taste.”

Photo: Israeli Breakfast – Orit Kovatz

“Israel To Go will be published in A6 (postcard) format – small, sweet and sassy. This size allows tourist to carry the book easily in their bag or pocket and take it home as a souvenir — a delicious gift for friends and family.”

Photo: Jerusalem – Benny Sharoni

Lunchbox is still soliciting artwork submissions and while the project does not pay it does offer exposure and, of course, copies of the book. In addition, Vardi says, “We also hope to organize an exhibition with the launch of Israel To Go in bookstores.”

Photo: Dining Room – Adi Kfir

Interested artists and photographers are invited to submit according to the following specifications: 1. Files in jpeg or eps in full color (CMYK) and print quality (dpi300); 2. Vertical work size: width: 11 cm, height: 16 cm, lateral work size: width: 22 cm, height: 16 cm. 3. Contact details: First Name (English only), Last Name (English only), email address and website (if any). Works should be sent to israeltogo1@gmail.com. Deadline is January 15th.

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On December 16th, 2001, when Wayback Machine visited The Jerusalem Post, the headlines were concerned with an IDF crackdown on the Palestinian Authority in the wake of shelling from Gaza, a falling Cost Price Index and relations with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. JDate was the dating site of choice for Jpost readers.

The lead story on Ynet on December 17th, 2001, (only available in Hebrew at that time), was about victims of a shooting attack. Other stories included the opening of a second McDonald’s franchise in Jerusalem and the Bank of Israel’s fight against forged checks while online messaging pioneer ICQ offered up its ultimate tip guide and Ynet ruminated over who would be its choice for Person of the Year. Cupid.co.il was the premier dating site for Hebrew-speaking Israelis at that time.

That same day, December 17th, 2001, Haaretz also ran the story about the West Bank attack victims. US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said the US had no plans to invade Iraq and Arafat called for an end to violence against Israel. (It must have been true ’cause it was in the papers!) And JCupid, the English-language version of Cupid.co.il, was offering an end to lonely singledom.

Wayback didn’t crawl Globes around January 2002. It visited Globes on November 8, 2001, at which time the financial news headlines were concerned with, among other things, the acquisition of cement block maker Ytong, the public sector workers strike and the short-lived reopening of troubled Phoenicia Glass Works. There were no dating ads; the one advertiser was a bank.

Israelity didn’t get started until 2005. When it did, it looked like this:

And what of our own Israel21c? Unfortunately, due to its archive structure, the Wayback Machine isn’t able to reconstruct its “snapshot” — good thing I made a screenshot some time ago for another posting!

The Wayback Machine is operated by the Internet Archive, which collaborates with institutions including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. It’s great fun to go in and crawl around.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Actress Claire Danes appeared on the Conan O’Brien show this week to plug the pilot for her psychological thriller Showtime series, “Homeland”, which is based on the Israeli series Hatufim.

When Conan said that he had heard that some of the film was shot in Israel, Danes went off on a monologue about how great Tel Aviv is, and described it as ‘the most intense party town’ she had ever been in.

A YouTube clip – free. Dane’s comments – priceless.

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The question I have is whether the initial reactions to the ads went overboard, and whether the scuttling of the campaign was an equally knee-jerk reaction. In both of the ads Brian posted, there’s nothing remotely offensive to either American Christians or American Jews, the two groups that critics of the ads claimed were denigrated.

The first one shows a forlorn Israeli woman pondering Yom Hazikaron (Israel Remembrance Day) and the fallen soldiers she likely knew during her life, while her American partner (it’s totally ambiguous whether he’s Jewish or not) appears to be clueless about the holiday and his partner’s feelings.

That’s pretty accurate, from my experience. The rhythm of American life has nothing to do with the rhythm of Israeli life. And you don’t have to delve into a one-sided holiday like Remembrance Day to realize it. Unless you’re an American who lives and breathes Israel – and let’s face it, the number of those are not on the rise these days – then you’re not going to be able to tap into the psyche and complexities that make up the Israeli way of life.

Unless you have a relative who died, Memorial Day in the US is meant for Red Flag sales in stores, a day off from work, and picnics. How can an American understand the manner in which Remembrance Day in Israel becomes part of the nation’s fabric and affects everyone, from the ceremonies in the schools, to the music on the radio?

The other ad Brian referred to is even more innocuous – a young son trying to wake his Israeli father with “Daddy”, but succeeding only when he changes the call to “Abba.” The morale? If you’re an Israeli, you stay an Israeli no matter where you are and how American you raise your kids. Again, that sounds pretty accurate to me.

It seems, instead, like the critics of the campaign have some deep-seated issues of insecurity. Maybe the ads are a little too close to home for assimilated American Jewry who see their heritage also slipping away as intermarriage rises. I didn’t see anything against American Jewry in the ads I saw – I wonder what they saw.

And although it’s understandable that the government wants to now sweep the sensitive issue under the rug, as it has seemed to have struck a nerve with our American cousins, it’s just a matter of time until it resurfaces.

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Duggars on ElAl

Duggars heading into the Kinneret

Outside Yad Sarah

Here’s a clip of their stop in London; the Israel part of the trip isn’t online yet, as it just aired on Sunday.

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Tel Aviv resident Hila Bunyovich-Hoffman decided to take some creative action and, via Facebook and her blog, organized a street protest for women to sing public on 11.11.11. Initially, the event — Women’s Protest, Women Sing Out Loud — was only supposed to take place in Tel Aviv, but groups quickly formed in Jerusalem, Haifa and Beersheva.

A downloadable songbook was made available with backing from sponsors: the Masorti movement, which is affiliated with the Conservative Judaism movement; Noam, the Masorti youth movement; the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the public and legal advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel; Be Free Israel, a nonpartisan movement working on behalf of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; and Israel Hollaback, the local branch of a world movement that uses technology to end gender-oriented and sex-oriented street harassment.

I attended the Tel Aviv event which was, in a word, mellow — more a sing-a-long, less a protest. The song selection was interesting; the once separate worlds of Israeli soft-rockers like Yehudit Ravitz came alongside Mizrahi singers like the late Ofra Haza. Now, 30 years down the road, both of their songs were sung with equal measures of fondness.

HaYalda Hakhi Yafa BaGan - Yehudit Ravitz

Shir HaFreha – Ofra Haza

This oldie, Yeshnan Banot (alternately translated as “There are girls” and “Some girls”) was given a new lease on life in the 90s by Israel’s favorite Eurovision entry, Dana International.

Yeshnan Banot – Lahakat HaNahal

Once song that was missed out: Eifo Hen, HaBahurot HaHen (“Where are they, those girls?). Written in 1966 and sung by Yehoram Gaon, it praised the women of the early pioneering days while simultaneously putting down their daughters — “Once they rode horses on high… / These days, they ride their husbands”, “Once they read Pushkin… These days, they get straight to business” — and so on and so on. Nontheless, the song had enough kitsch appeal to spawn a Dance version by girl group Sarafan.

Eifo Hen, HaBahurot HaHen – Yehoram Gaon

Eifo Hen, HaBahurot HaHen – Sarafan

Also missing: a raft of songs that would have Hollaback Israel hollering back for reinforcements from abroad. These include Jacky Mekaiten’s Shir HaMe’antezet (Song of the Tease), Ahavat Poalei Binyan (Construction Workers Love), and the infamous Kshe’at Omeret Lo (When You Say No) which begs the musical question: When you say ‘no’, what exactly do you mean?

Written in 1962, lyricist Dan Almagor revisited the song in 1992 to add a new verse: “When she says ‘no’, what does she mean? / She means exactly that, when she says ‘no’”. In a way, this shamefully sexist musical lyric became its antithesis. It is also a perennial hipster favorite: Kshe’at Omeret Lo was revived in the mid-90s by drag queen quartet Bnot Pessia, and was recently deconstructed by funk-rockers HaGroovatron.

Kshe’At Omeret Lo – HaGroovatron

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The A-list actor recently participated in a $4 million first-round funding for an Israeli visual media platform start-up company – Mobli Ltd. – and is also acting in an advisory capacity for the company, hi-tech insider newsletters reported last week.

Mobli has invented a new photo-sharing application that allows users to share images in real time.

So, for example, at a concert or sporting event, users can receive images of the event from different angles simply by searching for photos taken in other parts of the venue.

According to TechCrunch, users can connect to Mobli with Facebook to bring in a social element to the application and share photos with friends.

For example, concert-goers, celebrity fans, wedding attendees, and families can all share pictures and videos of an occasion, experience or interest with like-minded communities. All pictures/videos are geotagged (and can be optionally tagged to a Foursquare venue) to further narrow collections.

The app offers 22 free filters. Mobli uniquely applies filters on a visual basis but also in relation to location, so users can frame photos taken in a sports stadium in team colors, or taken at a conference with branded filters. Clearly, there’s a huge opportunity for brands to work with Mobli to sponsor filters.

According to the Blonde2.0 blog, “Think of Mobli as a visual engine that enables you to do a 360 around the world and see who’s doing what, where and when. People could be sitting in a café in Paris, watching a show in London, eating at a restaurant in New York, and Mobli brings all these visuals together to enable us all to see what a beautiful world we live in.”

Mobli was founded just over a year ago, and along with its headquarters in Israel, has offices in New York. According to the company, Paris Hilton and David Arquette number among the service’s other famous users, and they says 10,000 people are signing up every day.

DiCaprio’s interest in Mobil isn’t just about which angles make him look better on screen, evidently.

“It’s about him knowing and understanding branding and marketing,” Mobil CEO and co-founder Moshiko Hogeg told VentureBeat. Hogeg is pictured on the company’s website along with a dozen other young, hip-looking Israeli employees. It’s likely their enthusiasm, spark and ingenuity is what attracted DiCaprio to see the Israeli startup light.

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