Shower shortage
I’ve been hearing rumors about plans to limit water usage in Israeli homes, as in showers and dishwashing and not just gardens and plants. I’d almost welcome the limitation. Not that I’d be happy about that severe of a shortage, given what it would mean, but it seems that we’re so conscious of our water limitations, and having the law laid down, so to speak, would almost be welcome, rather than this drive to conserve without it being an absolute. Then again, maybe not.
Let me explain. This year, as opposed to previous summers, the need to conserve water and show that one is conserving water, is more apparent. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t soap up their dishes before rinsing, and, for that matter, soap themselves without the water running. It’s unheard of to leave the water running while brushing one’s teeth, or to fill up a tub of water for a baby’s bath, even if it’s two babies.
There are those who bring a pail into their showers, filling up the bucket while showering and then using the water on their plants and gardens. (Although gray water may expose people to bacteria, according to the Health Ministry, in a recent Haaretz article.) And the truly inventive Rube Goldbergs among us have rigged flushing systems for their toilets, using said water. I haven’t gone that far, but I only fill the bathtub with about an inch of water for my baby boys’ bath, and I save the unused boiled water from the hot water urn each Shabbat to water my houseplants and wash the floor. And, I know this may be TMI, but I don’t flush if it’s just a #1.
I’ve got a long way to go, I know. But I’m in the game. And if gray recycling systems are considered effective, I’m ready, because I picked up a flyer advertising someone who comes to your house to rig up water-saving devices. Rube Goldberg, here I come.
Madonna to bring her friend Justin to Tel Aviv
Those crazy Zionists Justin and Madonna
Yediot Aharonot reported that Justin Timberlake will be joining Madonna on her visit here - as a fellow Kabalah enthuiast. The story reported that Timberlake has been studying Kabalah at the London Center along with the queen of pop for some time, and he was eager to make his first trip to Israel.
As far as performing, the story sourced a member of the show’s production team saying that there might be some surprises onstage. There have been rumors about Timberlake joining Madonna onstage at the Sticky and Sweet tour debut on July 4th in London, but it hasn’t been confirmed. The two previously collaborated on the song “4 Minutes” from Madonna’s Hard Candy album.
If the rumors are true, it might prove a security threat to certain Israelis. The local paparazzi might not be able to cope with the burden of having two photogenic superstars here at the same time.
In addition, the British paper The Sun is reporting that Madonna is going to utilize her visit to Israel as a sightseeing vacation for her family, especially her newly adopted daughter Mercy. Currently, she’s spending time with her new addition in London.
“Madonna wants to give Mercy enough time to settle in to her new home. By September, she feels she will be ready to take the trip without danger of upheaval. The Wailing Wall (in Jerusalem) is a very sacred place for anyone with links to the Jewish faith, and she wants all the children to see it.”
Maybe it’s time to declare Madonna an official ambassador of Israel.
Jews and Arabs in point blank range
There are plenty efforts to attempt and bridge the wide social and cultural gap between Jewish and Arab teenagers in Israel, but there aren’t many that speak to the kids in their own language - music and video.
Windows for Peace, a non-profit, Tel Aviv-based organization that attempts to promote understanding between Israeli and Palestinian youth through media-related educational programs, is in the midst of running a two-week workshop for 15 teenagers, aged 15-17, from Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Bethlehem. By the end of the two weeks, the goal is to write and record a song, and make a video for it.
They’ve invited music professionals from London-based music college Point Blank to conduct the workshop, Jaffa and Bethlehem. Point Blank usually works with underpriveleged British teens, but according to its director, Rob Cowan, the same principles apply to the Jewish and Arab teens enrolled in Israel.
“Our group members are usually disaffected kids in danger of getting in trouble with the police, or just falling by the wayside of society. We’re just applying the same model as we do at home for Israelis and Palestinian kids, not because they’re marginalized, but because in music, there’s a channel to bring them together,” said Cowan.
The group of Israeli and Palestinian teens will record an original track and make an accompanying music video to explore issues relevant to their lives and experiences. The resulting music video will be disseminated via TV and the Internet, with the hopes of showing young people in the region that communication with the ‘other side’ is not only possible, but desirable and fruitful, according to the organizers.
According to Windows for Peace director Ruti Atsmon, the teens in the project have been working together through Windows for Peace for between one and three years. And though, like most teens, they’re tuned into music and video, they don’t necessarily possess any special musical or visual skills.
“We see the project as another tool to develop communication between them and as a start for them to create more in the future,” said Atsmon.
That may be quite lofty - it would be nice if they just got a good song and video out of it.
People of the Book
First Book Week, 1926
Hebrew Book Week, although it’s actually more like ten days, is a very quintessential Israeli event. It’s the ol’, People of the Book checking out books, mostly in Hebrew, obviously, and with book stands from all the major Israeli booksellers, from Keter, Modan and Am Ovad to the ’sifrei kodesh’ (literally, holy books), map makers and the newspaper mongers. In Jerusalem — as in other major cities where there are Book Week booths set up at some major central site — Book Week was held at Gan Hapaamon, Liberty Bell Park, where people and families pushing baby carriages brushed up against each other as they ponied up to the booths, checking out children’s books, adult fiction, the latest Mapa map books — that’s where we spent a lot of time — non-fiction, biographies, treastises on all kinds of subjects, and generally lots of printed pages.
There’s music blasting from mounted speakers, but not too loud, as to disturb one’s contemplation of a possible book purchase. And surprisingly for an Israeli event, no food, save for the beigale and cotton candy peddlers at the entrance to the park. I like that. It’s just about books.
New Tel Aviv Bar The Rogatka Takes Veganism To The Extreme
If the combination of the words “vegan” and “bar” doesn’t make sense to you, you’re not alone.
Because beer is made of hops, malt, and yeast, right? No animals harmed or used in the production of any of those.
But The Rogatka (or “Slingshot”), a new “vegan” bar that opened up last week, defines itself not according to the content of its goods but by the ideals that it encourages.
And so for all you meat and dairy avoiders out there - you are welcome with open arms at the bar’s location on Yitzhak Sadeh street.
The ideologically focused bar was opened by the same “anarchist collective” that used to run the Salon Mazal bar off of King George street. The founders of the bar say that they hope their watering hole will attract environmentalists, left-wing activists, and other likeminded people with their cheap drinks and fair trade products. Read more
Chris Cornell rocks Tel Aviv
Former Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell rocked Tel Aviv last week but unfortunately did not rock me. However it’s not his fault. I’m apparently getting old and last Wednesday was without question of one of the chief indicators of this unfortunate event. I should have known it wasn’t going to go well when it became evident that I needed to stop for a double espresso on the way the show. I was accompanying a friend of mine who was reviewing the gig for one of daily’s here. I received a coveted photo pass which allowed me to stand in wide space between the audience and the performer for the first three songs. It’s a place where I’ve spent a lot of time before and is always exciting. Angling for a great shot while pushing away other photographers is one of my favorite pastimes. It’s a fun place to be but I made two critical errors. I did not drink water beforehand and, even worse, I forgot my earplugs. So the massive amount of body heat emanating from the crowd combined with the humid air and concert speakers pounding in my ears did not do me well. At all.
Granted it was fun shooting but I just couldn’t recover after such a traumatic experience and quickly retired to the sidelines and spent the rest of the concert sitting on the grass drinking bottled water with my friend who was equally as enthused. Not very rock and roll of us. The final sign of the twilight of my youth was that towards the end of the show I couldn’t help but start thinking how long it was going to take me to get out of the parking lot. I kept looking at my watching thinking about how, as time went on, I was going to be losing important sleep time. And so I left in order to the beat the traffic right as the encore began. And I walked to my car, head down in shame as Cornell belted out one of Soundgarden’s biggest hits in the background.
Comedy of Israeli errors
Raised in the metro Washington, DC area, Daniella Ashkenazy (pictured) has been living in Israel for over 40 years and working as a journalist for about half of that time., currently covering the environmental beat for The Jerusalem Post’s weekend Metro section.
Launched a few months ago, Ashkenazy’s Chelm-on-the-Med website is an ever-growing collection if local soft news items - those curious, often humorous stories that would sound like they are urban legends if they weren’t in the mainstream news media.
Among Chelm-on-the-Med’s gems are the tale of a farmer who used his LoJack–like car theft recovery device to recover bales of hay that had been stolen from him, a Knesset proposal to combat the ever-lowering water levels of the Dead Sea by importing water from Turkey, and a Hassidic man who proposed throwing books of Psalms at enemy entities as a poetic response to falling rockets (because in Hebrew, the word for missiles, Tillim, is similar to the word for Psalms, Tehillim).
Chelm-on-the-Med’s beat is relatively similar to ISRAELITY’s in that both sites attempt to take Israeli life out of the realm of hard news and into the realm of real life. As Ashkenazy puts it in her FAQ….
Beyond life and death issues, Israel is an outrageously amusing and lively place to live, and it’s strange that Jews, famous for their humor from Charlie Chaplin to Seinfeld, haven’t a clue about the humorous side of Israeli life.
She also sees the site as a useful tool for spreading a positive image of the country, especially among Diaspora youth:
A lot of things that make some adults uncomfortable will be viewed as very cool by adolescents. In fact, I think the zany, irreverent intriguing encounter with Israel that Chelm-on-the-Med offers will make Jewish kids think Israel is a very neat place – a vast improvement from the image of a gloomy and dangerous…and yes, dead serious and humorless ‘tight-ass’ country that focus groups have found.
Although the site is relatively new, the concept is not. In the late Eighties, Ashkenazy launched the column under the moniker “Gleanings” in the now-defunct Israel Scene magazine, and it has run in a variety of additional publications under other names as well.
A lightbulb attraction
Israeli advertising can be pretty weak on the creative front, which is surprising given the amazingly sharp minds that abound in all sorts of Sabras. Maybe it’s the pay?
But whoever came up with the latest Sylvania Israel lightbulb ad was truly struck by comic genius and a ‘lightbulb’ of a concept. I spotted it at a local lighting store, just behind the counter. It has a picture of the familiar-looking Oren Zarif, a ‘therapist of the subconscious’, with the quote, “Abuya, go over to Sylvania and the pain will pass.”
Zarif has fabulously cheesy advertising all over the Israeli press each week. Each ad features a picture of Zarif, always dressed in white with his straight black hair tucked behind his ears with and bolts of lightning in the background, followed by a series of pictures of Zarif with his ‘patients’, their thumbs up, proclaiming: “The surgery on my leg was cancelled!” — Zehava; “My chronic dizziness disappeared” — Aaron C.; “I was spared surgery on my gums” — Veronica B. And so on.
With eight clinics countrywide, Zarif is clearly doing something right, at least on the business front. He’s convinced that he inherited his powers from his Bukharan great-grandfather, enlightened Torah scholar Rabbi Pinhas Hacohen, writes Ruthie Blum in the Jerusalem Post.
All I know is, Sylvania definitely convinced me to buy their bulbs.
Israeli fashion designer Azrouel likes Katie Lee just the way she is
A photo that appeared in GQ of Katie Lee and Yigal Azrouel at a party in New York in February
Lee, apparently, has settled on someone closer to her own age, and he’s Israeli -36-year-old celebrity fashion designer Yigal Azrouel. As expected, with a three-way celebrity thing going, the gossip columns are in heaven, and everyone is pointing to Azrouel as the dark, handsome lothario who has stolen Lee’s heart.
According to the NY Daily News, which was first to break the story, Lee, the first host of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” has been spotted out regularly with Azrouel. The two were seen dancing closely in Miami earlier this year and sources told the paper the designer has called Lee, “my girlfriend.”
However, a rep for the Joels said that Azrouel had no role in the separation. “Their breakup has nothing to do with Yigal,” Joel’s spokeswoman, Claire Mercuri, told the NY Daily News. “Their decision to separate was absolutely unrelated to Yigal.”
So, who is Azrouel? According to a 2006 feature on the designer in ISRAEL21c, everyone from Natalie Portman to Sarah Jessica Parker to Lenny Kravitz (and Katie Lee) have stepped out in Azrouel’s body-contouring creations, and magazines like Vogue, Interview, and Harper’s Bazaar regularly splash his designs across their pages.
Not bad for an Ashdod boy. Azrouel did not attend design school or enroll in formal education back in his hometown, but instead, taught himself.
“I bought a sewing machine and a mannequin and I started de-constructing garments and then I’d make new pieces for myself, my sisters and my friends. I would drape the mannequin with a de-constructed jacket I had made and then I would make a new one,” Azrouel told ISRAEL21c.
In the late 90s, he left his sewing machine in southern Israel and headed for Manhattan’s trendy, meat packing district. Almost instantaneously Barney’s, Oxygene and Joyce Hong Kong snatched up his wears. Nowadays, Azrouel’s name is tossed around alongside Calvin Klein’s and Anna Sui’s.
Despite his rapid ascent as a favorite of the jet set, Azrouel maintains close ties to his roots and his family in Israel - parents, five brothers and two sisters all residing in Israel - one sister living elsewhere.
“My best friends in the world are in Israel and so is my family. I visit about four times a year and family and friends meet me when I’m traveling around the world,” he shares. “I love Israel. It’s a very emotional place for me. I can live anywhere in the world but Israel is always home.”
He attributes his success to his background and upbringing. A sense of independence, confidence and willingness to follow an un-paved road are consistent with his Israeli roots.
As is apparently his ability to woo beautiful woman like Lee. I interviewed 1980s pop soulster Paul Young a few months back, and his wife had also left him for an Israeli living in London. It looks like the Israeli Zohan charm is rubbing off around the globe.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems goes from Bollywood to Paris
Just four months ago, co-blogger Nicky wrote about the abhorrent video that Rafael Advanced Defense Systems made for Aero India 2009. It’s a gem of a video and not to be missed. However, what was maliciously maligned in blogosphere was apparently fairly popular with the Indians. According to a comment on Wired’s Danger Room:
Regarding the “beyond-awful Bollywood-themed music video” …A friend of mine who works in Refael told me that the people from India Govt loved that clip, every minute of it. Nobody was offended. Refael presenters handed CD copies of the clip in a weapons show and everybody took one. I guess it served it’s cause but some other people around the world decided to get offended for India.
Thankfully Rafael listened to their clients and not to anonymous commenters in the blogosphere and have once again produced a much anticipated follow-up which made it’s premiere at the Paris Air Show. Unfortunately this one does not include a French troubadour singing sad French songs about chemical warfare, but rather a mime. Yes, a mime. A MISSILE DODGING MIME. The mime has a hard time dodging falling missiles (projected on the screen behind her), but thankfully Multi-Layered Air Defense Umbrella (in this case and actually umbrella) is used to protect herself from the projectiles. Not only does she protect her self, she openly mocks the missiles. Classic.
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