Israel Independence Day
Filed under: Blogging, History and Culture, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life
Benji and hummous -two Israeli institutions
As the smells of barbecued meats permeate the country, let’s keep in mind what’s special about Israel – besides everyone barbecuing on Yom Ha’atazmaut.
One of the funniest – and most astute – lists has been written by Israelity contributor and stand up comedian par excellance Benji Lovitt – You can read the whole list of ‘61 More Things I Love About Israel’ here.
But a few of my favorites are:
31. I love that my cab driver offered me a peach and that I accepted it. That will happen in America when falafel balls fly.
43. I love words like “teetchadesh” that neither exist nor make sense in the English language. “Wow, cool shirt! Enjoy using your new thing!” Nice try.
57. I love the superhuman Israeli hearing which allows them to pick up the “beep beep beep” of the news even while someone is using a jackhammer three feet away.
Whatever way you celebrate Israel Independence Day, may your celebration be joyous.
Beijing gets an Israeli tourist office
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, History and Culture, Politics, Travel
Israeli-style Falafel can be found in far-reaching places like Amsterdam and Mumbai, but that doesn’t mean that everyone the world over who’s enjoying a taste of Israel is interested in coming on over to check out the real thing.
And with the standard mechanisms for finding visitors to Israel running into trouble thanks to the global economic slowdown (foreign tourist hotel occupancy down by 13% during the final quarter of 2008, according to Haaretz), the Tourism Ministry is aggressively going after new sectors.
Last week, the Tourism Ministry opened its 15th office currently in operation outside of Israel, this time in Beijing (pictured). The office augments an active Israeli embassy in Beijing, which already serves as an active center for outreach to the Chinese, largely by co-sponsoring cultural events. But the Tourism Ministry outpost should have plenty to do as well, with projects including compiling and publishing tourism guidebooks to Israel in Chinese, assisting the Israeli private sector with marketing packages to Chinese audiences, liaising with Chinese wholesalers interested in selling Israel trips, and arranging introductory visits for Chinese tourism industry leaders and media types.
On the occasion of the opening, Tourism Minister Ruhama Avraham-Balila released a statement:
“During the last decade, China’s outgoing tourist market has demonstrated rapid growth and it is still considered to have significant growth potential. The Tourism Ministry has made plans to realize this potential once the global economic crisis has passed and global tourism industry has recovered – both in terms of marketing and in the removal of obstacles, receiving tourists and welcoming them in Israel.”
It’s all part of the new tourism partnership between China and Israel, formalized this past fall. As I wrote back then….
Officials at the Israeli Ministry of Tourism ought to be drooling over this potential, given that the Chinese populace is currently estimated to be numbered at well over 1.3 individuals. So far, 2008 has shown a 45% increase in Chinese tourist arrivals here, and Israeli officials are aiming for a grand total of 15,000 Chinese visitors by the end of December.
It’s estimated that about 50 million Chinese tour in Israel’s neck of the woods, but very few of these actually make it to Israel. “We need to prepare to absorb some of that,” Israeli Tourism Minister Ruhama Avraham-Balila announced at a press conference in China in early September.
The potential is being sought after further here in Israel as well, with last week also marking the launch of a Chinese-language course for Israeli tour guides, with 40 participants studying cultural idiosyncrasies and various dialects for over five months.
Image courtesy Jonas in China from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
Outdoor folk
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Holidays, Life, Music
Ah, the country fair: a longtime staple of rural living. Folk getting together with other folk to celebrate the harvest moon, life, spiritual festivities and just plain good weather with food, home-made crafts and toe-tapping music.
You wouldn’t find any deep-fried Twinkies or Oreos here, and the crafts skewed towards tie-dies, soul-lifting art, and essential perfume oils, but there’s no doubt that the Third Moshav Country Fair at the Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach-founded Moshav Mevo Modiim fulfilled that down-home need.
With an impressive influx of excited fair-goers, the parking filled up fast and early for a full day of activities for all ages – from jugglers, face painters and story-tellers in the morning to afternoon freestyle rap sessions for modest women and how-to-compost lectures to impromptu yoga sessions and amazing jams in the late evening. Food, more often than not a disappointment when served from trucks by sweaty people to starving hordes, was unpredictably satisfying. There were corn dogs with love from Puff Zaidy, perfectly acceptable felafel by the bagel guy and assorted other treats.
The musical lineup included the biggest names in post-Shlomo music, Ben Zion Solomon and Sons setting the harmonized tone with beautiful mandolin-driven grooves. Shlomo Katz is so awesome with that first name that his trademark sweet vocals seem to be just icing on the cake. A Yehudah Katz of Reva L’Sheva fame turned it all the way up almost to seven. After a quick surprise set by international stars Moshav (including the poignant “Come Back“), a number of younger day-trippers were off to Jerusalem to enjoy that band’s show with Hamakor at the Maabada.
The day didn’t end there, however, as the unbilled finale Semantra – a retooled, retrofitted, and forward-thinking collaboration including Shmuel Nelson and Ari Leichtberg of Shimshak fame – wrapped it all up with an amazing set that left no doubts about this group’s budding greatness.
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