Trinny and Susannah did Israel
Filed under: design, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Religion, tv
It might have gotten overlooked with all the excitement about Purim, but yes, fashionista advice givers Trinny and Susannah of What Not To Wear were here in the last few weeks, promoting their episodes about Israeli fashion or the lack of, in their opinion.
They had traveled to a kibbutz, and were astounded to find people who just do not think about fashion at all, and haven’t work a dress in many a decade. And yet, they were impressed with that reality. They took to Tel Aviv, and didn’t like all the drab colors — lots of black and gray — or the fact that no one there seemed to wear skirts either. In the end, they ‘dressed’ women from outside the big cities, where they found more of a desire for femininity, which is one of their hallmarks, combined with bad taste but a surprising readiness to accept their sharp criticisms.
I wasn’t surprised to hear any of that, as the tendency toward too-tight pants shoved into knee-high boots, much exposure of cleavage and backsides and over blow-dried hair is seen throughout Israel, but particularly in the smaller cities. As for Trinny and Susannah’s comments about the lack of ‘day-dresses’ and skirts on Israeli women, that’s probably due to the Israeli woman’s desire to not be mistakenly identified as ‘religious’, given the deep societal differences on that subject. I know that I rarely put on a skirt, particularly in the winter when I can’t offset it with a sleeveless t-shirt to ensure that I’m not seen as a woman who only wears skirts for religious reasons. And I identify as an observant Jew.
All that said, and Trinny and Susannah say it all in such an amusing way, what they didn’t hit upon was the local fashion scene, which is certainly not only designed in monochromatic tones (and what’s wrong with that anyway??). Not sure why they weren’t taken to Gan Hachashmal, Kikar Masryk and Jaffa where the Israeli fashionistas hang out, perhaps to offer that more striking What Not to Wear humor which works better on the streets of Holon than in Gan Hachashmal’s coffee bars.
In any case, they had a grand time, and that’s what’s important. For a glimpse into what they had to say, see this video taken back in December, and start from minute 2:06.
Hellacious Holon
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, Business, design, education, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel
Large sculptures in one of Holon's 'Story Gardens,' which are public parks that have oversized sculptures that depict famous Israeli fairy tales and children's storie. (Photo: Edmund Sanders / Los Angeles Times)
The once-nondescript suburb of Tel Aviv didn’t have much to offer, except a way out. These days, the city and its mayor Motti Sasson are receiving accolades around the world for its transformation into a cultural magnet, believe it or not.
Sasson was named one of the world’s top 10 mayor this past summer by British magazine Monocle, which covers business, culture and design – one of the world’s top 10 mayors, never mind one of Israel’s top 10 mayors!
The article said Sasson “has miraculously put a mid-sized bedroom community on the world’s cultural map… the 63-year old workaholic has brought five new museums to Holon, including Ron Arad’s groundbreaking 24 million euro Design Museum, generating an influx of youngsters while inventing a distinctive urban brand from scratch.”
And a couple of months before the article appeared, Conde Nast Traveler dubbed the Holon Design Museum one of the new wonders of the world.
Now the Los Angeles Times has published a big feature on the city’s revival “as an arts attraction rebranded around kids and digital arts.”
With a dozen new museums, libraries, theaters and other cultural centers — all focused on the city’s unique rebranding around kids culture and digital arts — Holon has become an international model for urban renewal, drawing 400,000 tourists last year.
“It’s a very ambitious little town,” said Ron Arad, an Israeli architect who designed Holon’s new landmark Design Museum. “Every cultured person in Israel now finds themselves in Holon, which is amazing.”
The article also cites the Cartoon Museum, the International Puppet Theater, the School for Street Theater — teaching juggling, face-painting and hand-walking — and Israel’s only Children’s Museum, “taking kids through interactive worlds, where aliens teach tolerance, caterpillars offer lessons about life’s changes and sight-impaired tour guides help them experience what it’s like to be blind by making their way through pitch-black re-creations of a rain forest, a street corner and a shopping market.”
It all comes back to mayor Sasson, though, described in the article as “a bachelor with no children and a self-avowed Luddite who doesn’t use a computer or e-mail.”
A short, unassuming former budget manager for Israel’s social security fund, Sasson, 63, admitted he’s not exactly a big fan of the futuristic digital art now showcased in Holon. He’s not the kind of guy who enjoys pontificating about what experts call Holon’s emerging “trandisciplinary culture complex.”
Instead, Sasson seems happiest when crunching numbers and explaining how he slashed costs and improved efficiency to turn Holon’s municipal deficits into a surplus.
“I understand the importance of enriching the soul,” said Sasson, who estimated the city has spent about $100 million on cultural projects over the last decade. “Without the soul, there is no life. You can teach children many things, but to enrich their soul makes them happy.”
In the works for Holon’s near future include a concert hall, a sports center, a new city hall and a sand-dune preservation park. So next time you’re on the highway and see the exit for Holon, don’t pass by like you usually do. It’s time for a visit.
Pluralism in Holon
Filed under: A New Reality, education, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Religion
The annual Adloyada Purim parade in Holon
In my own family, my older stepdaughter is an alumnus of Reut, the school that my younger stepdaughter is attending, one of the first in the pluralistic stream of Israeli schools. It’s the kind of school where all the students have to attend morning services, even if they don’t utter a word. Their religious learning can be intensive, or as my 13-year-old stepdaughter likes to say, “Every class is Tanach (bible study).” But the discussions are wide and open, and the clientele is mixed, with an equal combo of religious and secular students. Ditto for the mechina, the pre-army program that my older stepdaughter is engaged in this year, called Emek. They learn many things, about the world around them and themselves and the group is mixed but the lifestyle is traditional, with a kosher kitchen and Shabbat and holiday observance.
Now I just heard about yet another program in Holon, but with a much wider sphere of influence. Called Hitchadshut, for renewal, it has created a citywide model for education of Jewish identity. It’s taking place in schools, high schools, community centers and youth centers, and focuses on programs will help educate those who know little about their Jewish identity. They have discussion groups on social justice, Kabbalat Shabbat evenings, Tikkun Shavuot study nights, bible story training for kindergarten teachers and a Chanukah parade.
It may sound familiar to the American readers who already have similar programs in their community synagogues and centers. But in Israel, where there is such a religious-secular divide, it could work to have straightforward, open-minded kinds of Jewish activities for the uninitiated.
According to Lea Wohl-Segal, the program director for Hitchadshut, they’ve had great progress in Holon and are planning a Giving the Torah ceremony at five different kindergartens throughout the city on Shavuot. Better yet, the ceremony was written by individuals from both the secular and religious schools, “which is really an Israeli breakthrough,” says Wohl-Segal.
Hitchadshut is hoping to spread their experiment to other Israeli towns and cities. And what Wohl-Segal likes the most is the great cooperation between American philanthropy, the Legacy Heritage Fund in this case, and a young and unique Israeli program.
Let it grow.
Picture of the Week: The shots that won’t make it to the catalog
Filed under: health, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture
Okay, I know it’s supposed to be just one picture in the Picture of the Week, but if you can’t break the rules in a blog, where can you break them? And this seems like an ideal pairing – the photos that WON’T make it into the advertising campaign.
First off we’ve got some poor soul from Holon getting a swine flu shot. A man shrieking in pain as a nurse gives him the flu jab is clearly not the message that the government wants to give. One look at this picture, and my kids wouldn’t have an inoculation again in their lives.
The Israeli health authorities have started vaccinating the population against swine flu. The Health Ministry purchased 7.3 million doses of the swine flu vaccine – enough for every Israeli –but is increasingly perturbed by the reluctance of Israelis to actually take the darn thing.
Only 30 percent of health care officials and personnel took the shot, and the general public seems to be following suit – so far just 160,000 have rolled up their sleeves. No doubt news that three people – all dialysis patients mind you – died shortly after receiving the vaccination, has made the injection a little less appealing.
If this keeps up, millions of expensive doses of swine flu vaccine will simply just go to waste. In response the Health Ministry is now thinking about offering the inoculation in shopping malls and workplaces.
Next up, we’ve got Bar Refaeli posing for Fox’s new summer catalog with Noam Tor. Refaeli and Tor are the current ‘faces’ of Fox, a popular Israeli clothing chain for men, women, kids and babes that offers relatively cheap, fashionable items.
This year’s shoot, for next year’s fashions, was at Mevo Horon, and supposedly in the spirit of Woodstock. Wasn’t the Woodstock revival last year?
While you’d be hard put to find a bad picture of Refaeli, you can be pretty sure that this shot won’t be making it into next year’s catalog. And sorry Fox, but what is that thing she’s wearing?
Pic of the man suffering Trypanophobia (that’s fear of medical procedures involving needles) by Yossi Zeliger/Flash90. Pic of Refaeli and Tor by Yossi Zamir/Flash90.
Hot fun in the summertime
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel
When you live in Israel, you get used to being in crowds – especially in August. Everyone’s on vacation, and doing basically the same things.
I grew up in New England and it took me a long time to adapt to the elbow to elbow nature of the great Israeli outdoor and leisure scene. My wife, however, used to the elbow-to-knee nature of the Eastern seaboard fit in just fine.
It’s ironic, then, that 25 years later, I’m the one who can cope better with massive throngs of people. The best thing to do in August is to stay inside in the air conditioning, so it was a curious decision indeed to take our 8-year-old son yesterday to the country’s largest water amusement park, Yamit 2000, in Holon.
Packed to the gills, with trouble finding both a parking place outside and a sitting place inside, Yamit 2000 was the definition of a zoo. They have a huge outdoor pool, but it was covered with people, with little snippets of blue background seeping out. The average lines to the dozen or so stupendous slides there were about 45 minutes, and full of shouting, rambunctious youth.
Either you simmer inside at their overselling admission to the joint, or you surrender to the moment and go with the flow. I chose the latter. As noisy and crowded as the outdoor pool was, the indoor setup was even wilder. There, a wave machine and sprayers simulated a storm at sea, and the decibel level inside approached that of a Megadeth concert. Still, Matan and I plunged into the mass of people and got caught up in the storm, screaming along with them. It was exhilarating.
My wife couldn’t stand the noise and left for the refuge of our outside umbrella and chairs for the duration. “I can’t stand all the crowds and noise,” she said.
“What crowds and noise?” I answered, as we got back in line for another run on the banana slide…
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