“72 Hour Urban Action” Takes Over Bat Yam, Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, Pop Culture
Teams have 72 hours to re-design an urban area in a pretty crumby satellite city in Israel. It’s guerilla urban architecture.
We’ve all had the same thought: it’s been built, we’re stuck with it. This ugly urban mess we have created is here to stay and there’s nothing we can do about it; may as well put up our feet, grab a lager, and watch re-runs of “The Days of Our Lives” to wile away the misery. Others challenge that notion, and show the rest of us couch-potatoes that actually we have an extraordinary capacity for innovation and have the necessary power to reverse our unsustainable trends. And not only can we fix our mistakes during this lifetime (instead of leaving it for our kids to deal with), we can make serious headway over a weekend. They started with the 72 Hour Urban Action Program in Israel’s less-than-glamorous Bat Yam. Read more
Rosh Hashana table talk
Filed under: A New Reality, Food, General, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Politics
The Rosh Hashana/Shabbat three-day marathon has come and gone, with the only casualty being a slightly expanded waist line.
We Israelis are somewhat spoiled, with the rest of the holidays on the Jewish calendar lasting only 25 hours – so a two-day Rosh Hashana folding over into a Shabbat was indeed a long haul.
But between visits to our synagogue, delicacy-laden meals with friends, hanging out at home with family and a good book (Yehuda Avner’s The Prime Ministers – shout out to Sheryl Abbey), and a couple trips to the local sports field for a batting and catching session with my son on one day and the resumption of the local touch rugby Shabbat neighborhood game on the other day, the holiday move along at a fast enough clip.
At a first afternoon lunch at good friends near our Jerusalem shul, we were surrounded by an interesting group – our two families, another good friend with his lady friend, two high school graduates from the US who are in Israel for nine months on a Nativ program, and two other American college students – one here studying at a Conservative yeshiva and the other just having finished her first visit to Israel via a birthright program and extending the stay by visiting her friend for a few days.
The topic of conversation touched on a myriad of topics, ranging from what is the Israel equivalent of Walmart (the answer is – there is none) to the length of the Rosh Hashana musaf service (the consensus – too long) what are the prospects of the peace talks launched in Washington bearing any fruit (the answer is – almost none).
However the debate than enused did elicit a hearty give and take which enabled our American visitors to witness that vigorous democracy at practice in Israel, included raised voices and good natured jabbing. But most of all, it showed that Israelis care very deeply about what’s happening in their country, and what better time than at the Rosh Hashana table to express it?
I’m sure it was a scene repeated in various forms in hundreds of thousands of home over the last three days and is probably the originator of the phrase ‘two Jews and three opinions.’ Here’s a toast to all of us potential prime ministers on this launch of this new year.
Foto Friday – Jerusalem Bird Observatory
Filed under: education, Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Life, Profiles, Social Justice, Travel
Not many seats of government can lay claim to being located on one of the world’s prime birdwatching sites. In fact, Israel’s Knesset may be the only one.
The Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) is a 5,000 sqm (one acre) plot of prime real estate, between the Knesset and the Supreme Court. The site is one of the few traditional birdwatching areas in Jerusalem and houses the Israel national center for bird-ringing (also called banding or tagging). Bird migration patterns are studied throughout the seasons, data collected and analyzed in a comprehensive database.
The JBO has four main goals: 1. environmental education, 2. conservation research, 3. eco-tourism, and 4. creation of a common forum for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Educational activities include training courses in tagging birds, courses in photographing birds, birdwatching tours, a birdwatching club, lectures , presentations of current research, and education about bird watching for kids.
The JBO website has an active community of members who upload photos from around the country of rare birds that have been sighted and tagged.
So, for example, on July 1 after a busy day of tagging 40 Green finches and Spectacled Bulbuls, JBO volunteers Ora and Avner met a surprise with bird number 41: an Indian silverbill. The report: “It was molting heavily and not at its prettiest! Nonetheless, a darling bird, tiny as can be, with a sharp bill!”
Volunteer Ron Haran, a talented nature photographer, snapped the finches in action…
and a bulbul, too.
And JBO volunteers Yotam and Yosef from the Zora ringing station, outside Jerusalem, report that — despite the summer heat — preparations for the fall migration are already in place: “The little warblers… are getting fatter and beginning to vacate their nests for their northern cousins who will pass our way in a month en route to Africa. This morning there were the first two European warblers… The first group of storks has settled in the alfalfa fields and we’re awaiting the pelicans.”
They also ringed a Red-rumped swallow…
and a wren.
The JBO is an amazing place and the central location can’t be beat but if you can’t visit right away, check out the website. The list of sighted ring recoveries reported by birders all over Israel makes for a fascinating read. It also serves as a glossary of bird names in Hebrew, English and Latin. That’s how I learned that the bulbul is called that in English, too.
Surfer Joe hits the Mediterranean
(All photos by Debbie Zimelman - www.debzim.com
There’s everything under the sun offered, including cooking courses, sewing courses, outdoor survival courses, in addition to the normal day camps where you get ball thrown at your head and are tossed into swimming pools.
But I don’t think there’s ever been as exotic a summer camp in Israel as a surfing camp. Our good friends’ son Avidan has been going to one at Palmahim Beach, and these photos are the proof.
How do you say ‘hang 10′ in Hebrew?
A doctor, a lawyer and an NBA star
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Pop Culture, Religion, Sports
Let’s hope he doesn’t take in a movie during his visit to Israel and sit in front of you. Otherwise, there’s no downside to the disclosure that NBA superstar Amar’e Stoudemire is here and basking in his Jewishness.
The former NBA Rookie of the Year and current New York Knick recently disclosed that his mother was Jewish, and has publicly embraced his roots – peppering his Twitter updates with Hebrew and now visiting the country with his girlfriend Alexis.
“The Holy Land has always been high on my list of places to visit, and when this opportunity arose, I wasn’t going to push it off any longer,” Stoudemire told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, adding that he was “so excited to be here, see all the important historical sites, learn Hebrew and to get a better understanding of my heritage.”
Stoudemire, who spent the first eight years of his career with the Phoenix Suns, joins Joining New Jersey Nets’ point guard Jordan Farmar and Sacramento Kings’ forward Omri Casspi, Israel’s favorite son, as the NBA’s only Jewish players.
“The holy land. Learn about it,” he wrote on his Twitter feed, adding, “ze ha’halom sheli” – Hebrew for “this is my dream.”
“I don’t really consider myself to be a religious person, but rather a deeply spiritual individual,” Stoudemire told the Post. “I have been aware since my youth that I am a Hebrew through my mother, and that is something that has played a subtle but important role in my development.”
“I have never hid my spiritual roots,” he said. “They just weren’t something that came under the spotlight. I am proud to be a Hebrew and embrace my Jewish background.”
Stoudemire also said that he was hoping to learn some Hebrew on his visit here. Perhaps it could even help his upcoming NBA season. He could pick up some of the local colorful curse words and throw his opponents off guard in the middle of a game, as he swoops past them toward the basket. Score one for the Jewish guy!
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