Nostalgia Sunday – 1967

October 27, 2008 - 12:55 AM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday 

Perhaps the most genius service of the century is Scan Cafe, which takes those crates and crates of slides so many families have lying around the house — the slide projectors having died years ago — and puts them into digital format.

We must have had thousands of slides, carefully organized in slide trays (kids, ask your parents about these), which gathered dust for years in Newton, Massachusetts, until my Dad moved to Los Angeles in 1998 so that they could continue to gather dust in California. After my dad passed away, my sisters took charge of the monumental task of going through his crap – and there was plenty of it. That’s when they found Scan Cafe, which allowed us to finally see pictures of our childhood that we hadn’t seen since… er… well, since our childhood.

We came to visit Israel in June 1967. The trip had been planned months before, as my Israeli mother wanted to visit family and have them meet her husband and children. We arrived a few days after school — and the war — ended. And so, our family outing photos have some historical merit. I’ve selected a few from a trip my parents took to an outpost at the former Jordanian border. Then, as now, it starts by heading towards the Dead Sea:

1967 Sea Level sign

And here’s the border crossing:
1967 Jordanian border crossing

There was plenty of gear for the grown-ups to examine.
1967 Tank

And you’ve gotta love my Dad’s eternal fascination with office equipment!
1967 Ruined typewriter

Links to previous posts
Nostalgia Sunday -Simchat Torah flags
Nostalgia Sunday – Heaters
Nostalgia Sunday – Yom Kippur
Nostalgia Sunday – Rosh HaShana
Nostalgia Sunday – Old Coins
Nostalgia Sunday – Historic Homepages
Nostalgia Sunday – Tango
Nostalgia Sunday – Tel Aviv Night Run
Nostalgia Sunday – Missing Dad
Nostalgia Sunday – Clique HaClick
Nostalgia Sunday – Tel Aviv 100
Nostalgia Sunday – Eurovision
Nostalgia Sunday – Old Israeliana
Nostalgia Sunday – Classic Movie: The Blaumilch Canal
Nostalgia Sunday – Plaid Bedroom Slippers
Nostalgia Sunday – Historic Photo Shop Shuts Its Doors
Nostalgia Sunday – New Israeliana
Nostalgia Sunday – High Windows

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Foto Friday – Israel’s National Photo Collection

October 24, 2008 - 12:45 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Movies, Pop Culture, Travel 

Ten years ago, at the time of Israel’s jubilee anniversary celebration, the Government Press Office launched a unique website of its images archive. The National Photo Collection is indeed the personal photo album of the State of Israel and it is an amazing if somewhat overlooked trove of treasure for anyone interested in Israeli history – political, social and cultural. Personally, I go for the pop culture, so here are three images from the 60s and 70s of glamorous celebrities visiting and supporting Israel. There are plenty more.

Sophia Loren 1964 - Fritz Cohen
Sophia Loren Arriving at Lod Airport For Filming of the Movie “Judith” In Israel, 1964
Photograph: Fritz Cohen. Israel GPO National Photo Collection

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton at Western Wall - 1975
Film Stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Visiting Western Wall Plaza In Jerusalem, 1975
Photograph: Sa’ar Ya’acov, Israel GPO National Photo Collection

Diana Ross and Itzhak Rabin - 1976
Hollywood Singer And Actress Diana Ross Making P.M. Itzhak Rabin Join In Her Song During The ‘Salute To Israel’ Gala Dinner In Los Angeles, 1976
Photograph: Sa’ar Ya’acov, Israel GPO National Photo Collection

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Foto Friday – Sderot Through the Chameleon’s Eye

June 6, 2008 - 11:08 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, Foto Friday, General, Life, Movies, War 

A lot of stuff happened this week in Sderot that you wouldn’t have expected. An antique car rally blew into town, for instance. Who knew? An international film festival opened. I wasn’t there but fortunately, photographer Rafael Ben-Ari was, and this week’s Foto Friday comes courtesy of his news photo syndicate, Chameleons Eye.

My last encounter with Sderot was the inauguration of a portable above-ground bomb shelter. And yes, five minutes after we arrived on site, there was an air raid and we had 15 seconds to run into a dingy stairwell for shelter, (the port-o-shelter not having yet arrived). Some interesting thoughts flash through your mind when you’re struggling to climb over a fence in heels while your bosses sprint vigorously ahead with nary a look backwards, none of them printable. Thank goodness there was someone – a photographer as it happened – who turned around to lend me a hand. A hero. 10 minutes later we were all back on the street again. That’s life in Sderot.

So, in between the rockets, here’s what went down this week. The 7th London to Jerusalem JNF Car Rally started in England on May 18th. Participants drove via France, Switzerland, Italy and Greece, then came by ship to Israel and toured around the country. On Sunday they visited Sderot. Yesterday they were in Jerusalem. I know because I saw this particular car. My cab driver and I were both very thrilled.

Photo-removed

Actually, come to think of it, I had another encounter with Sderot this year, when the folks from Hangar 11 at the Tel Aviv Port invited Sderot shop owners to bring their businesses to Tel Aviv for a few days. I couldn’t find a thing I wanted to buy until I saw the woman selling subscriptions to the Sderot Cinematheque. The deal was that they would donate it to a schoolchild in my name. I was charmed by the idea of fostering the next generation of effete little cinema snobs, not to mention keeping a kid off the streets and out of harm’s way, and immediately purchased one.

This week’s 7th Cinema South Film Festival premiered three new Israeli films at the Cinematheque and a host of local celebs made an appearance. Rafael has pictures of them on his site. He also has plenty of pictures of rocket blasts and their physical, political and spiritual aftermaths. But I liked this photo because it’s just a bunch of people having a good time.

Photo-removed

This coming week will be Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. In recent years, this holiday tradition of not eating meat has been coopted by Israel’s dairy companies, who’ve turned it into a cheese eating orgy. But down in the southern region of Hof Ashkelon where Rafael lives, grain still ripens in the fields as the moon waxes, becoming ready to be gathered – just as it was 3000 years ago – and you understand this is a holiday of early summer harvest.

Photo-removed

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