tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57778762011-07-31T03:45:38.438-05:00Articles, interviews, opinions on Israel, baseball, etc.Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comBlogger841100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-35630892457522905552007-12-23T02:20:00.000-05:002007-12-30T03:03:45.641-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, December 28, 2007)"How are you?" Uri Orbach asked his co-host Irit Linor at the beginning of their public tête-à-tête on Army Radio's "The Last Word" program, one day last week. Linor, who supposedly fills the left-wing/secular slot opposite her right-wing/religious counterpart on this current events program, did not respond with a simple, "Fine, how are you?" Instead, she

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-63834893739882060892007-11-11T06:07:00.000-05:002007-11-11T06:16:41.185-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, October 31, 2007)American immigrants to Israel carry two passports. Some, like me, have a third nationality: Red Sox Nation. Until 2004, it was a beleaguered nation, deprived of a World Series championship since 1918, while recording a string of heartbreaking denouements along the way (Bucky Dent, Bill Buckner, Aaron Boone, ouch…).However, after capturing the 2007 World

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-78470686203748910542006-11-24T06:39:00.000-05:002007-11-11T07:25:39.874-05:00

(Published in Haaretz Magazine, November 2006)For some of the older folks, it was a last chance to pursue a dream from their childhood in America - to become a professional baseball player. For the teenagers, it was an opportunity to showcase the baseball skills they have developed, even while growing up in Israel. For Dan Duquette, the former general manager of the Boston Red Sox, it was all

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1162363693167595882006-11-01T01:45:00.000-05:002006-11-01T01:48:13.236-05:00

(Published in the Princeton Alumni Weekly, October 25, 2006)As they settle into their second year at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 11 MPA students will be sorting out their experiences after an intensive, week-long tour of Jerusalem conducted in early September by former ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, who will begin teaching Middle Eastern Policy Studies at WWS this

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1160716863707185542006-10-13T00:15:00.000-05:002006-10-13T00:21:03.720-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, October 8, 2006)Sarah, 21, grew up in northern New Jersey and is starting her senior year at a prestigious college in Massachusetts, majoring in philosophy and planning a career in law. Like many of her Jewish-American peers, she landed at Ben-Gurion Airport this summer with the aim of learning more about her heritage and identifying with her embattled people. Her

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159950256568763622006-10-04T03:20:00.000-05:002006-10-04T03:25:56.243-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, August 4, 2006)PITTSFIELD, Massachusetts - In 1892, when Theodor Herzl had yet to envision the Zionist movement, the exquisite sounds of baseball could already be heard at Wahconah Park. Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams and Satchel Paige are just a few of the baseball legends who played at this amiable stadium over the years. Wahconah Park is today the home of the Pittsfield Dukes

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159950002919625902006-10-04T03:18:00.000-05:002006-10-04T03:20:02.926-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, September 1, 2006)Over 400 people, including numerous members of the foreign press, filled the auditorium at the Jerusalem YMCA on Monday to hear a panel of journalists discuss coverage of the Lebanon War 2006. The event was sponsored by The Mideast Press Club, a project of Media Line, an American non-profit news agency.The panel of journalists included Abdelraouf Amout (

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159949823318800032006-10-04T03:15:00.000-05:002006-10-04T03:17:03.320-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, September 8, 2006)Dan Kurtzer, now in his mid-fifties, has achieved several prestigious appellations during his successful career. He was "Mr. Ambassador" in Egypt (1997-2001) and Israel (2001-2005), and is now "Professor Kurtzer" at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He says his children are proudest, however, of his

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159949689321596682006-10-04T03:09:00.000-05:002006-10-04T03:14:49.326-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, September 8, 2006)Tov shem meshemen tov ["A good name is better than fragrant oil," Ecclesiastes 7:1] Alex Weinreb recites a number of times during a conversation in his modest, sunlit office at the Modi'in Municipality this week. As deputy mayor of Modi'in, he hopes to make a good name for himself among the young city's nearly 70,000 residents and move up into the mayor's

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159948992286769282006-10-04T02:58:00.000-05:002006-10-04T03:03:12.290-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, March 24, 2006)Baruch Marzel, like his mentor Rabbi Meir Kahane, was born in America. But Kahane was nearly 40 years old before immigrating to Israel, while Marzel arrived in Jerusalem as a six-week-old infant and grew up in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood before setting out as a young teenager to help establish Jewish settlements in the West Bank.Kahane served one term in the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159948653349102142006-10-04T02:55:00.000-05:002006-10-04T02:57:33.353-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, March 24, 2006)Jonathan Danilowitz realizes that he has virtually no chance of being elected to the Knesset next week as the No. 7 candidate on the Shinui list, but he is determined to continue his political activity. “I’m committed to the concept of separation of religion and state as it is in the United States – civil marriage, civil divorce, no religious interference in

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159948520459265552006-10-04T02:53:00.000-05:002006-10-04T02:55:20.460-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, March 24, 2006)A stenciled graffiti message welcoming Americans to Jerusalem but admonishing them to speak Hebrew appeared in at least two spots in southern Jerusalem this week, including this bus stop on Ben Zakkai Street, where the Katamon neighborhood meets the German Colony.Most of the local residents questioned at the bus stop yesterday said they had no idea what the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159948405719992932006-10-04T02:51:00.000-05:002006-10-04T02:53:25.720-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, March 31, 2006)Jan Jaben-Eilon only lived for about two years in Israel, but she takes her Israeli citizenship very seriously. This week, as in the 2001 and 2003 elections, she made a special trip to Israel to cast her vote.Jaben-Eilon, 53, is originally from Kansas City, Missouri and made aliyah in 1996. A year later, she married a former Israeli diplomat, Joab Eilon, who

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159948279464888772006-10-04T02:49:00.000-05:002006-10-04T02:51:19.470-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, March 31, 2006)Adam Budzanowski left his home in Toronto last December to serve in the Gaza Strip as country director for an Altanta-based assistance organization, JumpStart International. Last week, he was held for 33 hours as the captive of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, part of the spree of kidnappings triggered by Israel’s raid on the Jericho prison.

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159948139144757192006-10-04T02:46:00.000-05:002006-10-04T02:48:59.156-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, April 7, 2006)Jews have lived for centuries as minority communities around the world, perhaps most successfully in the United States. Yet, American Jews have made relatively little effort to engage their country’s largest minority community – Latin Americans. As part of an attempt to foster this engagement and forge a strategic partnership between the Jewish and Latino

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159896918886610382006-10-03T12:32:00.000-05:002006-10-03T12:35:18.890-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, April 21, 2006)Walk into any Israeli human rights organization and you are likely to find immigrants from the U.S. and other Western countries. In many cases, this reflects the values that impelled these individuals to immigrate to Israel in the first place, suggests Elihau Abram, the legal director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), who came to

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159896722268601752006-10-03T12:28:00.000-05:002006-10-03T12:32:02.270-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, April 21)Professor Julia Polak, a London-based medical pioneer whose personal story inspired a novel and play by best-selling author Rosemary Friedman, says her meetings with researchers and scientists in Israel this week have been “unbelievable, exceeding my expectations.” Her itinerary includes the Technion, Hadassah, Ben-Gurion University and Hebrew University.Born in

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159896509935298132006-10-03T12:26:00.000-05:002006-10-03T12:28:29.940-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, April 21, 2006)A German soldier in Nazi uniform strolls in the park hand-in-hand with his Jewish grandmother, the yellow “Jude” star on her coat. A Nazi officer is dispatched by the German high command to rescue the Lubavitch rebbe. These are two of the surrealistic examples Larry Price cites to illustrate the complex reality in Nazi Germany for Mischlinge – the Nazi term

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159895360873258972006-10-03T12:07:00.000-05:002006-10-03T12:09:20.876-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, April 21, 2006)The United States-Israel Educational Foundation (USIEF), in conjunction with several other binational organizations, will convene a symposium at Kibbutz Ma’ale Hahamisha next week (April 23-24) to discuss “The State of U.S.-Israel Scientific and Technological Cooperation.” The symposium is one of a series of events celebrating the 50th anniversary of the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159895236240580392006-10-03T12:04:00.000-05:002006-10-03T12:07:16.243-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, April 28, 2006)South Africa marked its12th Freedom Day yesterday, but the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv started celebrating this anniversary of democracy one day early: On Wednesday, the embassy hosted the first South Africa Golf Day at the Caesarea Golf Club. Over 100 golfers participated in the event, including many former South Africans living in Israel, as well as

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159895045584713572006-10-03T12:01:00.000-05:002006-10-03T12:04:05.586-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, May 5, 2006)IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz launched the annual Flag Salute to the Fallen Soldier on Sunday by planting a small flag by the grave of First Sergeant Yosef Goodman, the latest soldier to be buried on Mount Herzl. In describing the IDF’s effort to bring a flag to the gravesite of every fallen soldier prior to Memorial Day, Halutz quoted poet Yehuda Amihai: “We

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159894876371303512006-10-03T11:57:00.000-05:002006-10-03T12:25:42.736-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, May 5, 2006)When Elizabeth Sime, CARE’s country director for the West Bank and Gaza, shows her New Zealand passport at an IDF checkpoint, she can sometimes see the young soldiers envisioning their post-army travels: “I can just see them all going dreamy.” And then they often ask her: “Why are you here?” It is a good question, Sime admits.Sime, 58, a mother of four grown

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159887345294803282006-10-03T09:53:00.000-05:002006-10-03T09:55:45.300-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, May 12, 2006)Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley concluded a five-day tour of Israel on Sunday at the Tel Aviv office of the country’s most famous statesman, Shimon Peres. However, throughout his visit, the mayor made a point of avoiding comment on the sticky issues of Mideast statecraft and focused instead on the matters most relevant to his own municipal purview in the heart

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1159887206307444872006-10-03T09:42:00.000-05:002006-10-03T09:53:26.320-05:00

(Published in Haaretz. May 19, 2006)About 125 Yeshiva University (YU) alumni and friends gathered at the school’s Jerusalem campus on Monday for a nostalgic evening with “The YU Dream Team of the 1950s” – six former basketball players from New York City who later immigrated to Israel. The aging athletes, several of them now walking with canes, reminisced about playing at YU and their earlier days

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156665805010427402006-09-27T02:59:00.000-05:002011-02-26T16:04:21.731-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, July 14, 2006) The Jerusalem Film Festival this week featured two films highlighting efforts by Israelis and Palestinians to foster understanding and reconciliation between the two peoples. An all-women team of young filmmakers produced "Encounter Point," a powerful 90-minute feature documentary that portrays regular Israelis and Palestinians who have channeled the pain of

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156664520582435112006-09-18T02:40:00.000-05:002011-02-26T16:07:32.806-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, August 18, 2006) Around 9 PM on Wednesday night, a mini-van pulled into the Nahalat Yehuda Youth Village, located in a quiet neighborhood in Rishon Lezion. The world's most famous magician and stuntman, David Blaine, emerged from the backseat, looking tired after a long day of barnstorming in northern Israel. A few minutes later, Blaine – who has performed before world

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158526054297956652006-09-17T15:39:00.000-05:002006-10-03T09:41:40.406-05:00

(Written for Jerusalem Post, November 2004)Molotov cocktails crashed against the Tiferet Zion synagogue earlier this month in Ramle, one of the few mixed (Jewish-Arab) cities in Israel. No one was at the synagogue at the time and only minor damage resulted. Local residents were quick to call this incident an anomaly and described Arab-Jewish relations in the city as generally good – though

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158523851195965552006-09-17T15:04:00.000-05:002006-09-17T15:10:51.196-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, March 17, 2006)Tzvia Greenfield, No. 6 on Meretz’s Knesset list, was born and raised in an ultra-Orthodox setting in Jerusalem – not exactly a breeding ground for candidates of a left-wing party that advocates the separation of religion and state. But at age 19, she spent a year teaching Hebrew in New York and traveling coast-to-coast in the United States. It was an

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158523272322630062006-09-17T14:57:00.000-05:002006-09-17T15:01:12.323-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, March 10, 2006)The Ruppin Academic Center inaugurated a sculpture garden this week aimed at providing exposure for the work of immigrant (olim) artists. Professor Shoshana Arad, the president of the college, noted at the inauguration ceremony that the sculpture garden is an “inseparable” part of Ruppin’s Institute for Immigration & Integration, established last year.The

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158523031770786732006-09-17T14:42:00.000-05:002006-09-17T14:57:12.373-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, March 3, 2006)Let’s say you are twenty-something, just starting your career, still paying off your student loans and saving for your first home. You are certainly not in a position to contribute much to philanthropic causes. But what if someone were to say to you: “Don’t give us anything now, just promise that when you make your first million shekels, you’ll donate 5,000-

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158522133100756422006-09-17T14:36:00.000-05:002006-09-17T15:38:41.660-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, February 24, 2006)"What about your idea of opening a coffee shop?" Dov Goldfarb asked David Klein one evening in 1997. Goldfarb, originally from New York, and Klein, who grew up in Maryland, had both recently left Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava, where they met. "Apparently, I had spent a lot of time talking about a coffee shop, but had no recollection of it whatsoever," Klein

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158521729036157442006-09-17T14:26:00.000-05:002006-09-17T14:35:29.050-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, February 17, 2006)It was Ivy League night at the Premier League: A contingent of about 40 Yale alumni crowded into the sports auditorium in Rishon Letzion on Sunday to cheer for Matt Minoff, a former Yale basketball captain, now wearing the orange colors of Maccabi Rishon. In his second year as a professional player in Israel, Minoff has become a key member of the feisty

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158494358640769982006-09-17T06:55:00.000-05:002006-09-17T06:59:18.643-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, February 17, 2006)A young man called Bob arrived at Kibbutz Zikim several days after the outbreak of the Six-Day War as part of a "very nice, but very rambunctious" group of 24 English volunteers, recalls Edna Caplan, 72, a former Londoner who had settled on the kibbutz a decade earlier and "adopted" Bob during his stay.Thirty-five years later, in 2002, Caplan received a

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158493481486792442006-09-17T06:41:00.000-05:002006-09-17T06:44:41.490-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, February 17, 2006)Twenty-five young Jewish professionals from around the world gathered at Jerusalem’s Inbal Hotel this week to discuss how to envision and conduct Jewish diplomacy in the 21st century, locally and globally. The two-day seminar was part of the World Jewish Congress’ Future Generations initiative, aimed at fostering a “successor generation” to take the reins

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158493021185644492006-09-17T06:35:00.000-05:002006-09-17T06:54:22.106-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, February 3, 2006)Two very different immigrant communities – Anglos and Ethiopians – gathered Saturday night at the Feigenson synagogue in Beit Shemesh for an “Ethiopian Ethnic Evening,” which featured a musical performance by the Ethiopian ensemble Tizita (“Longings” in Amharic) and helpings of Ethiopian-style injera (a pancake-like bread). The Feigenson synagogue straddles

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158492447771165762006-09-17T06:26:00.000-05:002006-09-17T06:34:28.030-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, February 3, 2006)Palestinian Americans living in the Ramallah area expressed cautious optimism this week, despite the ascendance of an Islamic party denounced as a terrorist organization by the United States. None of the highly educated and successful Palestinian-Americans who spoke with Anglo File were even considering a move back to America, and all voiced a commitment to

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1158488927042265712006-09-17T05:27:00.000-05:002006-09-17T05:28:47.056-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, January 13, 2006)In a ceremony Tuesday night at the Jerusalem Municipality, environmentalist Alon Tal received the second annual Charles Bronfman Prize, a $100,000 award recognizing humanitarian work that has contributed significantly to the world and enriched Jewish life. Tal, 45, was chosen from among 80 international candidates by a team of judges including former World

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156662045860361022006-09-11T01:58:00.000-05:002011-02-26T16:16:54.029-05:00

In recent years, a number of private equity funds have begun operating in Israel and several venture-oriented funds are beginning to shift their emphasis toward private equity investments. This article will attempt to map the private equity market in Israel, based largely on conversations with fund managers, some of whom preferred to speak with the Israel Venture Capital Journal “off the record.”

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156661512887198422006-09-02T01:46:00.000-05:002011-02-26T16:10:59.107-05:00

(Published in Israel Venture Capital Journal, June 2006) “If I was 25 again and I was setting up a career in the private sector, not as a public servant, I would go into clean energy,” Bill Clinton told an audience in Scotland last month. “I would be a billionaire before you could turn around.” Indeed, with spiraling fuel prices and dire environmental phenomena, investing in clean energy and

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156665209157247772006-09-01T02:52:00.000-05:002011-02-26T16:06:39.640-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, August 25, 2006) The Israel Baseball League, which plans to field six professional teams in its inaugural season next summer, held its first tryouts this week. The unlikely venue for these tryouts – the hilltown of Hinsdale, Massachusetts (population 1,900) – was selected because it is the site of the Dan Duquette Sports Academy. Duquette, the former general manager of the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156677866709944402006-08-27T06:23:00.000-05:002006-08-27T06:24:26.713-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - May 19, 2006)Visit the “Talkback” sections of any Israel-related Internet site and you are likely to encounter Shalom Freedman’s name. Or browse the book reviews on Amazon.com and you might arrive at one of the more than 2,400 postings by this Jerusalem-based writer. Anglo File set out to discover what drives this ubiquitous man.Shalom Freedman was born up in Troy, New

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156677777685716902006-08-27T06:21:00.000-05:002006-11-11T05:01:11.403-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - May 26, 2006)Opening Day for Israel’s professional baseball league is June 22, 2007. Game time is 1 PM. The only thing that remains is to find a place to play, and recruit 120 professional-class players to man the league’s six-team roster for a 48-game season. “You have no players, no stadiums and no fans – other than that you have every ingredient that you need,”

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156677673404867152006-08-27T06:19:00.000-05:002006-08-27T06:21:13.410-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - May 26, 2006) The Hebrew Israelite community in Dimona marked the 39th anniversary of its “exodus” from the United States this week with a two-day “New World Passover” celebration. Hundreds of guests – including a number of foreign delegations – joined over 1,000 local participants in the festivities, which culminated last night with performances by two members of the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156677543972920632006-08-27T06:16:00.000-05:002006-08-27T06:19:03.976-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 1, 2006)“Be alive as long as you live!” Dr. Reuven Bruner urges in every email he sends with his “Fitness Tip of the Day from the Holy Land.” In Bruner’s case, being alive has included boxing for Canada’s Olympic team, working out with a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, and running 336 miles in two days in Australia. Along the way, he has also studied law,

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156677382271141762006-08-27T06:14:00.000-05:002006-08-27T06:16:22.276-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 1, 2006)In a press conference in Jerusalem this week, actor and horseman William Shatner, best known for playing Captain Kirk in Star Trek, announced a $10 million campaign in partnership with the Jewish National Fund to support therapeutic riding programs in Israel. In addition to providing funding and scholarships for the nearly 30 therapeutic riding programs

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156677270905955612006-08-27T06:13:00.000-05:002006-08-27T06:14:30.910-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 9, 2006)Steven Plaut, an economist at Haifa University's Graduate School of Business Administration, calls Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion University's Department of Politics and Government a "fanatic anti-Semite" and a "Judenrat wannabe." Such statements overstep the bounds of free speech and constitute libel, Nazareth Magistrate's Court Judge Reem Naddaf ruled last week,

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156677186252359532006-08-27T06:10:00.000-05:002006-08-27T06:13:06.256-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 16, 2006)The biennial assembly of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) convened in Israel this week for the first time in its 28-year history. The assembly opened in Jerusalem on Wednesday night and will continue through Sunday. Many of the 70 American rabbinic and lay leaders attending the assembly will stay on for the World Zionist Congress next

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156677035785161332006-08-27T06:04:00.000-05:002006-08-27T06:10:35.790-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 22, 2006)The 35th Zionist Congress, which convened Monday night in Jerusalem, devoted the morning yesterday to the nitty-gritty of committee work, discussing over 100 resolutions aimed at revitalizing the movement Theodor Herzl founded in the 1890s.The 750 delegates split into eight different committees, fielding proposals ranging from structural changes in the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156675687520793562006-08-27T05:46:00.000-05:002006-08-27T05:48:07.523-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 23, 2006)As bloodshed continued in the Palestinian territories and Qassam rockets fell on Sderot last week, a very different type of Israel-Palestinian encounter was held in a quiet corner of Jerusalem. Several dozen Israelis, Palestinians and visitors from abroad gathered for a discussion of contemporary Palestinian and Israeli art as part of the Seeds Café program

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156675579524335872006-08-27T05:45:00.000-05:002006-08-27T05:48:31.423-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 23, 2006)For nearly thirty years, Phil Blazer has produced the Jewish Life television program, broadcast every Sunday in Los Angeles and other metropolitan areas in the United States. About six months ago, he decided America is ready for an around-the-clock Jewish television channel. On Monday evening at Tel Aviv's Hangar 11, he spoke to about 70 friends and

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156675502348618392006-08-27T05:43:00.000-05:002006-08-27T05:49:01.443-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 23, 2006)"Everybody understands now that the Reform movement is a part of Israel and the Zionist community," Rabbi Andrew Davids, the executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), declared yesterday as the 35th Zionist Congress was coming to a close. After convening ARZA's biennial assembly for the first time in Israel last week, and

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156674865397933912006-08-27T05:33:00.000-05:002006-08-27T05:49:44.923-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 30, 2006)The abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit near the Gaza border this week stirred "all of the old memories from the first days," says Yona Baumel, whose son Zachary has been missing since the battle of Sultan Yaaqub in Lebanon in June 1982. The government's response this week has also done nothing to dispel the anger he harbors toward Israel's political and

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156674795663311372006-08-27T05:31:00.000-05:002006-08-27T05:50:28.226-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 30, 2006)Professor Robert Solow, a pillar of the MIT Economics Department for decades and the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1987, delivered the keynote address at the Israel Democracy Institute's Caesarea Forum, which convened in Jerusalem last week. During his visit in Israel, Solow also participated in a two-day seminar held in honor of a former

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156674683905414312006-08-27T05:29:00.000-05:002006-08-27T05:51:53.173-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - August 18, 2006)At age 22, Dan Abramson was already managing a team of mathematicians and physicists analyzing the securities market for a Wall Street investment bank. But then "a little voice started speaking in my head," he says, recalling the course of events that led him to pursue a career in sport and move from Wall Street to Hashmonaim Street (in Tel Aviv), where he

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156673747744765772006-08-27T03:44:00.000-05:002006-08-27T05:51:33.626-05:00

(Published in Haaretz - June 30, 2006)After an intensive series of meetings and tours in Israel last week, a 25-member delegation from Americans for Peace Now (APN) left feeling less depressed and more confused about the current situation and prospects for the future, APN's founder Mark Rosenblum says. This confusion, he explains, is related to the internal power struggle in the Palestinian

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156667190793257472006-08-27T03:23:00.000-05:002006-08-27T03:26:30.796-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, July 7, 2006)Yitro Asheri, born as Clifford Gilbert Harris, sat shiva this week for his 18-year-old son Eliyahu, who was kidnapped and murdered last week in the West Bank. Yet the former Australian electrician says he has no regrets about converting to Judaism, moving to Israel and settling on a hillside in Samaria, in the settlement of Itamar."Nothing is by coincidence;

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156666833986275332006-08-27T03:19:00.000-05:002006-08-27T03:29:43.866-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, July 7, 2006) Two former major leaguers, Elliott Maddox and Bob Tufts, worked on baseball fundamentals with Israeli youngsters this week in Petah Tikva as part of a program sponsored by the Israel Baseball Association and the U.S.-based Israel Baseball League initiative, which aims to inaugurate a professional baseball league in Israel next summer.Maddox is well-known to

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156666523818848472006-08-27T03:07:00.000-05:002006-08-27T03:15:23.823-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, August 11, 2006)"Barrier: The Seam of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" by Isabel Kershner, 232 pages Palgrave Macmillan, $16Israelis call it the "fence." Palestinians refer to it as the "wall." Isabel Kershner set out to write a book portraying the human reality and historical context on both sides of the divide expressed in these semantics. Her publisher, Palgrave

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156664123728485302006-07-01T02:32:00.000-05:002011-02-26T16:19:46.099-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, July 21, 2006) SHARON, MASSACHUSETTS – A special El Al flight from New York brought 220 American “olim” [new immigrants] to Israel yesterday. The flight was the second of seven Jewish Agency/Nefesh B’Nefesh charters planned this summer, and the first to arrive since warfare erupted on Israel’s northern front. According to the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization, 20 prospective

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1156663658500522732006-07-01T02:15:00.000-05:002011-02-26T16:24:10.181-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, August 25, 2006) A group of 16 deaf Jewish adults from the United States, accompanied by a sign language interpreter and a specially trained tour guide, concluded a 10-day visit to Israel on Wednesday night. The trip was organized by the Jewish Deaf Singles Registry, part of the New York-based Our Way for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing organization, and included several

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-55932159496098677812005-11-11T06:20:00.000-05:002007-11-11T06:23:52.913-05:00

It’s not easy to raise polite children in Israel. The atmosphere in the classroom, on the road, in the political arena – is brash, loud and impatient. So I take great pride in the fact that my Israeli children often remember to say “please” and “thank you.” For example, just the other day my son told me, “Please get the hell out of my room” and “Thanks a lot for acting like such an idiot in front

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1093855776220221522004-08-30T03:48:00.000-05:002004-08-30T03:52:27.613-05:00

(Published on Haaretz Web site, June 2004) News from Lebanon on Monday suddenly interrupted the media's focus on the political aftershocks of the government's decision to approve an ambiguous version of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to disengage from some of the territories conquered in June 1967. It seems that some tremors from another important June in Israel's history - June 1982, when

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1093852836447684482004-08-30T02:47:00.000-05:002004-08-30T03:22:33.770-05:00

(Published on Haaretz Web site, June 20, 2004) The last several weeks in Israel have been relatively quiet on the security front. Stories about killer dogs and court battles between biological and adoptive parents are filling the headlines - almost like a normal country. Without horrific terror attacks splashed on the front pages, making the blood of Israelis boil, perhaps it's an opportune time

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1080541125655446252004-03-16T01:17:00.000-05:002004-08-30T03:30:18.920-05:00

You can’t say that Ariel Sharon lacks vision. He even has pince-nez glasses to sharpen his vision. (The spectacles, by the way, were named after Pince-Nez, a Labor Party prince now known as Pines-Paz.) Okay, Sharon’s vision for Lebanon didn’t work out so well, and he seems to be backtracking on his vision of Jewish settlement in the territories, but he’s now focusing on another grand plan that

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1076831783865885412004-02-15T02:56:00.000-05:002004-02-15T02:59:48.170-05:00

Nearly 22 years after his son Zecharia "went missing" in Lebanon with two of his IDF comrades, Yona Baumel is still hopeful that "Zak" is alive. Even this week, he was waiting to hear new information from a source in Syria and was expecting to meet with a "Mr. X" from the PLO. After years of disappointment from government and army officials, he has concluded - at least in his case - that the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1075116763497286712004-01-26T06:32:00.000-05:002004-04-29T03:52:37.716-05:00

It may seem obvious to note that a person’s basic view of mankind determines his or her political outlook. A column by Emunah Elon in "Yedioth Ahronoth" last week reminded me of this basic truth. The author, wife of right-wing Knesset member Benny Elon, complains in her column that Israelis are wrong to try to “attribute our own behavior and aspirations to the [Palestinian] enemy.” Her

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1074554519348348042004-01-19T18:21:00.000-05:002005-08-25T02:12:07.170-05:00

I don’t have much patience for modern art. (But then again, I don’t know a whole lot about art.) I like art that requires some real know-how and skills to produce, not the kind any second-grader can scribble. Dave Barry wrote in his column this week about the kind of artwork most people find hard to take seriously. A gallery person at an exhibit he saw in Miami Beach explained to Barry, for

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1072773656164764152003-12-26T03:39:00.000-05:002004-01-12T09:58:05.076-05:00

I had a weird dream the other night. I was at the Sharon’s Sycamore Ranch and Gilad Sharon arrived with seven fat sheep. His brother Omri followed with seven lean sheep, which attacked and devoured Gilad’s fat sheep. The next scene in the dream had a similar theme: an apple tree with luscious fruit was overtaken by a tree with worm-infested crabapples. I woke up puzzled by this dream. After all

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1071654497160656792003-12-17T04:48:00.000-05:002004-01-12T09:58:50.250-05:00

In 1971, as the United States was searching for an honorable exit from Vietnam, a decorated Vietnam War veteran appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and asked: “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” Though Israel is not the U.S., and the Gaza Strip is not Vietnam, a similar question nonetheless

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1070180375990753412003-11-30T03:19:00.000-05:002004-01-12T09:58:28.356-05:00

I don’t wish to boast, but I’ve worked out a solution to the conflict with the Palestinians. Everyone else in Israel has already presented a peace plan during the past weeks, but I think you’ll agree that mine is the real thing. Yossi Beilin and Ami Ayalon, with the Labor Party in tow, talk about a two-state solution based on the ’67 borders, a division of Jerusalem along demographic lines and

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1073980181974253452003-11-28T09:39:00.000-05:002004-01-13T02:59:10.873-05:00

(Published in Haaretz November 2003) Daoud Nassar and Shaul Goldstein both speak eloquently about the need for co-existence and understanding between Israelis and Arabs. But both are also adamant about their rival claims to a tranquil hill bordering the Neve Daniel settlement in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, just south of Jerusalem. Nassar, 32, is one of nine children who share a

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1069145013479875172003-11-17T03:43:00.000-05:002004-01-08T04:34:37.246-05:00

Slowly, and not surely, things are starting to change in Israel. It’s difficult to identify exactly when and where this change began to take shape. But some of the conventional wisdom regarding Israel’s policies in the territories seems to be undergoing a gradual process of erosion in recent months. No single event dramatically initiated this shift in direction. There has certainly been nothing

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1067113455523920612003-10-25T15:24:00.000-05:002004-01-08T04:36:15.436-05:00

I was particularly devastated to hear about the killing of three soldiers on Friday in the Gaza Strip. Of course, I was very sad the previous week when three soldiers were killed in the West Bank, near Ofra. But the lastest incident somehow made a greater impact. One of the reasons was the location: Netzarim. This is an isolated settlement in the middle of the Gaza Strip, just south of Gaza City

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1066831941341641472003-10-22T09:12:00.000-05:002004-01-11T06:41:11.123-05:00

There are many expressions in everyday use that don’t really fit. The baseball championships now being played between two teams from New York and Miami cannot really be considered a “World” Series without including teams from Japan and other countries. Or, to take a less benign example, the leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, is regularly called the “spiritual” head of this militant Islamic

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1066831583834897812003-10-20T08:57:00.000-05:002004-01-11T06:42:09.716-05:00

The rains came early this year for the Red Sox nation in Israel. Even before the traditional prayer for rain at the conclusion of the Succoth holiday week, the skies opened in Boston, postponing Game 4 of the American League Championship Series against the Evil Empire. Not only did this allow the Red Sox a fortuitous shift in their pitching lineup, it also allowed the team's faithful in Israel to

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1067211809609676372003-10-13T17:40:00.000-05:002004-01-11T06:43:28.280-05:00

Yossi Beilin is an anathema to some Israelis, who recoil at the mere mention of his name. As deputy foreign minister in Yitzhak Rabin’s government in the early 1990s, he was the initial patron of the discussions in Norway that led to the Oslo accords. Beilin sent two Israeli academics – Yair Hirshfeld and Ron Pundak – to begin talking with PLO representatives without informing his boss,

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1066832305669049412003-10-07T18:08:00.000-05:002004-01-11T06:44:14.983-05:00

For those of you who have been hiding in a cave for the past 85 years, here is what you have not missed: a World Series championship by the Red Sox or Cubs. But if you have been in remote contact with reality during the past nine decades, you may be sick and tired of hearing about the long drought of these two teams. Sports Illustrated's Phil Taylor writes that he is desperately rooting for the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1066904197883393342003-10-06T05:13:00.000-05:002004-01-11T06:45:18.403-05:00

(The following was written about 18 months ago, but - unfortunately - not much has changed and the message still rings true.) Israel celebrated its 54th Independence Day this week in a subdued and somber mood. The high hopes of only two years ago - when an “end to the conflict” appeared attainable, the economy was still riding the high-tech boom and international ostracism of Israel seemed a

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1073925961755853712003-10-01T10:45:00.000-05:002004-08-30T03:43:18.740-05:00

(Published in Haaretz October 2002) Some guys have several loves. For me, it has always been baseball. I’ve known the thrills of sinking a long jump-shot and completing a touchdown pass, and the exhilarating high of racing down the wooded edges of a precipitous ski trail and making a bruising tackle on the rugby pitch. But nothing compares to the feel (and sound) of the wooden bat meeting the

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1073981042882333112003-10-01T08:57:00.000-05:002004-01-13T03:18:45.903-05:00

(Published in Haaretz October 2001) Anyone with a love for baseball has to appreciate the smooth brilliance of Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Bernie Williams, the determined grit of Roger Clemens and Paul O'Neill, and the calm presence of Joe Torre - but it's still okay to hate the New York Yankees. The Yankees will be making their 38th appearance in the Fall Classic tomorrow, after knocking

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1073975357826909542003-10-01T07:24:00.000-05:002004-01-13T02:28:25.733-05:00

(Published in Haaretz May 2002) Twenty-five years ago, Hillel Halkin published “Letters to an American Jewish Friend: A Zionist’s Polemic.” In a conversation with Ha’aretz, Halkin says he still agrees with 95 percent of the case he presented, but that the fervor, anger and hope that compelled him to write this book have faded over the past two and a half decades. The argument in Halkin’s book

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1073977740229102782003-10-01T01:05:00.000-05:002004-01-13T02:37:41.513-05:00

(Published in Haaretz March 2002) Noah Salameh, a veteran of Israeli prisons and American universities, tells an Israeli audience that he still believes the “silent majority” of Israelis and Palestinians oppose violence The news reports could barely keep pace with the rapid succession of Palestinian attacks on Tuesday, stretching from Afula to Sderot. In this context, the program scheduled at

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1073975904234452672003-10-01T00:38:00.000-05:002004-01-13T02:41:46.543-05:00

(Published in Haaretz April 2002) A Boston Globe journalist talks about being shot on duty During his two weeks covering the latest escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Anthony Shadid, a Washington-based reporter for the Boston Globe, filed a number of stories about Yasser Arafat, the impact of the checkpoints in the territories, and the suicide attacks in Israel. But he became most

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5777876.post-1128937208103402842001-11-02T05:20:00.000-05:002005-10-10T04:42:11.176-05:00

(Published in Haaretz, Nov. 2, 2001)It was almost enough to restore one's faith in cosmic justice. The dynastic New York Yankees were humbled in Arizona, held to six hits in the first two World Series games by the Diamondbacks' dynamic duo - Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson. The series moved to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, with the Bronx Bombers trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven competition. In a

Irahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612483963932879200noreply@blogger.com