I’m a complete sucker when it comes to Yom Ha’Atzmaut here in Israel. I always – and I mean always – cry at these performances. If you were here, you’d understand how out of place crying is – but I just don’t seem to be able to help it. Israel has an amazing tradition for… Read More When Fireworks Make You Cry

This small country of ours truly never stops amazing me. I knew that it was Yom HaShoah today – I sent one of my kids to school in blue and white with a yellow Jewish star that he’s going to put on later for a performance they are doing. And obviously it’s all over the… Read More Yom HaShoah 2008

For the last week, we’ve been waiting for Wednesday, Yom Yerushalayim, with a mixture of anticipation and sadness. The yishuv has been busy preparing a beautiful new park right by our son, Yehuda’s gan. This, however, is not just any park. It is a park being built to remember Yehuda’s best friend, Chanan Sivan who… Read More Gan Chanan – A Beautiful Park

For the last week, we’ve been waiting for Wednesday, Yom Yerushalayim, with a mixture of anticipation and sadness. The yishuv has been busy preparing a beautiful new park right by our son, Yehuda’s gan. This, however, is not just any park. It is a park being built to remember Yehuda’s best friend, Chanan Sivan who… Read More Gan Chanan – A Beautiful Park

I’ve never been so happy to do my laundry. I was sitting in the laundry room today, which looks over highway 60 and Efrat, and suddenly saw an army jeep. The road was completely empty of cars. It could only mean one thing – there was a problem on the road and the jeep was… Read More Happy To Do Laundry

Today is Yom HaShoa. The two-minute wail of the air raid sirens that brings the entire country to a halt just ended. As the first sounds of the siren pierced the silence of my office I immediately stood–silently by myself and my thoughts. My first thought was that I wished I was still driving to… Read More Yom HaShoa

Excerpted from Israel HighWay Staff March 29, 2007 As Passover approaches, Jewish families the world over are preparing to come together for the traditional Pesach seder commemorating the Jewish people’s Exodus from Egypt approximately 3300 years ago. While the Exodus is a universally known event, not that long ago there was another, less known, mass… Read More Jews in the Muslim World Today

Excerpted from Israel HighWay (March 22, 2007) Since September 13, 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed on the White House lawn, the notion of a Palestinian state has driven much of the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic discourse. Until the early 1990’s, the idea of establishing a Palestinian state next to Israel was anathema to much of… Read More A Palestinian State: Wither or Whither?

Excerpted from the Israel Highway (March 15, 2007) Israel Uncovered: Unusual Places to Visit in Israelby Israel HighWay Staff Everyone who comes to Israel knows that there are many incredible historic and important sites to see. The Western Wall, Masada, Caesarea and Yad Vashem are all well known and popular sites. But Israel also offers… Read More Israel Uncovered: Unusual Places to Visit in Israel

We had an amazing day yesterday filled with smachot (‘simchas’/happy occurrences/etc) which, again, brought our lives here into focus. The two smachot were on the opposite ends of the Israeli cultural spectrum, which made it all the more interesting. We started the day at a brit milah for our friends’ newborn son. Erez Yoseph Shai… Read More The Brit and the Wedding…