Archive
Forget Iran. Forget Hizballah. Forget Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Brigade, rogue terrorists and anyone else. Forget Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the rest of the Arab world. Forget 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973. Forget Lebanons I and II. Forget the Intifadas. Forget Cast Lead It started with protesting. The yelling, marching […]
Stories from Israel’s nationalized system
And so, it finally happened. The “esteemed” Human Rights Watch has finally declared Hamas’s actions during Operation Cast Lead as war crimes. The question is, why has it taken them four months to come to the same conclusion that I, a mere citizen was able to come to five months ago.  I am not singing my […]
The New York Times’ Freakonomics column reported today on a new ad campaign in Brazil being run by SOS Mata Atlantica, an environmental organization imploring Brazilians to pee in the shower in order to flush the toilet less often. The cartoon ad features a variety of animated silhouettes urinating in the shower while the voices […]
Have you been here? I have a classmate at Brandeis who has. She’s originally from Bangladesh but now resides in the Netherlands. She’s not Jewish. She chose to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau after her high school history teacher sparked her curiosity in the famous exhibit of victims’ shoes in the Auschwitz museum. This summer, she had the […]
My last night in Amman I called my mother in the States as I slowly wandered down the main road in the Tla Al’alia region where I live and searched for an empty taxi for the final ride to a friend’s. Amid the bustle of honking horns and blaring radios, I reviewed with her the […]
As I tried to look at my evolving haircut in the mirror my eyes turned to the numerous certificates, letters of recognition and even a diploma touting the qualifications of the man who was now trimming my hair, a bonafide barber’s apprentice, according to New York State. I don’t know whether I’ve ever gotten a […]
Even though I love Israel (and surprise, surprise, Israelis) and can’t imagine living anywhere else in the world, there is one thing I would change about Israeli society in a heartbeat, if I could. To be sure, there are actually several things I would change, but none as urgently as the Israeli mentality of “magee’a […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about the impending schism in Orthodox Judaism in America. I’ll be perfectly honest and tell you flat out I’m pro-schism: Whether the moguls of the Orthodox world like it or not, it’s coming, and personally, I’d like to help bring it on. Where to start? Easy: the National Council of […]
As borders and peoples began to settle following the formal creation of Israel, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) in collaboration with the Jordanian government established in 1952 the Jabal el-Hussien Palestinian refugee camp North West of Amman. Now, over fifty years later, the Jabal el-Hussien refugee camp has significantly grown and become […]