The Dog Jumps-הכלב קופץ » Israel

60 Years On!!!! Happy Birthday Israel

Nathan — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:08:46 +0000

As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart,

With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion,

Then our hope – the two-thousand-year-old hope – will not be lost:

To be a free people in our land,

The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

What else can you say?

Yom HaShoah

Nathan — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:20:20 +0000

Something remarkable about a moment of silence where a whole nation comes to a stop, gets out of their cars, and commemorates & remembers something as monumental as The Holocaust.

Anti-Bookite

Nathan — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:20:05 +0000

When you were a kid, you had a book fairs at your grade school. I am willing to bet money you did. Somehow I have a feeling that it was slightly different than the Paris Book Fair. Not only in the scope, but in the language, awards, and controversy:

Algeria, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, [...]

Israeli Animals

Nathan — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:00:07 +0000

As I talked about a few days ago, I have become a little obsessed with putting my photos on Panoramio and mapping them to Google Earth. It is kind of fun, I love maps and I love photos! A natural combination.

There is a feature on Panoramio where you can see “all” photos posted in [...]

Crossing Into Syria?

Nathan — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 06:32:27 +0000

Check this out : the position on a photo I took in Israel last year in Google Earth. Zoom in pretty close and notice this road goes right into the Alpha Line of the UNDOF, then back. If you look very closely there are these immense rock piles along the road forcing an intense zig-zag. [...]

100/35/60

Nathan — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:31:09 +0000

Israel is 60 this year, I am 35, and Tel-Aviv is about 100.

Yeah us!

Talmud Tidbit: Lowly Nations

Nathan — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:11:37 +0000

Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakki wept and said, “Fortunate are you, O Israel. When they do the will of the omnipresent, no nation or tongue can rule over them, but when they do not do the will of the omnipresent, he delivers them to the hands of a lowly nation. And not into the hands of [...]

Tzipi Livni at UN Rally

Nathan — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:11:03 +0000

Lunchtime today was a field trip to the UN to see the anti Amadingaling protest. I had a bit of the “Bangor, ME” kid come out in me as I was awed by the international political super starts that graced the stage. My co-worker and pal Eric said to me, “This is the UN, why [...]

Shakshuka!

Nathan — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 17:13:44 +0000

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I am not 100% certain of the origin of the magical dish known as shakshuka! I am told it means mixed up in Arabic and its prevalence in Israel has something to do with the influx of Jews from Arabs lands.

I am told it is made from roasted peppers of various kinds, tomatoes [...]

Back Home After Tel Aviv Whirlwind

Nathan — Sun, 13 May 2007 15:39:04 +0000

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Well, I am home. The last 12 hours in Tel Aviv were pretty amazing. We woke up after a night at TLV and found our way to lunch with Liana on Rothschild and then on to drinks and relaxing with Tomer @ Gavriel. Champagne and relaxing ends with a quick hail of a cab [...]

Run Don’t Walk…Forever TLV…Last Night B’Eretz

Nathan — Sun, 13 May 2007 11:31:16 +0000

There are a whole set of quotes that I have from an old schooler that I knew. One of them, ‘Run Don’t Walk’, was a serious favorite. It came to mind today as I listened to this new CD I got – and you will note this is the first time I have written about [...]

Tuesday Morning @ The Kotel

Nathan — Tue, 08 May 2007 17:23:33 +0000

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Return in compassion to Your city, Jerusalem, and rest within it as You have said. Rebuild it speedily, and in our days, a structure forever. And may You establish the throne of David within Jerusalem speedily. Blessed are You, Lord, the Builder of Jerusalem.

I woke up early to catch the shade of the [...]

Jerusalem Arrival

Nathan — Sun, 06 May 2007 19:14:06 +0000

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Our first day in Jerusalem was spent roaming around the Old City and the western areas. We walked a long way from our hotel to the Israeli Museum, only to find out it was closed. Yeah closed. I simply forgot it was Sunday. DUH! Thankfully the guys were not too irritated with me. We [...]

Beersheva…The Lives We’ve Led!

Nathan — Sun, 06 May 2007 13:00:00 +0000

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Our arrival in Beersheva, the capitol of the Negev, was greeted with lunch at a restaurant that featured such delicacies as spinal cord on a skewer and a miniature dissonance over the value of 7$ worth of food. After a cup of coffee and being regaled with the gossipy details of the personal lives [...]

Eilat Is Hot!!!

Nathan — Fri, 04 May 2007 10:01:08 +0000

Today Dan & Ant went to Petra. I am enjoying a cup of tea and coffee in the sun along the beach. I think it is 109 degrees here if my conversion is right. The thing is I don’t mind!!!! It feels like you put your face in front of an open oven. It is [...]

A Little Bit of History

Nathan — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:05:50 +0000

Doing the math, I was 4yrs old when this was on tv. I don’t care too much for Barbra Streisand, but it is a moving interview and a descent rendition of Hatikva!

Happy Birthday Israel!

Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori

Nathan — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 18:56:02 +0000

Ah…I am so glad to be classically educated. I feel badly for these kids today, no Latin, no great works of the Greeks and Romans. Yeah they know stuff about Zeus, but quote some Horace or Homer to them and they are lost.

Just this week I found myself mentioning certain legends of the Odyssey [...]

ארץ ישראל השלמה

Nathan — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 01:13:08 +0000

Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said: ‘Oh that I had wings like a dove! then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah

[...]

A. B. Yehoshua @ Dor Chadash

Nathan — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 03:24:55 +0000

The award winning Israeli author Alef Bet Yehoshua spoke at a Dor Chadash event about his current shtick. You might recall his semi-ill-thought-out comments castigating American Jews about this time last year.

Let me try to summarize, he started with 3 definitions…

Jew – The traditional and halachic definition is simply the child of a [...]

Israel ’07

Nathan — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 16:59:24 +0000

Here we go! There are all kinds of Israel tours but no one does it quite like we do…

Ramot in the Golan – 2 nights Manot in the upper Galil – 1 night Haifa – 1 night, thank you Bahá’u'lláh Dead Sea – 1 night (it is SOOOO boring there) Eilat – 4 nights [...]

Talmud Tidbit – 9th & 15th of Av & 17th of Tamuz

Nathan — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:06:17 +0000

Most know some of these, but they were delineated at the end of the last Tractate.

17th of Tamuz – 5 bad things:

Tablets were broken by Moses upon seeing the Golden Calf Tamid offering discontinued Jerusalem city wall was breached Roman military leader Apostumos burned the Torah in the temple He also placed and [...]

Thanks Egypt! You’re a Pal!

Nathan — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:32:13 +0000

I do not think I need to comment at all. This stands for itself.

Egyptian MP: Nothing will work with Israel except nuclear bomb – By The Associated Press

Israeli excavations near the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem sparked angry reactions on Monday from Egyptian parliament members, including one who said only a nuclear bomb could [...]

Umm Kulthum-أم كلثوم

Nathan — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:35:33 +0000

I admit I know almost nothing about Arabs and the Arab world. My perspective is unrecoverably linked to the Israeli-Terrorist conflict, 9/11 and beyond. My interactions with Arabs have been limited either “westernized” ones and pleasant or in Israel and Jordan where they were not unpleasant but not exactly feel-good either.

In realizing that a [...]

Kind Of Nice To Be Right

Nathan — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 20:25:08 +0000

But it kind of sucks too. I just did a quick lunchtime read of the The Iraq Study Report and the situation is not looking too good for Iraq. I wish I could say I was amused, even sarcastically bemused, at the smug sense I get while reading. Everything those of us on my side [...]

Is This Anti-Jew or Anti-Israel

Nathan — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 19:32:08 +0000

This on the wire:

UN criticizes Israel for Golan Heights annexation Human Rights Council passes two resolutions criticizing Israel, but keeps its record intact of singling out no other country for human rights abuses

Hmmm, what do you think? 6 months in existence and the first thing this tribunal takes on is Israel? Not China, [...]