I love blues. The music that is. I can listen to long programs playing this genre. Friends of mine love different kinds of art: Some like to visit the theater, others do sculpting. There are even those who go to the opera, god forbid. There is one thing in common with all of the above. […]

In February 1999 there was a big ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstration against the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) people demonstrated against the court’s recent decisions, which they seemed to dislike. In a nearby park, a much smaller demonstration was spontaneously formed, of non-religious people who protested against this mass […]

New Year’s Eve is named “Sylvester’s Day” in some countries, Israel included. The reason has to do with Pope Sylvester I who presumably died in December 31, almost two millennia ago. According to one legend, it appears that Mr. Sylvester was not so kind to the Jews. The contemporary outcome is a major ban by […]

For tens of millions of years the Tethys Ocean covered the reef and its neighbors. “Cretaceous” – this is how we use to name this era. Millions of generations of dinosaurs roamed the distances somewhere, and even more generations of old crabs and shellfish were born, lived and died in the reef. Millions of grandfathers […]

Yesterday I saw a movie about Ireland in the beginning of the previous century (“Jimmy’s Hall”, recommended). True it had also some political contents, left-right and all that, but lots of religious stuff. You’re “evil” if you’re “anti-Christ”. You’re banned from society if you don’t believe Jesus is the son of God. The beginning of […]

The situation: A weekly meeting, in which employees of a certain Israeli company help small children – sons and daughters of Ethiopian Jews who recently immigrated to Israel – in preparing their school homework. Innocent kids. Still do not know Hebrew properly. They certainly do not know biology or astronomy. Even don’t know the difference […]

A hypothetical situation: I am going downstairs to throw away the garbage. The alarm siren is heard again. A Hamas rocket hits the apartment upstairs. I am saved – I wasn’t in the apartment. Now, should I thank God? (Alternatively, should I thank my good luck?) Here are two different reasons for why not: Firstly, […]

This one really pissed me off. All this talks about the “Chosen People” always makes me feel uncomfortable. I am a Jew but I am not “chosen” in any way. Either I am the only person aboard (and all the rest are products of my imagination, a la Descartes) or everyone else is similarly “chosen”. […]

Last Saturday, while walking in some known Israeli town, I couldn’t help noticing the renowned pattern of an El Al plane passing above in the sky. An El Al airplane? On Saturday? For a moment I thought the Messiah was already here, and then I remembered the old airline trick of “On Tuesday my name […]

About six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. The ‘Shoa’ – as it is called in Hebrew – is a true terrible historical event which we all know. Many of the survivors still live among us, some carry on their skin the mark of the death camps. There is plenty of documentation in the […]