Shalom Life

Among the most beautiful synagogues I’ve had the pleasure to spend Shabbos (taken on a Sunday, of course).

Great floods yesterday in the Negev! I took this photo above Paran canyon on my way to Eilat.

The Jewelry of Jewish Brides in Northern Yemen In northern Yemen, close to the border with Saudi Arabia, Jewish communities were scattered among remote towns and villages. Many of the Jews were silversmiths, and the silver jewelry they produced using the filigree and granulation techniques differed in style and motifs from that created in other parts of Yemen.

We usually think of historical fiction as storytelling that attempts to simulate the events and atmosphere of the past—but what if historical fiction recreated not the past itself, but the historian’s process of trying to put the past back together?

Winter in Tel Aviv

March welcomes the bougainvillea back to Israel. Warm, sunny days and cool nights make it common to see sunglass-wearing hipsters in parkas and flip flops.

Purim is in the air and the stores are stocked up on candy, Halloween-style. Costumes are for sale everywhere, with the long legs of superhero suits flapping in the wind as crammed-full racks are set up on the sidewalks of Dizengoff and Ben Yehuda streets for grown-up revelers. Since most schools are in session six days per week in Israel (can you imagine, you spoiled American kids?), almost every afternoon since the beginning of March has seen little ones in sombreros, tutus and capes gracing the streets with their back packs as they walk home with their friends.

And the babies? Wow, one cannot imagine the cuteness that peeks out of the strollers and the Baby Bjorns on the chests of the daddies in Tel Aviv. Since this place truly is a melting pot of Jews, Arabs and expats from all over the world, its babies are every color under the rainbow- white faces with kinky orange curls, dark skinned almond-eyed beauties, and everything in between. And it is rare to see a mom and dad together pushing the carriage. Usually it is a generational thing: mom and grandma chatting as they walk, or, even better, groups of young men having coffee at the outdoor cafés on the avenues, babies or toddlers in tow, laughing and taking their time to enjoy the day and each other.