The Startup Nation of today didnât succeed in every venture, and a recent film release shares such a failure. The documentary shares about Susita, an Israeli-made automobile from the 1960s. The venture was founded by Yitzchak Shubinksy, who excelled in business and lacked integrity, yet brought the first manufactured cars to Israel. Importing British parts,… […]
I was only 24 when I met her, and it had been love at first sight. It took only a decade to know that I needed to get as far away as possible. She had swooped me up inside her bubble, catching me in her fervent frequency, inspiring me with her limitless energy, also tumbling… […]
Known for its tried and true fried balls of chickpeas, a new volunteer initiative is turning the Israeli flagship dish into a fundraising effort. It started when Yaron Karmi, an Israeli falafel stand owner, was spotted on the news just as the economy was locking down due to COVID-19. He wore his heart on his… […]
As our calendar once again lands on Passover and we tell the story of Exodus for the over three thousandth time, it’s quite ironic that we are trapped inside our homes. With the modern-day plague called COVID, we can recognize the universally deep shift taking place. Systems are crashing down like the blood, frogs, and… […]
Despite the public health crisis sending ripples around the globe, one human priority remains â the deep-seated need for love and connection. Yet relationship statuses around the world are being challenged, redefined, and literally, confined. With much of the world in quarantine or self-isolation, the most basic questions surface. For the single, how will we… […]
Imagine working a long shift in the hospital, focused on saving lives, anxiety-ridden with every new walk-in. Yet the next walk-in is a special delivery, a tray of fresh baked muffins, a hot pizza delivery, or homemade stew, accompanied by a family full of thank you cards. With tireless teams of medical professionals on the… […]
Rachel Gemara, 32, made Aliyah in 2006 from Toronto, Canada, and has been a resident of Jerusalem ever since. Trained as an oncology nurse, she has been working at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center for the past decade; yet since the global pandemic spread to Israel, she has found herself on the front lines of… […]
With about 75,000 citizens in quarantine, and the rest under lockdown, there has been an overload of new online communities popping up. Due to social distancing, being social these days means tuning in to the dozens of online classes, livestreams, zoom meetings, and other scroll-worthy offerings. One Israeli group which translated âIsolatedâ, with its admin… […]
I could feel the nerves running through my veins. Welcome to Egypt. It was my first time crossing the border since moving to Israel in 2010. I had heard that Israelis adored Sinai, yet the rumors quickly shifted in 2011 after an uptick of violence, spurred by terrorists whose aim was to create destruction of… […]
In honor of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, hundreds of photographers have volunteered their time and talent to capture who is the final generation of Holocaust survivors. The Lonka Project gathered 250 photographers from over 25 countries, and sent them to capture various perspectives of the lives of remaining Holocaust survivors. The… […]
Coming from a culturally structured Switzerland, Benjamin Merzbacher was surprised once he landed an internship in Israelâs hi-tech, and highly adaptable, startup scene. Merzbacher had visited Israel with his family many times, yet was pulled to explore what life in Israel is actually like. More importantly, he wanted the inside scoop on how Israel was… […]
âWhy would you move to a country where there are bombs going off all the time?â This response was quickly fired from my friend, when I told him almost a decade ago that I would be moving from our beloved Atlantic City boards of New Jersey, to another state, called Israel. I didnât know how… […]
âWhy would you move to a country where there are bombs going off all the time?â This response was quickly fired from my friend, when I told him almost a decade ago that I would be moving from our beloved Atlantic City boards of New Jersey, to another state, called Israel. I didnât know how… […]
From our family to yours, we wish you a sweet new year! How has another year gone by? I could have sworn I just downed a tub of apples and honey and blew into a ramâs horn. It feels like mere minutes ago that I repented, atoned and journaled my way into the Book of… […]
Fear of snakes is widespread amidst the human population, and snakes often get characterized as scary and evil. After a snake expedition into the Israeli desert with two herpetologists, or people who study reptiles, it could be time to retell the snake story. According to André Stehlin, a herpetologist from Switzerland visiting Israel, snakes are… […]
Avid window collector, artist and lover of Jerusalem, the late Yoram Amir left his most transparent legacy in the center of the city. In collaboration with artistic duo, Lior Peleg and Itamar Faluja, the house of window panes is made out of 550 various windows, collected by Amir throughout the years, from street finds in… […]
As the Mediterranean sun sits closer on the shores of Israel, the country starts to swarm with its annual array of summer plagues. The plagues do not discriminate, and are felt by the people, no matter their background, language, age, or religion. The plagues are the signal that temperatures are on the rise, ready to… […]
Thousands of English-speaking immigrants move to Israel annually, and with its complex and layered language, it can be challenging to find a way to communicate and connect. About five years ago, when Guy Seemann was approached with the promise of an empty and almost unused theater, Beit Yad Labanim, he decided to listen to his… […]
As I stand on Ben Yehuda, a busy main street parallel to the beach in Tel Aviv, I wave down a yellow taxi â not the New York kind â but what Israelis call a âmonit sherutâ, or shared taxi. The sherut is an alternative to taking the bus, as it often runs along the… […]
âWhy did you just punch me in the face?â he asked. âI didnât punch you,â I responded. âI fist bumped you. Ehm, is that just a Jersey thing?â It was only the beginning of our blossoming text message conversation, and I quickly learned that for the majority of Israeli men, the fist emoji is a… […]
