It’s been a heavy couple of weeks on the Jewish calendar – Passover, Yom Hashoa, Israel’s Memorial Day, and of course the 60th Independence Day celebration (we’re not going to forget that one anytime soon!). From Passover, with its celebration of ancient traditions to Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the nation’s modern-day tremendum, to this week’s reflection on the sacrifices made by our soldiers and the showcasing of how far we’ve come in a mere six decades, we’ve reviewed and at least partially experienced thousands of years of Jewish life. It …

Okay, so maybe Israelis haven’t quite gotten down the concept of “line” as we Westerners understand it, and maybe they speak at a decibel level far above what the human ear can tolerate – at a mile (sorry, kilometer!) – a minute. But they have their good points: As a group, Israelis are very honest. How do I know? All it takes is a few minutes of surfing around the new Israeli lost and found site, Ebood (http://www.ebood.co.il). If you’ve lost something, don’t give up; Ebood is a …

Kermit the frog was right It’s not easy being green – a greenhorn, that is. It’s an old-fashioned kind of word, what they used to call European immigrants to the New World 100 or so years ago. But guess what – history is repeating itself! Don’t believe me? Just listen to your kids having a mile-a-minute (sorry, kilometer a minute!) conversation in Hebrew with their Israeli friends, and see how much of it you can follow! A greenhorn, of course, is a clueless newcomer. And while many of …

If you’ve got a couple of days off for chol hamo’ed, someone in your clan may have broached the idea of taking a road trip to an outdoor site – a national park up north or an out of the way beach, say. Sounds like a good idea – and an opportunity to get one more tiyul in before the onset of winter.
But the idea of taking the family out for a long drive raises some provocative questions: how to keep the kids quiet, what face to make at the …