Jews

Chicken Shnitzel

י"ז בכסלו ה'תש"ע (December 4, 2009) Aliyah

Read it and weep, people. Here I am in The Atlantic, holding forth on one of my favorite topics: chicken shnitzel. My contention is, and has been on many occasions, that chicken shnitzel is the authentic Israeli cuisine because it is the only notable dish invented by Jews in Israel that’s culturally accessible to all [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

Seeking Bruce Smith

י"ט באייר ה'תשס"ט (May 13, 2009) America

Not the football star who retired with my beloved Redskins! The Bruce Smith I want to find was a professor at NYU about six years ago. I took one of his classes, with a name like “Judaism From Medieval to Modern Times.” He was interested in Jewish identity construction and was a graduate student in [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

You might be a redneck if…

ט"ז בטבת ה'תשס"ט (January 12, 2009) America

For everyone worried that Bernard Madoff will give Jews a bad name – don’t worry, he’s not Jewish, he’s a redneck. How do I know? He owns more boats than cars.

0 comments Read the full article →

Have a meaningful Hanukah!

כ"ז בכסלו ה'תשס"ז (December 18, 2006) Aliyah

Growing up in America, I used to think a lot about Hanukah. Hanukah is a really weird time to be Jewish in America for someone who’s passionate about being Jewish while not being brought up religious or in any sort of insular Jewish setting. On the one hand, I had Christians suddenly conscious, all around [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

proof that Trotsky was Jewish

ד' באב ה'תשס"ו (July 29, 2006) Jews

Here is photographic evidence that Leon Trotsky was not only Jewish, but an arse.

4 comments Read the full article →

two years down…

כ"ה בתמוז ה'תשס"ו (July 21, 2006) Aliyah

I’m not entirely sure if I blogged my First Aliyah Anniversary or if I just think I did, but in any event, all my readers will now be subjected to a review of the last year, unless they choose not to read it. My second year in Israel wasn’t an easy one, and may well [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Saying goodbye

י"ב בסיון ה'תשס"ו (June 8, 2006) Aliyah

Part of my job is to guide the English-speaking groups that come to volunteer at the site where I work, to instruct them about what we do, how we do it, why, with what, etc. I handle a staggering array of different kind of groups – different nationalities and ages, vastly different religious backgrounds – [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

They're transgendered!

י' בסיון ה'תשס"ו (June 6, 2006) Bad

Israeli women take birth control pills. Israeli women enjoy hiking, need to urinate during hikes; chemicals from their pills turn boy fish into girl fish. This is all rather amusing and I bet I could see it as deeply compelling on a certain level, indicative or representative of postmodern social changes (eg, the control granted [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Scott Dubin, the Newest Israeli

כ"ז בניסן ה'תשס"ו (April 25, 2006) Aliyah

Today is Scott Dubin’s Yom Aliyah and it was a huge honor on my part to present him with a bottle of champagne (it’s Israeli, so I guess it’s just sparkling wine) and some shoko b’sakit and rugalach from Marzipan to welcome him into his new home. He’s also going to be staying here, in [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Tel Aviv Tuesday

כ"ז בניסן ה'תשס"ו (April 25, 2006) Aliyah

I’ve almost finished packing my belongings and I’ve been up all night and dead tired and I don’t know if I can write now, but I want to and think part of me has to. I’m leaving Jerusalem in two hours and alternately fainting and bursting with ambivalence. I feel like I really gave a [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries