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Latest blog posts from jerusalem wanderings

Old Friends
A big highlight of this past week was seeing a friend whom I hadn't seen in about 28 years. She and I had gone to a very ultra-orthodox Jewish elementary school in the Bronx - she being the class wiz and I being the "daydreamer who could do better." I did actually fall asleep one day in ancient...
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Published 4 days ago

Light (or not) unto the Nations
We Jews have this tremendous yoke to carry. I try to take this "light unto the nations" bit quite seriously. And it depresses me when I read in the papers about the "thanks" certain people are getting for helping our country. For example, most recently I read that the State of Israel is about to...
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Published 2 weeks ago

No Laughing Matters
The reason I am so attracted to Laughter Yoga is that you laugh at everyone and everything, no matter how terrible the situation. The exercises we do are, for example, to open up a Visa bill or a phone bill, look at it and laugh hysterically. I also learned how to laugh hysterically as we...
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Published 2 weeks ago

Magical Minyan and other weekend stories
1. These past few weeks I have been going steadily to my debtors anonymous meeting in Jerusalem. Being that all things money related either make me ridiculously giddy or terribly anxiety-ridden, I thought it was time to get back to that protective cocoon of a support group, get a guardian angel...
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Published 2 weeks ago

Study Tour of Jerusalem by Ir Amim
I saw an ad in Hebrew during the holidays in the Jerusalem Post from Ir Amim , promoting their study tours of East Jerusalem. First I wrote to them asking why they put a Hebrew ad in an English newspaper, when the Post readers obviously don't want to deal with reading Hebrew in any...
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Published 3 weeks ago

Whose Jerusalem - Ultra Orthodox or secular?
Looks like many secular/traditional/non-ultra-orthodox people breathed a sigh of relief this morning and thanked God (even the secular probably did) that Porush did not win the Jerusalem municipal elections, and welcomed Nir Barkat as mayor. And I thought of how Jerusalem is supposed to be a...
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Published 3 weeks ago

Holy Moly
Walking around Jerusalem with a bandaid above your upper lip causes so many people to flinch. I don't know why. But after an appointment with a dermatologist to get this ridiculous thing off my skin, which appeared on me around 5 years ago or so, I got all these sympathetic looks from people....
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Published 3 weeks ago

Forgiveness
Before Yom Kippur I attended an interfaith seminar on Forgiveness in Islam and Judaism. The room was packed mostly with Pardes students. I heard for the first time a story about the Prophet Mohammad who lived next to a Jewish man who refused to believe the Prophet's words and prophecy. The...
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Published 3 weeks ago

Life just ain't a Fairy tale
It's usually fraught with disappointments. Aside from yesterday's Obama winning, of course. I'll start with these positive moments. I had attended a PeaceXPeace book launch of "60 Years, 60 Voices" featuring a lovely hardcover coffee table book covering the stories of 30 Palestinian and 30...
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Published 4 weeks ago

Home demolitions
I'm always looking for commonalities between Israelis and Palestinians. In strange places. Ironically, both Israeli families and Palestinians could find commonalities in that their homes can be destroyed if built without permits. I wonder if the extremist Federman and Tor families now...
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Published a month ago

Update fromthe 'burbs
"I'm going shopping with you when you buy a dress for my wedding. I don't want you wearing any freaky (hippie)dress" insisted my bride-to-be daughter."OK" I sighed weakly. I can compromise on that. They will probably close a deal this week on some chic, expensive place out of town, in the...
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Published a month ago

Every picture tells a story
"There was lots of music around town." a friend told me yesterday about the holiday's entertainment in Jerusalem."Really?""You usually know what's going on." She seemed surprised at my ignorance. "What happened?"I don't know what happened this year. Maybe my entertainment radar had gone on the...
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Published a month ago