I had been thinking about writing a post basically saying “why is there so much press about the fact that Hamas won the ‘election’? After all, it is not as if the PLO was not also a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel. It is not as if they actually do what they [...]

So after the our handyman-neighbor-dude repairman left, we thought: “OK, we will just have to learn how to take shorter showers.” He also gave us advice on getting a new hand-held thingie that would give better water pressure while using less water, resulting in a more enjoyable shower experience. All was not lost.
I was planning [...]

So, here in Israel there is no such thing as a water boiler, at least not the same sort as us spoiled Americans are familiar with. What I am referring to here is the phenomenon where a person will walk into the bathroom at any time of the day or night, take a steaming hot, [...]

Chazal speak very favorably about a person who is able to time his (or her) morning prayers to coincide exactly with sunrise. Although I have done this on a fair number of ocassions in the past, usually when this happens, I am in a place where I am unable to actually see the sun rise [...]

I was going to the NBN office today for a seminar on being self-employed in Israel. After I parked (and then moved my car onto a different street that did not have meters) I went looking for the entrance to Beit Ofer, the building housing the Nefesh B’Nefesh offices.
I started down a couple of steps [...]

On most streets in Israel, if you look carefully, you will see electrical boxes. About five feet tall, four feet across. Usually painted grey or some other boring color.
However, sometimes people (or municipalities) take things into their own hands and decorate these boxes in an attempt to make the neighborhood look nicer. And it really [...]

This morning I went to the makolet (local grocery market) after davening. When I was at the register, the CSG (Cool Sefardi Guy) behind the counter asked me (in Hebrew): “You are buying everything here L’Chavod Shabbat (in honor of Shabbat), correct?”
I of course responded: “of course, everything is L’Chavod Shabbat“.
“Good”
There is something meritorious about [...]

A month ago, the UN hosted an “International Solidarity Day with the Palestinian People”. At this event, none other than Kofi Anan gave a solidarity speech, standing in front of a Map that showed all of Israel under the label “Palestine”. Of course, we shouldn’t expect anything better from our good friends in the UN. [...]

Told to my wife by a friend who witnessed this first-hand:

Police are loitering in the yard of a family. One of the police officers is leaning on a table. A small boy in the yard tells him not to lean on the table because it might break. The policeman grabs the boy by the collar, [...]

Try it out. My best time so far: 17.562  21.797 seconds.