Shiur Times has posted an interesting article entitled Dreams vs. Reality: How do we view Aliyah?:
Where the balance lies between optimism and pragmatism in the aliyah process is arguable. While Anglo immigrants come to Israel full of hopes and dreams, many people come under-prepared, and some even become disillusioned. However, with constantly improving online communications [...]

Yes, the new season is about to begin.
No, silly, I am not talking about the NFL. Nope, in Israel there is a different type of Fall tradition (timed to coincide with the reopening of schools and count down to the chagim):
I am talking about the official opening of strike season. Unions May Shut Down Country [...]

See the excellent post by Jameel @ Muqata entitled Attitude: the Oleh’s Best Friend. Here he goes through a bunch of examples that describe of how in some ways things are very messed up things are in Israel, while in others, things are getting better. In the end:
The choice to make is this; are you [...]

Well, it looks like my recent blog post on How Israel Can Become a Better Democracy is really making some waves. (Just kidding, but the coincidence is a bit strange). I just read that the selection process for Supreme Court judges was just changed to make it less subject to poltics. The selection committee is [...]

Israel is known as the best democracy in the Middle East. This is a true statement. Compared to all of its neighbors, the personal freedoms afforded to citizens in Israel far surpass those given to citizens in neighboring countries. However, this does not mean that Israel is perfect in this respect. Far from it. Coming [...]

Check out this article in the Jerusalem Post on proposed tax-cuts that would be put in place over the next 7 years. To sum it up:

Monthly Salary (NIS)
2008 tax rate
2015 tax rate
Current US Rate

0-4,390
10%
10%
10-15%

4,390-7,810
16%
10%
15%

7,810-11,720
26%
17%
15-25%

11,720-16,840
33%
25%
25%

16,840-36,760
35%
30%
25-28%

36,760+
48%
42%
28-35%

Yay! While this will still leave Israel tax rates higher than US rates, it makes up most of the difference, and in [...]

Well, although I am thrilled about the first half of this headline, I am pretty tired about the second half. The title is from an article on Arutz Sheva:
The 5.4% GDP jump is a slightly lower rate than in the two previous quarters, but higher than government forecasts. The Central Bureau of Statistics further reported this [...]

A few minutes ago I saw in my stats (yeah, I can be a little bit obsessive about those sometimes) that someone tried to use the contact form to send me an email (around 8pm, Israel time). After not receiving any email, I checked my blog setup and discovered that the contact form was not [...]

Here’s a new piece of Israel-born ingenuity. From the creator of the Arrow defense missile, we now have…Arrow garbage recycling:
The idea sounded simple enough: to treat solid waste using water. But their point of origin, says Zadik, was revolutionary. “Europe was still considering how to treat segregated trash, and assumed they could teach the public [...]

So far, I have been outed (ie: identified by someone who I know in real life as being connected with this blog) by new friends and neighbors at a pretty fast pace. Each Shabbat (which is the only time when you have any real interactions with people beyond those who live on your street and [...]