Ech omrim "jetlag"? Oh yeah....jetleg. I'm back, people, after a crazy week. Didn't have any time to write then and probably won't have any till the weekend. And since I'm going back to Ulpan starting tomorrow morning (yeah, baby!), I thought I'd repost an oldie but goodie entry from a while back wh...

I live in Canada and the picture the mainstream media paints of Israel is usually one of constant danger and government instability. For me, it's hard to imagine leaving North America to make Aliyah, despite how wonderful it would be to live in a Jewish country. However, I know that many people of c...

There's a new king of all media! Allright, so maybe my Tweets are stupid and I don't know how to program my own television. But did Howard ever speak at the Jewlicious Festival? Didn't think so. After a long waiting game and wondering if it was going to happen, it seems that some dumb oleh is going ...

There is an editorial piece in the Jpost today written by someone who is now moving back to the US, after giving up on living in Israel. I feel badly that his absorption didn’t go well, and that he feels the need to leave Israel, but I question the newsworthiness of this op-ed. After all, almo...

There is no question that the world of Jewish philanthropy has taken a huge hit. From the stock market crash, to a real estate washout to Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme, Jewish organizations are scrambling to find new donors. It appears that a name to watch for is Guma Aguiar. Aguiar, a philanth...

I realized the other day that I have not created any blog entries about my "other job."  All my blogs have been about my rabbinic work, which these days is all done for free (even when I get an honorarium I donate it to charity), about making aliyah, comments on Israel, the weekly Tor...

While the northern part of Israel is perhaps the most aesthetically beautiful part of the country, the region has long been neglected by policy makers. We have often heard about the need to develop the Negev in the southern part of Israel, but we never hear about government plans to make the north a...

Do you smell it, people? No, it's not turkey and stuffing....it's Haveil Havalim, issue #193. This is the weekly "blog carnival" of the Jewish/Israeli blogosphere, created by Soccer Dad and currently maintained by our friend Jack. When I asked Jack to explain the whole carnival concept to me, he res...

It's not just a Rodney Dangerfield movie anymore. I really need to get my tooseek back to Ulpan. I'm looking for something one night a week. The only one you ever hear about is Ulpan Etzion. Jerusalemites: any recommendations for an Ulpan in this city or is Etzion the way to go? On another note, thi...

Hello, my loyal readers, from the center of the Jewish world! That's right, it's everyone's favorite annual event....the Beersheva Dog Show! To those of you who didn't just get Rickrolled, it's the UJC GA 2008 (General Assembly). (And for the Hebrew-speakers out there, rik-RAL-ti otchem. You're damn...