My friend was about to be inaugurated as Prime Minister of Israel. For the past year I had done everything in my power to help make that happen. Of course, I had to be there. On the other hand, this inauguration would establish a government with progressive, extreme left, post …
Read More »Forest Rain Marcia
The Kotel & the Temple Mount: 8 things you need to know.
There are many misconceptions about the Temple Mount, the Kotel and the Al Aqsa mosque. Confusion and even much conflict can be dispelled when the facts are made clear! 1. What is the holiest site on earth for Jews? Did you answer, “the Kotel”? If you did, that’s a mistake …
Read More »The Hebrews of Hebron.
When people think of visiting Israel, few consider going to Hebron. The city is depicted as contentious, dangerous and unpleasant. It is associated with “Occupation,” poverty and apartheid. Who would want to go there? Even most Israelis don’t consider Hebron a place they would want to visit, much less live. …
Read More »Three reasons both the left & the right are terrified of Naftali Bennett.
As a marketer the incongruence of the way Israel’s media presents Naftali Bennett stands out like an enormous red flag. There is a deliberate pattern that is impossible to ignore – and it crosses over from the news to entertainment shows. Either they ignore him or they mock him mercilessly. …
Read More »Mother of Soldiers.
It’s cold outside. The rain beats on the windows and thunder rumbles in the distance. Night is approaching and the warm bed beckons with the promise of a cozy embrace. The closeness of comfort seems so utterly wrong, knowing that he is outside, alone, in the dark, setting off for …
Read More »Eight things you need to know about the Kotel and the Temple Mount.
There are many misconceptions about the Temple Mount, the Kotel and the Al Aqsa mosque. Confusion and even much conflict can be dispelled when the facts are made clear! 1. What is the holiest site on earth for Jews? Did you answer, “the Kotel”? If you did, that’s a mistake …
Read More »The Rage Less Traveled: PTSD and rainbows.
This is not so much a review of the book “The Rage Less Traveled: A Memoir of Surviving a Machete Attack,” it’s more a summary of my experience reading it and why I believe this is a must read for everyone, including those not specifically interested in Israel. Choosing to …
Read More »Cracking the Israel Culture Code.
Israel is one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and maligned countries on earth. The question is, why? Jew hate? Or because our “hasbara” is terrible? In pro-Israel circles either (or both) of these are go-to explanations however neither are enough to explain the dissonance between Israeli reality and the concepts …
Read More »Ori Ansbacher: light, freedom and Jewish sovereignty.
My Facebook feed is full of Ori’s photo. She looks different in the different images but in each, her radiant smile is the same. Ori, “my light” in Hebrew, was obviously a fitting name for this sunny girl. The more we hear about Ori from friends, family and the people …
Read More »Jews from a different planet.
“But why does he have to make provocations with these declarations of his?!” I was shocked to hear this sentence come out of the mouths of my Jewish American relatives. Yes, they were referring to Trump (who they hate) and to the Jerusalem Declaration. I love my relatives but they …
Read More »Meet the Maccabees: My Nation forever, Israel.
Shira and Amichai Ish-ran are a beautiful young couple. Twenty-one years old, they got married this year. Looking at them, most people would see radiant youth, loving eyes and warm smiles. How many would realize that these are people made from steel? On the last day of Chanukah, Amichai and …
Read More »From the Maccabees to the IDF: 6 things you need to know about Chanukah.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about Chanukah – to the point where it appears to be deliberate. Let’s begin with what it’s not about. 1. It’s not a Jewish Christmas In many circles, Chanukah seems to have become an imitation Christmas – a holiday of food, lights, …
Read More »Art over hate: Ryan Ashley Malarkey.
Ryan Ashley is like a long cold drink on a hot summer day. Cool, confident and extraordinarily talented, she made history as the first woman to win Ink Master after eight seasons of the tattooing reality TV show competition. That led to her participation in the spin-off show Ink Master: Angels …
Read More »HaShomer HaChadash: A love story between a land & her people, a people & their land
There are some people who don’t hear when others speak the word, “impossible.” Instead, they hear, “it’s possible” or “I am possible.” Their minds begin to race in search for solutions and when there is no logical reason to succeed, faith moves them forward. Who could look at the barren …
Read More »The dead tell no tales… or do they?
The saying goes: “The dead tell no tales” but that’s not exactly true. The dead speak to us from beyond the grave but they do so in silent symbols that we, those who are full of life and sometimes full of arrogance, can choose to ignore. Haifa’s cemetery is full. …
Read More »Rosh Hashanah, in two different worlds.
In Israel, one can move between worlds. It is a bizarre and enlightening experience. This New Year I moved between two different worlds, neither of them my “real life.” The first is the online world of Facebook, Twitter, emails, and WhatsApp. As a writer and Content and Marketing Specialist I …
Read More »Remembering Munich.
At the Munich Olympics of 1972, less than three decades after the Holocaust, Jews were murdered on German soil – because they were Jews. Because they were Israelis. The Olympics has historically been a place of peace where even warring nations could come together and compete in the sports arena, …
Read More »Life in Israel Under Fire.
After a night of missiles on the south of Israel (last Wednesday), I got up to a new day, full of missiles. My nerves were frazzled. But why? Nothing happened to me. At night I had reset the RED ALERT app so that it wouldn’t alert me of all the …
Read More »Fighting fire, under fire.
“The arson terror kites and balloons come in the afternoon and the evening, sometimes in the middle of the night.” That’s when the winds pick up, blowing from the sea, inland, carrying Hamas’s flying firebombs to the people of Israel. Israeli firefighter Tal Goldstein stood in the sweltering heat, telling …
Read More »Stop explaining Israel’s right to self defense.
I am sick and tired. More than anything, I am mad. I am sick and tired of seeing cute stories of Israeli kids having kite and balloon festivals sending messages of peace and candy for Gazans. On one hand, I love my people for their strength of spirit and eternal …
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