Observations about life in Israel from a Canadian immigrant's perspective.
(video promoting the parade in 2011) For such a teensy country, Israel has many faces and personalities. This week, en route to a desert hike in the Negev, we found ourselves in Sde Boker, a tiny desert community on the edge of a dramatic canyon. Turns out my daughter is in the army with a… Continue reading A Purim Journey
One big family. When my daughter Aviva’s new Ethiopian soldiers arrive on base, they are beaming, white teeth gleaming behind open ready smiles, happy to please and succeed. Aviva shows them how to stand at attention and how to work under time constraints. Echad, shtaim, shalosh (one, two, three). She shouts this mantra several hundred times… Continue reading Wearing army boots
Their lives are too hard. They are so sweet and know so little. They’re like my children. Learning how to tell time. These are the words of my 19-year-old daughter, Aviva, who is talking about the Ethiopian soldiers she supervises. All are all new immigrants to Israel. Aviva started working as a mefakadet (sergeant) in… Continue reading Our mosaic, Eretz Israel
It is Wednesday afternoon and we are at the tekes siyum (graduation ceremony) of our son Ariel’s 32 soldiers. This exciting moment marks the end of their six months’ basic training. Proud parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins come out. Some hold up large signs, others wear matching T-shirts printed with their soldier’s picture on them. Everyone… Continue reading An Officer (and a Gentleman)
They hate us. Again. Israel and the Jews are equally despised and blamed for world calamity, tragedy, economic downturn and political unrest. I am so accustomed to Israel bashing, Jew hating and anti-semitic lies, I am no longer surprised when we get blamed. When something terrible happens and we first hear about it on the… Continue reading Israel's Good News
“Chik chak.” That’s what he said when he left the Misrad Hap'nim, the Ministry of the Interior. Black Israeli humor at its finest; there is no chik chak in government offices. Here we were sitting, standing, fidgeting, playing with smart phones, hemming and hawing, checking our watches…all waiting to receive our new identity cards, the… Continue reading Chik Chak
Tonight, as darkness cloaked Eretz Israel, we lit the first candle of Chanukah. The wicks, floating in vials of olive oil, flickered as they brought light into the night. This is symbolic of the Jewish people; our mission is to light up a dark world. Our contemporary world is cloaked in a very thick black… Continue reading Swords Into Plowshares
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Canada, once described by a historian as a “peaceable kingdom,” has been struck in the heart. To their horror, Canadians experienced two terror attacks this week. In the first, a soldier was killed in a hit and run. In the second, a lone gunman killed a solider guarding the War Memorial in Ottawa, then fled… Continue reading Show and Tell
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Life in Israel 