If you’ve spent any time around religious Jews, you know that there’s a whole ton of holidays around September/October and then nothing until December. It’s the longest stretch in the Jewish year, and it’s especially visible in Israel, where the entire country goes from Rosh-Hashanah-Yom-Kippur-Sukkot-Simchat-Torah insanity to two months without a single break. It’s so [...]

Geez, I didn’t know that Jews can keep a tune. : ) The music here is RICH!!! Because it’s not only about beautiful melodies, interesting rhythms and funky instruments. It’s actually about meaningful words as well. Hadag Nachas – הדג נחש Hadag Nachash is an example of an Israeli hip hop-funk group that sings about… [...]

I had this very idealistic idea of Shabbat is Israel before I came here–something that involved Shira Hadasha and lots of spiritual experiences. Now that I’m here, however, I’m realizing just how idealistic that was. Yes, there are a lot of Jews in Israel, which means a lot of synagogues and people celebrating Shabbat. However, [...]