Urban legend has it that a golem lived in the Weissensee Cemetery in Berlin during the Nazi era, protecting the Jewish landmark from destruction while Jews successfully hid among its tombstones. Now the golem has returned to Berlin, this time for more auspicious purpose….
Santa Monica artist part of ‘Golem’ revival in Berlin Read More »
Jewish Journal, November 11, 2016 An hour before the initial election results came in, attorney Marc Zell, co-chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, took out a chart of American states and crunched numbers. He predicted Donald Trump would take Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and South Carolina — that’s 44 electoral votes. “If Georgia is too close to call, that’s a bad sign,” he said. He entered the main hall of the iconic Mike’s Place on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem at about 1 a.m. local time (3 p.m. PST) to optimistic greeters. He was carrying a box of “Make America Great Again” caps to give out to some 200 Trump supporters and volunteers who united there on election night, although some were already wearing them, like William Eicoff, a resident of the city of Ariel in the West Bank and proud Florida voter. Read the rest here
Team Trump Pulls Tense Jerusalem All-nighter Read More »
Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, September 30, 2016 A few years ago, Yael Merlini wasn’t sure she and her family could stay in Germany. Her children, ages 7, 11 and 15, were the only Jews in their school in Giessen, a town near Frankfurt. The Jewish population numbered fewer than 400, mostly elderly Russian Jews. She also experienced anti-Semitism in the form of social slights from colleagues she described as “liberal” Germans. “Our first thought was to go to Israel,” the Italian-born Merlini said in an interview in Hebrew over the phone in Berlin, where she and her family settled a few weeks ago. “But in Israel, with our professions, it’s very hard.” Her German-born husband is an academic; originally from Florence, she’s a teacher. Both had lived in Israel for 10 years, where they met, and together converted to Judaism. I first met Merlini, visibly Orthodox with her tichl (religious headscarf), at the Orthodox Shabbat minyan held in the historic Rykestrasse Synagogue in the upwardly mobile neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg, in former East Berlin. Having survived Kristallnacht, the synagogue today serves as the campus for the Lauder Beth-Zion Elementary School, while its ornate main sanctuary offers a more Reform Shabbat service, equipped with a microphone. At the morning kiddush, as children played and congregants vied for the meat cholent, Merlini effused how members of Kehillat Adass Jisroel (KAJ) community cooked kosher meals for them upon their arrival, helped them
Orthodox Life Blossoms in Berlin Read More »
Move over Gal Gadot, Israel may soon boast an Israeli-made wonderman. Asaf Goren’s superhuman abs have gotten the attention of Britney Spears – and her giggling girlfriends. In her new video, “Make Me,” the queen of pop and her girlie pals taunt a hottie into bringing his hottie friends to an audition. Petah Tikva native Asaf Goren, 25, was one of them.
Oops, he did it again! Read More »
“Germany’s in a state of denial,” Broder said over tea at a café near the ritzy Ku’damm street, sprinkling the conversation with the blunt, incisive descriptions for which he is famous. He clarified that “Germany” refers to the government, intellectual elites, and the mainstream media. “The rank and file are totally different. The rank and file are always considered to be a little bit stupid, uneducated – how you say? – retarded. They’re not.”
Is Germany in Denial – and In Trouble? Read More »