Menachem Mendel

Danny Sanderson, who has been an important figure in Israeli music since the 1970′s, is 61 year old today. The first video is from his early days with Poogy. The second is a more recent one, a duet with Ninet Tayeb.

Posted on November 30th, 2011 under Israel, Music, Popular Culture. Comments: 5

A classic and beloved Israeli song about love is עטור מצחך (“Your Forehead is Ornamented [in Black Gold]“) [lyrics/translation]. The words were written by Avraham Ḥalfi, the music by Yoni Richter, and it was sung by Arik Einstein. The song describes the love of a man for a woman. Recently it became known that the [...]

Posted on November 18th, 2011 under Israel, Israeli Culture, New Books, Popular Culture, Pre-Shabbat Song. Comments Off

The second season of the Israeli version of the American reality show the Amazing Race, המירוץ למליון, recently began broadcasting. An aspect of the show that has gotten a bit of media attention is the couple, Shira and Firas. They have gotten a bit of attention because Firas is an Arab Muslim and Shira is [...]

Posted on November 10th, 2011 under Israel, Popular Culture. Comments Off

Another Israeli TV show, Asfur, has been picked up by an American production company. (hat tip) Here’s a description of the show from Wikipedia: Motti Amoyal lives on a bus farm in Jerusalem with his three best friends, Itzik, Newton and Katzar. Their lives are about to change drastically as they discover that the land, [...]

Posted on November 10th, 2011 under Hebrew, Israel, Popular Culture. Comments Off

The following question was published in today’s New York Times. (here) Q. I recently overheard a conversation about food in which someone mentioned “Jewish Champagne.” What is that? A. We’re going to assume the speaker was not referring to the French region, centered on Troyes, whose rabbinical scholars led an intellectual flowering in the 12th [...]

Posted on October 16th, 2011 under Ashkenaz, Jewish History, Popular Culture. Comments Off

Footnote has now hit the big screen in North America, see Tzee’s comments about the screening at the New York Film Festival here. The next big cultural even for some of us will be Season 3 of Srugim. Beyond the general subject matter, what Footnote and Srugim have in common is that they are the [...]

Posted on October 11th, 2011 under Israel, Popular Culture. Comments: 1

Some Talmudic terminology made it into Akiva Eldar’s op-ed piece about Bibi at the UN. כתנא דמסייע לאמת שלו טען נתניהו, כי אהוד ברק הגיש לפלסטינים בשנת 2000 “הצעה גורפת, שענתה כמעט לכל דרישותיהם”. מעניין מה דעתו של ברק על “האמת” הזאת, למשל בכל הנוגע לדרישותיהם של הפלסטינים לגבי הר הבית ופתרון בעיית הפליטים. ראש [...]

Posted on September 26th, 2011 under Popular Culture, Talmud. Comments Off

Footnote will be the Israeli candidate for best foreign film this year after sweeping the Ofir Awards, winning a total of nine awards. Articles in Hebrew about the awards can be found here and here.

Posted on September 22nd, 2011 under Popular Culture, Talmud, Talmud Study. Comments Off

Last year, reports about the call by some rabbis for a “personal mechitzah” on planes made their rounds. My friend Josh N. just forwarded to me a more stylish answer to the generic personal mechitzah, the privacy shell. At least the “privacy shell” has room for two. See here for details.

Posted on August 24th, 2011 under Gevalt, Popular Culture. Comments Off