It was supposed to be part 2 of Kirsten’s birthday present (the first was the Stevie Wonder’s concert), but Kirsten is away, so I went with Maya. Which is great news: you don’t want to be with the love of your life when Leonard Cohen is around.

Leonard Cohen was the first music I have heard in my life. My older sister, Orna, made me sit and listen to him when I was about ten years old. His music is the soundtrack of my life: the love I missed, friends that I don’t see no more, hopes and dream that will never be fulfilled, sex, music, lies, emotions, memories, longing. Leonard Cohen is an angel who can make love to 10,000 people and still be intimate. He is kissing you on the cheek and makes you feel like you were ran over by a tank. He… weiter lesen

I love writing blogs. I love the whole concept of blogs. You can write in blogs whatever is on your mind. No censorship, no editors to tell you this and that and no annoying sales people who dictate how long you can write because we must leave some space for baby food ads. I love blogs because you can write whatever is on your mind about your spouse and always use the excuse that it is artistic freedom. I would write poetry, fiction and even Haiku if I was talented enough to write those.

But mainly I love blogs because they let you have immediate and direct connection with your readers, hear what they really think about you and what you write, and they give me the ability to have a fruitful discussions about different issues. And sometimes they can completely change your life.

Last week… weiter lesen

I am not a big fan of fashion (I am writing about clothes and shoes, but I am also referring to tech fashion, like designer Steve Jobs). It is too temporary for me, and it doesn’t allow me to say anything about the person who wear this fashion, to the contrary. One of Berlin’s strongest appeal for me in the beginning was the fact that no one cared about what you were wearing, and if anything then dressing down was very acceptable.

But I consider myself a liberal person, so if anyone is into fashion and into buying these fashion magazines, and attend Fashion weeks or buy a piece of yarn for four figures, so be it.

But the line must be drawn at some point. It is enough that for an entire winter I had the witness the horror of women boots in Berlin (aka: the who can buy… weiter lesen

All I wanted was just to see the game against Brazil with some North Korean dudes. Instead I was let inside their embassy. This is how it happened:

MONDAY, NINE A.M, PHONE CALL

“Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Guten Tag”

“Guten Tag. I am calling from the Israeli newspaper Haaertz…”

click.

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

“Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Guten Tag”

“Guten Tag, I am calling from Haaretz which is a paper totally in favor of a Palestinian state…”

Ten second of whispering. Click.

MONDAY, 10 A.M, PHONE CALL

“Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Guten Tag”

“Guten Tag, I am calling from a daily paper published in Palestine…and I would like to speak with someone about the North Korea game tomorrow night.

“It is the Democratic People’s Republic of Kore. Everybody is too busy now, call at 12″

MONDAY 12 P.M

“Democratic People’s etc etc, Guten Tag”

“Guten Tag, I… weiter lesen

A good friend convinced me to get off the topic of Germany, organic food and recycling. “You crossed your point, now move on”, she told me and since I saw her point, I obliged.

And still. Yesterday I went to a kids’ store and I saw there two mothers buying a certain product, and I said to myself: “you know what, Ze’ev?” And myself answered: “what?” And the other self said: “sometimes I can understand the rage of all these fundamentalists who can’t stand us and want to ruin our world”. And Ze’ev really try to dug him, but couldn’t , so the other self pull out his IPhone (he is kind of a hypocrite) and showed him the photos he took from the kids’ store.

It was two PBerg mother, with their Porsche Kinderwagon and “I am so bored faces” who looked in the kitchen section and decided to buy their respective… weiter lesen

I can’t even start to describe who disgusted I am by the stepping down of the German president, Horst Koehler. If I was a german citizen, let’s say, if I was a german citizen from the liberal left, I would give him a prize. not bash him. The bashing of Koehler is hypocrisy at its worst.

Because Koehler said what everybody don’t want to hear, that there are some good aspects to the war that are good and working for the interest of Germany, that Germany role in the world economic scene force it to get involved in the war.

I can’t agree with what Kohler said, but I am in awe of his courage. In days where every public figure goes through seven channels of laundering before his or her words are coming to the public, Koehler destroyed the undemocratic process of being political correctness. He said the hurtful… weiter lesen

Went today to the post office. There were two counters open and about 13 people on line. For the first couple of people the line was moving, but then an old lady and quite young guy occupied the counters. It took two minutes, and then five, and then ten. The Woman was handing a letter to the Post person, but she kept holding it while having a conversation that lasted forever.

This is not the first time I am running into this kind of situation. In the bookstores I always find myself behind a grandmother who wants to buy her grandchild the best possible book, and she can get into a 20-minute conversation about a particular book, and then start a new conversation about the next book. Or in the shoe section of a department store where parents can get a PhD for finding their kids the absolute right shoe.… weiter lesen

Just came back from  a visit in Israel (it was February, 31 degrees and everyone was at the beach—no wonder all three religions are willing to kill to have this place), where I had an extended conversations with my niece—she is 14 going on 20- about her life, growing up, Facebook, and how does she sees the situation. 

She told me two stunning things. The first was about her trip to Barcelona and how she felt so unsecured that she forced herself to wear a coat over her t-shirt that was emblazoned with some Hebrew words. “It’s weird to know that everyone hates you”, she told me. I tried to comfort her by telling her that when I was 14 I also thought that the entire world hates me, but I knew it wasn’t the same.

 The second thing she told me shocked me even more. She was telling me… weiter lesen

The first problem I had with eco-systems and global warming happened when I was traveling throughout the United States, in heavily democratic states. Outside the houses there were five or six garbage bins, each one for a different kind of garbage. It was a noble idea if it wasn’t for the fact that there were always five or six SUV’s parking in front of these bins. It made me feel that being “green” is just a fashion. What is the point of recycling every piece of garbage if afterward a person is climbing a car that helps pollute the air like it was a small industry?

But in Germany they take ecological matters seriously. People are telling you to shut your car off and freeze to death if you wait more than 60 seconds in your car for someone to come down, and in many regions in the East, the… weiter lesen

I am taking advanced German course twice a week now. We are about 20 people from all over the world, and one tough and fair female teacher. These courses, with their length (about three months), intensity (two to four times a week, four hours at a time) and randomness of gathering people can be a micro-cosmos of the outside world. I am just trying to say that these classes have the potential to explode. They can sit together in one peaceful room people who otherwise would prefer to chew on each other.   Our teacher has her methods trying to break the ice. She is putting 18 chairs in the middle of the room, plays the music, stops it and the two left standing must talk. It is a little bit awkward but I don’t mind it–it gives me ideas to play with my daughter.   The other day the

… weiter lesen