Bibi and Chagall

Posted on: February 6th, 2013

Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen at the opening session of the 19th Israeli parliament, held at the Chagall State Hall on February 05, 2013. The Chagall State Hall was designed and decorated by Jewish artist Marc Chagall (1887-1985). Chagall designed for the hall 12 floor mosaics, one wall mosaic and three Gobelin tapestries. The [...]

Arabs for Arabs

Posted on: February 5th, 2013

750 housing units were built for Arab families who lost their home during Israeli military operations in 2004 and 2005. The units were built as part of a $20 million re-housing Saudi-funded project managed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Arab refugees (UNRWA). The construction cost of $27 thousand per housing unit [...]

12 Years in the Making

Posted on: February 4th, 2013

Here’s MK Moshe Feiglin of the Likud-Beiteinu faction, sittin’ pretty in the Knesset plenum hall during a new-member introduction day. Feiglin has popularized the concept of religious Jews taking over the Likud leadership. He noted that in every Likud assembly, the benches are full of knitted yarmulkes and head scarves (seated separately, of course!), but [...]

Storm Jews

Posted on: February 3rd, 2013

Haredi men visiting Rosh Hanikra near the border crossing between Israel and southern Lebanon in northern Israel, February 02, 2013. Delicious. Like looking at Fellini’s 8 1/2 with Jews.

Streetcar to Shul

Posted on: February 1st, 2013

This picture is titled: “Rabbi Kleinman with students from the Temple of Aaron Religious School.” It was shot in 1918, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Almost 100 years separate me from the small children in this picture. I don’t know their names, I don’t even know their ages – I’m guessing 7 or 8, but people [...]

Keeping the Golan

Posted on: January 31st, 2013

Just look at it – snow, not the kind you get in Israel’s cities, which is basically a little bit of frost the evaporates in a couple of hours. This is New Jersey suburban type snow, that stays in your driveway until you get someone to shovel it off. Whenever any of us expats gets [...]

The Lebedoff Triplets

Posted on: January 30th, 2013

Martin and Mary Lebedoff lived on the North Side of Minneapolis. Their triplets, Jonathan, Judy, and David, were born in April of 1938. The picture above was shot in 1943, give or take a year. All three Lebedoffs enrolled at the University of Minnesota in 1956. David went to law school at Harvard; Jonathan went to [...]

Babysitter in Chief

Posted on: January 29th, 2013

See President Barack Obama running along the Colonnade of the White House with Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough’s children, Jan. 25, 2013. The President announced McDonough will become Chief of Staff, replacing Jack Lew—an Orthodox Jew—who is Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary. Say what you will about our second-term president, but he’s good with [...]

Jewish Tennis, 1955

Posted on: January 28th, 2013

This is Felix Phillips, Captain of the University of Minnesota Men’s Tennis Team. The year was 1955. Now you know everything I do. Let me know if you know any more.

Shawn, Amit, Agam and Alicia

Posted on: January 25th, 2013

Our photo agency, Flash90, presented this morning a few obligatory Tu B’Shvat images, to be used by harassed editors looking for a quick filler with their eyes still half closed and their lips touching the day’s first cup of coffee out of many. Each image is always accompanied by a suggested caption, providing as much [...]

Good Looking Executive

Posted on: January 24th, 2013

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wave to the crowd as they walk in the inaugural parade along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., Jan. 21, 2013. Say what you will, the Obamas look really good in official pictures. To select this image I went over several dozen free images available from the White [...]

What Are They Saying?

Posted on: January 23rd, 2013

Last night, Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Liberman stood on the stage, apparently celebrating their stunning drop from 42 to 31 seats in the coming Knesset. What were they saying? I’m open to additional suggestions… Send them in… The image we used here repeatedly was shot by miriam Alster/FLASH90. For footnotes, look below… 1. Arthur J. Finkelstein [...]

Haredi Zionists

Posted on: January 22nd, 2013

The people in this picture are residents of the colony of Petach Tikvah who, sometime between 1930 and 1936, celebrated adding a new Sefer Torah to their shul. Petach Tikvah, the “mother of the colonies,” was founded in 1878 by Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger, Rabbi Amit Grumet, Rabi Itti Saadia, and the immortal Reb Yoel [...]

Balloon Politics

Posted on: January 21st, 2013

Stav Shaffir was born in 1985, which makes her 27-years-old. She’s also in the number 8 spot of the Labor party’s Knesset list. This might be the reason she communicates mostly through balloons. It’s been rumored that after each vote she will be casting according to her party’s policy, Stav will be entitled to ice [...]

Bad Rabbis

Posted on: January 20th, 2013

Joy Powers from San Francisco created and shot this sign, for the “Bad Rabbis” Purim Follies 2011 sketch. Now you know as much as I do. I want to know more! Ms. Powers? Are you out there? Can we learn more about the sketch? I’m curious and, frankly, a little afraid…  

God Bless You, Mr. Finkelstein

Posted on: January 18th, 2013

You may have asked yourself, who was the genius who, several months ago, told Bibi Netanyahu he could bolster his political power and even increase it (to as much as 50 Knesset seats), if he ran on one ticket with Avigdor Liberman’s Russian based, secularist party Israel Beitenu. It was the guy in the picture [...]

Taping Up the Elephant

Posted on: January 17th, 2013

The zookeeper in this picture is taking care of an elephant’s leg injury at the Ramat Gan Safari. It’s a scary assignment, if you ask me. We have two cats, and when we need to clip their nails, it takes two of us to hold down each cat, preferably using kitchen mitts – and even [...]

Strumming in Hebron

Posted on: January 16th, 2013

On Tuesday, this man was standing on the steps leading to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, playing his guitar and singing his heart out. No one threw a Molotov cocktail at him. No one let out a gunshot. No one demonstrated. No one even cursed or spat or made a face. Photographer Nati [...]

Vote ‘P’ for Pirates

Posted on: January 15th, 2013

Ohad Shem Tov (L) and Noam Kuzar at the headquarters of the Israeli “Pirate party,” one of 34 lists competing in the upcoming Israeli national elections. The Swedish Piratpartiet, founded on 1 January 2006, was the first pirate party. The party’s name was derived from Piratbyrån, an organization opposed to intellectual property. In other words, [...]

A Flock of Camels

Posted on: January 14th, 2013

How do you call a bunch of camels walking in the desert together? Their not a train of camels, because they’re on their own, at least in the picture. They’re not a herd of camels – don’t look like there’s enough of them for a herd. Maybe a flock of camels. “Camel” is derived from [...]