A Jerusalem Eco-Housing Pilot Project is Turning Talk into Action One thing Israelis aren't short on: Talk.  So it’s a reassuring sign of the times that whether it’s climate change, the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea, or the way urban pollution effects everyday quality of life, the ... [Read more]

Eight Underappreciated Tourist Gems in Israel Whether you're contemplating your first or fifteenth trip to Israel, the following destinations are unique, hidden gems that won’t be crawling with tour groups.  Birthright, Ulpan, and Federation trip alums can rest assured that these ... [Read more]

Crashing the Passion Play Over seven million people have seen the Great Passion Play of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, since its opening in 1969. The play was founded by a Midwestern preacher and politician, Gerald L.K. Smith, whose thrice-failed bid for president promised ... [Read more]

No Lipshitzes At Jenna Bush’s Wedding Lauren Bush, niece of George, has been dating David Lauren, son of Ralph, for three years. On the surface, that’s a match made in madras-print heaven. But according to the New York Daily News, Jenna Bush invited her cousin to her upcoming ... [Read more]

Republican Base To Hispanics: "Go Back to Hispania!" Latinos are the fastest growing demographic group in the nation and will play an increasingly decisive role in elections for the foreseeable future. George Bush got re-elected in 2004 by pulling off an eighteen point swing in the Latino vote ... [Read more]

How Hillary Clinton Lost the Black Vote. Twice. The surprising, spectacular, and deeply encouraging failure of populism to move Democratic primary voters is only part of the story of the long overdue demise of the Clinton dynasty in North Carolina and Indiana Tuesday night. Just as decisive, if ... [Read more]

Don't Hate Me For Living in Brooklyn From: Ben Karlin To: Elizabeth Wurtzel I’m not sure you are going to get your handbag this way. Go for it! Just put it out there that you want one. Why beat around the bush? Everything I want is vague and ill-defined. That goes ... [Read more]

Silver Mt. Zion on Protest Music, Montreal, and Being the Only Jew in ... Efrim Menuck fronts the band currently named Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band—a band whose appellation, along with its sound, changes and grows with each new release. Currently, the band is a seven-piece composed of ... [Read more]

Describe Your Life in Six Words From: Elizabeth Wurtzel To: Ben Karlin Just for fun, today I challenged my classmates to come up with six-word autobiographies of themselves, because apparently there is some new book that collects such thing. They came up with some ... [Read more]

Buy Me a Birkin, Then Tell Me Your Secrets From: Elizabeth Wurtzel To: Ben Karlin Okay, Ben, I am now writing to you once again with my physical address present, because I am going to explain to you about the Birkin bag, which is nothing like the Birkenstock sandal. This website ... [Read more]

POEM: "All" by Agi Mishol Life that swirls in the scraps of swallows in the early evening, reaching out red from within the flower, sprawling lazily along the entire length of the cat, barking and then listening for a moment to itself within the dog, fluttering in the ... [Read more]

Israel at Sixty Qassam rockets rain down on Negev towns; suicide bombings have reappeared; Israel is maintaining a blockade on the Gaza Strip with periodic invasions that are growing in severity; Hezbollah is re-arming itself in a chaotic Lebanon; and the fear ... [Read more]

How Populist Pandering Sank Hillary Clinton Our long national Wrightmare is finally over. With his unexpectedly impressive win in North Carolina and equally unexpected draw in Indiana last night, Barack Obama has successfully withstood a substance-less campaign of defamation from the ... [Read more]

At 60 Years Old, Israel is Finally Choosing a National Bird It has recently become a bit of an issue here in Israel that there is no national bird, and so sixty years on, we're finally adopting a bird to symbolize the country. Britain is proud of its little Robin with its red breast, America boasts of ... [Read more]

Are Messianic Jews Jewish Enough For a Bible Competition? An international youth Bible quiz is held annually in Israel, and the competition is fierce. (I went to a high school with several competitors, and they spent months studying the minutia of Tanach only to make it through the first round of ... [Read more]

Vladimir Putin Leaves Behind A Revived Prison State On His Exit It was quite possibly the greatest gift to journalists since bars started offering free Wi-Fi. Vladimir Putin, who steps down as Tsar of All The Russias this week, had secretly divorced his wife of 25 years, Lyudmila, and shacked up with ... [Read more]

Is Iron Man A Blame-America-First Defeatocrat? Writing at Pajamas Media, New York Post film critic Kyle Smith gives Jon Favreau's new Iron Man movie 3 out of 4 stars. Which is a pretty generous rating, considering that Smith has discovered that Iron Man and Iron Man --- both the film and ... [Read more]

Dear Israel: In Mid-Life, You Can Let Go Of Your Anger Dear Israel, Your son, the poet Yehuda Amichai, once described you as a land divided into two districts: memory and hope. The residents of each district mingle with each other; they are, Amichai tells us, either returning from a funeral or a ... [Read more]

Join the (Re)velation Art Project Jews are supposed to follow 613 mitzvot (commandments from God). Some make sense, while others seem antiquated and irrelevant. For an art installation to debut at DAWN, a special event for the grand opening of the San Francisco Contemporary Jewish ... [Read more]

How Should We Pray for Israel on Her 60th Anniversary? What kind of prayer suits the relationship that American Jews have with Israel, a country they don't live in, but that many feel an affinity toward? What kind of prayer is appropriate where national politics, ideological differences, and ... [Read more]