Not your ordinary can of Coke

Nowadays, you can find “diet” foods everywhere. Low-fat cookies, sugar-free ice-cream, no-carb bread .. you know what I’m talking about.

Now, nobody likes to admit they need to lose a few pounds. But if that’s the case for you, it’s nice to be able to access these kinds of foods.

Israel has always stocked the widest supply of calorie-alternative food on the planet. And I’m talking, long before any of this stuff was available in the United States .

Yes, I am talking about the time, when a chubby person’s only alternative was to drink Tab and smoke cigarettes. By then, Israel already had a booming industry in tasty diet cheeses, bread, yoghurt, juice and pretty much anything else you can think of.

Now the Israeli food and beverage market has once again take the lead in creating a product none of us ever expected to “get healthy”: Coca Cola!

According to this report on Ynet news the owner of Coca Cola in Israel has responded to the population’s wish for health-conscious drinks and will begin selling a version of Coke that is free of preservatives and artificial coloring.

I wonder if it tastes any good?

Smokin’ Israeli on Showtime’s Weeds

A little background on the incredibly hot Israeli actress Meital Dohan on Showtime’s WEEDS.

From Israel 21c:

When the hit American cable show Weeds introduced the character of Yael Hoffman - a sexy, provocative Israeli rabbinic school administrator - the TV blogosphere went into overdrive, causing one avid fan to write: “She’s played by a real Israeli actress with a genuine Israeli accent”.

That genuine accent belongs to Meital Dohan, who is well-known and respected back at home in Israel, but who has quietly been honing her craft in New York, as well as working in both theater and film in Israel, following her graduation from the prestigious Nissan Nativ acting school in 1998.

Now she’s a household name in the US, thanks to the Showtime series. Weeds, which is now entering its third season, is a black comedy that follows the lives of the Botwin family living in an affluent (yet fictional) Californian suburb. The show stars Mary Louise Parker as Nancy Botwin, who, after her husband suddenly drops dead, starts selling marijuana to the locals in order to support her family and keep up with the Joneses.

Continue reading Smokin’ Israeli on Showtime’s Weeds…

Israeli Rock Thriving Under Rocket Attack

The NYT has an awesome piece on the Israeli pop-rock scene thriving amidst the rocket attacks on our embattled Israeli city of Sderot. We think the piece does a good job capturing the reality of these kids terrible situation. Here’s a link to the Teapacks story.

Give Them Shelter: Where Rockets, and Drums, Go Boom

By JENNIFER MEDINA
Published: April 27, 2007

SDEROT, Israel — The underground Israeli pop-rock music scene seems to start here, in a bomb shelter set in the center of town.It does not matter how loudly the teenagers hammer at their drums or pluck at the guitars; the green tin that is meant to protect residents from incoming rockets also works as a sound barrier for the funky music.

It is not unusual for Israeli towns to turn shelters into community centers of some sort. But Sderot, barely a mile from the Gaza Strip, is one of the few cities where such shelters are still used frequently.

Continue reading Israeli Rock Thriving Under Rocket Attack…

How do You Mend a Broken Heart?

We have written about Save a Child’s Heart before at isrealli.org. Come to think of it, we have also written about Idan Raichel .

But the following diary entry, which was published on Ynet News was so moving, we figured you would want to revisit both of these Israeli entities again.

In the following article, Raichel documents the events of a mercy mission that he takes part in together with child cardiologists, traveling to Addis, Ethiopia and Kigali, Rwanda.

I suggest that before reading it, you go to Idan’s MySpace page and play the song “Boee Come with Me” as background music for the article. You’ll see why, exactly, when you get to the end.

Oh, and the next time Idan Raichel comes to a city near you, why don’t you give YOUR heart a boost, and try to catch the show!

Israel’s Independence Day Bloc Party

So, Israel turned 59 at sunset last night. How do Israeli’s celebrate, you may wonder?

Well if the following couple of articles are anything to go by, the answer is plainly: with meat!

I guess it is not so different from your typical American Fourth of July celebrations. People have a day off from work, the weather is perfectly warm, so they grab some friends, head to the nearest park and make a barbeque, or “Al ha esh” (meaning, literally, “on the fire”).

So in preparation for the great day of smoky fun, this article in Haaretz lists the seven top sources for quality gourmet meats in Israel.

While the Jerusalem Post’s Independence Day round-up is a little broader, there is certainly a listing for where to find great steaks, as well as details of a Bloc Party that was thrown by Arcady Gaydamak, the country’s Russian-born billionaire and perhaps most importantly, an all-day bash at one of Israel’s most popular clubs Haoman 17.

Take a look at the full listings, and you’ll wish you had been there to celebrate too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISRAEL!!

The State of Israel’s Economy

For any of our readers who are not aware, today is Israel’s 59th Birthday. Just old enough to feel our age, but not old enough to collect social security…damn it! Anyway, the Financial Times just did an awesome, yet somewhat very very long piece, on the state of Israel’s economy (pun absolutely intended). Of course, we’re always looking for good news on our birthday, and although this article delves into our long history marked by conflict it also shows our ability to create despite (or in spite?) of our struggles. Anyway, here ya’ go…

Business as usual

By Sharmila Devi

Published: April 13 2007 19:55 | Last updated: April 13 2007 19:55

The spring sun burns down on Tel Aviv’s bustling streets, flooding Ernesto’s pasta joint with light. The homely restaurant, run by an Italian immigrant and his Russian wife, is the neighbourhood hang-out of Itzhak Yaakov, a retired brigadier-general, Israel’s former chief scientist and a progenitor of the country’s high-technology boom.

The 81-year-old Yaakov’s life spans the history of Israel, whose condition is the invariable subject for discussion at his weekly lunches with about half a dozen other former generals who also fought for the country’s independence in 1948 and in the wars that followed.

Yaakov played a decisive role in his country’s ”guns and growth” story and its rise from socialist-agricultural roots to high-tech powerhouse. Today, almost one Israeli in 10 works in the high-tech sector, and that group’s impact on growth and investment has been huge. Last year, some 3,500 start-ups were created in Israel - population 7 million - second in number only to the US. The coastal plain is known as Silicon Wadi. More companies from Israel are listed on the Nasdaq in New York than any other country other than the US; the exchange even has an Israel Index.

Continue reading The State of Israel’s Economy…

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day in Israel when all of Israel’s fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism are honored in ceremonies throughout the country and world. In the Jewish tradition, today’s day of mourning is followed by a day of celebration. Tomorrow is Israel’s Independence Day and marks the Jewish State’s 59th Birthday. So today we mourn those who make tomorrow possible.

From HAARETZ:

Memorial Day ceremonies to honor 22,305 killed - 233 of them last year

By Yuval Azoulay

Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers will begin tonight at 8 P.M. with a siren signaling a minute of silence, and flags will be lowered to half-mast. Since the establishment of the first Jewish neighborhoods outside Jerusalem’s Old City wall in 1860, the date of the beginning of the count of fatalities, 22,305 have been killed in battle.

Over the past year, 233 names have been added to the list, which includes injured veterans of the Israel Defense Forces who died this year.

Of this year’s fallen, 119 were killed during the Second Lebanon War, which lasted 33 days and struck the home front as well: Since last Memorial Day, 66 civilians have been killed in hostile actions, 57 of them during the war, when thousands of rockets were fired from Lebanon on Israeli communities.

Continue reading Memorial Day…

Prof. Liviu Librecu is Now at Peace

From today’s New York Times:

RAANANA, Israel (AP) — A Holocaust survivor gunned down trying to save his students from the Virginia Tech shooting rampage was buried in Israel Friday to the sobs of his grieving family.

Engineering Professor Liviu Librescu’s body was wrapped in a prayer shawl according to Jewish tradition, and his two sons intoned the Kaddish, the Hebrew prayer for the dead.

A representative of the Romanian government posthumously awarded the Romanian-born Librescu the country’s highest medal for his scientific accomplishments and heroism. Romanian officials laid a wreath at the grave.

“I walked through the streets today with my head held high because I have such a father,” his elder son, Joe, said.

Librescu, a 76-year-old aeronautics engineer and lecturer at the school for 20 years, died trying to barricade the door of his Virginia Tech classroom to keep the gunman, Cho Seung-Hui, away from his students.

“It’s so painful for me to think of your last moments, in which you suffered. I’ll never know what went through your mind, but I hope very much that wherever you are, you will watch over your family,” Librescu’s weeping wife, Marlena, said.

Continue reading Prof. Liviu Librecu is Now at Peace…

Prof. Liviu Librescu Flown to Israel for Burial

Yesterday, our boss Consul General Arye Mekel and other Consulate staff, met professor Librescu’s widow in Brooklyn for a ceremonial funeral and to help prepare the Professor’s remains to be flown to Israel, where he will be buried. The burial is scheduled for 1pm Israel time (6am est) tomorrow in Ra’ananah, a beautiful town in the center of Israel. Below is a little more information on Professor Librescu’s personal history. We will post more information as we receive it.

From Jewishinstlouis.org:

Professor killed at Virginia tech to be flown to Israel

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
04/18/2007

Tel Aviv (dpa) - The body of the Israeli professor who was killed in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute shooting spree is to be flown to Israel Wednesday, his son said.

Liviu Librescu, who according to witnesses saved some of his students by blocking the door to the gunman with his body, is to be buried at the cemetery of the central Israeli town of Ra’anana.

His wife, Marilena, is accompanying his coffin on the flight that is to depart from New York Wednesday and due to arrive in Tel Aviv Thursday, 37-year-old son Arieh told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in a telephone interview.

Librescu, 76, was born in Romania and with his wife has lived in the US for more than 20 years, but has Israeli nationality. Both his sons, Arieh and Joe, live in Israel.

Continue reading Prof. Liviu Librescu Flown to Israel for Burial…

NY Mag: 4 Days in TA

New York Magazine did a nice write up this week on a 4 day trip to the ‘Big Falafel’ aka ‘The Little Sand Wedge’ aka ‘The Land of Milk & Honey’ etc, etc… more specifically, to TA (Tel-Aviv) our capital of fun and sun on the Mediterranean.

The trip sounds great, but 4 days may be a little rough when factoring in the lag…

Enjoy:

Tel Aviv, Israel

Club-hop until the sun comes up over the Mediterranean.

——————————————————————————–
Hours From New York: 10
TYPE OF VACATION: Party
MODE:

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Tel Aviv may be in the heart of the Holy Land, but its all-hours, pansexual, smoker-friendly, inexpensive club scene is anything but pious (and the city is increasingly safe). The weekend starts Thursday night, so leave Wednesday night (El Al has an 11:50 p.m. flight from JFK that lands just in time for dinner the following day). Book the Cinema Hotel (from $120; 972-3-520-7100), a converted thirties movie house a short stroll from the Mediterranean. Having slept on the flight, get your groove on early with dinner at Nanuchka (28 Lilenblum St.; 972-3-516-2254), a Georgian supper club; wash down tinakali (cheese dumplings with yogurt) with vodka shots, and maybe some dancing on tables to post-Soviet Slavo-pop….

Read the rest here:

Continue reading NY Mag: 4 Days in TA…