Judaism as Pop Culture

Listen carefully to this song. See if you notice any Hebrew phrases that you know. I think it's incredible how much Judaism is a part of regular life in Israel, part of its pop-culture references. Where else is the biblical story a regular part of modern culture?
(This is Sarit Hadad, a beloved Israeli singer)

Jerusalem...My Favorite City

(just click on the play button to make it play right here!)

Cool Facts About Israel

(just click on the "play" button to play it right here)

kippah tip to Gail:-)...thanks!

Baggage Allowances from British Airways

Here is the information about baggage allowances from British Airways. Don't overpack!

Books to Read Before Your Trip

Here is some suggested reading before your trip to Israel

General history & politics
1001 Facts Everyone Should Know About Israel by Mitchell Bard
A History Of Israel and The Holy Land by Shimon Peres and Michael Avi-Yonah
The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land by Donna Rosenthal
Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy by Shlomo Ben-Ami
The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz
His Brother's Keeper: Israel and Diaspora Jewry in the Twenty-first Century by Yossi Beilin
What Israel Means to Me by Alan Dershowitz
O Jerusalem by Larry Collins
Still Life with Bombers by David Horovitz
Real Jews by Noah Efron
Gideon’s Spies by Gordon Thomas
From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman
Israel: A Spiritual Travel Guide by Lawrence Hoffman

Literature
Exodus by Leon Uris
The Source by James Michener
The Blue Mountain by Meir Shalev and Hillel Halkin
A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz and Nicholas de Lange
Mafriah ha-yonim (Sifriyah la-am) by Eli Amir
In the Land of Israel (Harvest in Translation) by Amos Oz
Voices of Israel: Essays on and Interviews With Yehuda Amichai, A.B. Yehoshua, T. Carmi, Aharon Applefeld, and Amos Oz (S U N Y Series in Modern Jewish Literature and Culture) by Joseph Cohen
Open Closed Open Poems by Yehuda Amichai
Home to Stay by Danny Gordis

(See the list on Amazon here.)

What have you read before a trip to Israel? Leave a comment to share other books.

Israel Electric Current

If you plan to bring small electrical appliances to Israel, keep in mind that Israel uses a 220 volt electrical current and the outlet types are different as well (two circular prongs). In order to avoid "frying" any electrical items, bring a voltage converter (note: this is already built into most laptop computers). You will also need a simple adapter to plug your items into the wall.

One place to buy an adapter is here...
also, Kaehler, which is in Highland Park, carries a bunch of adapters.

Anyone find any other places to buy? Leave a comment here to share.

Update

Things all seem to be worked out on the room front and those who wanted to share are sharing...singles are singles. Seems all good!

All of the questions that were posed at our meeting are being confirmed with the Israel end of things and I am going to have a conference call next week with them to get all the details in order. Then I will hopefully have all the answers for you! Stay tuned.

Welcome to the Blog

Hi ladies!

I hope that you are all getting excited about the trip, I know I am. On this blog, I will post, probably 2-3 times a week until we go, different things I think are interesting, answers to questions, articles, ideas, etc...

Check back often for updates!

Call or email with questions!