So, you’re a Muslim

I am culturally Jewish – a definition that works for me. It allows me to embrace my Israeli identity and practice Jewish traditions, leaving my spiritual beliefs out of the equation. This did not just happen. It has taken me many years of questioning and actively searching for answers to come up with a mechanism, if one can call it that, I am comfortable with. People’s spiritual practices, similar to their sex life, are really no one else’s business, as long as they act responsibly.

Responsibly – this is where the fine line lies.

Sexy Shoulders

I used to be  mail-person, some thirty odd years ago. We had just moved to the suburbs and I needed a job. The only catch was I wanted the best of both worlds. As a young mom, I wanted to benefit from what the workforce has to offer, but at the same time I wanted to be home in time to pick up my kids from pre-school. I had been offered a job as a military translator, but it was in Tel Aviv and even part-time meant that I would be out of the house more than I wanted to be and I dreaded the thought and of employing a nanny. Then, one day I went to pick up a package at the post office and saw the notice: “Mailmen needed.” The only question I was asked in the short interview with the postmaster was if I could ride a bike.

Panama City Florida

When I was little, air travel was a festive event. We would get dressed up for the flight. At the airport my father would give each of my brothers and me $1.00 each for the pinball machines to keep us occupied while we waited for our flight. And, just before landing the stewardess (as flight attendants were called back then), would let me walk up and down the aisle with the mints. She would give me a stewardess pin and even let me wear her cap. Sometimes she would take me to the cockpit to see the pilot.

Ho hum … how things have changed.

Christmas Delight

Melbourne - Corner of Collins and Elizabeth Salvation Army collecting Christmas donations

Growing up in Israel, everything I knew about Christmas I learnt from TV and the movies, that is until the first December I spent in Melbourne.

Bag of Tricks

Her name was Alice – a homely teen, the type you often see that hasn’t yet grown into her changing body and wears her confusion about her place in the world on her face as a sophisticated woman wears her make-up. 

I-phone, therefore I am!

When I was a little girl, my grandpa told me about the phone of the future; he had seen it at the World’s Fair. With this new phone, he explained to me, the speakers would be able to actually see one another. Fascinated, I used to wonder about this strange and yet amazing contraption, worried what would happen if someone called when you just happened to be naked.

Epiphany @59

Robert Fulghum, one of my favorite authors, claims that all he really needs to know he learnt in kindergarten I believe that all I really need to know, I have learnt from TV. I am, and always have been, a TV freak. Work or play watching TV is as comforting to me as classical music playing in the background is to others. I actually did all of my studying in front of the TV: from Oprah to the news, from reruns of I Love Lucy, detective series to dramas and documentaries – anything goes.