Shalom Israel Has Moved

Shalom Israel is now Nun Bet. Please update your bookmarks! You should be redirected to the new page in 3 seconds. If not, please click here!

I've Moved!

Hey everybody! I've officially moved URLs. Shalom Israel is now Nun Bet and can be found at http://www.nunbet.net. Eventually, I'll move all my archives over to Nun Bet (Um, as soon as I figure that out!)

So, update your feed. Updated your blogroll. See you over at Nun Bet!

Show Me Your Sukkah .02

So, kids, show me your sukkah! If you have a cool sukkah that you want to share with the world, email me a pic and details (shalomisraelblog[at]gmail[dot]com). I'll post about it. Time is ticking - I leave tomorrow morning for a well earned vacation!

Yael writes about Sukkot here. Check it out.

Here are some pictures of sukkot (the plural of sukkah) around my neck of the woods.

A front porch conversion

There are two sukkot in this picture - can you find them?!

The walls of this sukkah are made from Israeli flags.

Restaurants have their own sukkot so that customers can eat in them too.

Need a job? Get some extra cash building sukkot.

Show Me Your Sukkah!

So at some point on erev Shabbat, our modem died. Bezek promises a replacement tomorrow morning at 8:30 (we have to go and pick it up). However, like all things Israeli, I am sure that there will be a blogable story out of this before it's over. I am writing this on motze Shabbat from a cafe on Azza Street in Jerusalem.

The vanity problem is that we're leaving early Monday for Barcelona and I've got work to do. So, that's why I am busy blogging. :P

Before the modem died, I managed to do some updating to Nunbet. I am hoping to put up a header pic of my own before I fly off.

I am half-officially announcing a photo submission thing-a-ma-jig called Show Me Your Sukkah. Right now, we're in the middle of the holiday of Sukkot here in Israel. If you have or if you see a cool sukkah, take a picture of it and share it with the lovely readers here at Shalom Israel! You'll be glad you did. I took some pics when I was out and about today. I'll post them are I am re-connected to the internets at home.

Ok - back to work!

Exciting News!

I GOT A TEUDAT ZEHUT! WAHOO! It only took two years! YEAH!

Announcing the NEW blog name! I've talked about it and it's on the way. The new blog will be called nunbet. It'll be found on the internets at http://www.nunbet.net. It rhymes!

What is nunbet?! The Hebrew letters נ ב when wrtten at the bottom of a note or letter stand for נזכרתי בדבר or "I remembered something". It's the Hebrew P.S. Nunbet is pronounced "noon bet". It's not about nuns gambling.

The site isn't up yet; I'll let you know when it is. It should only be a couple of days. There are loads of fun things coming! Stay tuned!

In Today's Rotation

I need some purple pants.

Tel Aviv Yom Kippur

A Zionist moment while reading in a park

King George Street - usually packed with traffic

Dizengoff Center on Yom Kippur - this is as close as Israel gets to Times Square and it's all quiet!

A highway in Jerusalem near Ramat Rachel on a regular Shabbat.

Tel Aviv Shuk

Frequent readers of my blog know that Y and I shop regularly at the shuk. We spent the weekend in Tel Aviv and prepped for the holiday by shopping at the shuk there. Lisa Goldman was our guide. Check out her post on some of the interesting things we saw!

Hide Outs

One of the toughest things for me about moving to the Israel has been the lack of "finished spaces". Those of you who are olim may know what I am taking about right away, but for those of you dear folks still in the comfort of the US, let me explain. Here in Israel, you can go visit the Gucci boutique at Kikar HaMedina in Tel Aviv, and have water dripped on you as you walk in the shop from the air conditioning unit above the door. There are very few places that have the organization and cleanliness of typical American suburbia. The point isn't that I want Israel to become sterile, suburban USA. I just want to get away from time to time to a clean, quiet, dust free, organized space. In Jerusalem you can find that at many museums - the Israel Museum in particular is a refuge of quiet and clean.

Tel Aviv at first glance appears to be an ugly, noisy, dirty city. It's first impression is total crap. But don't judge Tel Aviv by it's cover - there's more here than meets the eye. There are even cool, clean spaces. My friend Lisa Goldman highlights some of them in a recently released guide book for Tel Aviv that is beautiful, informative and fun.


Over the past weekend and Yom Kippur holiday, I've had a chance to read this book and enjoy the beautiful images. This book takes you past the surface grit and grime of Tel Aviv to a cultured and playful heart. AND there are lots of clean, organized, beautiful "finished" places to visit.

City Guide Tel Aviv is a great book for the tourist visit Israel or perfect gift for the Israeli abroad that finds her/himself a little homesick. You can read more about the guide here. It's also available at Amazon. Be sure to check out Lisa's blog too for more info about this project.

I am a big fan of fair and balanced reporting. So: