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Great Online Webinars/Lectures on Israel/Judaism This Week

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Nov 16, 2020
4 min

Great Online Webinars/Lectures on Israel/Judaism This Week

There are so many great webinars on Israel and Jewish-related things this week. Here are some highlights, from your trusty tour guide of Israel. Plus, check out the videos below of the Dead Sea Scrolls lectures from earlier this month. Have You Ever Heard of Sigd? Monday, Nov. 16 at 8pm in Israel (1pm EST) Sigd is a Jewish holiday marked by the Ethiopian-Jewish community 50 days after Yom Kippur. It celebrates their finally making it back to Jerusalem - through all the tr

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The Cooperation Between Israel and the Gulf is Exploding

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 27, 2020
2 min

The Cooperation Between Israel and the Gulf is Exploding

So much has been happening when it comes to the developing of civil ties and cooperative efforts between Israel and the Persian Gulf that it is hard to keep track. The excitement in both societies is palpable. Fortunately, I am here, as your tour guide of Israel, to let you know about all the incredible things that are already underway... 1) A deal has been signed between Israeli and UAE film schools. https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-uae-film-deal-aims-to-promote-tolerance

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Israel is Open Again and Letting in Tourists from 34 Countries

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 21, 2020
3 min

Israel is Open Again and Letting in Tourists from 34 Countries

Israel has emerged now from a second lockdown, which was enacted over the Jewish holidays. While indoor spaces such as museums are still closed, the national parks are now open and more and more places will be opening in the coming weeks. As a tour guide of Israel, I cannot be more excited to get back to work providing incredibly meaningful, memorable and enjoyable experiences here for my clients. At this point, Israel has identified 34 green countries. These are countrie

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Israel's Most Important Museum Ever is Under Construction

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 21, 2020
2 min

Israel's Most Important Museum Ever is Under Construction

It's about time. This is something we have not seen until now here in Israel - the country with more museums per capita than any other country in the world. We have numerous museums about one topic, one site, one time or place or one group or people or even individuals. There are a select few museums which have attempted to tell the Jewish story throughout the ages, notably the Museum of the Jewish People (the former Diaspora Museum) and the Israel Museum. And yet they ar

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A Glowing Report on Tourism to Israel... Pre-Covid

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 1, 2020
2 min

A Glowing Report on Tourism to Israel... Pre-Covid

Israel set a record last year with 4.55 million tourists. That was an 11% increase over 2018 which itself was a 42% increase over 2016. Even more amazing is that 94.4% of visitors to Israel reported a good to excellent experience in the country. That's an incredible success rate and I take pride in that, as a tour guide of Israel, I have a small part to play in that. If you are unaware, becoming an Israel tour guide is like getting a master's degree. It is a 2-year course

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Everything You Need to Know About Sukkot This Year in Israel!!

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Oct 1, 2020
6 min

Everything You Need to Know About Sukkot This Year in Israel!!

On Friday night we begin Sukkot, the Festival of Booths. In ancient times this was the most popular Jewish holiday and I have to say, that it weren't for my mother's insanely delicious matzah ball soup and chopped liver on Passover, Sukkot would absolutely be my favorite one as well. On Sukkot we building temporary dwellings outside of our homes called sukkot in which we are supposed to eat and even sleep in for 7 days in Israel (8 days abroad). We also gather together four

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Tour Guide on Tour: High Over Tel Aviv on the TLV Balloon

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Sep 21, 2020
3 min

Tour Guide on Tour: High Over Tel Aviv on the TLV Balloon

What do you do when as an Israel tour guide you are tasked with planning an outing in Israel for "people who have gone everywhere and seen everything?" Well - first of all, those people don't actually exist, since despite its size, there is so much to experience here - but I had as my touring crew for the day the closest thing to that: 9 other licensed Israeli tour guides. I quickly realized that I needed to think out of the box and my eyes turned towards the heavens. A q

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50 Things NOT to Do in Israel (or Take from Israel)

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Sep 9, 2020
10 min

50 Things NOT to Do in Israel (or Take from Israel)

I just read an article on CNN about a tourist being fined $1200 for trying to take sand from Sardinia's beaches and it got me thinking.... which things should you NOT take from Israel? I made a short list of those things - as well as a more extensive list of things which are frowned upon here but which unsuspecting tourists do all the time (or just not wise things to do while here). The first set of don'ts relates to that great quote "take only pictures, leave only footprint

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Tour Guide on Tour: Hiking, National Parks, Wine & Cheese

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Sep 8, 2020
5 min

Tour Guide on Tour: Hiking, National Parks, Wine & Cheese

This past week your trusty Israel tour guide took a 3-day trip to the coast and north of Israel: Wineries, dairies, national parks an incredible heritage museum and the grave of maybe the most famous person who never lived. Check it out (photos at the bottom): Day 1: The Grave of Harry Potter - I actually wrote an entire separate blog post about this here, but Israel is the final resting place of Harry Potter - just not the one you are thinking of. This one was a British sol

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Mazal Tov! Ama're Stoudemire Officially Converts to Judaism

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Aug 27, 2020
2 min

Mazal Tov! Ama're Stoudemire Officially Converts to Judaism

Yesterday basketball legend Ama're Stoudemire made it official: he is a Jew. At a ceremony in the Israeli town of Bnei Brak, Stoudemire went in front of the Beit Din - a Jewish court - and also immersed himself in a mikveh - a Jewish ritual bath. And just like that Ama're Stoudemire became Yehoshafat ben Avraham, his new Hebrew name, which means "God will Judge, Son of Abraham." Over the years, I have come to deeply respect Ben Avraham for his never-ending search for truth,

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Visitors from 20 Countries Can Enter Israel Without Quarantine

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Aug 16, 2020
2 min

Visitors from 20 Countries Can Enter Israel Without Quarantine

A major travel update: Visitors from 20 countries can now enter Israel without requiring entering into quarantine upon arrival. Israelis (or visitors coming from Israel) can also now enter into a few more countries without quarantining, though they will need to show negative tests for covid-19. Just keep in mind that if you do come to Israel, you may need to quarantine upon returning home, depending on the current rules in your home country. As a tour guide of Israel, this

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Interview with An Arab Muslim Bedouin in Israel (Video)

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Aug 5, 2020
2 min

Interview with An Arab Muslim Bedouin in Israel (Video)

How many times have you been on an Israel trip - especially as a teenager or a young adult - and you went to a "Bedouin Camp" in the desert, where you ate a "traditional Bedouin meal," rode a camel and heard a real live Bedouin speak? How quickly did you realize that it was just a tourist attraction? No Bedouins live at that camp (apart from a few night staff/guards), it is owned by Jews, the food is kosher and brought in and is not "traditional Bedouin food" apart from the

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Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Aug 4, 2020
2 min

A Film About a Shabbos Goy and a Vibrator Gone Rogue

What is the most embarrassing situation a "Shabbos Goy" could be called into solve? Such is the premise of the aptly named - and incredibly hilarious - 7-minute short film "Shabbos Goy." For those unaware, by traditional Jewish law, not only can a Jew not use electricity on Shabbat, but cannot ask a non-Jew to do it for him/her. A Shabbat-observant Jew cannot ask a non-observant Jew to do it either. The concept of the Shabbos Goy likely came into existence when Jews made it

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Israelis and Palestinians Fight Over LGBTQ... and Tahini

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Aug 4, 2020
5 min

Israelis and Palestinians Fight Over LGBTQ... and Tahini

In yet another episode of the theater of the absurd, the Palestinian LGBTQ group al-Qaws, which was founded in 2007 but recently banned by the Palestinian Authority amid a crackdown on LGBTQs in the areas under their rule, has held a rally in the Israeli city of Haifa against Israeli oppression. That's right - the country that allows them to exist freely is then accused of being the ones who oppress them (as opposed to the actual oppression from their own government - and d

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3 Black Hasidic-Jewish Rappers & Jews [of Color] News

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 21, 2020
2 min

3 Black Hasidic-Jewish Rappers & Jews [of Color] News

Meet Nissim Black (photo on right). His journey to where he is today is truly remarkable; his search for truth and meaning brought him to Hasidic Judaism and finally to Israel. A number of interviews have been done with him in the past - here is a good one from 2016. https://www.timesofisrael.com/black-rapper-who-found-spiritual-home-in-orthodoxy-on-the-move-to-israel/. Below is a short interview with him from a recent episode of the Today Show as well as 4 of his videos. Th

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Why does this Ethiopian-Jewish soldier serve in the Air Force?

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 19, 2020
1 min

Why does this Ethiopian-Jewish soldier serve in the Air Force?

A truly beautiful story. When Israel came to the rescue of Ethiopian Jews, it was the first time they had ever seen a plane. They left the civil war and persecution in their homes in Africa just as our ancestors did in the Bible - "On Wings of Eagles" [Exodus 19:4] - after praying for some 2700 years to be restored to Zion. Along the way they set a Guinness world record which still stands for most people on an airplane. Now, the daughter of one of them, is coming full circl

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Tour Guide on Tour to The Wild West... Bank

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 16, 2020
6 min

Tour Guide on Tour to The Wild West... Bank

On Tuesday I set out for Samaria - of Judea and Samaria - also known in modern political terms as the West Bank. It's an area, as a tour guide of Israel, that I don't often get to in my tours. Unless someone is particularly interested in politics or ancient Biblical sites or multicultural sites it's not going to show up at the top of one's itinerary requests. However, a case could be made for a nice day out which involves a little bit of everything (especially for a repeat

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Jews, American Football and Anti-Semitism: 12 thoughts

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 10, 2020
5 min

Jews, American Football and Anti-Semitism: 12 thoughts

The big sports news this past week has not been the return of sports leagues in the USA or even Patrick Mahomes' signing the richest contract in the history of North America. It pains me as an Eagles fan to say this, but it was the incredibly insensitive anti-Semitic tweet by Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson. The quote is ascribed to Hitler (though he never said it) but rather comes from Louis Farrakhan, the anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam. Sinc

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Learn about Ethiopian Jewish Food, Dance, Art & History

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 7, 2020
2 min

Learn about Ethiopian Jewish Food, Dance, Art & History

Meet the amazing Ashagar Araro. She is only 29 years old and along with her aunt - the gorgeous former fashion model (and current restaurant owner) Fanta Prada - has opened up a brand-new Ethiopian cultural heritage center in the heart of Tel Aviv called Battae. At Battae ("my house" in Amharic) they introduce visitors from all over the world to Ethiopian Jewish culture via the mediums of art, dance and of course food. Along the way, people learn a little history - and more

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Tour Guide on Tour: Cavalry Charges, Matzah Art & The Who

Kobi Tour Guide of Israel

Jul 3, 2020
5 min

Tour Guide on Tour: Cavalry Charges, Matzah Art & The Who

As a tour guide of Israel I have been unemployed for the past 4 months with cancellations for the next 4 months as well, due to the coronavirus situation. So how have I kept busy - besides building this website? Now that we are allowed outside, I have been going on my own tours to the kinds of places that one does not usually see on a first or even second tour of Israel. These true off-the-beaten path places are full of hidden gems and one of them - where I spent the last

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