In a sudden turn of events, the Palestinian Authority has agreed yesterday to restart relations with Israel after six months. This apparently includes both security cooperation and finally accepting their taxes which Israel collects on their behalf (import/export taxes via Israeli ports). https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-authority-announces-renewal-of-security-coordination-with-israel/ https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/palestinian-authority-to-resume-security-coor

One of my favorite stories in the Jewish canon occurred in this past week's Torah portion. "And Isaac went out walking in the field toward evening and, looking up, he saw camels approaching. Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac. She alighted from the camel..." In itself it's not so exciting, until you realize that "alighted" is a polite word in English for what actually transpired in the Hebrew: she saw Isaac and promptly fell off the camel. Now, however, an article in the N

Two of the greatest problems the world faces are the rising rates of obesity and the fact that the amount of lost Airpods inhabits a collective space larger than Rhode Island. While I am not sure the second fact is true, the global obesity rate has tripled in my lifetime alone and is particularly acute in the US where over 40% of the population has obesity. And people lose their Airpods all the time. Well now Israel may have [partially] solved both of these problems. Forg

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

In recent days, Israel has signed separate deals with US and Russian manufacturers of coronavirus vaccines with enough doses to vaccinate the entire country. This is on top of the local vaccine which began human trials on November 1. As an Israel tour guide this is incredibly exciting as hopefully it means we will be able to get back to work en masse as early as this coming spring . The Russian Sputnik V vaccine is in the middle of Phase III trials but has supposedly shown s

In 2009, Dan Senor and Saul Singer wrote a book called "Start-Up Nation" about Israel's incredible propensity for creating start-up companies. The book tried to understand the factors which turned tiny Israel into a global tech power, and in doing so, gave a new nickname to the country. Yet a decade and over a dozen billion dollar exits later, two questions arise. Are we still the start-up nation or have we now morphed into something else? And, perhaps more importantly, d

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, whom I consider to be the greatest rabbi, teacher, ethicist and philosopher of our generation, passed away on Shabbat. His deep knowledge of secular subjects, literature, history and philosophy from ancient to modern was unique among Jewish thinkers and as such, he was able to relate to a non-Jewish audience as well as a Jewish one. An ambassador for faith and morality, tolerance and repairing the world, his books have been and his videos have bee

As a tour guide of Israel, I am happy to let you know of some good news regarding the opening of tourism to Israel. Israel hit a milestone today when it opened today a coronavirus test center which allows for testing for both arriving and departing passengers. Outgoing travelers who test negative will then receive a medical passport which can be used to enter a number of countries. No word yet on whether incoming travelers from "red" countries will still be forced to quaran

Malawi is set to become the first African country to open an embassy in Jerusalem. Currently the only countries with embassies in Israel's capital are the US and Guatemala, though several other countries have claimed they will be opening ones as well. They include Brazil, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, Honduras, Moldova, Romania and the Czech Republic. For more on this breaking story click here: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/foreign-minister-ashkenazi-meets-with-malawi-counte

As a tour guide of Israel, I'm always being asked what Israelis think about the US and especially about particular US presidents. Today of course, all eyes are on the US and the presidential election. So I've collected a variety of voices for you to see what people are saying here in Israel about the candidates, the challenges the next president will face and the US-Israel relationship. One thing that is important to note - and in my role as an Israel tour guide I always re

In a follow-up to the breaking news from this past week, the first Jerusalem-born American to have Israel listed in his passport is none other than Menachem ZIvotofsky. Why is that important? Well it was Menachem's parents, Ari and Naomi, who took the case to the US Supreme Court - twice - to try and get Menachem, born in Jerusalem in 2002, a passport which listed his actual country of birth. For more on the story click here: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/zivotofskys-18

The trailer for an Israeli English-language film - a loose modern reenactment of the story of Jacob and Esau - has just been released. The film stars Harvey Keitel as Abraham, Shira Haas (from Unorthodox and Shtisel) as Leah and Lior Ashkenazi in the title role of Esau. Ashkenazi is the winner of 3 Ofirs (the Israeli Academy Awards) for best actor. It also features as Sarah, Gila Almagor who won a lifetime achievement award at the Ofirs - and then won two best actress awa

In a first for the women in Israel Defense Forces (IDF) since the War of Independence, certain female combat soldiers will become front-line soldiers with the ability to cross borders if necessary during war-time. This is one of the first steps taken after an IDF committee was formed in August to review the roles women are allowed to take in the IDF. While the vast majority of roles have become open to women in the past decade, there are still a number of positions and brig

Over the past month, a number of incredible archaeological discoveries have been found in Israel. Unknown gates on the Temple Mount, a Byzantine church near Caesarea Phillippi, ancient boundary stones and weights, a signet ring with the seal of Apollo, perhaps the world's first furnace and more. As your resident tour guide of Israel, it is my pleasure to recap all of them for you here... It's amazing that this had never been noticed before: Two blocked-up arches which were s

A feel good story today: "The largest nongovernmental organization of imams in the world, the Global Imams Council (GIC), has adopted the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism." The GIC, as per their website, describes themselves as "the world’s first and largest international non-governmental body of Muslim religious Leaders from all Islamic Denominations and Schools of thought, with a rapidly growing number of over

For the first time in NBA draft history, an Israeli is expected to be drafted in the lottery (the top part of the first round comprised of teams who did not make the playoffs) - and could end up quite possibly in the top 5 overall selections. Meet Deni Avdija... Avdija, an 19-year old, 6"9, 220-pound small forward, led Israel to the championship in two out of the last three European Under-20 basketball tournaments (coming in second in the other one). He also just led Macca

Beginning on Sunday, there will be a 3-part weekly series on the Dead Sea Scrolls co-sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Beit Avi Chai in Jerusalem. The Dead Sea Scrolls are universally recognized as one of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in history - it's not just "Israel tour guide speak." The topics and times can be found below... From the Israel Antiquities Authority: "The discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls in a remote Judean Desert cave in 194

Schnitzel. For some 40% of Israelis, it is their go to family meal. If you have traveled through Israel, and somehow branched out beyond falafel and shwarma for a quick lunch somewhere, you probably went for schnitzel. As a tour guide of Israel I have ingested more than my fare share of this delightful dish. In recent years, however, it is has been cool to take a look back at its humble origins, discover how it became "Israeli" and then magically make it into the centerpi

At the western entrance to the city of Jerusalem sits the Jerusalem Chords Bridge, designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. It sits at a major junction and for the past decade or so has allowed the light rail to pass overhead. Said to look like David's Harp (though I think it looks more like a boat), it has become a noted architectural landmark on the city's skyline - and something, as a tour guide of Israel, I consistently get asked about at the various cit

One of the craziest situations we have dealt with in the theater of the absurd - also known as Middle Eastern politics - is the refusal of the world to recognize Jerusalem as not only being Israel's capital, but being a part of Israel at all. This goes back to the days of the 1947 UN partition plan which called for a Jewish and Arab state in the lands of the about to be abandoned British Mandate of Palestine, but also for an international zone compromising Jerusalem and Beth