They met online 10 years ago just before Yom Kippur when Megan, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, chided David Abitbol of Jewlicious, for Judaism’s “dead rote rituals.” Thus began an unlikely friendship that culminated in Megan leaving her hateful church and becoming an advocate against hate. Today, her book “Unfollow” detailing the whole […]
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Israel has been dubbed the “Startup Nation” due to the tremendous amount of tech innovation that takes place in this otherwise tiny, embattled nation. Headlines regularly report the financial aspects of this – a couple days ago, Orbotech, an Israeli electronics manufacturer which produces systems for circuit boards and chips, was bought out by US-based […]
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Aleph Male beard balm is not just another small-batch, boutique-brand beard balm. It’s a celebration of Jewish sacred masculinity that hearkens back to ancient Jewish customs. The blends are also inspired by Jewish customs and essential oils with biblical references. Eitan Press, the founder of Aleph Male, is the passionate face and beard of the […]
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Talking politics or religion was always discouraged in polite company. The idea was that these divisive topics would create unpleasant disagreements whose tone and timber would be unacceptable. As much as this has always been the case, it seems like current political and religious discourse has never been more divisive. It seems as if folks […]
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Last night was pretty brutal. Just after 9 pm, two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at diners in the Max Brenner restaurant at Tel Aviv’s trendy Sarona Market. The terrorists, dressed in black suits, were cousins from the village of Yatta in the Hebron Hills. The shooting lasted barely a minute and left 4 dead and […]
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Holocaust Memorial Day began last night at sunset. Pretty much everything shuts down – bars, restaurants, shops etc. Television programming is all Holocaust and Shoah-related while the radio played only sad songs. People gathered formally and informally to talk about the Holocaust or watch Holocaust themed movies. It’s a pretty big deal here in Israel. […]
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Writing this review in the middle of Passover, one would think a movie about yet even more Matzo is more of an American nightmare than an American dream. However, while all my meals this week involve Matzo, unleavened bread is just part of the story related by Michael Levine’s documentary Streit’s: Matzo and the American […]
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Adrian Chen at the New Yorker wrote a long, well researched piece on the role Twitter played in Megan Phelps-Roper’s decision to leave the Westboro Baptist Church, founded by her grandfather Fred Phelps. The piece, written for New Yorker’s annual technology issue showed how a twitter discussion between Megan and David Abitbol of Jewlicious fed […]
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