Postcards from abroad
We spent the day in and around Hebron with an extraordinary man, Yehuda Shaul, a founder member of a group called 'Breaking the Silence' (ex-Israeli soldiers who talk about their experiences in the occupied territories). It was one testing day, made even more 'interesting' because the place was swarming with religious Jews from all over… Continue reading Hebron
An essential stop for anyone coming to Israel is Yad Vashem - Israel's memorial to the Holocaust. It's a massive museum, thronged with many bus loads of tourists and their guides mumbling into headphones, but nevertheless chilling and moving. Since the 1950s, Yad Vashem has collected and recorded the names and biographical details of millions… Continue reading Yad Vashem
Here is your introduction - in case you need it - to a variety of religious bits and pieces in somewhat unusual contexts. 1. Tallis The Tallis is worn by men, and not women in traditional Jewish practice (though not the case in Reform) but there is a strong, traditional feminist movement for women to… Continue reading Jewish religious paraphernalia
We spent the afternoon at the world-class (and we mean it!) Israel museum, with too much to see and do. But one of the most surprising things we learnt was in a small exhibition on women and the veil in contemporary times in Israel, where we found out that some Jewish women and nuns (as… Continue reading Veiled connections