Dr. Ihab Mansoure, a Christian-Israeli Arab from Akko (Acre), performs critical geriatric dentistry with her mobile dental clinic on homebound patients throughout the largest region of Israel, from Be’er Sheva to Ofakim and from Ashdod to Arad.
In-home geriatric dentistry
November 12, 2019
August 06, 2019
Toni Morrison, 1993 Nobel laureate in literature
When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.
Rest in peace. Your memory is a blessing.
February 18, 1931-August 5, 2019
April 09, 2019
In Israel: At a polling station during Israel's parliamentary election
Beautiful brave woman voting while her grandson watches. When he reaches legal age, he will remember this day.
September 17, 2018
Refugees and asylum seekers awarded diplomas in Levinsky Park
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| With Gaby, from Eritrea |
Meet four among English Level 3 students who completed the course along with a hundred more students of English (Levels 1 and 2), Hebrew (Levels 1-3), computer basics, Photoshop, photography, and pattern making and sewing! All classes are held in Tel Aviv's Central Bus Station.
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| With Omar, from Darfur |
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| Fellow teachers Hal and Judith flank Shibli and Ibrahim, both from Darfur |
Way to go, earnest dreamers working hard six days a week and attending night school two to four times weekly. Next semester begins in a few weeks.
September 08, 2018
"Have you a sweet year" — celebrating Rosh Hashanah
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| Rosh Hashanah greeting card and honey cake |
On September 9, 2010, Atlanta neighbors nine-year-old Taiwanese Peter Chiou and his mom, Sophia, gifted me the Rosh Hashanah greeting card and honey cake shown in the photo. Their greetings and cake remain timely and fresh.
The delightful Chiou family from Taiwan were my neighbors when veterinarian Tony Chiou was conducting research at Emory University's Yerkes National Primate Research Center. With Sophia, also a veterinarian, we shared foods, customs, books, and ideas. Just before Rosh Hashanah, I described our custom of eating apples dipped in honey, symbolizing hopes for sweetness in the coming year. They soon surprised me with their gifts.
This post was originally published September 9, 2010, 5771 in the Jewish calendar.
My related posts
June 18, 2018
Youth dancing ballet in Tekoa
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| Be'eri (on the far right) |
I rode with my cousins from Jerusalem to Tekoa, just south of the city to attend their granddaughter Be'eri's ballet recital. The annual event showcases youth dance ensembles in the settlement. Be'eri —Hebrew, for my well was our draw.
Post-recital at her home, a "caravan" — Hebrew, for trailer Be'eri changed into a sequined shirt in honor of my Tel Aviv street Calico.
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| Kitty shirt |
Our family feasted on falafel with all the trimmings followed by blessings of thanks for the meal.
Be-eri's elder sister and a cousin blessed outdoors.
Close to nightfall, quick introductions to special neighbors — horses, several members of a cat colony, and sheep in the distance and a selfie of those whom the lens could capture. Hugs all around when my cousins and I left to return to Jerusalem from where I continued by bus to Tel Aviv.
Tekoa is a Jewish settlement (population: 4500, in 2017) on the edge of the Judean desert. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. Entering and leaving settlements requires passing through a checkpoint. While the location is off for me, think cognitive dissonance.
May 15, 2018
2018 Ramadan Mubarak to my Muslim and Ismaili friends
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| Images from “Jerusalem in Detail” Israel Museum | Oct. 1917 - April 2018 |
May the holy month of Ramadan that begins this evening be affirming and that you follow tenets of your faith in safety — observing teachings that root your community to its origins and bind you as a people of social, spiritual, and personal reflection, cleansing, and renewal.
Related posts
May 04, 2018
In Tel Aviv: Reunion with Amir Habaya at Frishman Beach
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| Amir Habayba and I at Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom, 2003 |
Here we are today.
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| At the Tel Aviv seaside Calypso Restaurant, 2018 |
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| With Rola, Khaled, and ADORABLE Lolo |
April 12, 2018
In Tel Aviv: Holocaust (Shoah) Remembrance Day
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When the SS murdered Romanian-born Leah's parents in front of her,
a Christian neighbor heard the screams and gunshots, dashed into the house, grabbed the 9-year-old child survivor insisting she was hers, and hid Leah in a crawl space 3 years. |
Note: I first published this post on Yom Hashoah 2009.
Today, as every year on the 27th day of the Hebrew month Nisan, at 10 A.M., a two-minute siren wailed nationwide. The sound calls us to remember the six million Jews — one-third of world Jewry then, among them 1.5 million children that the Third Reich systematically exterminated in less than five years. Five million more victims perished, including German opponents of Nazism, Gypsies/Roma, Serbs, Polish intelligentsia, resistance fighters from all nations, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, people with disabilities, habitual criminals, and the "antisocial" such as beggars, vagrants, and hawkers.
In Israel, listening to the siren, activities and conversations stop and traffic halts: drivers and passengers exit cars, busses, taxis, and trucks; and pedestrians stand still. Yom Hashoah memorial ceremonies follow at the Knesset (Parliament), the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, and in schools, organizations, and institutions nationwide.
At the corner of Tel Aviv's Allenby and Yavne Streets, in the first public Beit Avot (Home for the Aged), I joined the residents, most of them Shoah survivors, for their memorial ceremony.
Watch the video (5:21 minutes).
My related posts
- Extermination Categories (poster) in the Museum of the Liberation of Rome
- Kristallnacht: Night of Crystal, or "Night of Broken Glass"
- Happy 107, Alice Herz-Sommer: Oldest surviving Holocaust survivor
- In Atlanta: Remembering Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes
- Stefan's Urgent Message
- Holocaust Remembrance Day and Vivi's timely e-mail
- In Tel Aviv: learning from elders
April 11, 2018
In Israel: Restrooms for Refugees
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| Two public restrooms funded by individual donations to provide basic solutions to untenable conditions |
Thrilled to support human dignity for our African asylum-seeking friends and partners.
Asylum-seekers are required to apply for visa renewals every month or two (for families, every six months) at the sole office of the Israel Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration (PIBA) in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv. Instances of frivolous rejection are not uncommon.
Please, join the “Restrooms for Refugees - Israel” GoFundMe campaign to install basic facilities, shelter, and sanitary conditions to alleviate the denigrating conditions they experience waiting outside often in burning sun on dirt ground that turns to mud in pouring rain.
To donate to the campaign, click here. Thank you.
About GoFundMe, the world’s largest social fundraising platform, with over $5 billion raised so far. With a community of more than 50 million donors, GoFundMe is changing the way the world gives. For more information, click here.
April 01, 2018
Palestinian Israeli Girl Scouts on Palm Sunday
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| Palestinian Israeli Girl Scouts on Palm Sunday |
Happy Easter to my dear Christian friends.
חג הפסחא שמח לידידי הנוצרים היקרים. בתצלום בנות הצופים פלסטיניות ישראליות ביום ראשון הדקל נוגעת ללב
I hope Holy Week from Palm Sunday through today, Easter Sunday, has been significant and affirming. May the moral life and universal, humanistic message of Jesus, and resurrection —revival and new beginnings inform our visions and actions.
Thousands of Christian pilgrims observed Holy Week in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Watch the video (3.5 minutes).
March 16, 2018
Stephen Hawking 1942-2018
We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star.
March 10, 2018
February 18, 2018
January 15, 2018
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have celebrated his 89th birthday today
I knew I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed ... without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
When daily I witness monster triplets — institutional racism, economic injustice, and militarism, Dr. King's call to speak clearly and resist nonviolently is always on time to ensure freedom and basic rights for natives, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and guests everywhere.
January 01, 2018
Welcome 2018. Mind the dove.
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An image painted by British street artist Banksy
on the separation wall, West Bank.
Photo credit: REUTERS
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December 02, 2017
My birthday bash in Tel Aviv (I slept through the earsplitting event)
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| December 2 at 8:30pm at Levontine 7 club in Tel Aviv |
The Canadian electronica band HOLY FUCK performed at Levontine 7 club on my birthday. Too bad I missed it, fast asleep!
September 29, 2017
Yom Kippur in Israel. The thrill and the drill.
Ben-Gurion International Airport is closed. No public transportation, no traffic, no broadcast TV or radio, businesses closed, schools closed. Blessed stillness for 25 hours.
To all who are observing Yom Kippur, May You Be Signed, Sealed, Delivered in the Book of Life.
August 04, 2017
16th Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance March: LGBTQ and Religion
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| Decked out in my hat, shades, sunscreen |
I was thrilled to be among the 22,000 people who joined the 16th Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance March yesterday. Spirits soared above heavy security by police and border patrol soldiers. This year, the theme was “LGBTQ and Religion” in response to those who claim to oppose the LGBT community in the name of religion (especially in the "holy city" of Jerusalem). Not far away, extreme-right groups held a counter-demonstration, surrounded by a tight police cordon. Their themes: “Jerusalem is not Sodom” and “Do not let them adopt children.”
In speeches and songs and on banners (my favorite, "Born This Way"), signs, T-shirts, and headgear marchers identified as gay, straight, transgender, asexual, religiously observant, and secular. Youth groups, NGOs, political parties from left to right, and protestors seeking an end to the Occupation also marched. At the spot where Shira Banki was stabbed to death in 2015, marchers stopped to lay white flowers and hold a moment of silence for the teenager who had been marching to support her gay friends.
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| A free Israel is Jewish and democratic |
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| Seculars marching with pride |
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| "LGBTQ against pinkwashing" [Hebrew terminology explains the pun: qibus is washing, and qibush is occupation] |
Click the video to listen to the marchers singing, drumming, and dancing and watch them laying white flowers where Shiri Banki was murdered. (Video and edit by Micah Danney for the Times of Israel.)
Related post
Jerusalem Pride March 2007: You may not stand over the blood of your fellow man . . . לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל-דַּם רֵעֶךָ
May 29, 2017
African asylum-seeking community represented in Tel Aviv Museum of Art exhibition
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| Curator-guide Ruti Director with Darfurians Taj Jemy and Idris Korni |
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art exhibition is a multimedia prism reflecting sub-Saharan African post-colonial realities and visions; and, aspects of the imagination, fantasy, and reality of the south Tel Aviv African asylum-seeking community.
Click Artists to view images of paintings, sculptures, photographs, architectural models, and videos. Click each image to learn about the artist and view their other works.
My related posts
- In Tel Aviv: Levinsky Park (includes video)
- Breaking Into Israel: Video report and interview with my Eritrean hero Kidane Isaac
- Josh Gomes: My Eritrean brother can dunk; he just wanted a little help this time
- In Tel Aviv: At Bialik-Rogozin School, shooting baskets with Josh Gomes (includes video)
- In South Tel Aviv: The shelter of humans
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