Via Brian Ulrich and Jonathan Edelstein, I discovered that my blog was nominated for, like, an award. (Are there prizes too? ;) )

If you think that On the Face deserves to win in the category for Best non-Muslim Blog ("Which blog writen by a non-Muslim is most respectful of Islam and seeks genuine dialogue with Muslims?") then by all means, click on the logo below.

Last summer, around the time that damned war started, 26 year-old singer/songwriter Aya Korem, from Upper Nazareth, released her first album - Aya Korem. It was a hit, and three of the songs stayed high on the radio playlists for weeks: they are Summer, A Simple Love Song, and my favourite - Yonatan Shapira.

On the Hebrew Wikipedia page for Aya Korem's album, there's a bit of background about the Yonatan Shapira for whom the song is named, under 'trivia': "Yonatan Shapira is an air force pilot who was one of the initiators of the Pilots' Letter* that called for a refusal of orders to participate in targeted assassinations. The letter was written following the [2002] assassination of Salah Shadah [then head of Hamas's military wing in Gaza].  Shapira and Korem knew each other when they studied at the Rimon School of Music. The line from the song, 'My heart is beating hard under my clothes/Yonatan Shapira, I want your babies' was a private joke between the two of them."

*Read more about the very controversial issue of refusing to serve or follow orders here.


Thanks to YouTube, we've got the video clip for Yonatan Shapira, the song; and thanks to me-me-me, all you non-Hebrew speakers have a translation of the lyrics below. ;) They rhyme in Hebrew.

Yonatan Shapira

Twenty-four years old, 1 metre 60 and a bit
Green eyes and almost-black hair
Looking for The One and waiting to be swept away
Wanted: Groom. Wedding dress already purchased.

Twenty-four years old, interested in a boyfriend
Tall, understanding, up to 30 years old – maybe a bit more
And he could be a pilot or he could be a navigator
It doesn't make a difference. It doesn't matter to me.

Chorus: And Mom always told me
All men are the same
If one leaves today another will come tomorrow
But Mom never met Yonatan Shapira

And if we can be frank for a minute
It could be discreet
If, theoretically speaking, there’s already a girlfriend
We could meet at my place to discuss the details
For a serious relationship: Single woman with an open mind

Chorus: And Mom always told me
All men are the same
If one leaves today another will come tomorrow
But Mom never met Yonatan Shapira

We’re sitting together on the beach, blue sea
A bottle of beer
It’s just me, the seagulls and Yonatan Shapira
My heart is beating hard under my clothes
Yonatan Shapira, I want your babies

Chorus: And Mom always told me
All men are the same
If one leaves today another will come tomorrow
But Mom never met Yonatan Shapira

Beloved wears a thick coat even when it’s already hot
My beloved winds a scarf around his neck
When he looks up at the sky it is gray
He waits until he has recuperated
Before he comes to me

Chorus: And he will come to me like summer
Without hesitation, all at once
And I will be warm
He will come to me like water
He will come and cover me

Beloved is far away from here
And he sings songs about me
And he sends thoughts and letters
He looks through all the pretty women
He thinks and wants only me

Chorus: And he will come to me like summer
Without hesitation, all at once
And I will be warm
He will come to me like water
He will come and cover me

When my beloved comes like two bells
That sweet, familiar touch will ring again
And then we will say all the little things
All the things that are still left to say

Chorus: And he will come to me like summer
Without hesitation, all at once
And I will be warm
He will come to me like water
He will come and cover me

I’ve been waiting for one week two months and a year
It seems like forever and it feels like always
My beloved runaway, surely you know
I love you, but I love myself too

Chorus: And he will come to me like summer
Without hesitation, all at once
And I will be warm
He will come to me like water
He will come and cover me

***

While browsing at the SoHo Designer Shop this afternoon (I kept thinking that Roba would love that place), I saw some gorgeous contemporary interpretations of chanukiahs, the eight-branch candelabras used to celebrate the upcoming holiday of Chanukah.

The Sandmonkey said he can't take my blog seriously because I don't post regularly! Ouch.

Well, sometimes when all you read is bad news for two days running, you remember your mother saying, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

Hmph.

Then again, what else is new?

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about the Israeli and Lebanese wartime bloggers for the Jewish Quarterly (England). After I sent it in, I had some second thoughts - perhaps the article was too personal, or perhaps I had written too much about other people who would just as soon not have this kind of publicity. But with the encouragement of some very kind Lebanese bloggers, I have decided to post the link. It's here.

What type of person do you attract? Your Result: You attract artsy people! Those free spirited artists with great imaginations find you interesting.  They are usually interesting themselves, so its not a bad thing, but they CAN be a bit wifty and choose odd goals.  If you like life to always be a bit 'different' from the norm, but not too extreme in any one direction, these are the people for you.  If you seek logical decision making skills and good money management, you may want to change something in the way you appear.  Artsy people are fun for adventure and exploring, so, have fun! (smoking weed helps too)
You attract Yuppies!
You attract geeks!
You attract models!
You attract unstable people!
You attract rednecks!
What type of person do you attract? Quizzes for MySpace

I'm such a sucker for these quizzes.

About a year after the news began to spread that Al Jazeera planned to start broadcasting in English - lo, it came to pass. The launch was yesterday (November 15). They recruited some pretty big names - like Mike Hanna (formerly CNN), Sir David Frost and Rageh Omaar (former BBC correspondent in Iraq). The full list of reporters is on AJ English's Wikipedia page. According to a quote from Richard Quest (CNN) in this article in The Guardian, Al Jazeera wanted him real bad - but he turned them down because he thought that "being gay and Jewish might not be suitable."


Last night Zvi Yehezkeli, Channel 10's intrepid correspondent for Arab affairs, commented on the differences between Al Jazeera's Arabic and English broadcasts.


Zvi!

He showed the correspondent in Gaza reporting in English from Beit Hanoun (Gaza), where 19 civilians were killed in a tragic "botched" artillery bombing, using terms like "military operation," "dead," and "Israeli Army." Zvi compared this with the same correspondent's report in Arabic, in which she used the terms "massacre," "Israeli Occupation Forces," and "martyrs." The English report came across as professional and neutral, though, so it will be interesting to see how AJ's reporting from Israel evolves. Interesting little factoid: The former IDF spokesman on the Arab desk once told me that he had excellent professional relations with the local Al Jazeera staff and that he thought they made an effort to give balanced reports. The Israel bureau chief for AJ Arabic, and most of the local staff, are Arab-Israeli.

Veteran readers might remember my last report about Zvi, early on in what is now often referred to as Lebanon War II, when I posted a photo of Zvi in the Channel 10 studio during a live broadcast, with Hezbollah's Al Manar TV in the background simultaneously broadcasting him live. I called the post We watch them and they watch us.


Zvi on Al Manar

Now you can watch the episode in streaming video, here. Arabic and Hebrew speakers will get it all, but for English speakers here's a summary:
Moderator Rafi Reshef (monkish haircut and glasses): Here, Zvi, they can see you. It's just your modesty that... Do you want to ask a question?
Zvi: Can I ask a question?
Rafi: Of course!
Zvika: [Starts to ask a question in Hebrew]
Rafi: In Arabic, Zvi, what's wrong with you?
Zvi (in Arabic): If you can hear us at Al Manar, at what time exactly will the secretary general (Nasrallah) give his speech?
Al Manar anchor, smiling gleefully: Look, we're on a live broadcast on Israeli TV, Mr. Nazer. Look, the Zionists can see us now. This shows how important Al Manar is in passing on credible information and how shocked the Israelis are.
Mr. Nazer: Maybe those responsible for Israeli television are afraid that the Israeli public will prefer to watch Al Manar, so they decided to broadcast it directly on Israeli television! Hahaha!

(The Al Manar guys didn't answer Zvi directly, of course: they're not allowed to talk to the Zionist enemy.)

Now that's entertainment!

I love collecting quirky postcards. Mostly they just sit in storage boxes, although I have vague plans for a rainy weekend afternoon of collage making - but then I usually spend rainy weekend afternoons reading in bed.

A couple of days ago I noticed these "wish postcards" at cafes around Tel Aviv. They're a street art project that was initiated by students at the Bezalel Academy - people have themselves photographed holding a sign that indicates their wish. Hebrew speakers can read more about the project here - and view more wish postcards. Some of my favourites are below.

Lila, whose blog is called Letters from Rungholt, lives in a kibbutz up north. She makes me feel intense regret for not, er, "applying myself," in high school German class (much to the chagrin of my long-suffering teacher, Frau Starscevic). Yonathan, who does speak fluent German, thinks Lila is marvelous. And so do the judges of Deutsche Welle's annual Best of the Blogs (BOBs) contest. The results of the 2006 BOBs were announced yesterday, and Lila won for the best German-language blog.

Ever-modest Lila acknowledges the award in typically low-key style, here: She practically forgot that she was nominated and anyway she didn't think she had a chance because her design isn't so amazing (okay, the header is cool but..), etc. etc. Lila, yalla... You are fantastic. Mazal tov and Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

A few days ago, at 5.30 in the morning Toronto time, my mobile phone rang. It was Mazal, my bank manager, calling from a place where the time was 12.30. (I mentioned Mazal in this post, which is still one of my favourites).

"Mazal!" I said sleepily, "How are you? I'm in Toronto and I don't have an overdraft." (I still have post-debt traumatic stress disorder).

"No, no sweetheart," said Mazal. "Your account is fine. I was just worried about you. Are you okay?"

Puzzled, I said, "Yes, I'm fine. Why?"

"Well," said Mazal. "I was just reading about the balagan in Gaza and I was in a panic! I thought you might be there for work and I wanted to make sure you were alright. It's terrible that you don't have a mother in Israel to worry about you."


The entrance to Banu.

Saw Joey, all too briefly, at his birthday party.


Joey, at his birthday party.


Chris and Adina at Joey's birthday party.

Joey was away on a business trip the night Adina and Chris made a kick-ass dinner, but wonderful Wendy was there.


Wendy



Chris and Adina's kick-ass dinner. Shrimp and corn cakes, sweet potatoes mashed with garlic and honey, and salad. (followed by my mother's mocha cake).

After dinner, as we were getting ready to leave, Adina turned around and quietly donned some costume props, then faced us and waved. I took six shots, but was shaking so hard from laughter that I couldn't keep the camera still. Only one of the photos was even vaguely in focus.


Adina, the comedienne.

In the end I did not have time to call everyone - the time went too fast. I wanted to see Adam, Debra (Rabbi Landsberg of Temple Emanu-El - blog here), and their gorgeous triplets (yes!)... But I'll be back soon - after the long, cruel winter, thank you very much!



So now I'm back in Tel Aviv (John was my apartment sitter) - a tad chubbier, with a very heavy suitcase that needs to be unpacked (I bought so many books that I had to pay for excess baggage weight) and a wee bit of jetlag.

The Toronto photos are in a set here.

So I was planning to update my blog during my vacation, but I forgot to bring the cable adapter and so far haven't found a place to buy a new one. Also, the only place I can get online is Starbucks and it's always crowded and noisy at my local branch.

Plus the coffee absolutely sucks.

On the upside, I'm feeling much, much better. My sister has helped me find my sense of humour. And soon she will present me with a nephew. Photos and updates to follow as soon as I sort out my internet access situation.

Update: Mohamed and Michael - Toronto, of course! (it was minus 6 yesterday. My pores contracted in shock).