Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel » Asher Zeiger

Almost everything stopped

Asher Zeiger — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:20:04 +0000

It was almost like looking at a painting. One with bright, vivid colors and finely captured detail. Almost everything had stopped. Cars pulled over, and people stood next to them, completely still. Parents and children stopped walking along the sidewalks, playing in the parks, shopping and eating in the malls. For two minutes, life came [...]

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Let the wild rumpus start!

Asher Zeiger — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:00:15 +0000

Call me old-fashioned, but I still make pre-internet era references in my mind when I hear certain terms that have been hijacked into the modern age of technology. For example, the word “troll.” For me, the word makes me think of the classic children’s (and grown-up’s) book “Where the Wild Things Are” by the recently deceased Maurice [...]

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We are all victims of sexism

Asher Zeiger — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 14:38:47 +0000

In a mild state of shock, I had to ask the woman to repeat herself. She had called from my HMO’s complementary medicine services to invite me for a free consultation in hopes of setting me up on a long-term regimen of massages, acupuncture, or whatever they think I’ll be willing to shell out the shekels. There [...]

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A 25-year Irishman

Asher Zeiger — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:08:58 +0000

In the much bigger scheme of things, 25 years isn’t really that long. But in the course of a person’s life, it is very significant. On the Gregorian calendar, last week marked 25 years since my flight touched down at Ben Gurion International and I officially became an Israeli citizen. So much has changed in [...]

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Not such a hard choice

Asher Zeiger — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:01:29 +0000

With the US elections finally behind us, my friends and family in the States and Israel are pretty evenly divided in their reactions. Some see the results as the mark a new dawn (complete with a worldwide screening of the movie “Hair”), and the rest are convinced that this is the end of civilization as [...]

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In memoriam — six years late

Asher Zeiger — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:23:46 +0000

It was at a one-week training exercise in miluim (army reserve duty) when I first met Yotam Lotan, a lieutenant, and the newest mefaked mahlaka (platoon commander) in the unit. He was 28 or 29 at the time, but the older, more seasoned guys in the unit teased this baby-faced “kid,” which Yotam took with [...]

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The right to NOT vote

Asher Zeiger — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:13:35 +0000

The US presidential elections are less than three months away, and once again the race is on to woo the various “voting blocs” seen as influential. And of course, as always, rightly or wrongly the Jewish vote is considered significant. Never mind the fact that Jews make up only about 2% of the population in [...]

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Reconcilable differences

Asher Zeiger — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 21:39:42 +0000

In recent years, I have been repeatedly saddened when friends of mine abandoned their religious lifestyle upon publicly acknowledging their homosexuality. It is not their sexual orientation that saddens me, nor their choice to embrace it. On the contrary, I admire and respect the courage and self-awareness that it takes for anyone to willingly face a [...]

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The birds and the bees

Asher Zeiger — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:20:07 +0000

Common sense suggests that compliments from enemies are more believable than from friends. After all, one who hates me does not want to call attention to my strengths, so when he does, it really says a lot about the impact I have on those around me. So Israel as a nation should be feeling pretty darn [...]

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Flag flashbacks

Asher Zeiger — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:37:29 +0000

Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) are once again upon us, accompanied by the annual display of Israeli flags on cars, porches and buildings for the country, which in turn bring flashbacks for me. While the setting of these flashbacks is not a happy one, the memories themselves are actually quite positive. [...]

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Know-it-alls of the world, Disunite!

Asher Zeiger — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:42:03 +0000

Last week a friend and fellow blogger at the Times of Israel posted a blog that, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, infuriated a lot of readers. The bottom line of Marc Goldberg’s piece is that he feels that Jonathan Pollard deserves his fate in prison, because he committed a crime (espionage), betrayed the trust [...]

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Considering the source

Asher Zeiger — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:54:15 +0000

I’ve decided to become a celebrity. It makes no difference what “field,” as long as I’m a celebrity. I won’t be in it for the money. I don’t need or want the headaches and pressures that go with having too much of that (although being out of overdraft is a very nice thought). Nor am I looking [...]

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Holiday of freedom? Really?

Asher Zeiger — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 05:32:36 +0000

So, Passover officially starts tonight. We are literally counting down the hours until our annual Jewish version of the declaration “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we’re free at last!” Passover traditionally marks the Exodus from Egypt – the end of generations of slavery and the beginning of the new reality of a [...]

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The ring is too small for my hat

Asher Zeiger — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:21:41 +0000

It has been a week and a half since I published in the Times of Israel this blog announcing my intention to form the Vynot party and to make a run for the Knesset in the next elections. And I must say that the response has been fantastic and the groundswell of grass roots support simply overwhelming. So [...]

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The race to be most racist

Asher Zeiger — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:23:31 +0000

I would have thought after so many years of seeing and experiencing blind, senseless hatred, that it would no longer faze me the way it did in my younger, innocent days as an idealist. Alas, it still amazes me. It still leaves me struggling for words with which to address, if not actually confront it. [...]

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