Avi Rockoff, at The Blogs

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May 12, 2022, 11:23 PM

The Jerusalem shul has this up front: Plaques like these are common in shuls all over; they show the specifics of daily and weekly shul routine. What makes this one different is its dedication: L’ilui nishmat baneinu hakedoshim, in memory...

Dec 9, 2021, 1:02 PM

Take a bureaucrat to lunch!

Theirs is not to reason why… -- Tennyson Just do it. -- Nike Israelis often complain that their bureaucrats are the worst. Israel leads in many things: Jaffa oranges, artificial intelligence, riveting TV, invasive spyware. But national pride in awful bureaucrats may...

Sep 23, 2021, 8:39 AM

There is no way to know you are doing something for the last time. Putting up the sukkah, like all holiday preparations, brings back memories. These come pouring down, in no special order. Many are of people, often no longer with...

Mar 15, 2021, 3:16 PM

Think of it: no packing, no Jewish Agency forms, no FBI background checks: Today, the exiles can be ingathered from the four corners of the screen

Oct 8, 2020, 2:19 PM

Arguing with doctors

People argue about wearing masks. Doctors and public health experts say we all should. Others dismiss this advice, ignore it, or ridicule it. This public argument with doctors reminds me of many private ones in my own work as...

May 20, 2020, 8:14 PM

I Threw Away My Hair

Last week I threw away my hair. Not my scalp hair, of course. Most of that went away a long time ago, all by itself. The hair I threw away was in a small envelope, on which my mother had...

Mar 27, 2020, 6:04 AM

The world we knew

Less than two weeks ago we hosted six Shabbat dinner guests. What were we thinking? In life, change is constant. But not change like this. Nothing may be new under the sun, but that is not how it feels now. Our...

Nov 7, 2019, 2:55 PM

Home, sweet Belarus

Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a military officer at the National Security Council, center, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, October 29, 2019. (AP /Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Accusations that Alexander Vindman harbors Ukrainian loyalties are preposterous and terrifying. I should know

Oct 27, 2019, 8:22 PM

From the ‘old country’

Illustrative. The Hasidim of Tarnow. (YouTube)

I was surprised when I learned the fanatical lengths to which Jewish immigrants to America a century ago went to speak English like Americans

Sep 4, 2019, 6:08 AM

A tale of two banks

Illustrative. A man, frustrated with tech support. (iStock)

Israelis love to excel, but are you sure they are the best at bureaucratic incompetence?

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About Me

Avi Rockoff came on aliya with his wife Shuli in March 2022. They live in Jerusalem.

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