Renee Garfinkel, at The Blogs

Sep 14, 2018, 2:04 PM

“Dying has become a problem for us,” the professor said, and I laughed, surprised. “For US!”, I replied, “hasn’t dying always been a problem?” The knowledge of our own mortality is a uniquely human problem. Yom Kippur focuses on it....

Sep 4, 2018, 1:42 PM

Nexus of Ideas and Reality: The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

The statue of Albert Einstein sits cozily in the center of the tranquil gardens of the Van Leer Jerusalem campus, not as a patron saint, perhaps, but as a fellow scholar, an honored elder, and an inspiration. Set back modestly...

Aug 28, 2018, 1:28 PM

Loneliness and Digital Determinism

Human beings are lonelier than ever before. Loneliness is making us sick.

Aug 16, 2018, 3:16 PM

Featured Post

See Me! (but don’t look at me!)

The 'Khamsa, Khamsa, Khamsa,' exhibit at the Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem emphasizes the power of the gaze

Aug 8, 2018, 10:01 PM

Cultures of Dependency

Conversations at the culture café range widely and often generate heat. The other day, one of the café’s regulars, Naomi, was excited about the possibility that finally, or as she put it exuberantly, “finally, after 70 years!” there’s a...

Aug 3, 2018, 12:48 PM

Art and Money

“Art and money are Siamese twins,” says one of experts in “The Price Of Everything,” an outstanding documentary screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival, which you can still catch through August 5. Directed by Nathaniel Kahn, the film gives us...

Jul 31, 2018, 10:41 PM

Featured Post

The arsonist’s tale

Flames rise as a wildfire burns in the town of Rafina, near Athens, on July 23, 2018. (AFP PHOTO/ ANGELOS TZORTZINIS)

What is strikingly absent from those who set fires is compassion for the land itself

Jul 19, 2018, 3:53 AM

What Are Museums for Anyway? Knesset Exhibit Celebrates Israel At 70

Museums were once thought to be treasure houses, warehouses, or curiosity cabinets. They were thought to be about their collections of objects and art. In those days museums, along with art and high culture generally, were the exclusive province...

Jul 17, 2018, 8:00 PM

Israel’s Fashion Statements

Credit: Seymour Katcoff. (Government Press Office)

In the pedestrian parade that passes by our café we see an occasional flash of French chic, just a bit of color in the wider picture of Israeli fashion indifference. Although they may not be fashionable, Israeli’s clothing do tell...

Jul 17, 2018, 12:21 PM

Welcome to the Culture Cafe

Illustrative: Israelis enjoy the sun as they sit outside at Cafe Rimon in downtown Jerusalem on January 14, 2013. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Sometimes the best ideas sneak up onto the café table and sit down, right next to your cappuccino, waiting to be discovered. That’s what happened to my friend Rochelle and me. We were sitting at Ephraim’s café, our favorite neighborhood...

About Me

Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D. is a psychologist, radio host and writer for various publications, including The Washington Times and Psychology Today. She lives in Jerusalem and can be reached at CultureCafeStories@gmail.com