Sari Ellen, at The Blogs

Feb 26, 2023, 8:26 AM

"Israeli Democracy" Tel Aviv Beach, Tel Aviv, Israel, February 25, 2023 / Adar 4, 5783 (Sari Ellen)

“Democracy?” said the Likud Customer Service Rep. “You don’t need it.” “But Israel's a Parliamentary Democracy—.” “Democracy, shlock-ocracy. Here, try on radical fringe politics, it’s the best.” "You’re disrespecting our values: equal rights, morality, justice, compassion—” “Radical fringe politics will look great on...

Jan 4, 2022, 5:05 AM

Of Pita and Passion

Walking by a Tel Aviv food stand at 9 pm tonight I realized I was starving, angry, disappointed, lonely, worried about world events, exhausted…. and cold. So despite the way the shekel is clobbering the dollar — which reduces my...

Mar 27, 2021, 5:07 PM

Chag Sameach Passover: The ache and the joy

Lockdown in a sunless micro-studio ain’t my cuppa tea. I gained ten pounds and lost a year. But, hey, most of us lost a year. And 2.77 million lost their lives because of COVID 19. Those of us who’re...

Dec 29, 2020, 10:35 PM

The People of Forever are bored

Only the third day of the third Israeli lockdown, but it feels like forever. Like the movie “Groundhog Day” but with mornings which yawn like toothless mouths and newsfeeds recycling threats: terrorist groups counting and recounting their missiles, predictions...

Jul 21, 2020, 7:14 PM

Featured Post

My neighbor’s cough

Sand Daffodil, the Negev
(Photo: Sari Friedman, 2019)

Musings from a Tel Aviv apartment that gets fresh air, but no sunlight, as I can't escape hearing the incessant symptoms of possible COVID-19 through the walls

Oct 13, 2019, 5:59 AM

Supporting the Kurds

I start my day protesting in front of the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv. I'm here because Turkey is invading Kurdistan and I want to show my support for the Kurds, a diverse but cohesive, mutually-respectful, democratic group. You...

May 2, 2019, 8:21 PM

After the Siren

During the two-minute siren that goes off today at 10 a.m. in Israel on Yom HaShoah, the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust, I stand barefoot and motionless in my home. In solidarity with my brothers and sisters who...

May 28, 2018, 5:31 PM

I Have A Dream

My personal experience is that average Jewish and Arab Israelis are far better informed and more compassionate about the reality in Gaza than are others. It’s bizarre to live in Israel and observe reality, then read the pontifications of...

Oct 13, 2016, 7:39 AM

Paradise or Desert?

Yom Kippur 5777 in Tel Aviv. Streets emptied of cars, buses, motorbikes, scooters and trucks. Instead there were kids on rollerblades and bikes, people playing with their dogs, couples pushing strollers through a rapturous quiet. I walked in the bus lane,...

About Me

Sari Ellen's writing appears in the New York Times, Beloit Fiction Journal, Blue Lake Review, So It Goes, Satirist, Daily Freier, Ilanot Review, Huffpo Canada and in other webzines and journals. The first chapter of her (not yet published) novel is in the November 2020 "Woven Tale Press."

Contact Me