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Video: Israeli School Supplies Guide

September 1, 2011 by 13 Comments
Israeli school supplies

  Today was the first day of school for most children here in Israel. My kids are all in the same schools as last year so the transition has been smooth. If you're a new (or not so new) immigrant it might be a different story! The school supplies, especially the notebooks and folders, are not the same as the ones you may have grown up with.  So I made this video to explain. Look for the annotations that have the names of the supplies in English, Hebrew, and transliteration. Note: I misspoke at minute 3:55. The plastic covers for books, notebooks and workbooks are called atifot. The annotation includes the correction. Also, I don't include machberet hachamah, a smart … [Read more...]

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Scandal of the Schoolbooks

August 10, 2011 by 15 Comments
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It started with a boycott of cottage cheese. Next were protests against high apartment prices and rentals. Then there was daycare, baby items (!) and now electricity. Israelis are protesting high prices everywhere. I'm not sure there is an easy way to solve most of these problems. Health care is cheap here but apartments are not. Vegetables are cheap but dairy products are not. There are issues with corruption and cartels, yet we have  a stable economy and low unemployment. The protesters seem to want the government to control prices, and have taxpayer money subsidize most of our basic needs. While I understand the motives for the protests, the ramifications concern me. I'm no economic … [Read more...]

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Back-to School Shopping

September 3, 2010 by 18 Comments
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I know we're already deep into Rosh Hashanah and, unfortunately, politics and terror, but I hope it's not too late to share this picture from one of my visits to the bookstore to amass the required materials. While the owner of the store was ringing up my purchase, someone called looking for a phone number. The owner scanned the store. "Penina," she said to a customer. Do you have this number? Penina did.The owner tossed her daughter one phone and Penina tossed her the other. Presumably the third one belongs to the daughter. A second daughter had her arm in a sling, but that didn't stop her from "slinging" our NIS 900 book order from one counter to another. Most … [Read more...]

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Back to School Shopping Tips, 2010

August 2, 2010 by 12 Comments
colored pencils for back to school

We're less than a month away from the start of school. I have no idea whether my first-grader's class will remain intact. I lost the book lists, which mysteriously disappeared after I put them in a folder marked "school." A neighbor is holding on to a batch of books for my 11th grader, and I passed off another batch from my 9th grader. I told my kids that they'll have to clean up their rooms before I buy more books and supplies. Wish me luck with that one. Here are my tips for buying school supplies. Please share yours in the comments. Uniforms: All schools now require children to wear a shirt with the school logo. Our elementary school asks for specific colors, and you buy t-shirts … [Read more...]

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