Life before money was sometimes unbearable. Let’s say you had two goats, some homegrown tomatoes, and a sack of salt, and you needed eggs. You would try to find someone who had eggs, but is in dire need of one of the things you have. If it turned out that the guy with the eggs […]

Last Saturday I went the beach with my family. The days are the last days of summer. The sun was comforting, the breeze was cool, and everyone at the beach were in a wonderful mood. Everyone but me. I couldn’t quite tell why I was groggy. I had no imminent reason to be upset or […]

There’s a lot going on in the critical moments when you lie in your bed with your eyes closed. As you slowly fall asleep, your brain goes through the gradual process of disengaging from the external world, and quieting your normal train of thoughts. At first, the brain exhibits increased alpha activity, and you start […]

In his 1982 hit “Jack and Diane”, rock singer John Mellencamp describes two high-school sweethearts, who are  oblivious to the inevitable awakening of adulthood, waiting around the corner. In the famous chorus, using only a handful of words, Mellencamp conveys one of the saddest processes that many people experience: “Oh yeah – life goes on […]

This morning the weather in the suburbs of Tel Aviv was bright and sunny, and a cease-fire was finally in effect. On my way back home from the gym, I stopped at the grocery store to get some milk. The store was empty apart from a cashier, another employee who was arranging inventory on the […]

Stopping and asking for directions used to be the most reliable way to find your way around. A local person would not only know the way, but also the traffic patterns, the most interesting places to visit, and the best burger served within a twenty-mile radius. Asking for directions was never about getting from point […]

In the past decade, I’ve crossed-off a bunch of epic rock concerts from my bucket list. When I was growing up in Tel Aviv during the eighties, I could only dream of seeing bands like AC/DC or Deep Purple perform live, and moving to New York has made it possible. Each summer, I rushed to […]