I have so many things I want to write about, and so little time. Day jobs... you gotta hate 'em. I particularly want to write about #J14, about the escalation in the south, and a zillion other things. Inshallah I'll find the time. But one thing has been on my mind lately that I need to get off my chest, before I lose it: The cost of the occupation. Every once in a while you'll hear someone say that the occupation costs us so much money. Money that could have gone to health, education, infrastructure and whatever. Well, the question…

I was really looking forward to the #globalchange event that took place Saturday in Tel Aviv and all around the world. I even brought the family down to the Tel Aviv Museum, where the Israeli event was held. Unfortunately, it was a dull happening. A few discussion groups, no speeches, no one to fire up the audience. We decided to go home, put the kids to bed, and I'd come back later, hoping that things would pick up a bit. There were a few more people when I came back after dark, but the vibe was even more somber. The…

Together with thousands of New York Jews who gathered near Zuccotti park on Erev Yom Kippur, Libby Lenkinski took part in a unique, spiritual occasion By Libby Lenkinski It is Yom Kippur 2011, and I get to say “I was there.” Visiting New York, I decided to forego the typical New York synagogue service and instead participated in a Kol Nidre service (the opening prayers for Yom Kippur) at the Occupy Wall Street site that a friend of mine organized. And it was a momentous occasion. Thousands of New York Jews stood together in a circle around the red cube…

When new media activist Daniel Sieradski, a.k.a. the Orthodox Anarchist, a.k.a. @mobius1ski , suggested having an ad hoc Kol Nidre minyan on Wall Street, in solidarity with the Occupied Wall Street movement, he wondered if he would succeed in attracting 20 participants (an egalitarian minyan of 10 men and 10 women). To his amazement, over 1,000 Jews of all ages and backgrounds, from secular to observant, showed up for an exhilarating experience which, judging from the tweets (hashtag: #OccupyYomKippur), had many people feeling as though they were practically levitating. Several friends told me it was an incredibly moving experience. @aimeeweiss…

These are great times to be an Israeli and an American, when peoples of both nations are fighting capitalism gone wild Over two years ago I decided to start blogging. I called my blog “Half & Half” (which I later on moved to +972) because of the feeling I had of being half American (born to American parents) and half Israeli (born and raised in Israel). It’s always been a feeling that ran somewhere between “cool” to “confusing.” Now, that duality is kicking in once again. This past summer has been one of the most interesting and exciting I’ve ever encountered,…