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Israel Local Customs

DJs in the Tel-Aviv Purim street...

by iblatt

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DJs in the Tel-Aviv Purim street...
by iblatt
"Ballerinas" in the Tel-Aviv Purim...
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Tel-Aviv Purim street festival
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"Shepherd and Sheep"
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Tel-Aviv Purim street festival
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Most Viewed Local Customs in Israel

Tradition Jerusalem

32 Reviews YOM HAZIKARON Memorial Day - A day honoring Israeli soldiers who have died in the country's neverending wars - over 23,085 soldiers at last count...It is always the day before Independence Day -...

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Independence Day Tel Aviv-Yafo

3 Reviews This photo was taken in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on the eve of our Indepence Day (26.4). It shows part of a fireworks display and people watching it. We were celebrating 56 years since Israel was...

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Panorama Shopping Mall Haifa

1 Review Go to the Panorama Shopping Mall. They have excellent Israeli items as well as the usual wares. The Panorama Center was established in 1986. It is located in the heart of the Carmel, adjacent to the...

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Religious Holidays Jerusalem

21 Reviews Good Friday, the day on which Jesus was crucified, according to the Christian belief, is a festive day in the Old City of Jerusalem. Pilgrims from every continent flock to the Via Dolorosa Church of...

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Local Food Tel Aviv-Yafo

2 Reviews Every year since 1996, at the end of May the "Taam Hair" food festival takes place. The location is at Ganei Yehoshua (huge park), just near the exhibition center. For a few days, the most famous...

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Language Tel Aviv-Yafo

1 Review The people speak hebrew or Arabian. They don't speak english or good english everywhere. Learn some words in hebrew and arabic, it will help you. A few examples: toda means thank you in hebrew....

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Israeli Currency Tel Aviv-Yafo

1 Review The Israeli Currency is NIS = New Israeli Shekel, in in short as we say Shekel. From time to time im updating here the Currency rates just to give an idea of the aprx current rate: If you must have an...

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Mimouna Celebrations Tel Aviv-Yafo

1 Review The Mimouna is unique to Moroccan Jewry, and its festivities are celebrated by Israel's Moroccan Jewish community immediately following the conclusion of Passover. The community opens its doors to all...

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Weather Tel Aviv-Yafo

1 Review Here is some information about the weather in Israël. I went in august, when a heatwave was there. The temperature in Tel Aviv was then about 38 degrees Celcius, this is not normal for the end of...

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10.

Phone Calls Tel Aviv-Yafo

1 Review Making a phonecall? Buy a phonecard at the local store. Just put it in and dial the landcode, arecode without a zero and the number. Calling in Tel Aviv? Area code is three. Furthermore just dial the...

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Wear a costume for the Purim Festival!

by iblatt

The Purim holiday is celebrated each year during the Hebrew month of Adar, which falls in the month of February or March. It is basically a religious Jewish holiday, celebrating the miraculous salvation of the Jewish community in ancient Shushan, the Persian capital during the reign of Ahasuerus. Over the centuries it has developed into the merriest Jewish holiday, a real festival with lots of drinking and having fun.One of the best Purim traditions is dressing up in a variety of costumes and going to costume parties. There are street festivals with costumes, music and drinks (see my Tel-Aviv local custom tip), private parties, and even in offices and banks employees wear a token funny hat, funny make up or other accessories for the holiday. For children, of course, this is a major event and an opportunity to realized their dreams for one day, become queens, princes, sailors, policemen,...

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The "Mikve" Party

by Martin_S.

The Mikve is actually a Jewish ritual bath. Used by both men and women it is traditionally done by the woman the day before her wedding. You could usually find a ritual bath of this sort in many homes of the rich and in special places devoted to the ritual bathing. For instance here in our town of Arad we have two of these, one for the Ashkanazik and one for the Spheradic jewish communities.You can read more about it here:http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0014_0_13881.htmlSince our daughter marryed Itzik whose family is not religous, but are rather thought of as observers of tradition, Tal decided to observe the Ritual Mikve. Cannot share with you in photos the interior of the Mikve where she went, accompanied by the women of our family and friends, but the party afterwards in our front yard was fun.As you can see in the photos, we were lucky enough to enjoy...

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Henna Party, decorations

by Martin_S.

Well what is a party without a reception also, so the first photo shows Tal and I greeting her guests.The second photo shows the bowl of Henna, the paste that is used in the ceremony, it is decorated with the "draje", colorful almond candies in a hard sweet covering.The third photo shows the simple table setting, we decided to keep it simple and "concentrate" on the party, food and music.The fourth photo shows a new fangled thing a "sweet bar", literally a bar filled to overflowing with all sorts of candies, sweets and things, this was very popular ^O^The last photo shows the more traditional table covered with baskets of baked moroccan cakes and things. That big orangeish "bowl" you see on the upper left is actually made out of compressed sesame seeds and can be eaten.

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Henna Party, traditional costumes

by Martin_S.

Of course during the Henna Party, like in most cases where old traditions are honored, the guests of honor, in this case Tal and Itzik, dress in traditional Moroccan costumes. But here we arranged for many of the guests to have costumes available.Shown in the first photo is one of the "true" Moroccans at the party, Aunt Lulu wore her dress from Morocco and as you can see she has her act well balanced.The rest of us dressed up in the traditional Moroccan attire, adults, as well as the kids.

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Henna Party the "Baskets"

by Martin_S.

One of the main occurances during the Henna is the giving of the gifts. Today these are arranged in baskets that traditionally were decorated with gold chains and trinkets. The baskets are given to both the bride and groom. The bride receives from the grooms family and the groom from the brides family.The baskets themselves, which can range from 1-5, usually, are arranged according to use, one may contain bathroom items, such as perfumes, shampoos, special soaps and such.Another may have personal items, pajamas, socks, shorts, t-shrits, training suit, etc.Yet a third will have household items such as towels and sheets.Last, but by no way least is the gold basket where they receive gold chains, necklaces, bracelets, earrings or watches.This is a way to help the new couple get started in their new home.Shown here are some of the baskets that Tal and Itzik received.

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Henna Party, the costumes, red/white/blue

by Martin_S.

No, the Red, White and Blue is not for the American Flag, but they represent different beliefs that colors bring health, luck and happiness.The truth is that during the Henna party, leading up to our daughter Tal's wedding to Itzik we were all healthy, I am lucky to have such a wonderful daughter and son in law, and there was enough happiness to share with all our friends.Some of the comments about Tal in her various dresses were that she looked like a queen, a barbie doll or victorian.Whatever she is still my princess.

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Henna Party 31-7-2012, the Henna

by Martin_S.

One of the parts of the Henna celebration is the giving of gifts from the parents of the bride and groom.As you can see here the gifts of gold, jewelery, watches and such are displayed and then actually placed on the bride and groom by the parents.After the giving of the gifts begins the actual application of the Henna paste itself. In some instances the henna paste is used to make designs on the skin, similar to tattoos (but they wear off after a few days), but in most wedding ceremonies it is only applied in a small dollop to the palm of each hand.Once the henna is applied you can see that Tal and Itzik have a small "plate" tied with a ribbon to cover the henna. This for two reasons, first of all it helps keep the henna on the hand, secondly it is often later removed and used by family to wrap gifts since it is believed that it retains some of the luck of the couple.Of course as you...

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Henna Party VTers come to "help" us celebrate

by Martin_S.

On August 2, 2012, our daughter Tal got married to her now husband Itzik. Itzik if from a Moroccan/Iraqi family and part of their traditions call for a Henna Party before the wedding, so we prepared for the celebrations on July 31, 2012.I will be showing/sharing all aspects, from the customary decorations, the dancing, the costumes, the gifts and most of all the henna itself. The photos are from the professional photographer.To read and learn more about this custom, you can take a look at the following internet sites:http://www.israeliartculture.com/israeli-culture-2/jewish-henna-ceremonies-israel.phphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HennaThe first photo shows Tal in her RED Henna costume, OUR reason for creating and inviting our friends to join us.

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Sunsets over Jerusalem and Sinai

by Kuznetsov_Sergey

I was lucky to fill up my collection of beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the great places all over the world. This time it was a very picturesque sunset over Old City of Jerusalem which I admired from the Mount of Olive. You can watch my 6 min 56 sec HD Video Sunset over Jerusalem out of my Youtube channel.I watched another magnificent sunset while I was strolling the Marina and Lagoons in Eilat. The sun was falling over the Eilat’s Mountains making the area wonderful. You can watch my 3 min 01 sec HD Video Eilat Beaches and Promenades in the evening out of my Youtube channel.

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Singing and dancing in Israel

by Kuznetsov_Sergey

What can tell more about local customs than local people singing and dancing? I enjoyed Jewish singing and dancing in Jewish Quarter in Jewish Passover in Jerusalem.You can watch my 3 min 25 sec HD Video Jerusalem Singing and dancing in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.I also enjoyed Jewish children singing on Jaffa Square:4 min 39 sec HD Video Jerusalem Jaffa Square Children singing out of my Youtube channel.I enjoyed people dancing (most of them were tourists, I think) in Mamilla:3 min 16 sec HD Video Jerusalem People street dancing in MamillaAnd finally - street dancing in Eilat:2 min 27 sec HD Video Eilat Beaches and Promenades part 5 out of my Youtube channel.

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