The Writing Is On The Wall... Word from: David

Rap lyrics, Ofakim:

Did someone say 'photoblog'?

Mizrahi singer Shar-El has made a Hebrew/Spanish cover of Aventura's 'Obsesion' called 'Ani Chai B'Chalom' or 'I live in a Dream.' This is the best thing to happen in Dominican-Jewish cultural exchange since Sosua. In a country where Hispanic culture consists of subtitled Argentenian telenovelas and David Broza, some bachata and reggaeton couldn't hurt.


Beneath a mall, Tzfat:

Reality shows tend to be slick, choreographed affairs. Yet there is much of interest in the Israeli answer to 'American Idol' 'Kochav Nolad.' Two identifiably religous contestants, Yehuda Saado and Ohad Elisha, have made the semifinals. Watch Saado discuss singing the pressure of during Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av here and Elisha answers some questions here.



Ruins of a Mosque, Golan Heights:

In Israel, walls are often mediums for self-expression. On the seperation wall, in Yamit (scroll to the bottom to see the Rambam's words spraypainted on a bunker), the sacred and mundane, image and reality meet. Even though Destiny's Child never sang the Aramaic words 'Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin', those four, then three African-American singers from Houston, believed in a divine being. Religous Zionists, who believe in a special relationship with a land and divine figure, will have to (in the words of Aventura) contemplate whether it is still 'amor' or 'obsesion, una ilusion en tu pensamiento, que te hace hacer cosas, asi funciona el corazon.'