#only to be smacked in the face with a post by another jew saying EXACTLY THAT

[party-gilmore]

TL;DR - if you’re trying to use chanukah this year for zionist propaganda as either a:

goy who’s trying to use it as an excuse to ramp up your antisemitism, or

zionist who’s trying to use it as an excuse to ramp up anti-Palestinian sentiment, or

that lovely combination of BOTH we see from christian fundies/evangelists

then I wish you a very happy GET FUCKED.

I still truly can not wrap my head around how people are taking -

“Jewish holiday remembering a fight back against an occupying force for the right to continue living our lives on our own land and continue the religious observances intrinsically linked with our culture, meant not to glorify the violence but to celebrate the refusal to give up and give in even under threat of death”

- and go forth in thinking that the moral of said story is NOT to support Palestine trying to do the same damn thing.

Chanukah still will be joyous for me. It still stands as a bright reminder of jewish resilience and perseverance the fight for our own liberation. But for me it will also be a reminder of vigilance, and the Never Again that we promised after the Shoah - that ANY of the trials we were put through, genocide or occupation or slavery - should never again be visited on another people.

No matter what a group of radicals within them might say or do.

It should be a rally and a reminder not just of our own fight against antisemitism but also to support others in theirs, to CONTINUE coming out around the fucking world to stand in open defense and support of Palestinian liberation and to KEEP trying to stop anyone from putting another people through what we’ve gone through. ESPECIALLY Israel.

Even a half-assed attempt at a good faith reading should understand that the moral of chanukah is in no way, shape, or form to justify the State of Israel’s actions, or that it’s somehow intrinsically a “zionist” holiday. Its literally memorializing a battle AGAINST assimilation and occupation and oppression and massacres.

And anyone who’s not a complete and utter fucking twat is going to recognize that that should translate into supporting Palestine as they face the same exact fight - but at an EXPONENTIALLY increased threat. The kind of power being leveled against them right now boggles the fucking mind. In no way am I trying to diminish what Jews in that era faced but. Bombs, white phosphorous, that kind of DIRECT control over modern resources such as medicine and electricity we’ve come to rely on. UNFATHOMABLE to those days.

And ABOVE all that. I can not fucking stand for EITHER 1) goyim using chanukah as “proof of inherent jewish zionism” to ramp up their antisemitism around the holiday, OR the other end of that equation, 2) radical zionist Jews literally fucking like “if you aren’t zionist i better not see you even fucking TOUCHING chanukah this year” WHICH!!!! i CAN NOT BELIEVE I HAVE ACTUALLY SEEN WITH MY OWN TWO EYES!!!!

BUT THANKS TO MY FUCKING BEOKEN ASS FOR YOU PAGE ALGORITHM (derogatory) WHICH HAS DECIDED TO PUT LITERALLY ANYTHING WITH THE WORDS ISRAEL OR PALESTINE IN FRONT ME. i HAVE LITERALLY SEEN THAT FUCKING POST WORD FOR WORD.

H.

HOW DO YOU MISS THE POINT OF “this week we celebrated the time occupying forces tried to purge our culture from the land we are actively living on, or - failing that - purge us, but we didn’t give up and now we remember that we made it through by having a joyous time with our families” THAT FUCKING BADLY???? THAT YOU THINK THE KEY TAKEAWAY THERE IS “getting the land it happened in” INSTEAD OF “surviving as a nation and a people”

HOW MUCH MORE FUCKING HYPOCRITICAL CAN YOU GET.

#and it may very well just be The American Jew experience but #i just. can’t fucking fathom it. #that i’ve seen it NOT JUST FROM GOYIM #i guess there’s always radicals in any group you’re never gonna get away from that #it’s just so fucking frustrating to try and explain ‘look this kind of belief isn’t inherent to all judaism-‘ #only to be smacked in the face with a post by another jew saying EXACTLY THAT #and it’s like fffuuucccckkkk #i gotta stay outta my fucking for you page the algorithm is SHIT

[dfroza]

Paul illuminates the significance of forgiveness and grace in the writing of a Letter.

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 2nd chapter of the Letter of 2nd Corinthians:

I finally determined that I would not come to you again for yet another agonizing visit. If my visits create such pain and sorrow for you, who can cheer me up except for those I’ve caused such grief? This is exactly what I was writing to you about earlier so that when we are face-to-face I will not have to wallow in sadness in the presence of friends who should bring me the utmost joy. For I felt sure that my delight would also become your delight. My last letter to you was covered with tears, composed with great difficulty, and frankly, a broken heart. It wasn’t my intention to depress you or cause you pain; rather, I had hoped you would see it for what it was—a demonstration of the overwhelming love I have for all of you.

But if anyone has caused harm, he has not so much harmed me as he has—and I don’t think I’m exaggerating here—harmed all of you. In my view, the majority of you have punished him well enough. So instead of continuing to ostracize him, I encourage you to offer him the grace of forgiveness and the comfort of your acceptance. Otherwise, if he finds no welcome back to the community, I’m afraid he will be overwhelmed with extreme sorrow and lose all hope. So I urge you to demonstrate your love for him once again. I wrote these things to you with a clear purpose in mind: to test whether you are willing to live and abide by all my counsel. If you forgive anyone, I forgive that one as well. Have no doubt, anything that I have forgiven—when I do forgive—is done ultimately for you in the presence of the Anointed One. It’s my duty to make sure that Satan does not win even a small victory over us, for we don’t want to be naïve and then fall prey to his schemes.

When I arrived at Troas, bringing the good news of the Anointed, the Lord opened a door there for me. Yet my spirit was restless because I could not find my brother Titus. Eventually I told them good-bye and set out for Macedonia.

Yet I am so thankful to God, who always marches us to victory under the banner of the Anointed One; and through us He spreads the beautiful fragrance of His knowledge to every corner of the earth. In a turbulent world where people are either dying or being rescued, we are the sweet smell of the Anointed to God our Father. To those who are dying, they smell the stench of death in us. And to those being rescued, we are the unmistakable scent of life. Who is worthy of this calling? For we are nothing like the others who sell the word of God like a commodity. Do not be mistaken; our words come from God with the utmost sincerity, always spoken through the Anointed in the presence of God.

The Letter of 2nd Corinthians, Chapter 2 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 53rd chapter of the book (scroll) of Isaiah that illuminates the significance of the forgiveness of sins through the suffering of the Son on our behalf:

Indeed, who would ever believe it?

Who would possibly accept what we’ve been told?

Who has witnessed the awesome power and plan of the Eternal in action?

Out of emptiness he came, like a tender shoot from rock-hard ground.

He didn’t look like anything or anyone of consequence—

he had no physical beauty to attract our attention.

So he was despised and forsaken by men,

this man of suffering, grief’s patient friend.

As if he was a person to avoid, we looked the other way;

he was despised, forsaken, and we took no notice of him.

Yet it was our suffering he carried,

our pain and distress, our sick-to-the-soul-ness.

We just figured that God had rejected him,

that God was the reason he hurt so badly.

But he was hurt because of us; he suffered so.

Our wrongdoing wounded and crushed him.

He endured the breaking that made us whole.

The injuries he suffered became our healing.

We all have wandered off, like shepherdless sheep,

scattered by our aimless striving and endless pursuits;

The Eternal One laid on him, this silent sufferer,

the sins of us all.

And in the face of such oppression and suffering—silence.

Not a word of protest, not a finger raised to stop it.

Like a sheep to a shearing, like a lamb to be slaughtered,

he went—oh so quietly, oh so willingly.

Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away.

From this generation, who was there to complain?

Who was there to cry “Foul”?

He was, after all, cut off from the land of the living,

Smacked and struck, not on his account,

because of how my people (my people!)

Disregarded the lines between right and wrong.

They snuffed out his life.

And when he was dead, he was buried with the disgraced

in borrowed space (among the rich),

Even though he did no wrong by word or deed.

Yet the Eternal One planned to crush him all along,

to bring him to grief, this innocent servant of God.

When he puts his life in sin’s dark place, in the pit of wrongdoing,

this servant of God will see his children and have his days prolonged.

For in His servant’s hand, the Eternal���s deepest desire will come to pass and flourish.

As a result of the trials and troubles that wrack his soul,

God’s servant will see light and be content

Because He knows, really understands, what it’s about; as God says,

“My just servant will justify countless others by taking on their punishment and bearing it away.

Because he exposed his very self—

laid bare his soul to the vicious grasping of death—

And was counted among the worst, I will count him among the best.

I will allot this one, My servant, a share in all that is of any value,

Because he took on himself the sin of many

and acted on behalf of those who broke My law.”

The Book (Scroll) of Isaiah, Chapter 53 (The Voice)

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Saturday, july 31 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about how we see, how we come to view life through baptism eyes:

We are instructed to see small miracles, everyday "signs and wonders..." Our Torah portion this week (Eikev) includes the commandment: “And you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.” (Deut. 8:10). Whenever we derive benefit or enjoyment from something we are to bless (i.e., thank) God for his goodness. Jewish tradition says that if one eats or drinks without saying a blessing, it is as if he has stolen from God. From the verse, “What does the LORD ask of you...” (Deut. 10:12), the sages infer that a person should say at least 100 blessings a day, since the word מה, “what,” alludes to the word מאה, a “hundred.” The Hebrew term for gratitude is hakarat tovah (הַכָּרַת טוֹבָה), a phrase that means "recognizing the good." The heart looks through the eye, and therefore how we see is ultimately a spiritual decision: "If your eye is "single" (i.e., ἁπλοῦς, sincere, focused)," Yeshua said, "your whole body will be filled with light" (Matt. 6:22). When we see rightly, we are awakened to God's Presence in the little things of life, those small miracles and glories that constantly surround us. The good eye of faith sees hundreds of reasons to bless God for the precious gift of life (1 Cor. 10:31). Open your eyes... The LORD is "enthroned among the blessings of His people" (Psalm 22:3).

Addictions, cravings, lusts, etc., arise from a refusal to be satisfied, by hungering for more than the blessing of the present moment. "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13). The living waters are present for us, but we will only find them if we open our hearts to the wonder of God in this moment. We can "break the spell" of continual dissatisfaction, of the power of greed, ambition, and so on, when we discover that our constant hunger is really a cry for God and His blessing. This is the blessed “hunger and thirst” given by the Spirit (Matt. 5:6). Our sense of inner emptiness is an invitation to come to the waters and drink life. So come to God's table and ask the Lord Yeshua to give you the water that will satisfy your heart's true thirst for life...

It is written: “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack” (Psalm 34:8-9). We can only “taste and see” when we are earnest however, when we seek God with passion... When you pray, lift up your heart and soul to God, asking for the miracle to surrender to Him in the truth. Where it says, "with all your heart" (בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ), present before him all your passion and desires; your hopes and your needs, your fears and your anger; and where it says, "with all your soul" (וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ), offer before him your very soul, as if to be sacrificed in his service; and where it says, "with all your muchness" (וּבְכָל־מְאדֶךָ) offer to him all your strength, all your means, and all your dreams. Ask to be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh to be enabled to apprehend the glory of God in the face of the Messiah (בִּפְנֵי הַמָּשִׁיחַ), through whom we are being transformed for the glory of God. [Hebrew for Christians]

7.30.21 • Facebook

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

July 31, 2021

The Good Confession

“I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.” (1 Timothy 6:13)

Young Timothy also had “professed a good profession [same word as ‘confession’] before many witnesses” (v. 12), evidently of similar substance and quality to that in the witness of Christ before Pilate. When the Jews urged Pilate to condemn Jesus to death, their charge was that “he made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). Pilate gave Jesus opportunity to deny this charge and save His life, “but Jesus gave him no answer” (v. 9). Both by His silence, when a denial of the charge could have saved Him, and by His open testimony before Pilate that He was, in fact, a King from heaven itself—indeed “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15)—it becomes clear that our own “good confession” must be a confession of our faith in Jesus Christ as Son of God, our Savior and Lord, especially when that confession is made openly before hostile witnesses.

Jesus said: “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). Paul said, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9); and John said, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15).

Despite the great blessings awaiting all who make a courageous and good confession of saving faith in Christ, most people will refuse until it is too late. There is a time coming, however, when “every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11). HMM

[lifetimeinafist]

Posting my final draft of my directing proposals

For any of you who are interested.

The Merchant of Venice

“I have black guys counting my money. … I hate it. The only guys I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes all day.” Donald Trump,

USA Today, May 20, 1991

In one play, The Merchant of Venice manages to cover every single negative Jewish stereotype I was ever taught to recognize and reject in my 27 years of living as a Jewish woman.  But the uncomfortable truth is, Shylock reminds me viscerally of my own grandfather: a complicated man who was devoted to his wife and family, but could also be exacting and emotionally distant.  Though we may cheer Shylock’s defeats and laugh at his losses, it is impossible to hear or read this play and not see Shylock as human. A “bad,” immoral, human, perhaps, but human nonetheless. This is more than many of Shakespeare’s contemporaries and successors were able to muster in centuries to come. And yet, in this post-Holocaust alt-right age, we must grapple with the fact that Shylock has become a standard for every Jewish coded villain, every negative stereotype used to ostracize and murder Jews. I have no desire to shy away from this conflict. I see it as an opportunity.

The central and most complicated conflict of this play is the battle between compassion and justice; the clash between the philosophies of the Jewish Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament.  By the end of the play, the Christian New Testament and justice have won and the Hebrew Bible and Jews have been defeated.  The Christian perception of Jewish justice is personified by Shylock. Shylock’s notions of right and wrong are harsh and inflexible: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. On the other hand, bright, witty, Portia has the potential to represent all that is good about Christianity.  Wealthy, pretty, and elevated by her father as a prize for only the worthiest of men, Portia is a woman held captive by her gender. She is easily the smartest person in the play, and yet it is her lot to sit and wait for some guy to solve a riddle. Portia is only able to exercise agency when dressed like a man. This is also the first time her virtues are tested. When faced with an opponent like Shylock, is it any surprise that sheltered Portia’s test reveals just how un-Christian she is capable of being? Portia does not simply defeat Shylock, she destroys his entire life and livelihood. She also draws out her victory, torturing Bassanio and Antonio in the process, showing off just how clever she can be.  In a lot of ways, Portia behaves exactly like Shylock.  Does she even look at the Jew and see herself?

In the end though, Portia gets her happy ending: Antonio lives, Bassanio’s debts are forgiven and she gets a marriage where she decidedly has the upper hand.  Shylock however, loses everything. As a converso, he will linger in a living purgatory, rejected by Jews and never fully accepted by Christians.  How should we feel in Act Five, watching Portia’s story so happily resolved? The Merchant of Venice lives in moral grey areas and it’s not clear how Shakespeare wanted us to feel about any of this. Its questions are too big and complicated for comfortable answers. Shakespeare allows the people who inhabit the world of The Merchant of Venice to be unlikable and difficult to understand, perhaps because he himself was wrestling with who and what is right.  It would be easier to look away from such a struggle. As a Jewish artist living in America in 2017, I cannot afford for my audience to look away.

Richard II

“For within the hollow crown which rounds the mortal temples of a king, keeps Death his court and there the antic sits…” ~ King Richard, Act III, Scene II

Smack in the middle of the play, in a moment of abject distress and defeat, King Richard II reveals his deepest insecurity: that, in spite of his supposed divinity as king, he is nothing more than an ordinary man and, even more troublesome, perhaps not a particularly good king. When faced with losing everything, Richard, a boy king grown up, son of a famous prince, and grandson to an even more famous king, seems to ask: do I deserve any of this? “Subjected thus, how can you say to me I am a king?”

Shakespeare’s Richard II is the antithesis of a stereotypical Renaissance king. He is an intellectual, a poet-king who seems to be constantly torn between careful, intellectual deliberation and his emotional impulses.  Childless and surrounded by young male flatterers, I suspect Shakespeare’s Richard II is gay.  Richard is not who he is supposed to be and he knows it.  Richard seems incapacitated by these anxieties and expectations, stumbling over and over again in his attempt to rule justly. Does he perhaps look at noble, dutiful, masculine Bolingbroke and see everything he should be? Once Richard is un-kinged and stripped of everything he was trying to be, it is as if he has been set free.  

Bolingbroke seems at first to suffer from the same affliction of self sabotage as his cousin, though it takes a different shape. At first, Bolingbroke has morality on his side. He is owed his father’s lands and titles and should feel confident in taking them and deposing Richard.  But Bolingbroke asks the same question Richard does: do I deserve this? Where Richard fails because he cannot stop asking this question, Bolingbroke stumbles when he stops questioning.

Shakespeare does not let the audience’s heart rest in one particular place in this play.  We feel for Mowbray, stripped of his nation and language, as much as we do Bolingbroke, banished from his elderly father’s bedside, or Richard alone in Pomfret Castle.  Richard and Bolingbroke’s failings are in all of us and Shakespeare refuses to allow us to take sides.  Yes, Richard II was a bad king, but I find it impossible not to empathize with him. As a Queer woman, an artist, and even as the daughter of immigrants, I constantly ask myself if I am good enough, if I am who I should be, if I deserve what I have. But I am not the leader of an entire country and the consequences of my self doubt won’t provoke civil war. Is it possible, then, for anyone to be expected to balance the burden of self with the burden of the crown? On the other hand, do we want leaders who don’t question themselves and their right to rule? Certitude, it seems, can be the road to tyranny.  

The crown, as it turns out, is as much a prison as Pomfret Castle.  Richard surrenders power to Bolingbroke, but he also hands him all of his care and his anxieties.  Shakespeare does not end the play with Richard’s deposition. He gives us a chance to see Henry IV’s first days as king. When Bolingbroke ascends to the throne, he is almost immediately faced with inter-court strife and treason.  He hardly handles these conflicts well and the audience is not left feeling like the country is better off under new leadership.  It is Bolingbroke who later says in another play: “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”  In the last moments of Richard II, we understand why.  

#Shakespeare #lolgradschool #my writing

[katiezstorey93]

Shalom! Showcase Of Web Design In Israel — Smashing Magazine

Israel is a young country with an old soul. It can be shockingly cutting advantage and has been quickly built up as an independent Jewish nation over the last 60 years.

It’s a tiny surreal sliver of land smack dab in the middle of the Middle East: a very European, contemporary civilization… simply programmed to Jewish heritage. Israel has excellent weather, nice beaches along the Mediterranean ocean , fresh and tasty meals and a friendly and relaxing tradition. It’s home to historic sites of the world’s three major religions, and buses push roads whose stones are far old than anything else you’ll find in Europe.

Israeli design at its best: ILook, an Israeli street-fashion website. The text on your left side states: “Send me a great picture of a hipster and win 300 bottles of Maccabi beer” (via Tal Sach).

It feels as if Israel has one foot in Silicon Valley and another in ancient Canaan — with an undercurrent of civilization and Middle Eastern hospitality inside this already society. And yet, English is often spoken here because most Jews from throughout the world immigrate here frequently (as well as the thousands of tourists from all over the world who pour in for sunlight, falafel, nightlife plus a flair of biblical archaeology.) You hear about the roads as Hebrew as Spanish, French, Russian and English.

You may be interested in the following posts:

Because of its small size and the everyone-knows-everyone impact of being a bunch of Jews, cottage fever (and ending of mandatory army service for its younger generation) drives Israel’s citizens out on regular travels across the globe, to India, Asia, and South America. As a result, a unique mixture of ethnic discoveries overseas is woven right into culture.

Tel Aviv is Israel’s most metropolitan, chic town: the capital of all things sexy, secular and religious (in alternative techniques to traditional Judaism.) You can read more about Tel Aviv’s particular soul in this article from Ehud Azriel Meir.

Much like a lot of Israel’s cities — hastily constructed and operational, yet badly planned — this really is the unfortunate state of the majority of the websites of the country. Most Israeli sites appear unfinished, plus they probably are. And Hebrew becoming a language does not help! Being victims of circumstance Internet designers cannot unleash their capacity to produce contemporary, usable working sites.

agadir, a Hamburger joint.

Even though some cutting-edge technologies are being manufactured right here in Israel — which is home to previous hot startups like ICQ (which became AOL messenger) and Intel (which is in the machine… have a look!) Business owners putter around in IE6. Israel started its first official Mac store.

What is Unique About Israeli Internet Design?

Here are some other problems that designers face here (and, I guess, in most areas outside the Usa, Canada and Western Europe):

Websites must operate in legacy versions of IE (though IE6 is now almost out). Small business owners emphasize than getting their sites to work in Safari or Firefox.

There’s a strong liking for Flash-based designs… it must be a cultural thing.

Little value is dedicated to Internet designers (and people in related fields, like copywriting — although marketers and SEO people appear to do fine), and several designers aren’t taking back their profession.

Customers care more about price than usability and standards.

CSS-based layouts aren’t regular, and lots of the people responsible for hiring are unaware of it.

Enormous agencies are often requested to make conventional layouts, and although they do quite impressive branding work, the sites they turn out are behind the times. Because they are launched by these large companies, the sites succeed “despite these,” leading many to believe that this is the formula for wildly successful sites: for Agency X to do our site how they did for Company Y.

The Lionways website.

Many entrepreneurs here think that because they are smart and effective in technology that they understand your area as well as their very own. They think they could write better than the usual copywriter that is US-born and will design better than a graduate of FIT. Obviously, this could be frustrating for the person seeking to construct a new site for them.

Regardless of that, usability is starting to be demanded by many web site owners, particularly the truly smart tech companies, Web app providers and social media startups; countless these are in Israel, largely in English.

Israel is always a couple of years behind European and American trends and standards, and it is not any different online.

The State Of Affairs

We talked within the Web design industry in Israel to folks to receive their point of view on the state of affairs.

Q: Can you find you need to convince and teach clients a lot in order turn out the high-end sites which you do?

Arie Zonshine (Lionways.com): “Most people calling for a quote do not actually understand what they need. It is as if they are calling to find an air conditioner’s purchase price. If they desire some make-over of an current website or a new website, it doesn’t matter: they don’t have composed specifications, they do not understand what kind of pages they desire and they do not have a concept.

“So, I need to guide them through a set of questions, maybe looking at a couple of sites together so as to understand their demands. Their lack of consciousness leads them request functionality that could work in relation to SEO against them, for instance. I normally don’t need to work too hard to convince them to do things the ideal way.”

Eran Pal

Q: Why are clients surprised by how far you estimate them? What buzzwords can you hear most from clients?

Zonshine:“Consistently! Obviously, the best cost is wanted by customers and, unfortunately in most situations, aren’t aware at all the time and work invested. It is even tougher with issues such as Web browser and standards compatibility, because these characteristics are hard for the consumer to appreciate and of the job have no impact on the site. [I hear] Flash, AdWords and SEO. Very few cite browser compatibility, Internet standards, semantic mark-up or CSS-based design”.

Q: About what proportion of Israeli companies are to the newest standards of sites written in XHTML and CSS, which are non-Flash which utilize minimum JavaScript?

Zonshine:“The numbers are unfortunately quite low. I would say about 5%. Maybe less.”

Alfred Gallery Exhibitions

Q: Why would you think most Israelis are into Profession Flash layouts that are difficult to navigate, outdated and slow? Is that a cultural thing? Are more people waking up?

Zonshine:“In too many first conversations with potential clients, I hear asks to make things ‘Proceed the display like in PowerPoint.’ Most Israelis overlook that the inside is at least as important as the outside, which bases are more significant than a cool façade (i.e. a flashy home page with smart animation) that’s nothing behind it. I do believe it is a cultural thing: you can view it. The ‘great façade with no base’ combo is extremely representative of Israeli culture. You see it everywhere. But, I do believe that appreciation of quality grows with knowledge, experience and time. An increasing number of people call in already understanding the disadvantages of a Flash-only site”.

Tower of David

Q: Arie, I notice on your portfolio which you still utilize Flash, though you appear to have located the center road between Flash and usability. Please explain.

Zonshine:“Exactly. We wanted to make the point that cool and functional can operate together and aren’t contradictory. It was an early decision which I took together with my spouse Dana Ronen, who’s responsible for its programming on the website. We desired to show Flash and creativity capacities but also show that it can be achieved without undermining functionality, the availability and SEO of the website.

“Therefore, on virtually every page, there is a little or large gimmick in Flash, based on the content of the page and its function. The company card that is flying gets center-stage; likewise, on the ‘About us’ page, the CD that is laptop creates an entry. On other pages we wanted the customer to concentrate on the content itself, hence the gimmicks were demoted into a supporting role and, generally, done in Flash (e.g. the credit card terminal, the coffee steam along with also the compass) and in different instances in jQuery (e.g. the changing color postage on the contact page)”.

Bee Creations Design Agency

Q: Exactly how does the fact that Hebrew is written from right to left influence your design work?

Zonshine:“In the event the website will probably be Hebrew, you only have to reverse your way of believing horizontally. In terms of design, it means that the logo would be probably put from the top-right corner of the page rather than the top-left. You also have to mirror the placement of elements because the customer’s eye-tracking patterns are mirrored in Hebrew.

“The issue becomes even more complex when the website has both English and Hebrew or another left-to-right vocabulary. A fantastic illustration is a design which has a large background image, which I use frequently. After the background image cannot be flipped, it normally results from the symbol and other components being positioned over the “wrong” side of the page for one of the languages (Lionways is a great example of that). If, on the flip side, the image can be reversed, it is much easier, as the Jerusalem Camerata website shows [see below] — the massive violin image is mirrored in the English side of the website”.

Waltz using Bashir

Another example of the problem is Twitter, which scrambles any tweets that are right-to-left . But again, Israel’s creative minds come to the rescue with Talker, a Twitter API-based… well, Twitter, except in Hebrew along with right-to-left. Assess a Twitter Talker right-to-left account using a left-to-right account.

Q: Exactly how does Hebrew influence different elements of Web design?

Zonshine:“First of all, even a much smaller range of safe fonts can be used for live text. Arial is probably the most common, followed closely by Times New Roman, Tahoma and Courier. That’s it, more or not. There are not any equivalents of both Palatino, Georgia, Trebuchet or other fonts.

“Additionally, if the website has both English and Hebrew, choosing a font for names and logos becomes even more challenging, since you usually need to choose two separate fonts — such as English and Hebrew — which work nicely together. The Hiddush logo is a great example of that. I spent hours searching before I discovered a close-enough English font (Anderson the Secret Service) that functioned well together with the Hebrew person (AgadaMF), and even then I had to clean it a bit to match another. A couple of font stores in Israel, such as FontBit, offer quality fonts which are designed to combine nicely in both English and Hebrew”.

“Along with all this, there are many technical issues with coping with right-to-left texts from graphic elements, particularly Flash components. Items become a problem, like the inability to control the place of punctuation marks, numbers and symbols. Sometimes the only alternative is to steer clear of personalities, but this is not possible when coping with content to control. “

Q: Do clients pay on time. And what is negotiating like?

Zonshine:“Negotiating is a component of Israel’s culture. People request a discount. I almost always get paid on time”.

Uzi Shmilovici (co-CEO at Netcraft) adds: “A great deal of the logos that have been designed in Israel have English typography. Therefore the question is, where if the logo show up on the website: the left side along with the perfect side?”

Analyzing some of the biggest sites in Israel indicates that this dilemma remains unsettled.

“The other problem”, Shmilovici continues, “is using English phrases and words (either quotes or exclusive terms) in the middle of Hebrew sentences. They force users to change the management of the own reading, which affects the flow of the article and scanning”.

Israeli web design: Confederation House from bigdesign

Typography

Typography is one of the crafts linked to design and Hebrew sites. While traditional Hebrew fonts are wonderful for producing an ancient or sacred atmosphere, Internet designers face a large challenge in finding or producing modern (or even futuristic) fonts out of an alphabet that was invented for a single thing: Torah publications.

Typography lovers might be interested in the “Torah Scribe,” composed by a person who handwrites Torah books and that follows a strict set of rules and guidelines. The smallest error makes the publication un-kosher, and he has to throw it away and start all over again (which is the reason Torah books cost a lot).

Another tendency in Hebrew typography is Profession fonts from the first days of the country (the British Mandate). A great example is the Palestina font created by Oded Ezer (see image below), and it will be an endeavor to fuse an ancient typeface into a contemporary design.

Oded Ezer’s site is a excellent place to search for Israeli experiments and fonts from Hebrew. A major Israeli typographic artist, Ezer also conducts the blog Spare Type. If you are to typography (and that isn’t?) , you must check out two works by Ezer in particular: Typosperma and Ketubah.

Any Israeli knows how hard it’s to locate fonts that are amazing . Lucky we’ve experimentalist, a symbol artist and type designer, lecturer and Oded Ezer. His studio is located in Israel.

Font designers that are Israeli, Fontef.

Interesting Solutions to Israeli Style Issues

Yotam Hadar redesigned nrg.co.il, Israel’s second-most favorite news source and seventh hottest site. The old version had too many boxes, low readability and nowhere to concentrate the attention, as well as unconventional and hard-to-use navigation. Since its redesign, the site has always gained popularity (along with the figures show much longer stays), generating more income along with a smaller group on which to rely on for maintenance. (The site was finished while the designer was functioning at Maariv, in collaboration with NRG’s design group, under chief designer Amir Hadad.)

Smashing Membership. Just sayin’.

Performance Can Be A Double-Edged Sword

At a 62-year-old country that’s in a constant state of warfare, where each citizen has to join the army at the age of 18, efficacy (not to be confused for productivity or effectiveness) is virtually sacred. It has been in building this country, the most crucial quality, and it is inclined to be the quality in any undertaking. An individual could say, “It doesn’t matter if it is good, as long since it functions…” Sort of… Close enough. Thus aesthetics, usability and trends are dismissed quite frequently, which makes the work of the designer secondary.

Another negative effect of the harsh attitude is the de-emphasis on a instruction. Because clients only demand that matters “work,” standards, aesthetics and trends will be the last thing on a programmer’s mind. In turn, clients lack a real understanding of the media, which explains the reason so many Israeli sites use Flash. The lack of number of Hebrew Web fonts is also a variable. But luckily SEO is creeping into and forcing even the most stubborn clients to ditch Flash for HTML and to replace images as far as possible, which will hopefully push typography awareness with text.

Ha’Sushia comes with a distinctive navigation menu.

Adam Benayoun (CEO and co-founder of Lionite), places it quite well: “It’s a technology-oriented industry. Lots of Israeli companies don’t concentrate on the front end, design, UI, experience, because we are all developing and selling technologies to the United States.”

Lea Aharonovitch (a senior product manager at Answers.com plus a UI/UX blogger) adds: “I would even go farther to attribute each and every one of us Israelis as consumers for not demanding higher standards from sites which prefer banner places to layout.”

“Just a fast look at a few of the 130 Israeli Web 2.0 companies demonstrates how much creative types and services are trying to address issues and cultivate new exciting approaches to do more about the Internet… Should we support designers and allow them to show us what they could definitely offer, we provide a chance that another ‘Made in Israel’ design post will boast about the way Israel has become the cutting edge of intuitive and outstanding user-centered layout”

Lea is also a former manager of UPA Israel (Usability Professionals Association), which recently initiated a series of usability reviews printed weekly on Israel’s largest news site Ynet (the equivalent of CNN concerning traffic and importance), inspecting a various Israeli site each week.

Tel Aviv town budget

Q: What other setbacks against musicians in Israel would you identify?

“Behind each Israeli designer stands a group of managers who simply don’t get it,” states Aharonovitch. “Managers do not think they are able to offer easy, less monetized ports, so designers are expected to add as many monetization components as possible”.

Shmilovici:“Strong interactive Businesses lead clients to invest a Whole Lot of money in the press (where they have large commissions), and the result is usually less resources for both UX and design (because the growth part is a must anyway)”

Oded Ezer, whose task was featured earlier in this piece, offer us a typographer’s point of view: “Conservativeness. Rather than relying on 3,000 decades of recorded culture and Jewish heritage, youthful designers are seeking to contemporary European design for inspiration.”

Dinamo-Dvash

Local Influences

It is well worth mentioning that the 2nd official language of Israel is Language, another speech with allure to typographers. However, a whole other post would be required fo from network 8 http://vista-icon-creator.com/shalom-showcase-of-web-design-in-israel-smashing-magazine/