The Israeli Health Ministry is cautioning citizens against a new erotic stimulant known as "Honey Sex." Available in pharmacies and natural food markets, the product has been found to contain the chemical Sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra.
A guy lies about his ethnic heritage to get a woman into bed. Is it rape? According to an Israeli court, it is. This week a Jerusalem court found Sabbar Kashur, 30, who is Palestinian, guilty of "rape by deception" and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. First of all, his "lie" to the Israeli woman he slept with was, if anything, a lie of omission: He said his name was "Dudu," a lifelong nickname, and she assumed he was Jewish.
An Israeli nationalist group is urging model Bar Refaeli to dump her boyfriend of four years, Leonardo DiCaprio, and settle down with some nice Jewish boy and make loads of yarmulke-wearing babies.
Ever since their hit movie was released, there have been rumors about a supposed off-screen romance. For months, gossip rags have accused her of having a secret husband and him of being a wife-stealer. Even their co-star Anil Kapoor has claimed that the two share a genuine sense of chemistry. And yet, when asked outright by interviewers on the Academy Awards red carpet (and elsewhere) if they were an item, Freida Pinto and Dev Patel denied everything. Well, it seems that the time for denials is over. Because, as was the case with Angelina and Brad, actions are speaking louder than words when it comes to the Slumdog Millionaire stars and their feelings for each other.
Only Jewish people can get married in Israel. And Orthodox rules decide who's Jewish enough for the honor. Sure it's a pain for Americans to prove it, but now it's becoming a pain for Israelis to prove it too. Traditionally, Jewishness is passed through the mother but proving who is and isn't is pretty tough. So much for the Law Of Return.
The Attorney General of Israel has interpreted their adoption law to read that gay couples can adopt children. This is a little bit surprising considering how conservative most Israeli politicians tend to be. And this has not made the AG very popular amongst certain ultra-conservative sets.
During the first week studying abroad, an orientation period in Jerusalem before moving on to work at a kibbutz in the north, I met a young Israeli man with whom I had an immediate connection. We didn't speak each others' languages perfectly—not nearly—but we seemed to have the same approach to the world, laughed a lot together, and well, you know the universal nature of the language of love. Avi was a soldier—most Israelis are at that age—and he happened to be on leave for the week. I dropped out of orientation events to see the sights with him, and within days I had met his family, a progressive and cosmopolitan bunch who seemed to accept me readily.
