Submitted Stories by Ben Harris RSS Feed Stories Submitted by Ben Harris
Antwerpen
Brussels Central Station is so unremarkable you could miss it. Even inside, I wasn’t sure I had found the right place. Read more »
Belgian Waffles
They are everything you expect them to be, and then some. Maybe I was just hungry and hadn’t eaten anything since the crappy hotel breakfast in Copenhagen before dawn, but from the first bite there was no doubt it was the finest waffle I’ve ever tasted. It was literally the first thing for sale when I stepped form the train at Brussels Central Station. I took a bite and stepped outside, into clear blue skies and mild temperatures, and for a moment ... I don’t know. It was good. Read more »
Prayer Time
On my final morning in Copenhagen, I awoke before the sun—not such a great feat in Denmark in November, mind you—and headed for the Great Synagogue for morning services. Read more »
Nothing Rotten
Arne Melchior is my kind of guy. For starters, he sees the world like I do, in terms of the weather. Denmark’s national character, he explained with gusto, has been shaped by meteorological conditions—neither too hot in summer, nor too cold in winter, the mild Danish climate has helped forge a culture distinguished mostly by its moderation. Extremists, both of the left and right, have never held much sway here, and Melchior clearly enjoyed describing how his countrymen laughed at the same Hitler speeches that so riled up the German masses. Read more »
No requirements
A visit with Denmark’s chief rabbi. Read more »
Warsaw Jewish Cemetery
My last day in Poland was a day of celebration and commemoration elsewhere in Europe. In Germany, crowds were gathering in front of the Brandenburg Gate to mark 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, while across the world Jewish communities were preparing to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht. It was a rainy morning, but still I trudged out to the Okopowa Street Jewish cemetery, among the largest in Europe, to see the progress of a project to record information from the tombstones for a searchable online database. Read more »
TWJ in the Examiner
Peter Menkin has a piece about my travels on the website of the San Francisco Examiner. Check it out. Read more »
Culture Shock
Don’t quite know what to make of this video. It’s supposed to ease American culture shock in Hungary. But I think it actually exacerbates it. Regardless, it features Adam Schonberger (of Siraly fame). Was this actually commissioned by a New York cultural forum? Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 11/22/09 @ 05:02PM EDT
- Hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish Brazileans protested in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit.
- "Real progress" has been made in negotiations to release a captured Israeli soldier, President Shimon Peres confirmed.
- The online auction Web site eBay said it took down an ad offering biological samples from Benito Mussolini before anyone could bid on them.
- Turkey has given Israeli defense contractors 50 days to deliver 10 promised drone aircraft.
- Iran began an air defense drill designed to protect its nuclear program, Iranian state television reported.
- Brazileans protest Ahmadinejad visit
- Peres: ‘Real progress’ in Shalit talks
- The Mofaz plan—state now, ask questions later
- eBay removes Mussolini brain, blood samples
- Turkey demands delivery of Israeli drones
- Iran begins air defense drill
- More Israeli recruits seeking to join combat units
- Haredim return to protest Jerusalem Intel factory
- Female Orthodox scholars helping women talk about sex
- Obama half-brother has Jewish roots
- Lieberman: Fort Hood could be terror attack
- J Street confab shows generational divide on Israel
- What really happened at the Reform biennial in Toronto
- Rubashkin convicted on 86 charges
- Pro-Israel fliers confiscated at campus speech
- Obama shifts to Israel’s corner, but tries not to show it
