The Costs of Keeping the Faith (video, photos)

Money magazine has an interesting, three-part in-depth profile (Jewish, Muslim, Christian) of what it takes for a faith-based household to make ends meet in America - all while staying true to your traditions:

"Ask Abbi Perets about financial pain, and she starts talking about grape juice. Specifically, she's referring to the half-gallon bottles of grape juice that her local grocery sells for $9 each.

"Drinking the juice is an integral part of the prayer ritual that Abbi, her husband, Guy, and their four children follow every Friday and Saturday to commemorate the Jewish Sabbath. Like all the food in the Perets household, the juice must be kosher - that is, prepared according to Jewish dietary laws. And the $9 juice, more than three times the price of the regular kind, is the only kosher grape juice she can find."

Go read the rest.

Mr. Virtual Crap, Meet Mr. Mideast Fan...

From the JPost:

The upcoming home front drill, Turning Point 3, is based a scenario in which "a combined missile and rocket attack on Israel from all sides combined with terror attacks from within," and is "not a fictional scenario," Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilan'i told members of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.

Matan Vilan'i describes upcoming home front drill simulating war on three fronts (opens a new video console page)

Vilna'i briefed the committee on the state-wide drill, scheduled to begin on May 31. The threat of missiles hitting mainland Israel "is not unrealistic," Vilna'i continued. "If a war breaks out, that is probably what would happen."

Yeah, well alright then.

Trying mightily to unstress as I type in all the tags below... even if I always did appreciate the Israeli penchant for "cutting to the chase," about what's at stake.

Great NPR Profile on Israeli Musician/Producer

Idan Raichel

Click here to hear the interview (a pop-up player console will open).

From National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday, May 10, 2009:

"Israeli music producer Idan Raichel collaborates with many musicians from around the world. So far, he has worked with more than 90 artists.

"'I see myself as the director of many, many scenes,' he says. "We are 90 musicians: The youngest is 16 years old, and the eldest are 64, 79, 83 and 89 years old. For those listeners who are not familiar with the Israeli society, we are all kinds of immigrants. So we have singers from the Ethiopian community in Israel, and musicians from the Moroccan community. And we are proud to have all these singers joining us by MySpace, or by just writing to our Web site.'"

"It's all part of his ongoing recording work with what he calls The Idan Raichel Project. Raichel (pronounced RYE-kell — "with phlegm," he says) writes, arranges and performs on many of the songs, but he works with a far-reaching cast of musicians to record his compositions"
Read the rest.

And, despite NPR's perennial editorial animus towards Israel, and considering Raichel's stated hard-left politics, there nary a note against the Jewish State.

In The Court of the Crimson King (Original photograph)

Part of an inner courtyard, at the compound on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem's Old City, housing the tomb of King David. (Dave Bender)