Rehovot Has Fairly Low Unemployment Rate of 4.9%

Jobseeker numbers down 0.9% in December. The western Galilee has the highest unemployment rate, at 13.9%.

"The number of jobseekers fell by 0.9% from 228,600 in November 2005 to 226,500 in December, Israel National Employment Service director general Esther Dominicini reported today. On the other hand, trend figures indicate a 0.2% rise in the number of unemployed. The figure is unchanged, compared with December 2004.
39% of jobseekers (87,000 persons) were unemployed over 270 consecutive days, forming the hard-core unemployed. On the other hand, the decline in new jobseekers continues to fall in trend figures, reaching 18,900 in December, compared with 19,100 in November, a decline of 0.8%.

The number of ordinary jobseekers, without income support, fell by 3.2%, or 2,412 persons, in December. A 2.3% drop, 377 persons, in the number of jobseekers with higher education degrees was also reported. The number of applicants for income support rose by 0.5%, or 705 persons.

The western Galilee has the highest unemployment rate, at 13.9%, followed by the Negev (13.5%), southern Israel (10%), Haifa (9.7%), Jezreel Valley (9.3%), upper Galilee (8.7%), and Samaria and the northern Sharon (7.5%).

Three areas have fairly low unemployment rates: Rehovot (4.9%); Jerusalem (4.6%); Tel Aviv (4.6%); and the Dan region and southern Sharon ( 4%)."

Source: Zeev Klein. Globes online. www.globes.co.il (23 January 2006) [FullText]

Rehovot's Bargain Basements Beat US prices

by Erin Israel

Rehovot has nothing on Filene's: the bargain basement exists here in hidden, delightfully-tacky splendor. And it's all 20% off!

I don't know how, but friends who have been here for only a few weeks discovered not one, but two underground stores with wall-to-wall home accoutrements ranging from potholders to stacking capuccino mugs. One store has an entire section devoted to Tupperware knockoffs; the other, a wall of the world's most garish coaster sets.

Combined, these two places form Rehovot's "Mita, Ambat, ve Hala'a" -- Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Or, as I like to think of it, WAY Beyond. No Bed, Bath, and Beyond I can think of has four different kinds of falafel-cutters.

I was shocked. How did I miss these places? Was I really that unobservant? Why didn't I pay more attention to what people were carting out of the shops near the sherut-departure stand? Alas, the only time I went into the homage-to- reinforced-concrete indoor mall where one store is located, I headed the wrong way: upstairs, where a mostly-abandoned shoe store and its unhappy salespeople tried to sell me sandals that would have been only fashionable in, and practical for, the era known as B.C.

Our first foray into Bargain Martef (aka basement) #1, located in the concrete behemoth on Herzl, produced a seven-shekel glass teapot and a seven-minute reverie in the coffee-mug aisle.

This is virtually the only place in the country, as far as I can tell, where things are cheaper here than in the U.S.

Today's find, Bargain Martef #2, next door to the great deli on south Ya'acov Street, revealed cheap pillows, glasses, more falafel cutters, and pasta makers.

When you walk in through the narrow glass doors--with hours posted in Hebrew and Russian--an old man whisks away any shopping bags and stashes them in tiny lockers. Then he waves you down a one-person-wide hallway lined with cheap paper goods, toward the staircase leading to the basement. The vista from the top of the stairs is of the Grand Canyon of Stuff, aisles and aisles of it.

My friend headed for the sofa pillows section, while I headed for the stacking capuccino mugs.

For a socialist country, they do the capitalist thing quite well.

Source: Erin Israel. "Maf-TAY-akh ha-pa-khee-YOT." "The can opener." rehovot.blogspot.com (25 Janury 2005) [FullText]

Trolling Rehovot's Karl Berg, the Russian Market

After eight days of nonstop rain, the most obscure things begin to look fascinating. Case in point: a jar of Polish pickles. Pardon me, more precisely: pickled cucumbers from Warsaw, purchased in Karl Berg, the Russian market.

People living in Central Europe and eastward have a soft spot, it would seem, for all sorts of pickled vegetables--mushrooms, above all. One brand of pickled shrooms on the shelves at Karl Berg sports a label with two jaunty-looking mushrooms wearing their caps like berets, wide-eyed and grinning, little suspecting that they are perhaps a week or a day away from becoming Tortellini al Funghi a la MOCKBA.

After sloshing home from Karl Berg in the rain, I set the jar of Polish pickles on the counter. Inside, among the cucumbers, swirled a whole pickled underseas world of sliced garlic, allspice or peppercorns, bay leaves, herbs, and thin sprays of a flowery plant.

The jar bears a brand name with all the thunder of Valhalla, "VORTUMNUS", in black-edged green letters. Below a drawing of a veritable cornucopia of pickled goods is written, "Ogurki Konserwowe Cale", or "whole conserved cucumbers".

Surprise! If you speak limited Czech, you may also speak extremely limited Polish. "Pickles," in Czech, are "okurky".

One more day of rain and we will no doubt resemble the specimens in the jar...

Trolling the Russian market for odd (to me) foodstuffs is now a great deal more fun, since I have a friend who reads and speaks Russian. I followed K. around Karl Berg as she pointed out Ukrainian bread, Moscow bread, and tvaroch, a cheese about which Czechs and Austrians speak in breathless, mythical terms; they are quick to assert that its equivalent just does not exist in the U.S., presumably since Americans wouldn't know good cheese if it bit us on the nose.

Well, four pounds of Kroger's best sharp cheddar in my fridge beg to differ.

However, cultural relativism has its advantages, foodwise. This weekend, K. produced fantastic tiny pancakes made with tvaroch. It's no cheddar, but it's very good.

Source: Erin israel. "Muh-la-fuh-FON." "Cucumber." rehovot.Blogspot.com (16 January 2006) [FullText]

Science in Rehovot: Cognitive decline might be slowed (and might be not)

REHOVOT, Israel: A team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science has come up with new findings that might help delay and slow cognitive deterioration in old age.

The Israeli researchers, led by Professor Michal Schwartz of the institute's neurobiology department and Rehovot-based biotech firm Proneuron, say they've discovered immune cells contribute to the brain's ability to maintain cognitive ability and cell renewal throughout life.

Until recently it was generally believed each person is born with a fixed number of nerve cells in the brain, and those cells gradually degenerate and die during the person's lifetime and cannot be replaced.

That theory was disproved when researchers discovered certain regions of the adult brain do, in fact, retain their ability to support and promote cell renewal throughout life, especially under conditions of mental stimuli and physical activity.

But Schwartz's group demonstrated autoimmune cells have the potential ability -- if their levels are controlled -- to fight debilitating degenerative conditions that can afflict the central nervous system -- such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, glaucoma, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and the nerve degeneration that results from trauma or stroke.

The study is detailed in the February issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Source: newKerala.com

Rehovot at eight o'clock on a Friday morning is exciting

"SHTAH-yeem ba-BO-ker." "Two o'clock A.M."

Jet lag offers people like me, who would otherwise prefer to greet the morning after 10 a.m. via a mug of coffee and the mere hum of a BBC broadcast, a valuable glimpse into another world...if only for the two or three hours between naps.

Rehovot at eight o'clock on a Friday morning is exciting: people walk around upright, unread papers tucked under their arms; trays of pastries cool in the winter air; on the corner of Herzl Street and Geula Street, a trio of musicians plays accordion and violin music and sings Yiddish songs. The sun isn't yet over the buildings, and last night's rain still glitters on the street.

You can grab the best seat in the cafe, hot baguettes in the store, finish any errands that need to be done before Shabbat closes everything, and sit back with the paper while the rest of the world staggers out and slowly begins to crowd downtown. You can gloat over a cappuccino at having outwitted all of those drowsy, sleep-wrinkled Rehovot residents just beginning to start their weekend grocery shopping.

However, by ten a.m., you'll feel like lunch, and by two p.m., you'll be popping chocolate-covered espresso beans by the handful, in the fervent hopes of fighting off yet another nap. By midafternoon, jet lag can turn quite reasonable adults into whiny, irascible toddlers.

At this point, my body clock resembles nothing so much as a disco ball. Am I on Denver time? Frankfurt time? Should I just give up and embrace the morning-person lifestyle, and write off any mental activity after four in the afternoon..."

Source: Erin Israel. Rehovot.Blogspot.com (8 January 2006) [FullText]

"I just want him to be healthy", - says PM's Sharon oldest friend since they both lived in Rehovot

Dozens gather at hospital to wait for news on Sharon, after he was rushed to surgery for third time since being admitted Wednesday night

Family, friends, associates and advisors anxiously wait for any news on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, after he was operated on for the third time since Wednesday night, in an attempt to stop additional cranial bleeding and pressure.

The hospital lobby is packed with people fidgeting, chain-smoking and waiting for any updated news.

One of Sharon's oldest friends, Haj Salah Dabbah, came all the way from Dir al-Asad to be with him. He has known the prime minister for the past 43 years.

"I met him when we both lived in Rehovot. We have been together since 1962. He visits me and I visit him. Now I am worried, I just want him to be healthy. I came here with my sons to be with him," he said.

"God willing he will manage to pull through. He is a strong man and Allah will give him strength," he added.

Sharon's advisors and associates wander around in the hospital building, not knowing what to do, while hundreds of reporters and media teams from around the world are waiting in the marked-off street adjacent to the hospital for any news.

Source: Ronny Sofer. PM's health: Waiting anxiously for news on Sharon. YNet.com (6 January 2005) [FullText]

Rehovot's Child abuse cases risen by 20 percent over last decade

"The National Council for the Child released statistics Sunday which revealed that the state of children's welfare in Israel has drastically worsened over the last decade, with a 130 percent increase in cases of child abuse.

The number of reports on children who have been abused or neglected by their families since 1995 has risen by 130 percent, while the number of children who have ended up in emergency wards as a result of such abuse has risen by 166 percent.

Almost a third of the abuse cases were committed by both parents; 23 percent suffered abuse by their mother; 21 percent by their father, and the rest by other family members.

Only 3 percent of child abuse cases were committed by strangers, while 3.3 percent of complaints filed with social workers turned out to be false.

About 39 thousand children were reportedly abused in 2004, which constitutes a sharp rise over the 1995 figure of 16,815. Almost 19 percent of the victims were aged five and under, and 36 percent were between the ages of six and 11. Some 37 percent of the reports were on physical and sexual offenses, 12 percent on psychological abuse and some 33 percent on neglect.

In a large number of cities, such as Jerusalem, Petah Tikva, Netanya and Rehovot, an average rise of 20 percent was reported in the number of children at risk.

"The data speaks of the increase in the number of children at risk and raises the question of whether it wasn't time for some government body to take upon itself to focus upon the aid given to children in need," the authors of the statistical survey wrote in a letter to President Moshe Katsav.

Source: Ruth Sinai. Data reveals child abuse cases risen by 130 percent over last decade. Haaretz.com (25 Dec 2005) [Fulltext]

Rehovot Students Present 'Porn Flick'

Movie on porn world produced by Rehovot high school students and containing some provocative scenes wins award, spurs controversy in film competition

A sexy production: Twelfth grade cinema students from the town of Rehovot have selected an unusual subject to stand at the heart of their high school graduation project - the porn world.

The movie, recently screened as part of a local film competition between Rehovot schools, prompted the outrage of several religious girls who attended the event, and left the movie hall in protest when the screening of the movie began.

Scenes from the movie "Granny Tales"

The film, titled "Granny Tales," deals with the porn world from the point of view of an ageing porn star, "granny" (portrayed by one of the students). It includes interviews with major players in the Israeli porn industry and feminists, as well as clips depicting female students in provocative outfits.

Bondage scene

The more controversial parts of the production include scenes with students performing "dirty dances"; a tied up student wearing tight and revealing clothes who sends seductive glares to the camera; a male student putting his hand down his pants, and then being undressed by two female students; a student examining a vibrator; and two students dressed in lingerie and portrayed as "sex dolls."

"The object of the movie is not to offend people, but to get them to be more open… we didn't show anything very provocative, we were mild," Osnat Kishlinsky, one of the film's directors explained.

Referring to the incident with the religious students, Kishlinsky said she and her teammates were a little shocked to learn that some were offended by the film, which was predictable in light of the girls' religious conviction.

Principle: Parents convinced me

The teacher who instructed the students in making the movie, Galit Yogev, said the film's contents were granted the approval by the school, and that the students' parents were highly supportive of the production.

The high school principle Edna Levin said she was slightly less convinced that all the scenes in the movie were appropriate, but stressed she believed the movie was humoristic and ironic.

"I did have an argument with the students about one of the scenes, but they insisted, and finally the parent called me up and talked me into allowing it," Levin said.

'Example for democracy'

Education Ministry sources responded with contradicting messages to the disputed film.

Dorit Blin, the ministry's national supervisor over cinema studies in high schools, said the debate regarding the movie is "an example for education and democracy, and for ways to raise the subject involving the school management, the teacher, the students and the parents to determine a solution."

"We teach the children to criticize social dilemmas. How can they learn without creating dilemmas of their own?" she asked.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry's official response stated that "the competition was conducted without cooperation with the Ministry," and that "we are currently looking into means to strengthen monitoring control over the contents of films produced in schools."

Deputy Education Minister Majalli Whbee, who was the keynote speaker in the competition said he was not aware of the contents of the films that were screened in the event.

"No one has informed me of the contents of the movies. I gave a speech at the event and left shortly after. Had I known that a movie containing pornographic material would be projected, I would condemn and denounce it," Whbee said.

Source: Moran Zelikovitch. Students present 'porn flick'. Ynet.com (2 January 2006) [FullText]

Blackout Reported in S. Rehovot

A blackout was reported in the southern Rehovot area earlier on Monday evening. Israel Electric Company officials earlier reported the cause of the interruption in electric service was unclear.

Source: Blackout Reported in S. Rehovot. IsraelNN.com (2 January 2006) [FullText]

New Year Started with a Car Crash at Bilu Junction near Rehovot

"Police beefed up their forces Saturday night in the wake of New Year's celebrations and terror warnings. Approximately one thousand police officers patrolled city and intercity streets during the night, pursuing in particular drunk and reckless drivers.

However, two people were killed and seven injured in traffic accidents during the night. One woman was killed and fiver others were injured in a car crash that took place at Bilu junction near Ramle. Elsewhere, a man driving a Subaru Legacy crashed into a parked truck near Kiryat Malakhi's Wiseman junction. The driver's mother, 71, died in the accident.

While reinforcements could be found around bars and nightclubs, 20 partygoers were injured in stabbings and other scuffles during the night. Rescue workers treated 15 revelers ushering in the New Year, one of whom was seriously injured, one moderately and one lightly.

In one incident, two youths threw firebombs at a Jerusalem nightclub after being denied entrance. Seven people were injured and taken for treatment to Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. One suspect has been arrested.

In a total of three stabbing incidents, seven people were injured, one seriously, three moderately and three lightly.

1,200 celebrants show up at Israeli-Russian oligarch's party

Some 1,200 people celebrated New Year's Eve Saturday night at a party organized by Russian-Israeli billionaire, Arkadi Gaidamak, at the Trask nightclub in Tel Aviv.

Businessmen and models brushed shoulders at what the press has called the social event of the year, though many politicians chose to stay away because of rumors that Gaidamak amassed his vast fortune in arms deals.

The partygoers were served some 8,000 egg rolls, 350 kg of fish and 150 kg of chocolate.

In recent weeks, Gaidamak has been in the news for buying the Betar Jerusalem soccer team and the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team."

Celebration by ordinary Rehovot residents included snowball games and under-the-palm round dances on snow noticed at Sderot Hen. No joking, see pictures above and below below.

Source: Haaretz Service and Itim. 20 New Year's revelers injured in stabbings, scuffles. Haaretz.com (1 January 2006) [FullText]