Ernie Weir is owner and winemaker of Hagafen Cellars, one of California\’s three kosher wineries that exist in an industry dominated by hundreds of non-kosher wineries.
On Yom Kippur, my wife Sally and I went to shul just around the corner from the Vatican. It was a visit we will not soon forget. The imposing Comunita Ebraica di Roma Synagogue (the Great Synagogue of Rome) sits just off the Piazza del Firori close to the Tiber River and spitting distance from Vatican City across the river in one direction, and Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum in the other.
Ehud Barak has the hardest job in Israel these days, but Itai Eiges\’ is no walk in the park, either. As director general of the ministry of tourism, Eiges is in charge of promoting an industry that has been crippled by the recent conflict. Tour operators are reporting a 50 percent cancellation rate, the U.S. State Department has instituted a travel warning on the Middle East, and Britain has levied one against Jerusalem. It is the worst drop-off in travel in decades.
Vienna\’s Holocaust Memorial in the inner city\’s Judenplatz was unveiled in a simple but moving ceremony last Wednesday.
Though Christopher Columbus stumbled onto the shores of the Dominican Republic more than 500 years ago, the city of Sosua, only a few miles from where he landed, is about to celebrate its 60th anniversary. When a group of 40 Jews climbed ashore, bereft of their possessions and loved ones and surrounded by jungle, they couldn\’t help but wonder what was in store.
What and where is Uzbekistan? Following the breakup of the USSR, Uzbekistan is an independent country of 23 million people, located in central Asia, west of China.
Many American Jewish travelers, including Angelenos, are thinking twice about visiting Israel. And this trend, at least in the short term, is affecting the travel business, especially agencies dependent on a high volume of tickets and tour packages to Israel.
In the interior of British Columbia, nestled amidst the Selkirk Mountains and straddling Kootenay Lake, is one of North America\’s most charming and picturesque towns.
Alsace, a picture-perfect rural region of rich vineyards, farmlands, soft green mountains and rolling valleys, sits on France\’s northeast border, next to Germany. Around every bend along the narrow roads are charming villages with winding cobbled streets and neatly painted black and white timbered houses. In summer, pink and purple and scarlet geraniums blossom in gardens and window boxes. Though the region is only 20 miles wide and 100 miles long, its largest city, Strasbourg, has a population of more than 388,000, with a magnificent cathedral, and is home to the prestigious Council of Europe.
Here I was, literally, in the middle of nowhere, between nothing and nothing, feeling as if I had landed on the moon. Only I was the alien among a company of natives.
