Parade of the Year's Newborn

Yesterday we celebrated the Hag Ha-Shvu'ot (the traditional first harvest festivity) in the kibbutz. Ivry was among the year's celebrities, among the 18 newborns of the kibbutz (26 including the descendants of the kibbutzniks that had left it). This kibbutz was established in 1939 by 25 Romanian and 25 German Jews and is one of the wealthiest thanks to its industries. As of 2022, it had a population of 870. Therefore, the kibbutz has a birth rate of 2% and a natural growth of about 1%. I had to take a seat in the first row with the old farts and their Phillippine caregivers. 

The phantoms of my past

The phantoms of my past are coming back to me from the Netherworld. This man looks like my childhood friend in Buenos Aires, Tommy Marjos, long dead.  

Israeli commandos

 
The picture was taken when the police commando YAMAM appeared exiting the helicopter with a hostage. The first impression is that the former hostage (in red underwear) has no shoes and appears just rising from the bed. The tall commando boy with a blue penguin badge is on his way to become our Prime Minister (Bibi and Ehud Barak and other leaders were commando). Behind him comes a second hostage, in a black T-shirt. The soldier to the right has a mysterious sticker on his hat:  RG. What does it mean? RG typically stands for "Regimental Goat". It is a slang term that refers to the regimental mascot goat. In the dark background, to the right, I seem to identify an Iranian ayatollah. What is he doing in the copter arriving from Gaza? He must be a paying passenger. But, he is not. He is the third hostage. The poor doctor (back, left) seems to be carrying a whole hospital on his legs and body. 

Beauty Pageant

 

Miss Milliken (right) will represent Alabama at the national contest. Some expressed gratitude for the fact that at least Milliken is a biological female, unlike the winner of Miss Maryland USA, who is a man. The winner of this year’s Miss Germany wasn’t even German.

Rugrat

Rugrats (II) is a personal TV series focused on the experiences of a courageous, adventurous six-month-old baby named Ivry and his group of playmates. Here, Ivry wonders what those mysterious eccentric adults around are. 

"Massive Approval of Building Permits is Required"

 Jerusalem, Israel's capital and biggest city has become the country's first city to see its population exceed 1 million, the Central Bureau of Statistics has announced ahead of Jerusalem Day. Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city has less than 500,000, although the Gush Dan inner metropolitan region has a population of 1.5 million.

60.5% of Jerusalem's population is Jewish and others, of which about half (29.2%) is haredi, while 39.5% of the population is Arab. The average birthrate in Jerusalem is 3.68 children per woman, well above the national average of 2.89. The birthrate is 4.3 among the Jewish population in Jerusalem, and 2.81 among the Arab population.

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On Independence Day eve Israel's population reaches 9.9m

Most of the population growth in Jerusalem is natural, with 20,500 more people born than died in 2023. 4,000 people migrated to the city last year, while 11,000 left. People came to the city from Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, and Tel Aviv and left it for Beit Shemesh, Tel Aviv and Beitar Illit.

To meet the population growth, massive approval of building permits is required. In 2023, 7,800 building permits were issued in Jerusalem, the most among all Israeli cities. Over 10% of all building permits issued in Israel were issued in Jerusalem. Although construction is slowing down in most of the country (down 8.9% in 2023 compared with 2022), in Jerusalem construction jumped, with 14.8% more construction starts than in 2022.

 (I am working on several building permits. Each one is a Via Dolorosa.)

Pesti Vicc

 

How old are you?

Eleven.

At your age, I was already twelve.

You have to be Hungarian to get the point.