Purim is our Jewish carnival: The streets are full of people dressed up in colorful costumes תחפושות (tahch-poh-soht), we party and drink alcohol – it’s actually a “Mitzvah,” a Jewish religious duty, to drink and celebrate on Purim – and we exchange food and sweets in a special Purim basket called משלוח מנות (meesh-loh-ahch mah-noht). In the tradition of masquerade and costumes, let’s take a look at some informal words and phrases that “dress up” in a certain way, but their actual meaning is something completely different: Our first example is למות על (lah-moot ahl), which translates to “to di ..read more

When you think about the word classroom כיתה (kee-tah), what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Maybe it’s your high school teacher? A lesson שיעור (shee-oor) you’ve hated? Or maybe it’s the feeling of the wooden chair כיסא (kee-seh) beneath you, your elbows resting on the desk, staring blankly at the back of your friend’s neck? But classrooms haven’t always been this way. They’ve changed a lot and evolved throughout history for ideological and political reasons. The earliest schools בתי ספר (bah-tehy seh-fehr) were founded around 2000 BCE in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia ..read more

What if I told you that up until the end of the 19th century, Hebrew was only used for liturgical purposes (prayer and religious ceremonies) and for writing prose and poetry? That the Modern Hebrew we know, spoken by millions of people today in Israel, has only been around for a little more than a century? Linguistic studies show there are no other examples of a sacred language (existing for thousands of years) rapidly acquiring millions of native speakers and becoming the national language of a state. There were many contributing factors to the revival and renewal of Hebrew: ideological movem ..read more

As these words are being written, 136 children, women, and men are being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas. On the 7th of October, around 250 civilians (Israelis and other nationalities as well) were kidnapped from their homes in the Kibbutzim surrounding the Gaza Strip and from the “Nova” music festival, which was held near Kibbutz Re’im. It is very difficult to put into words the shared national consciousness since the attacks and the aftershocks that we have experienced since that Black Sabbath. Thousands of families have lost their loved ones on that terrible day or during the war that broke o ..read more

Let me tell you something about Israelis: we love to think about ourselves as European or American, but at the end of the day – we’re Middle Eastern. That means we have our own little quirks and schticks, and if you’ve ever thought about moving here – there are some things you should know in advance. Don’t let our order of Matcha Latte and Urban Outfitters sweater confuse you; here are ten things you should definitely know before moving to Israel: We Write the Date Differently In the United States, the formal way to write a date is M\D\Y (month\day\year), while in Israel, the formal way is D\M ..read more

TL;DR:  Teaching Hebrew after the shock of 7.10 has allowed us to mourn together, but also to create a safe space to share our feelings and stay connected. Our students shared some of their thoughts with us, and we’d like to share them with you. When the war מלחמה (meel-chah-mah) broke out in Israel almost two months ago, all of us – students, teachers, and community – were taken aback with shock and grief. We began facing a new reality in which we’re living day by day: waiting for a piece of good news, asking for the well-being of our loved ones, and uniting in prayer. While al ..read more

It’s Hanukkah, and sufganiyot are an inseparable part of our holiday experience! If you’re unfamiliar with Hanukkah, a sufganiya is a traditional sweet, a round donut with a sweet filling מילוי (mee-looi) at its core. The fillings vary from the good old strawberry jam to more unusual and sophisticated flavors. Some bakeries take this concept to the extreme and construct crazy sufganiyot with all sorts of toppings – not necessarily better than the originals. A choice of filling can say a lot about a person’s character, so choose your favorite filling and discover your true colors: Strawberry Ja ..read more

It’s been fifty-three days since October 7th. Fifty-three days in which my reality, as well as the reality of my friends, family, colleagues, and pretty much everyone I care about, has fallen apart so many times it seems that the concept of “good” and “bad” is nothing but a blurry mush of definitions we thought we knew. We live in an upside-down world where most things have lost their meaning. Fifty-three days in which I repeatedly say “terrible,” “horrific,” and “heartbreaking,” only to recall that these are just words, incapable of truly reflecting the pain that comes with what is happening ..read more

It’s been a month since the war מלחמה (meel-chah-mah) broke out in Israel. What started as a wave of absolute shock that stopped our lives in their tracks, made way to a sad and difficult routine שגרה(sheeg-rah) that we are all trying to navigate in, in Israel and all over the world. The force of human life, of life חיים(chah-yeem) itself, is stronger than anything else. And fortunately (or unfortunately, since at times it feels like a horrible contradiction between the outside world and the world within) even when times are hard we still have a need to eat, to sleep, to love, a ..read more

In our new Tel Aviv unplugged podcast which has just launched, we’re diving headfirst into unfiltered chats with some seriously intriguing individuals who bring their unique takes on the Israeli mindset. In this debut episode, our founder Tamar Pross sat down with Aleeza Ben Shalom, renowned as “The Jewish Matchmaker” from the popular Netflix series. Aleeza, a beloved Citizen Café student, shares her insights on cross-cultural relationships, contemporary matchmaking and “Israeliness.” We’re giving you a sneak peek into this chat, so get ready for some fascinating insights below! Tamar: So Ale ..read more