Two heads are better than none.
Michal and Meir Negrin are husband and wife and as well as business partners.
Michal is a 1957 model and she grew up in kibutz Naan which is located in the center of Israel.(The kibutz is famous for inventing the drip irrigation system.) Her family name used to be Green. (Some may know that David Ben Gurion’s family name used to be Grun which is German for Green, and guess what; Michal’s great uncle was David Ben Gurion)
From an early age she enjoyed creating jewelry with lots of colors. She was not as enthusiastic about school, but her mother saw that she was good at what she was doing and encouraged her and provided tools for her works.
She got married to Meir Negrin in 1984 and he also believed in her talent. Soon they started selling her jewelry on the open-air-twice-a-week-artists-marked in Nahalat Benyamin in Tel Aviv.
After some time they had enough money to open up a shop in Tel Aviv’s trendy Sheinkin Street and in 1996 the factory was opened in Bat Yam. From that point on it completely took off…..
Michal Negrin creates jewelry, home décor and clothing inspired by Victorian style or from the 1920’es. Her style is frilly, fanciful and full of fun and color.
Today she employs close to 200 artisans who work at the factory and she has 23 shops in Israel. The Japanese love her style and 16 shops can be found around their country.
She has 4 shops in the USA, 5 in Mexico, 2 in Spain, and one in Croatia, U.K, Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan and Holland.
Her success story is a mixture between her artistic talent and her husband’s business talent. How fun to see that things can work out when both talents are honored!!!
Elin Elkouby
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
It is 40 years since the first man put his feet on the moon.
I watched it on our black-and-white-TV and as such was one out of an estimated 450 million people around the world who actually followed the event through TV or radio. My mother was very exited about “how far mankind had come”, but I was a simple child at the time and what fascinated me the most was that the astronauts were jumping around being weight less. I would have loved to bump around in a place like that.
Neil Armstrong was the first man to put his feet on the moon. Upon doing so he said these words; “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
He walked on the moon on July 21, 1969.
Armstrong became a believer in God out in space. At one point in his life he came to Israel to “walk in the footsteps of Jesus”. Meir Ben Dov, one of Israel’s great archaeologists, was the one to show him around.
Meir Ben Dov is a Jew and not in particular a religious man. So he took Armstrong around to the different churches in Jerusalem and told him both the “Christian traditions” claims concerning the sites and his own reflections based on his knowledge of history and archaeology. As Jerusalem was destroyed and rebuilt completely after the time of Jesus it is hard to claim with certainty that Jesus actually “had his feet” on any specific spot in present days churches.
At the end of the tour Mr. Ben Dov wanted to show Armstrong the area close to the southern wall surrounding the Temple Mount. He was actually digging in that area at the time. On this particular part of the wall the two main entrances to the Temple from the south are still visible. The gates are closed today, but in front of them there are huge original stone slabs.
While standing on the one in front of the middle gate Armstrong asked the archaeologist if there were any place at all where one could say for sure that Jesus must have stood. “Right where you are standing now”, was the answer.
(I know this story from Meir Ben Dov. I was fortunate to be taken around by him myself when I was studying to become a tourist guide in the early nineties.)
It took many years for Christians to understand that the closest they could get to “walk in the footsteps of Jesus” was to enter into the area of the Archaeological Park south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Jesus spent most of his time in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount teaching the crowds. In order to get up there he must have entered through this middle gate as did other rabbis at the time.
It is almost too Jewish to be true…..
Elin Elkouby.
I watched it on our black-and-white-TV and as such was one out of an estimated 450 million people around the world who actually followed the event through TV or radio. My mother was very exited about “how far mankind had come”, but I was a simple child at the time and what fascinated me the most was that the astronauts were jumping around being weight less. I would have loved to bump around in a place like that.
Neil Armstrong was the first man to put his feet on the moon. Upon doing so he said these words; “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
He walked on the moon on July 21, 1969.
Armstrong became a believer in God out in space. At one point in his life he came to Israel to “walk in the footsteps of Jesus”. Meir Ben Dov, one of Israel’s great archaeologists, was the one to show him around.
Meir Ben Dov is a Jew and not in particular a religious man. So he took Armstrong around to the different churches in Jerusalem and told him both the “Christian traditions” claims concerning the sites and his own reflections based on his knowledge of history and archaeology. As Jerusalem was destroyed and rebuilt completely after the time of Jesus it is hard to claim with certainty that Jesus actually “had his feet” on any specific spot in present days churches.
At the end of the tour Mr. Ben Dov wanted to show Armstrong the area close to the southern wall surrounding the Temple Mount. He was actually digging in that area at the time. On this particular part of the wall the two main entrances to the Temple from the south are still visible. The gates are closed today, but in front of them there are huge original stone slabs.
While standing on the one in front of the middle gate Armstrong asked the archaeologist if there were any place at all where one could say for sure that Jesus must have stood. “Right where you are standing now”, was the answer.
(I know this story from Meir Ben Dov. I was fortunate to be taken around by him myself when I was studying to become a tourist guide in the early nineties.)
It took many years for Christians to understand that the closest they could get to “walk in the footsteps of Jesus” was to enter into the area of the Archaeological Park south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Jesus spent most of his time in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount teaching the crowds. In order to get up there he must have entered through this middle gate as did other rabbis at the time.
It is almost too Jewish to be true…..
Elin Elkouby.
Friday, July 17, 2009
1,350 Palestinian refugees from Iraq on their way to US.
As the US is preparing to leave Iraq the State Department confirmed that as many as 1,350 Palestinian refugees will be resettled mainly in southern California. The US allowed 7 Palestinian refugees to enter into America in 2007 and 9 in 2008.
34.000 Palestinians used to be well treated guests of Saddam Hussein before the American invasion. As many as 21.000 of them fled to other countries after 2003 and approximately 13,000 are left within the borders of Iraq where most of them live under extreme conditions in refugee camps in the desert bordering Jordan and Syria . (Both Syria and Jordan has been willing to accept around 300 Palestinian refugees each but there is an absolute closure on both borders for more.)
Palestinian refugees have come in waves to Iraq. The first ones to arrive were refugees from the war in 1948. Most of these refugees were originally from either Yaffo or Haifa but they fled their homes and sought shelter with the Iraqi army which had arrived to fight the newborn Jewish state. As they did not succeed in doing so the refugees were joining them as they withdrew back to Iraq.
The second wave came during the war in 1967 and the third came as a result of massive Palestinian support of Saddam Hussein as he attacked Kuwait in 1990.
Kuwait used to be the country with the highest Palestinian population of all the Arab states. Up to 1991 they numbered more than 400.000 but since the attack on Kuwait in 1990 the Palestinians have been chased out of the country by the Kuwaitis.
No Arab country has ever offered Palestinian refugees citizenship. Even those born in the country do not have the rights of a citizen. Arab countries are scared of other Arab countries and do not want any other Arabs to enter into their territories. This is in a way strange as they all belong to the same ethnic group, share the same religion and speak the same language. However, every Arab knows that the worst enemy to an Arab is always another Arab.
When the US army entered into Iraq the good conditions for the Palestinians in Iraq changed. They had been issued special travel documents, had the right to work and were given full access to health, education and other governmental services. They also enjoyed subsidized rent or lived in government owned houses. This has been a source of resentment for Iraq’s poor Shia’ population who turned to be fierce enemies of any Palestinian as soon as Saddam Hussein was off “stage”.
Since the US invasion the Palestinians in Iraq have been chased out of their rented homes or have had their neighborhoods bombed continuously. They have been terrorized with robbery, rape, torture, kidnapping and murder.
What happens in Iraq is what happened in Kuwait in the 90’es, in Lebanon in the 80’es and in Jordan in the 70’es. The only safe haven for Palestinian refugees has been in non Arab countries.
Good luck California.
Elin Elkouby
As the US is preparing to leave Iraq the State Department confirmed that as many as 1,350 Palestinian refugees will be resettled mainly in southern California. The US allowed 7 Palestinian refugees to enter into America in 2007 and 9 in 2008.
34.000 Palestinians used to be well treated guests of Saddam Hussein before the American invasion. As many as 21.000 of them fled to other countries after 2003 and approximately 13,000 are left within the borders of Iraq where most of them live under extreme conditions in refugee camps in the desert bordering Jordan and Syria . (Both Syria and Jordan has been willing to accept around 300 Palestinian refugees each but there is an absolute closure on both borders for more.)
Palestinian refugees have come in waves to Iraq. The first ones to arrive were refugees from the war in 1948. Most of these refugees were originally from either Yaffo or Haifa but they fled their homes and sought shelter with the Iraqi army which had arrived to fight the newborn Jewish state. As they did not succeed in doing so the refugees were joining them as they withdrew back to Iraq.
The second wave came during the war in 1967 and the third came as a result of massive Palestinian support of Saddam Hussein as he attacked Kuwait in 1990.
Kuwait used to be the country with the highest Palestinian population of all the Arab states. Up to 1991 they numbered more than 400.000 but since the attack on Kuwait in 1990 the Palestinians have been chased out of the country by the Kuwaitis.
No Arab country has ever offered Palestinian refugees citizenship. Even those born in the country do not have the rights of a citizen. Arab countries are scared of other Arab countries and do not want any other Arabs to enter into their territories. This is in a way strange as they all belong to the same ethnic group, share the same religion and speak the same language. However, every Arab knows that the worst enemy to an Arab is always another Arab.
When the US army entered into Iraq the good conditions for the Palestinians in Iraq changed. They had been issued special travel documents, had the right to work and were given full access to health, education and other governmental services. They also enjoyed subsidized rent or lived in government owned houses. This has been a source of resentment for Iraq’s poor Shia’ population who turned to be fierce enemies of any Palestinian as soon as Saddam Hussein was off “stage”.
Since the US invasion the Palestinians in Iraq have been chased out of their rented homes or have had their neighborhoods bombed continuously. They have been terrorized with robbery, rape, torture, kidnapping and murder.
What happens in Iraq is what happened in Kuwait in the 90’es, in Lebanon in the 80’es and in Jordan in the 70’es. The only safe haven for Palestinian refugees has been in non Arab countries.
Good luck California.
Elin Elkouby
Friday, July 10, 2009
Penina Pie.
I remember it well;
One of my best friends in Israel, Penina Konforti, went to study in order to be a professional confectioner. The place of study was at the Dan hotel in Tel Aviv and her teachers were the best in the country. Every Sabbath after our service in Tel Aviv we would go south to Gan Yavne and spend the rest of the day with our friends.
We lived in Tel Aviv back then, so for us to go to our friend’s home was like going to be in the country side. We both had daughters the same age and we all loved this time of rest and fellowship with people that we communicate easily with.
Every Sabbath Penina had prepared three different luxury cakes for us to test. They were all beautiful to look at and the tastiest cakes you can imagine…..Penina wanted to know our opinion about how they looked, how they tasted, if they were too sweet etc.
After she finished her studies she opened a confectioner’s shop at her house and later moved into new facilities in one of the shopping centers close to her house.
Our family left Tel Aviv and moved to Gan Yavne. Penina’s girl and my oldest girl are the same age. They went to the same kinder garden and class at school and every afternoon they would spend in my house.
One day we woke up to a new and strange reality. Someone had put up posters all over Gan Yavne with Penina’s picture on them. They were warning people from buying cakes at her shop claiming that she was a missionary “hiding” behind her shop. Rumors had it that she prepared the dough at the “priests” home and that she mixed “pig’s blood” in her cakes.
Few people had known that Penina was part of the Messianic fellowship before this happened. Now people came to ask what her faith was about and to express that they did not agree with what was happening, but she also lost many of her customers who decided to believe in the lies of some of the religious Jews in Gan Yavne. The nicest thing that happened was that the friends of her children went to take the posters down the same afternoon.
Since this first act of persecution Penina has been haunted by the religious Jews both in Gan Yavne and in Ashdod. More posters have been put up and small papers with warnings on them have been copied by the thousands and put in people’s mail boxes.
The Rabbis have refused to grant her a “kosher certificate”.
Penina finally decided to bring her case to court. I could assist with a “nice collection’ of posters, letters and everything that had been said or printed about her since this first event.( I collected the originals as they were being“published”)
Israeli bureaucracy is slow and her case has been moved through different court levels until it reached the Supreme Court.
Last Sabbath we celebrated that finally, after all these years, she got support from the court which ruled that there is no reason why she should not get a “kosher certificate” and which decided that the rabbis will have to pay all the court expenses.
So we have celebrated for one day, but that does not mean that the problems are over…….
Elin Elkouby
I remember it well;
One of my best friends in Israel, Penina Konforti, went to study in order to be a professional confectioner. The place of study was at the Dan hotel in Tel Aviv and her teachers were the best in the country. Every Sabbath after our service in Tel Aviv we would go south to Gan Yavne and spend the rest of the day with our friends.
We lived in Tel Aviv back then, so for us to go to our friend’s home was like going to be in the country side. We both had daughters the same age and we all loved this time of rest and fellowship with people that we communicate easily with.
Every Sabbath Penina had prepared three different luxury cakes for us to test. They were all beautiful to look at and the tastiest cakes you can imagine…..Penina wanted to know our opinion about how they looked, how they tasted, if they were too sweet etc.
After she finished her studies she opened a confectioner’s shop at her house and later moved into new facilities in one of the shopping centers close to her house.
Our family left Tel Aviv and moved to Gan Yavne. Penina’s girl and my oldest girl are the same age. They went to the same kinder garden and class at school and every afternoon they would spend in my house.
One day we woke up to a new and strange reality. Someone had put up posters all over Gan Yavne with Penina’s picture on them. They were warning people from buying cakes at her shop claiming that she was a missionary “hiding” behind her shop. Rumors had it that she prepared the dough at the “priests” home and that she mixed “pig’s blood” in her cakes.
Few people had known that Penina was part of the Messianic fellowship before this happened. Now people came to ask what her faith was about and to express that they did not agree with what was happening, but she also lost many of her customers who decided to believe in the lies of some of the religious Jews in Gan Yavne. The nicest thing that happened was that the friends of her children went to take the posters down the same afternoon.
Since this first act of persecution Penina has been haunted by the religious Jews both in Gan Yavne and in Ashdod. More posters have been put up and small papers with warnings on them have been copied by the thousands and put in people’s mail boxes.
The Rabbis have refused to grant her a “kosher certificate”.
Penina finally decided to bring her case to court. I could assist with a “nice collection’ of posters, letters and everything that had been said or printed about her since this first event.( I collected the originals as they were being“published”)
Israeli bureaucracy is slow and her case has been moved through different court levels until it reached the Supreme Court.
Last Sabbath we celebrated that finally, after all these years, she got support from the court which ruled that there is no reason why she should not get a “kosher certificate” and which decided that the rabbis will have to pay all the court expenses.
So we have celebrated for one day, but that does not mean that the problems are over…….
Elin Elkouby
Friday, July 3, 2009
What did Raed Wael Sawalha do wrong ?
I have two teenagers at home and I enjoy seeing them grow and develop as independent individuals. Every step of this journey, since they were born, has added a lot of joy to my life. I loved to take care of them as babies, I enjoyed watching them as they learned to walk and I have enjoyed the conversations between us which have been taken to higher levels as they have grown. I have never considered them a problem of any kind to me.
We do not always agree. In fact there is no need for them to agree with me in everything. Growing up is about relating to the surroundings in a mature way and to take responsibility for ones actions. It is easier to do that if a person had been allowed to grow up and is acting in harmony with his/her own understanding of things.
It seems like not every parent or family member agree with me on this. There are families where to ask questions are considered rebellion and where acting according to ones belief is considered dishonoring the family.
Raed lived in an area with a lot of tension within the Palestinian society. His village was close to Qalqilia where there has been a lot of trouble between Fatah and Hamas lately.
The problems often cause a split within families as different family members have sympathies with different political fractions.
I do not know the details about his family other than that his father, uncle and cousin decided to torture him brutally and finally hang him because he allegedly had connections with the Israeli authorities.
Hundreds of young Palestinians have been killed by their own people for the last couple of years for similar reasons, but it is the first time it happens within the closest family.
Usually the children killed by their own father, brother or uncle are girls.
It must be hard being a mother under such circumstances. When news reporters come to interview the family or neighbors in such cases we always see the women trying to be invisible by covering their faces, hiding and not talking to anyone.
Israel and America is of course to blame for this !?!?!?????
Elin Elkouby
I have two teenagers at home and I enjoy seeing them grow and develop as independent individuals. Every step of this journey, since they were born, has added a lot of joy to my life. I loved to take care of them as babies, I enjoyed watching them as they learned to walk and I have enjoyed the conversations between us which have been taken to higher levels as they have grown. I have never considered them a problem of any kind to me.
We do not always agree. In fact there is no need for them to agree with me in everything. Growing up is about relating to the surroundings in a mature way and to take responsibility for ones actions. It is easier to do that if a person had been allowed to grow up and is acting in harmony with his/her own understanding of things.
It seems like not every parent or family member agree with me on this. There are families where to ask questions are considered rebellion and where acting according to ones belief is considered dishonoring the family.
Raed lived in an area with a lot of tension within the Palestinian society. His village was close to Qalqilia where there has been a lot of trouble between Fatah and Hamas lately.
The problems often cause a split within families as different family members have sympathies with different political fractions.
I do not know the details about his family other than that his father, uncle and cousin decided to torture him brutally and finally hang him because he allegedly had connections with the Israeli authorities.
Hundreds of young Palestinians have been killed by their own people for the last couple of years for similar reasons, but it is the first time it happens within the closest family.
Usually the children killed by their own father, brother or uncle are girls.
It must be hard being a mother under such circumstances. When news reporters come to interview the family or neighbors in such cases we always see the women trying to be invisible by covering their faces, hiding and not talking to anyone.
Israel and America is of course to blame for this !?!?!?????
Elin Elkouby
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