Field Notes are the raw material of anthropological thinking.
They begin with close attention to what is visible, felt, and lived. They capture the meeting point between observer and world — where experience becomes interpretation and observation turns into cultural insight.
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When I arrived in Denmark six years ago as a student, something didn’t quite add up for me. The students around me, living on a nice but lim…
Read more →This week, the annual Michelin event was celebrated at the Tivoli Gardens concert hall. The climax was marked when the restaurant "Kadeau" w…
In the 2021 elections, we were still living in the country. The date fell exactly on Nadav's birthday, and we decided to turn the national h…
For a public space to be pleasant for everyone, it must also accommodate what is not always pleasant. The happy state understood that tolera…
During one of those routine pick-ups from kindergarten last year, the teacher reported to me with a smile about Adam Ray's wake-up time from…
Last week, I worked from a café in Copenhagen, my laptop open in front of me and the sound of the milk frother in the background. Two women…
When I lived in Tel Aviv, I had a bike. I worked in Ramat Hachayal, and it took me fifty minutes to get there by public transport. The bike…
The Israeli cult of excellence builds a glorious career for our children, but it is also what prevents us from creating a society worth livi…
They say that the early years are the most critical in a child's development. And there’s no phrase that activates my guilt glands faster. E…
Design is a social contract. The secret to social change in Israel is not "raising awareness." It’s architecture that takes the social being…
Three years without writing code. During this time, my body was engaged in other things: a difficult pregnancy, an eternal year of maternity…
How did the Danes become so happy, and what is the secret behind the world's stable democracy? Imagine you are riding a bicycle in the city,…
When I moved to Copenhagen, this statue in Ørstedsparken became my favorite landmark in the city. I arrived from Israel, a place where the d…
This coming weekend, when day and night balance at the spring equinox, the Iranian people will celebrate Nowruz – the Persian New Year. This…
In a world without damsels in distress, there’s no need for gentlemen. February 2026: A Game in the Snow February 2026, with the twenty cent…
On our last visit to Israel, we landed and discovered that our suitcases got stuck in the Munich connection and would only arrive in a few d…
We spent Christmas and New Year’s in hardcore Denmark. We were hosted by a Danish family at the very edge of the suburbs in Jutland. We arri…
There's no way I'm going to live in an apartment without a balcony!!!! That's how we almost gave up on the beautiful apartment with the sout…
I grew up in a "Mizrahi" home, as we Ashkenazim call ourselves. In that house stood a heavy, long, and wide rectangular dining table. It was…
Do you know what exams look like at Oxford? The exam day arrives, students don their gowns and caps, enter a vast hall, and sit at an ancien…
Laying a wooden floor in an international airport is an act that borders on logistical irresponsibility. Wood is a living material. It wears…
A few weeks ago, I arrived at a second-hand fair for Christmas. Among the locals, Japanese men and women stood out, scanning the stalls, lif…
It is difficult to explain the feeling of disconnection when opening the news sites in Denmark in recent days. While a revolution against th…
I always felt that something was different about walking the streets of Copenhagen in the evening, but it took me a while to put my finger o…
This is my sixth winter in Copenhagen, and I still haven't gotten used to the oppressive darkness and the gray skies. Sometimes weeks go by…
A few weeks ago, I arrived at a second-hand market for Christmas. Among the locals, Japanese women and men stood out, scanning the stalls, l…
What is the "Ashkenazi binary" of Judaism I mentioned in the post about clergy in Denmark? Here's a brief explanation. It all begins in 19th…
When I applied for a master's degree in anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, I was told that the program is exclusive and that very…
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