Talia Levin
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Articles by Talia Levin
Nearly three years after Oct. 7, Israeli donations keep climbing as philanthropy shifts to recovery Original
Nearly three years after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 massacre, Israel’s philanthropic sector is showing signs that the surge in charitable giving triggered by the attack has become more than a temporary emergency response. According to Ori Ben-Shlomo, CEO of Israeli donation platform JGive, donations have continued to rise even as the country has moved from immediate wartime relief toward long-term rehabilitation. In the days after October 7, normal life across Israel was upended.
Israel's new philanthropists are not writing checks, but managing capital - interview
In recent years, however, Israel has produced a new generation of wealthy individuals. They did not inherit factories or family empires. They built companies in software, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. They had exits at 35 or 40 - sometimes even earlier - and found themselves managing hundreds of millions of shekels almost overnight. Along with the money, their approach has changed as well.
The Asian restaurant group that is expanding when everyone else is closing
The past three years have been among the most complex the Israeli restaurant industry has ever known. Following the COVID-19 crisis came long months of economic uncertainty, a sharp rise in operational costs, labor shortages, erosion of public purchasing power – and finally, a prolonged war that has affected nearly every aspect of life in Israel. For many restaurateurs, this meant transitioning to survival mode, cutting expenses, freezing development plans, and at times, even closing down.
White wine: The experimental, the safe, and the one that doesn't try to impress
ByTALIA LEVINJUNE 6, 2026 18:40 I have no special reason for these recommendations. It is not a holiday, not a season, nor any event on the calendar. Perhaps it is better that way. Three new bottles that arrived at my table recently, were opened out of curiosity, and proved to be well worth a recommendation. The first of them is Lander Project, Sauvignon Blanc by the Zafririm Winery from the Ella Valley.
Albariño: The white star of summer 2026
ByTALIA LEVINMAY 30, 2026 08:10 Today, three years ago, I still found myself looking for summer wine trends. Since then, a war broke out. And then another one. And another one. The cyclical preoccupation with wine variety trends, seasonal trends, and various other daily matters was pushed aside. We switched to survival mode in our drinking as well. Nevertheless, I feel like bringing back this mental escapism ahead of the upcoming summer. Thoughts create reality.
The most Shavuot ever: Pink wines conquer the holiday table
ByTALIA LEVINMAY 15, 2026 11:25 Following the previous column, where we discussed Rosé as a light, refreshing, and almost mandatory aperitif for the first days of summer, it is worth pausing for a moment on its other side – the one that receives less appreciation or space in the local discourse. Why? Because a good Rosé can, in certain cases, be much more than a "first glass" wine.
The world from a wheelchair
The growing cancer of lawbreakers in West Bank must be cut out, before its too late
Forty years of the Rashi Foundation: Driving real change
At the Israel Opportunities Conference, marking four decades of the Rashi Foundation’s work, senior officials, educators, and leaders called for policies to ensure every child has an equal chance Last week, hundreds of policymakers, academics, social entrepreneurs, and government representatives gathered at the Israel Opportunities Conference 2025, an inspiring event marking 40 years of the Rashi Foundation – one ofIsrael’s most influential philanthropic organizations.
Israel's business community seeks to reignite normalization talks with Arab states
Regional threats and Gaza’s future have spurred Israeli business leaders to push for renewed ties with Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, to build a new Middle East order. One hundred senior figures from Israel’s business community have come together to promote a new regional order in the Middle East, launching the “Abraham Shield” plan as part of the Coalition for Regional Security, which aims to advance normalization with Arab states.
If we don't take a stand, who will?
The Movement for Quality Government has been fighting corruption for 35 years. “This is a battle for Israel’s future as a democratic state ”says the movement’s founder, Eliad Shraga. For 35 years, the Movement for Quality Government has fought against corruption and government misconduct. However, despite unprecedented efforts to weaken the judicial system and undermine gatekeepers, it faces one of the most significant challenges in its history.
TAAD Exhibition: The dream of international design comes true in the heart of Tel Aviv
In these times, it’s a bit strange to talk about design exhibitions, but the news coming to Israel this week is expected to put the country on the map. How? In the form of an international exhibition that will take place here every year. Meet TAAD, an international design and art fair that will be held in Israel for the first time. The fair will run for just one week, from March 5 to 11, at the Shlomo Group Arena in Tel Aviv.
Drinks park: The wine bottles you'll want to take on a picnic
At first glance, a winter picnic might sound like a bad idea. Still, sometimes it seems to me that being in nature with wine from home is the best thing we can do for ourselves on the weekends. Partly because of the situation, partly because it allows us to indulge in wines that would cost three times as much at a restaurant, and also because Tu BiShvat is this week—did you know that? All you need is a mat, a rain-free day, some snacks, a bottle of wine, and a corkscrew.
The wines that are the perfect way to ed a meal
It’s unclear how a salty-food lover like me fell for sweetness, but it all started one afternoon when I sat at a bar and had a slightly sweet sherry before my meal. Another time, I was offered port after refusing dessert, and it hit just the right spot. That’s when I realized that even though it’s not very popular around here, port is a world of its own. Maybe it’s because I’ve been drinking a lot of vermouth and fortified wines lately, discovering a whole new world.
Bringing hearts closer: Talia Levin prepares for Valentine’s Day
A romantic spot in the center, delicious red wine from Italy, affordable white wine from Portugal, and a perfect French movie. We’re sure you’ll love these recommendations too. A friend of mine who grew up in Italy told me that every year, as February begins, schools are decorated with hearts for Valentine’s Day, almost throughout the entire month. Why? There’s no official reason. I guess that’s just how it is when you grow up in what is supposedly the most romantic nation in the world.
Holding onto the good: Drinks for bipolar days
It was a week with a spark of optimism, hope, and an indescribable sense of anticipation. A week where I couldn’t do anything but wait for time to pass quickly and mask my emotions with wine and other drinks. Amid the joy tinged with sorrow, I searched throughout the week for things that would help me hold onto the good and share it forward.
Burgundy of the Middle East: Israeli Pinot Noir wines
One of the first sentences I heard when I began to take an interest in wine was that if I choose Pinot Noir, I should only go for the real deal, meaning the one from the Burgundy region. In other words: "If it's not from Burgundy, it's not worth it. Everything else is just imitation." I assume this is what people say because Pinot Noir is considered one of the most difficult and particularly temperamental varieties to grow compared to its red counterparts.
Back to the north: The new visitor center at Lueria Winery
Anyone traveling north from Haifa these days cannot miss the "Back to the North" campaign, aimed at encouraging visits to local businesses, especially small businesses, many of which have been closed for over a year and are now at risk of permanent closure.
Drinking with the fish: Unconventional wines for an unconventional meal
Hilton Beach in Tel Aviv is not only one of the best beaches for surfing but also one of the finest and most convenient spots for fishing. Regulars at the beach can already recite by heart the lifeguard's repeated call, asking the fishermen to cast their rods to the other side of the pier. I don’t know much about fishing, but I deeply admire the patience of fishermen, their wait for the fish, and the persistence required throughout the process until the catch ends up on the plate.
Places to drink wine in Jerusalem
Full Disclosure: I love Jerusalem. True, it’s one of the more challenging cities for me in Israel. I don’t think I could ever live there, certainly not visit on a weekly basis. But I genuinely can’t explain the "Jerusalem Syndrome" I suffer from every time I have to travel to the city, which happens every now and then. For me, Jerusalem in winter is like a slice of Europe: antiquity, freezing cold, visible breath in the air, the spirit of S.Y. Agnon hovering above, and crisp mountain air.
A new fashion ambassador
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A new fashion ambassador
At only 30 years old, Hadar Gertler can check off a major success after her first modest dress collection, launched just two months ago and already attracting significant interest in Israel, the US, and the UK. Hadar, who originally studied government and international relations, and worked for several years as an investigator at the Ministry of Defense, dreamt of becoming an ambassador. A small twist in her personal life made her into a different kind of ambassador.
Make Me a Pizza (2024)
2024 HOLLYSHORTS FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! A woman bored at home (Sophie Neff) decides to order a pizza, seeing if instead of money, she can use sex as payment. When the pizza boy (Woody Coyote) arrives and is propositioned he begins a spiral into existential crisis. Make Me a Pizza explores pizza beyond the pizza, addressing everyone and everything that went into making this delicious meal.
Israel-Hamas war: This Israeli start-up is targeting Hamas's funding
Now we know: Israel was right about how Hamas operates - editorial The evidence that Israel had been correct all along about Hamas’s nefarious mode of operation began to pile up soon after the IDF began its offensive. …
Israel-Hamas war: This Israeli start-up is targeting Hamas's funding
As the IDF continues operations in Gaza in order to fully eliminate Hamas, questions have been asked about whether targeting the physical infrastructure alone will restore security to Israel. Erel Margalit, chairman and founder of JVP, asserts that eliminating the economic infrastructure of Hamas is also crucial for eradicating the terrorism threat they pose.
Israel Independence Day: How did barbecues become a national symbol? Original
If one wanted to understand how the barbecue, or "mangal" in Hebrew," became the classic Israeli symbol of Independence Day, one would need to look back to the very days of the state's creation. Originally, Independence Day was marked by dancing in circles and the hora, imported from Eastern Europe. But barbecues? Did anyone even hear of it back then? Of course not. It was only a decade later that Israelis embraced picnic culture, and even then it wasn't linked to Independence Day.
Meet Sylvia Raphael: Photojournalist and Mossad agent
Sylvia Raphael was known in Israel as a Mossad agent who had participated in a whole slew of heroic operations that took place all around the world, the most famous of which was the Lillehammer Affair – a 1973 assassination attempt in Norway on Ali Hassan Salameh, following the murder of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. The operation was a fiasco, since an innocent man was murdered due to an identification error.
Against 40 Days for Life: Time to stand up for reproductive rights
Operating from September 28 to November 6, 40 Days for Life is a nationwide intimidation campaign that has targeted our city in hopes of preventing New York City residents from receiving abortion care.
Meet the trailblazer Bedouin doctor fighting to change Israeli society
The success story of Dr. Yasmin Abu Faricha, a doctor at Soroka-University Medical Center in Beersheba, is not just another example of how a Bedouin woman broke through the glass ceiling but also of a social activist who is fundamentally rectifying the ills of Israeli society.
Without a past, there is neither a present nor a future
This past June,award ceremony of the EMET Prize, also known as the Israeli Nobel Prize, was held in Jerusalem. The award was presented to six winners for academic and professional achievements that have made significant contributions to Israeli life in three categories: social sciences, life sciences and the humanities.
Meet the hi-tech man who manages to combine work with his Orthodox life
There is a lot of talk in the hi-tech industry about diversity, but the number of religious and Orthodox people in the sector is still low. Doron Grinzaig, however, proves that it is possible to combine career success with a religious lifestyle. He also has an important message for the Orthodox public.
‘Israel has what to be proud of’
For 20 years, the EMET Prize, known as the “Israeli Nobel Prize,” has been awarded for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have made a significant contribution to Israeli society. The award ceremony was held last month in the presence of then-prime minister Naftali Bennett, who presented the prize to the 2022 laureates, who received the award in three categories: social sciences, life sciences and the humanities.
‘The human mind is the basis of everything we have’
The EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture for academic and professional achievements that have made a significant contribution to society and have had a far-reaching influence in its field is being presented for the 20th year. It is for good reason that the EMET Prize has been dubbed the Israeli Nobel.
Holocaust survivors pass the torch to third generation in
After a two-year hiatus in which the March of the Living did not take place due to the pandemic, more than 2,500 participants – Jews and non-Jews alike – will march this week on Holocaust Remembrance Day in the traditional March of the Living in Poland.
Kristallnacht: The light extinguished 83 years ago still burns bright
Thousands of houses of worship and public institutions around the world were illuminated this week to mark the observance of Kristallnacht. “Synagogues were burned down on Kristallnacht, and the world stood by and remained silent,” says Shmuel Rosenman, chairman of the March of the Living. On November 9, 1938, the Nazis burned 1,400 synagogues and Jewish institutions in Germany and Austria in the Kristallnacht pogrom, a two-day massacre in which dozens of Jews were murdered.
March of the Living continues despite coronavirus
The organizers of the “March of the Living” – one of the flagship events of Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) – did not allow the corona pandemic to disrupt their plans last April, and they quickly converted the event into a virtual format.
Sylvan Adams - The ‘self-appointed envoy for Israel’
I admit that I was a bit nervous before my meeting with Canadian-born businessman and philanthropist Sylvan Adams, one of Israel’s great philanthropists. It’s not every day that I get to meet the man who brought the Giro d’Italia bicycle race, Madonna and Lionel Messi to Israel and entered his Israel Start-Up Nation (ISN) cycling team in the Tour de France.
Outstanding soldier, caught between two cultures
Ethiopian, Bedouin, officer of distinction: Hadas Daniel’s exceptional journey By TALIA LEVIN OCTOBER 14, 2020 17:05 HADAS DANIEL: No identity crisis. (photo credit: NIR KEIDAR) In early September, IDF Capt. Hadas Daniel, 27, stood proudly between her mother Atala and her ‘other mother’ Ruti at the IDF Chief of Staff ceremony. As Daniel delivered a speech on behalf of all of this year’s outstanding soldiers, it was hard not to notice how excited and proud her two mothers were.
The treasure of the Negev
WJC president Ronald S.
The Cyber Revolution – akin to the Industrial Revolution
Attacks on Israeli websites, cellphone tracking of coronacirus victim contacts, online medical services and even crime comprise the cyberworld pervading our lives. AMIR RAPAPORT (left), Cybertech founder and editor-in-chief of ‘Israel Defense,’ with Gil Shwed, founder/CEO of Check Point Software Technologies, at Cybertech 2019. (photo credit: CYBERTECH) The world of cyber affects not only warfare and hackers, but every area of our lives.
'Never Means Never' campaign shows importance of fighting antisemitism
‘Corona will come to an end, but there will be no end to our fight against antisemitism and racism,’ says March of the Living president Phyllis Heideman. By TALIA LEVIN APRIL 16, 2020 17:08 DR. SHMUEL ROSENMAN, co-founder and chairman of the International March of the Living, flanked by Mossad head Yossi Cohen (left) and Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman in 2018 (photo credit: YOSSI ZELIGER) The March of the Living has taken place in Auschwitz-Birkenau annually for the past 32 years.
Snatching success from the jaws of failure
“The Goren family is a staunch supporter of our mechina, and they are closely involved in our activities,” says Shai Weisblum, the director of Oz Shlomo.
How one Israeli is predicting the future
VINYL RECORDS: A return to nostalgia. . (photo credit: INGIMAGE) The first question I wanted to ask business futurist Adi Yoffe, who recently wrote the book HABA – How To Predict Trends in a Disruptive World, was: What is this disruptive world to which you’re referring? “When I was a child and they opened the first supermarket, we could predict that in two years’ time they’d open an even larger supermarket. And indeed, that’s what happened,” explains Yoffe.
LGBT is becoming the ‘new normal'
The mass protest organized by the Israel’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in July 2018, which received tremendous public support, was a harbinger of change. Of course, there is still plenty of work to do, and the LGBT community’s struggle for acceptance is far from over.
Israel's first Ethiopian-born woman Knesset member describes her journey
Pnina Tamano-Shata. (photo credit: PR) We sat down to get the skinny on MK Pnina Tamano-Shata – a lawyer, journalist, politician and proud member of the Ethiopian community – becoming the first Ethiopian-born woman MK in 2013 as part of Yesh Atid. Journey to Israel “My earliest memory is from when I was just three years old, during the long journey my family embarked on from Ethiopia to Israel via Sudan in 1984.
Conspiracy Theories About Soros Aren’t Just False. They’re Anti-Semitic
Conspiracy Theories About Soros Aren’t Just False. They’re Anti-Semitic Blaming Jewish outsiders for dissent and social unrest isn’t new An explosive device was found in George Soros’s mailbox in Bedford, N.Y., on Monday. He’s long been the focus of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images By Talia Levin O n Monday, a pipe bomb was sent to the home of George Soros, the liberal billionaire philanthropist whose name has become a part of conspiracy theories around the world.
Conspiracy theories about Soros aren't just false. They're anti-Semitic.
On Monday, a pipe bomb was sent to the home of George Soros, the liberal billionaire philanthropist whose name has become a part of conspiracy theories around the world. Investigators have concluded that the pipe bomb was probably hand-delivered, and it was "proactively detonated" by a bomb squad without causing injury to anyone at Soros' home in New York's Westchester County. Motives for the incident remain unclear.
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