Seven Nights

Yuval Ben-Ami’s new series is a night diary: the chronicle of seven summer nights in a land going through some dark times, and the journey to recovery from a death before sunset.

Seven Nights 7: The Pub Crawl

‘So we’re going out, and here’s the deal: we’ll only drink in places where people were murdered due to inter-group hatred.’ The seventh and final installment. For other nights click here. One April night in 2003, my cousin Yaron decided he needed a bass player. He was growing as a local blues musician and figured that…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 16, 2015

Seven Nights 6: Malawi

On its next to last night, the journey leads away from the cities and, in a way, to another continent. For other nights click here. The papers promised a meteor shower. Here was a great excuse to take a spin out of town. I haven’t been off the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv axis in a while (Bethlehem is…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 14, 2015

Seven Nights 5: Sodom Burning

I don’t always drink beer in bars with racist symbols on the wall. But when I do, it’s for a good cause. Part five of the nighttime journey. For other nights click here. Saturday night we were back on the streets. Hundreds of left-leaning urbanites marching through central Tel Aviv, condemning the government for turning this…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 12, 2015

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Seven Nights 4: Contact point

Chapter four in the nighttime journey is a tale of two parties. For other nights click here. If you think the nights I skip in this chronicle are uneventful, think again fast. On Wednesday I was rushed to the airport with an immigration scandal. A young American who flew in to intern with a company for…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 10, 2015

Seven Nights 3: Sidewalks and playgrounds

Part three. In which old friends reunite and talk about leaving. For other nights click here. Some time after sunset, the muezzin at Jaffa’s Abu Nabout mosque called for prayer one last time. Meanwhile, protesters at the nearby Clock Square stretched a clothing line across the street. On the line hung baby clothes, reminders of…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 8, 2015

Seven Nights 2: Privileged white male

Part two. Following the attack, our night owl returns to Jerusalem in drag for a rally, and walks into an emotional pitfall. For other nights click here. Someone else was murdered on Thursday, the night of the Jerusalem Pride stabbing. In the northern West Bank village of Duma, a group of hooded men, most likely…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 6, 2015

Seven Nights 1: The Stabbing

The plan was to write a leisurely travel journal: a record of Canaan’s summer nights, but the journey began with a dark event: a stabbing at Jerusalem pride, and took on a different nature. Welcome to a seven-part, nocturnal diary of shock and recovery, a true story from an emotional land. For other nights click…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 4, 2015