Academic

So Long, Israel (Part II)

By Kim Krawiec

Yesterday, I began my ?So Long, Israel? post, discussing some of the highlights of my trip.  I guess it?s a good thing when your trip has so many memorable moments that you have to divide them into two separate posts.

One of the very best parts of the trip was the weekend I spent in the countryside heading out toward Galilee with Yehuda Adar.  Meeting Yehuda?s family and hiking through the beautiful countryside while discussing Yehuda?s new project on relational contracts made for a fabulous day.  I wish that I had some photos to post for you, as this was one of the most beautiful areas of the country, I thought, but we forgot to charge the cell phone that day.  I do have more than just memories, though ? in a little while I?m going to make a salad, dressed with olive oil pressed from Yehuda?s olive trees.  Every time I use that oil, I?ll remember that weekend.

I was especially lucky to get to know Michal Gal while I was at Haifa. Michal?s research focuses on competition law and policy, including oligopoly pricing, the conditions for antitrust in developing economies, the political economy of antitrust, and the globalization of antitrust. Michal was the excellent commenter on my paper at the Behavioral Analysis of Law: Markets, Institutions, and Contracts conference that first brought me to Haifa, and was at my birthday dinner, but without me (that will teach my significant other to plan a surprise party again!)

The crowning touch of the whole trip was the final farewell dinner with Orna Rabinovich-Einy (ADR, dispute resolution and technology, civil procedure), Faina Milman (International Labor Law, Labor Law, ADR), and Mordehai Mironi (Labor & Employment, Negotiation, ADR) at Manta Ray on the beach in Tel Aviv.  The setting is amazing, with waves crashing practically at your table, and the New Year?s lights, the bottle of Cava, the fresh seafood, and the toasts to new friends made the occasion a truly festive one.  We laughed and gossiped as if we had known each other for years, rather than for a few weeks.  I?m especially looking forward to seeing Faina?s forthcoming work on prison labor.

I?ll miss learning about axiomatic theories over excellent hummus and kebabs with Alan Miller, exchanging prediction markets reading lists with Tal Zarsky, learning about organ donation under Jewish law from Yehiel Kaplan, discussing women?s rights, law and society, and other issues with Sagit Mor and Ronit Haramati-Alpern, and lamenting the deficiencies of the U.S. law review process with Ronen Perry.

That wraps up pretty much the whole trip.  Lounge readers sick of hearing about my travels will get a break for a while.  Next stop: Miami, for the 2nd World Conference on the Hormonal and Genetic Basis of Sexual Differentiation Disorders and Hot Topics in Endocrinology.  More on that later. . .

Above image: Haifa from the Bahá?í gardens, as seen through my iphone

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on January 01, 2010 (boomark / email).