Behind every byline is a dedicated reporter toiling away to bring the news that matters to the general public. Behind every publication are teams of individual staffers working tirelessly to get all the news out both in print and online.
And for those of us at The Jerusalem Post, behind many reporters and staffers are adorable and entitled balls of fur and claws that eat our food, poop in our homes, and contribute nothing else – and we love them for it.
I am, of course, talking about cats. Succinctly stated: Felines behind the bylines.
Cats are ideal pets for journalists. They are often very independent, don’t need to be walked outside like dogs do, and if they’re outdoor cats, they are also very capable of hunting for their own food. But they still are home to provide that oh so important level of adorable companionship that only pets seem able to provide.
Of course, working from home with a cat can be rather challenging at times.
The stereotype of cats sitting on keyboards is not exactly inaccurate, and if these tiny apex predators see you’re home and demand attention, well, let’s just say many a cat owner has learned the hard way to keep fragile things away from easily reachable counter tops.
Still, we love cats (and that’s not just because a former Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief is named Yaakov Katz). And it’s a good thing, too, because cats are practically everywhere in Israel.
In 2021, according to data cited by the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Israel, there were over two million cats in the Jewish state – and that’s only counting strays, not pets. Jerusalem alone is thought to be home to hundreds of thousands of the furry creatures.
Some people consider cats a nuisance, but all cat owners – though the term may be a misnomer, as cats own their humans rather than the other way around – know the level of joy and happiness these animals can provide.
This past Thursday, August 8, was International Cat Day. As such, we decided to deviate from the norm and shine a spotlight on the adorable cats that live with our staff.
This is “Behind the Bylines,” where we look at the people – or this time, the cats – behind the articles that keep our paper running.
Tamar Uriel-Beeri: Twixie and Poe
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Tamar Uriel-Beeri has some of the most important tasks at the paper, and that’s without mentioning being a hardworking mother. But she also has two cats, and they add a lot to her life.
“I adopted Twixie when the pandemic began in early 2020,” she recounted. “She was the cutest little eight-month-old calico, with a feisty personality and some serious trust issues. Any time someone came into the house, she hid under the dresser in the bedroom, scared they’d take her away. Today, she runs up to new guests to greet them with a friendly purr, and she is pretty chunky.
“We adopted her brother, Poe, less than two months after adopting Twixie, with the goal of getting her a little friend she could play with, to relieve our arms of the distinct pleasure. He is a gorgeous little black cat with the personality of the dumbest teenager you have ever encountered. They are a sibling match made in heaven.”
The two seem to make working from home a more pleasant experience, though slightly getting in the way now and then.
“When I work from home, Poe likes to watch from afar, intermittently asking for scratches; as dumb as he is, he is always on his best behavior,” Uriel-Beeri said. “Twixie likes to get up close and personal, sitting as though accidentally on my hand that is on the computer mouse or stepping across the keyboard nonchalantly.”
Danielle Greyman-Kennard: Charlie and Bagheera
Breaking News Editor Danielle Greyman-Kennard started her Post career with a known love of cats, having cats of her own – and, as she has noted, dogs who identify as cats – as well as having volunteered at a cat shelter in Rosh Ha’ayin. Today, her love of cats hasn’t diminished, and she continues to rescue the occasional stray cat and helps them get adopted.
“Charlie is a darling orange girl. I found her outside in Rosh Ha’ayin two and a half years ago,” she said.
“She was so skinny and small that I thought she was a kitten. After taking her to the vet, we learned that she was malnourished, sick, and an older lady. Fortunately, her health has since improved. We don’t know Charlie’s exact age, and we would never ask, as a lady of her stature would never tell. She is easy to work alongside, although she occasionally screams to be petted. Once she is content, she emits a lovely purr.”
Dignified Charlie is in stark contrast to the more chaotic Bagheera.
“Bagheera is a trash bandit,” Greyman-Kennard said. “We were meant to foster her from a makeshift shelter in Rosh Ha’ayin, as she was sick and was unlikely to survive without constant attention. We got her about a year and a half ago. She had lost an eye to herpes, had an ear infection, an eye infection, and pneumonia when we got her. After healing her up, we realized her personality was so awful that nobody else would have her, and my boyfriend is a softy, so we kept her.
“Her personality has since improved, but she is still a trash bandit. She is a nightmare to work alongside, as she insists on sitting on my hands when I am typing, sitting on my chest so I can’t see the screen, or sitting directly on my laptop. On more than one occasion, I have had to thwart her attempts to tweet.”
If you, a reader, don’t understand why this is adorable and wholesome, then you clearly have never owned a cat.
Noemi Szakacs: Samuel
Noemi Szakacs is the Post’s social media manager, and she has had the distinct pleasure of having a wonderful cat named Samuel. Though he has since left Israel to live with Szakacs’s family in Hungary, she still regularly goes to visit him and is, in fact, there now at the time of writing.
Samuel’s distinct habits make him ideal for working at home.
“Working with Samuel is pretty easy because he is an indoor-outdoor cat who loves playing outside during the day. He only comes home a few times to eat, and then goes back out to hang with his friends,” Szakacs explained. “At night, when I’m done with work, he returns home to cuddle, we watch something together, and then we go to sleep.
“It’s much easier now compared to when we only had an apartment without a garden, where he needed a lot of attention, cried, wanted to play, and jumped on my computer. Now, he enjoys his outdoor life and comes home just to cuddle.”
Olga Levi: Zigzag
Olga Levi is part of our hardworking layout team, and she is blessed with a cat of her own, Zigzag.
“Zigzag is a cute black cat, four years old,” she said. “He was born on the street and was taken in by animal rescue in Atarot, where we went looking for a new friend.”
This encounter was meant to be, Levi explained.
“We looked at many cages, where cats would come up to me, sniff me, and then go about their business. Zigzag, then nine months old, not only came up to me but also grabbed me, sniffed me, sat on my shoulder, and didn’t want us to leave. Since then, this sweet cat has been with us.”
Zigzag’s name comes from his distinct walking style, where he walks in a zigzag pattern, not always reaching his destination and destroying everything in his path.
But he also maintains a responsible vigil.
“When I work from home, Zigzag maintains a comfortable vantage point and keeps an eye on me,” Levi said. “Every now and then, he comes to sit on my lap or shoulder and purrs endlessly. It’s really fun in the winter.”
Aaron Reich: Medici and Judy
I saved the best for last, naturally.
I have been blessed with having the loud and snuggly cat Medici, full name HaRav Medici di Cuddlebutt Reich, in my life for seven years, after a friend rescued him from starving to death on the Bar-Ilan University campus. We’ve been inseparable ever since.
Raising him has not been without its challenges. He constantly yearns for the outside, to hunt and frolic in the wilderness, as well as to partake in my food – especially his recent favorite, yogurt.
He is known for being extremely loud, frequently meowing for hours, which I have understood to reflect his controversial political takes. Unlike me, he supports Shas, as evidenced by his recent trip to vote in the municipal elections (described in the Magazine in the March 1, 2024, issue).
Over the past year, a new cat came into my life courtesy of my fiancée. The cat’s name? Judy, short for Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi.
She was rescued as a kitten from Tzipori in the Galilee, and is chaos incarnate. She frequently runs around trying to hunt bugs or play with us, to the point of doing what can only be described as ninja dives on our ankles, which she grabs and bites adorably but painfully.
Working from home with them is always fun. Medici is very cuddly and can spend hours curled up on someone’s lap, or climbing on them to snuggle their face. Or he can just sit on the desk or couch, sometimes cuddling up to my computer. Judy, however, is more content to hide behind my computer, flop in the sunlight on the floor, or climb up and down my chair and sit behind my head.
It’s truly a blessing, indeed.■