My Aliyah Experience

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Beach

2010-04-26T08:24:00.001-07:00

Jerusalem Beach

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Pistachio chicken

2010-02-05T06:50:00.001-08:00

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Double rainbow!

2010-02-04T06:25:00.001-08:00

Double rainbow!

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Rainbow!

2010-02-04T06:19:00.001-08:00

Eilat

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ATV rides

2010-02-01T03:27:00.001-08:00

ATV in Eilat Red Mountains

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ATV in Eilat Red Mountains

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2010-01-31T11:10:00.001-08:00

The crew

2010-01-31T11:09:00.001-08:00

Ranch house steak dinner in Eilat

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Sun behind the stage

2009-09-01T08:40:00.001-07:00

Ramat gan

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The ticket

2009-09-01T08:35:00.001-07:00

Lines for madonna concert

2009-09-01T08:18:00.001-07:00

Old photo

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Old photo

2009-09-01T08:13:00.001-07:00

So this is how it's gonna be, huh?

2009-08-27T11:23:00.001-07:00

September is near and I am getting super-excited. On the first I will be seeing Madonna perform live which I've basically been waiting to do for at least the past ten years and on the third I fly to the States for a month. A MONTH.

Perhaps a little longer than I should go for, but I have places to be and people to see. It's also the holidays, which is the real purpose of this post. In the past week or two, I have become increasingly aware of the healthcare debate that has been heating up in the U.S. (mainly from my brother-in-law's posts on Facebook).

As the debate continues and new developments occur each day (i.e., RIP Teddy), I have been reminded of what it was like at this time last year, when the presidential elections was the main buzz. Not a meal over the holdays (from Rosh Hashannah through Sukkot) passed without that being the main topic. I expect that healthcare will now be the focus of discussions with the same intensity during the holiday meals. I just hope I won't need medical assistance after them. I am uninsured in the U.S. afterall...

Pita pizza

2009-08-18T04:08:00.000-07:00

This is a horrible picture of what is in the process of becoming the BEST pita pizza ever. You can't go wrong with the following:

Pita

Tomato sauce

Mozarella

Basil

Garlic

Onion

A little pepper

A little olive oil

As if it really needs a side dish, I made a "Syrian"-style tomato and onion salad to go with it. I'm excited.

I moved to Tel Aviv

2009-08-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

I moved to Tel Aviv one month ago today. Always in the back of my mind that this was the better city for me, in April I decided the time had come and that when my lease in the Jerusalem apartment was up in July, I would finally do it. My reasons were many and it was the next big change in my life as Rebecca, Alissa and I were moving out of the Sokolov apartment and were no longer going to live together anyway (Alissa got engaged and is getting married in October).

I felt that socially I had experienced enough of what Jerusalem had to offer to assume that what I was looking for was not there. In terms of work, my line of work (online marketing) allows me to work from anywhere, so that wasn't going to be a problem. What would be a problem was if I was going to ignore the lure of living near the beach, in a city that feels like a city, closer to the center of Israel's hi-tech industry (read my Israel Innovation 2.0 blog) any longer.

So, I found a shomer kashrut/shomer shabbat roommate through a friend and together we found an apartment in one of the best possible locations in Tel Aviv (near the Port which has shopping, ten minutes from the beach, 15 minutes from one of the shuls, near many cafes and near the bus line (the 5) that best suits my needs for getting to most places in the city. Oh yeah, and the view of Ramat Gan from the living room is pretty sweet :)

Since moving last month, I have found two cafes (among the hundreds) that I now love doing work from and that there is a young Rabbi (coincidentally originally from my community in the States) around the corner from me who is trying to help build the young singles religious community in the area. An additional reason for my moving to Tel Aviv is that I hope to get involved and help grow the young singles religious community here, whether helping this rabbi or the main community.

There's much more that I would like to share about my move and aliyah experience and will try to post about it in the next few weeks. My two-year aliyah anniversary is coming up on August 21st, so hopefully I'll share something then. Ben, though this only explains my decision in a nutshell, I hope this is the type of post you meant :) Looking forward to hearing what you (and everyone else) think.

Note about this post: This was originally published with just the photo and no content on July 8, 2009 (at 6:13 AM).

2009-07-07T11:37:00.001-07:00

The Frug

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2008-12-21T02:35:00.001-08:00

My paternal grandfather's Hebrew-English dictionary

2008-12-04T07:47:00.001-08:00

In 1929, my paternal grandfather was planning to make aliyah to Palestine from Poland when he received word from his father, who was in the United States, that he would be able to immigrate to the U.S. Although he ended up moving to the U.S. it was not before he had started to make serious plans to move to Palestine. This included his buying a Hebrew-English dictionary. My Dad gave this dictionary to me this year with an accompanying note saying that I had finished his journey. This is the same picture that I posted in the previous post where I discuss why I made aliyah.

Why I made aliyah

2008-12-04T01:32:00.000-08:00

In my first post on this blog in July 2007, I mentioned why I chose to make aliyah. As people continue and will continue to ask me that question, in recent weeks I started to give as short an answer as possible, which usually covers that I had a positive experience here when I was 6 and, ever since, have always had a positive association with Israel and that I can't imagine living anywhere else.

While that is my answer, I am beginning to recognize many other reasons that contributed to why I made aliyah. One reason is that my family is very zionistic. Aside from my parents love of Israel, my paternal grandfather who grew up in Poland and moved to the U.S. in the late 1920s, was going to make aliyah before he ended up coming to the States. Throughout his life though, he was a big supporter of Israel. (It's in the genes.)

Another reason is the community I grew up in. From Rabbi Rubenstein (z"l) to WDS to WHHS, the Israeli State, Israeli culture and zionism were always celebrated. The summer in Israel after tenth grade and year in Israel after high school were encouraged and common and set me up to want to live in Israel (and to naturally become an e-board member of BU's pro-Israel group in the time in between).

Though I don't know when it was exactly that I decided that I wanted to make aliyah (possibly when I was in midrasha), after finding out today that someone who I was very close with during my first two summers at sleep away camp also made aliyah, these factors make it clear that I didn't make aliyah solely because of a positive experience that occurred over 18 years ago.

Note: The picture above is of the Hebrew-English dictionary that my grandfather bought in 1929. I explain it a little more in the next post.

Baruch Dayan Emet

2008-11-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and victims' families of the attacks in Mumbai. I am especially saddened to hear about the loss of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka Holtzberg who led the Chabad House there.

What I'm thankful for

2008-11-29T14:13:00.000-08:00

This past week I didn't get to post any entries because I was busy with various things. Despite no longer living in the United States, many olim from the U.S. continue to celebrate it. As it is a day to show thankfulness (no matter what religion), I am one of those olim. I celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday with some friends of Alissa's friend. Afterwards, I went to a friend of mine's chanukat habayit (housewarming party).

In the spirit of showing gratitude this time of year, I've decided to list some of the things I'm thankful for:
1. Family.
2. Friends.
3. My education.
4. Being Jewish.
5. Living in Israel.

I'm too tired to elaborate on these, but feel free to ask me at another time and I'll explain.

Before the big game

2008-11-20T15:49:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow is a big day. The future of my roommates's and my living situation will be decided. The events of this past week that have turned it into us vs. the landlady reminds me of rivalries and big games. In sports, no matter whether you win or lose, you can always learn something from it and have some positive spin on it. There's always next time.

Likewise, no matter what happens tomorrow, there were some positive things that have come from it. I'm too tired to give details, but suffice it to say that I learned at least two things about myself and my coping mechanisms from dealing with the landlady that I hope to be more conscious of and understand more of in the future.

How to not be a good real estate agent

2008-11-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

As my roommates and I might have to move out of our apartment in the next month, we have started to look for apartments. Yesterday, Rebecca and I went to see one on Efrata in Arnona. As Arnona is sort of on the outskirts of Jerusalem, it is impossible to compare to our current amazing location.

The apartment is significantly larger and cheaper than the one at our current location and there are more rooms, which would be great for storage. Of course the floor and colors of the apartment could be a lot better, but overall I liked it. Also, the man who is managing the apartment seems like someone who would be a lot easier to deal with than our current landlady (the one who basically told me yesterday to die in the not-Israeli-the-word-maspik way).

Anyway, today Rebecca and I went to see another apartment in Arnona on the other end, near the Haas Promenade and the Jewish Agency compound. The building is fairly new and the apartment was very nice. Size- and storage-wise it doesn't compare to the one on Efrata. The interesting thing about this apartment though is that we had to see it through a real estate agent.

This was the first time that Rebecca and I had dealt with one in Israel, and it was very interesting. (Aspiring real estate agents, please note not to do these things.)

1. She told us to meet her on a certain street that turned out to be far away from the apartment and then took us all the way around a vast apartment complex, partially getting lost, which made us think that it was really far away and hard to get to from the street (in reality it isn't really either).

2. When we got to the apartment she started and continued to talk to the current tenant without paying any attention to us or to showing us the different features of the apartment.

3. She told us how she just moved from one the apartments nearby to another one recently. Apparently, she is still looking for some furniture to add to her apartment so started taking photos of the furniture in the apartment in addition to not showing us around and telling us things about the apartment.

Despite the agent's poor performance, Rebecca and I looked around and thought it was nice. After we left the apartment - which was hard to do because the agent kept talking to the tenant - the agent told us that she can try to negotiate on things for us to make the deal a possibility.

When you can't trust someone

2008-11-18T14:00:00.001-08:00

My landlady has never given me a reason to trust her and today she came close to proving my point. In the past she has chided both my dad and me for thinking she has ulterior motives and has constantly told me that I need to trust people more or else I will end up very unhappy. Well, right now, I'm fairly unhappy.

When I tried to come to peace with what happened when we renewed the lease a few months ago, I decided to try to see the good in the landlady and that maybe she isn't evil. I was wrong and never should have doubted myself. This isn't the appropriate time to go into details, but suffice it to say that today when she wasn't verbally abusing me, her actions proved to me that not all people can be trusted and that some people really are bad.

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In other daily personal news, after the landlady came and left, the painter came and painted all the necessary areas of the apartment. Here is an "after" photo of part of the wall and ceiling in my room that needed to be painted.

The apartment is finally getting repainted!

2008-11-17T12:20:00.001-08:00

My landlady makes me a worse person. No joke. In the past year and a half that I have been fortunate and unfortunate to deal with her, we have clashed several times. The last and most outright one being when my roommates and I tried negotiating with her when we renewed our lease this past June. That was the worse day I had this year and possibly ever.

Anyway, last year the apartment had water leaks twice. The first time, in December) was from rain that got backed up on the roof due to a clogged storm drain. The second time was in May or so and was for some reason due to the central heating. In both instances, the two bathrooms, part of the kitchen and part of my room got damaged (see picture below for upside down shot of part of my wall and ceiling).

After the December leak, the roof was fixed and the landlady paid for the damaged walls and ceilings to be repainted after they dried. After the May leak, we had to wait a month to make sure that it was in fact the central heating that was leaking and then for some reason nothing ever got repainted. Until now.

The landlady is selling the apartment and is about to start showing it to potential buyers. She had an appraiser check it out last week, and no doubt he or she told the landlady that the apartment won't sell without everything being repainted first. As the landlady is in a rush, she had a painter come by this morning (a little unexpectedly) and he is going to paint the apartment tomorrow (even more unexpectedly). This means that right now, after I publish this post, I get to take everything out of my room so that when he comes by tomorrow, he can get right into painting. The landlady will be with him as well. I can't wait.

Basketball in Jerusalem

2008-11-16T13:10:00.001-08:00

At long last, after over 15 months, I have found one of the things I have been looking for since making aliyah. I have found a weekly women's basketball game. The story begins on Friday night. I was at a friend's for dinner and started talking to one of the (12 guests) at the meal about basketball and how we probably played against each other in elementary school and high school. After talking about this she mentioned that she plays every week (weather permitting) with some Israelis at Gan HaPa'amon (which is near my apartment).

She told me that they were playing Motzei Shabbat and might play again Wednesday night as well. I told her I'd be interested in playing and we made plans for me to come and play Motzei Shabbat. We played 4 on 4 most of the time. During the first 20 minutes or so I needed to stop playing after 10 minutes twice because I wasn't used to running around and that much physical activity. As the game went on, I gained more stamina and still had a lot of energy when the game ended.

Throught the game, the girls were serious and very aggressive and no one left the game free of bruises and wounds. Twice I tripped in the lane as I was driving to the basket and as landed on the same knee which got scraped. I took a picture of it and posted it below.

Overall, it was a lot of fun. There are plans for another game Wednesday night and I can't wait.

Jerusalem Book Club

2008-11-14T04:57:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I posted an entry about my search for different activities to do in Jerusalem. While kick-boxing and graphology never worked out, I recently found and joined a book club on Facebook that's based in Jerusalem. The group, Jerusalem Book Club, has over 35 members and is scheduled to have its first meeting in the middle of December.

The book we will be discussing is "Snow Falling on Cedars." As it's a well-known book that I never had the chance to read in the past, I'm really looking forward to reading it. I have a friend who owns a copy of the book and stopped by his place this morning to pick it up. My plan is to make this my primary Shabbos reading over the next few weeks.

City Life in Jerusalem

2008-11-13T15:07:00.000-08:00

Much of the first 18 and a half years of my life was spent growing up in the suburbs of New York City in Westchester. The area I lived in was predominately Jewish and in general, relatively quiet. The biggest/scariest things that happened were when two houses on a neighboring street got broken into and when one year around Halloween time, the mailboxes on my street and neighboring streets got bashed as part of mailbox baseball. Other than those two incidences, the suburbs were quiet and relatively crime-free.

Now that I'm living in Jerusalem, in a completely heterogenous area. I am becoming more familiar with the pros and cons of city life. I love that everything is in walking distance and that there are different cultural events and other happenings all the time. On the downside, it is a city, and even though it's THE holy city, I have witnessed, heard about and fallen victim to not such holy or pious acts. Two of them happened tonight.

At around 8 tonight, Rebecca received a phone call from our friend Eli, who lives a few streets away from us, telling her that his ground-floor apartment had been broken into and trashed. Rebecca went over to keep him company and then Alissa went later on to keep Eli and his roommate, Yoel, company. I would have gone too, but I was out seeing the latest 007 movie. As Eli and Yoel were cleaning up, they realized that nothing was stolen. This was not the first break-in that my roommates and I have heard about and it never fails to scare me.

Later this evening, as I was making my way to meet up with friends for drinks in town, I was in the unfortunate situation where I received an equally large fright. I was walking in the direction of the David Citadel and had just turned onto Rechov King David when an elderly man (who had been several feet in front of me on the side street I was turning off of) stopped in front of me and pulled out a metal object in the shape of a ring a little larger than what I imagine the size of handcuffs to be and said, "You see this," as he gestured to the object, "I can cut your neck," (or something like that). Not understanding what exactly he was getting at (if he was trying to mug me or something), and not wanting to find out anything further, I made a mad dash across the street and ran several feet until I was around more people.

I was really shocked that such an incident happened. It was at around 11 PM on a night when people usually go out and King David Street is fairly well-lit with a decent amount of foot traffic even at that hour, usually. When I was at Boston University and living off campus senior year, most of my friends lived on the opposite of campus. When I would be by them on Friday and Saturday nights for meals or parties, I would sometimes end up having to walk back to my apartment alone at around 11:30 pm and midnight. While most of the walk was along Commonwealth Avenue which was full of students and other people walking around or going to restaurants, events, bars or other things, part of the way was on side streets with few other pedestrians. I never felt threatened by the possibility of being approached in any unfriendly way. So it goes.

I guess this is what city life is really like.

The Secular AND non-Ultra-Orthodox defeated the Ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem

2008-11-12T05:10:00.000-08:00

The New York Times is reporting that Nir Barkat, a secular Jew, defeated the Ultra-Orthodox candidate, Meir Porush for mayor as an indication of the city's secular-religious divide. That's just wrong. Barkat won because he had the support of secular Jews and non-Ultra-Orthodox religious Jews alike.

Several of my non-Ultra-Orthodox religious Jew friends were active in the Nir Barkat campaign and most, if not all, of them supported and voted for Nir Barkat. It seems likely that it was this group of voters that gave Barkat the victory. If this is true, it will be interesting to see how the Anglo community contributes and impacts Jerusalem politics in the future. Either way, it was a joint effort in defeating the Ultra-Orthodox. Now we just need Barkat to be true to his word of being everyone's mayor and to be less corrupt and ineffective than the current and previous Jerusalem mayors.

Jerusalem mayoral elections and planning mistakes

2008-11-11T15:04:00.000-08:00

Today was municipal elections in Israel. In Jerusalem, the candidates included Meir Porush, who represents the Chareidi community; Nir Barkat, who represents the Chiloni and Dati Leumi communities; and Arkeidi Gaydamak, who... I don't know who he represents. When I went to the polling station, which was in a school in a really hard to find location near the Inbal hotel, I had to "check in" at the entrance.

About a month ago, Jerusalemites elgible to vote received cards in the mail that let them know the address of their polling location and that they should bring for hassle-free access when "checking in." As the card came when I was still in the States, when I got back to Israel a few weeks ago, my card was with a bunch of unimportant mail that I had received while I was away and which I placed in a location that I don't recall. I didn't bother looking for it because some friends told me that I would be fine getting in with just my Teudat Zehut.

Of course, when I presented my Teudat Zehut at the entrance and the woman looked at her list of registrants and couldn't find my number. I told her I have been living at the same location for over a year and that at least one of my roommate's had voted there without a problem earlier in the day. For some reason the woman had me call that roommate to ask her if she remembered what room number she voted in, and of course, like most normal people, she didn't remember. Finally, after about 10 minutes, the woman finally let me look for my name and Teudat Zehut number on the list and, of course, I found it right away. The rest of the process of waiting and voting took about another 10 minutes. I voted for the candidate who most closely shares my interests, Nir Barkat.

Later on in the day, I was contacting Jerusalem restaurants and cafes for an event that I'm helping plan for December and wanted to call a restaurant that I had been in touch with the day before to follow up. I hadn't saved the number on my phone and decided to try my luck of dialing the number of an outgoing call that I had made around the time that I thought I had called them. As my Hebrew is still far from perfect and I don't really pay attention to the greetings usually made on the other end, I told the voice on the other side that it was Lisa and I started going into the details of what had been discussed the previous day.

When I was done, the voice on the other side said with a Hebrew accent something along the lines of "Hi Lisa. You have a doctor's appointment with us tonight. You know that right?" Right away, I realized the mistake I had made and felt a little foolish. I did know that I had the night appointment though and told the receptionist that and then hung up. I'm just glad I accidentally called the doctor's office about an event and not a restaurant about the doctor. As of now, I should be able to finalize the event tomorrow and I'll share the details at some point.

The US: 13 months later

2008-09-22T15:25:00.001-07:00

As some of you know, I am back in the US for the first time since before making aliyah. I arrived last Wednesday afternoon and am here until the end of Sukkot (4 and half weeks).

My flight
I flew Austrian Airways and had a layover in Vienna on the way to the US. The airport in Vienna is officially my second favorite airport in Europe (the Zurich airport being #1). The airport in Vienna, is tiny. There were only like 6 gates in the area when the gate I exited my first plane from and the gate I boarded the next plane were. Unfortunately, only after boarding the plane to NY we were told that there was a mechanical problem that needed to be fixed before we could leave. It took two hours for the problem to be fixed with us all still on the plane. It was a looong flight.

Shock or no schock?
My dad picked me up from JFK. As we were driving along, it didn't feel strange to see American surroundings. I also wasn't shocked when I arrived in my parents' house and saw the newly re-designed first floor. Driving again after 13 months wasn't strange in the least. I was a little struck though by the diversity of the NYC streets when I made my way to the Web 2.0 Expo NY the following day.

Thursday
On Thursday, I went into NYC for the Web 2.0 NY Expo. A friend of mine had a free ticket for the expo so I figured I would check it out and sit in on a few sessions. The keynotes of the morning were great and the booths in the Expo Hall were interesting. I was pretty tired by the early afternoon though and left early.

Saturday
I went to my parents' shul for the first time since before I made aliyah last year. It was an interesting experience. It was nice to see all of my parents friends again, but it was weird and sad for the previous rabbi not to have been there.

Saturday Night
My sister and I drove to Boston on Saturday night after Shabbat. I did the driving, which is one of the things I miss doing in Israel. It was the first time I saw her since before I made aliyah. It was really exciting. We drove up to Boston together because Shari has a doctor's conference for a few days and I have a lot of friends from college who are still in Boston.

Sunday
Shari went to her conference and my friend EP and I went apple-picking together just outside of Boston. Afterwards, we went back to her apartment and I saw her roommates who I'm also friends with.

Monday (today)
So far today, I did some work in the morning and then went to visit Boston University. I went to the BU Hillel House and ran into some (surprisingly) familair faces and met with the Rabbi and several other staff members (I was very active in the Hillel when I was a student). Now I'm back in the hotel that my sister's hospital is putting us up in and am about to head out to Brookline for a shiur with EP.

The U.S. election; 6,000 miles away

2008-08-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

Last week I registered to receive my absentee ballot for the upcoming U.S. elections. I also watched some of the speeches from the DNC, including Michelle Obama's, Senator Clinton's and Barack Obama's. They all spoke very well, but without Clinton as the nominee, I can't imagine voting for the Democrats. At the same time, I can't see myself voting for the Republicans with confidence. I am too much of a moderate and too skeptical of the connections U.S. politicians (on both sides) have with oil companies and campaign funding.

I also have strong feelings on major issues that don't fully match the party lines of any political party. 6,000 miles away these are the issues that matter most to me:
Small Government
Less taxes (for everyone and corporations, but especially for middle class and low income families)
Woman's right to choose
Local governments' rights to make gun control decisions
War in Iraq
Support Israel :)
More alternative and reform energy incentives
No off-shore drilling

While I am left-leaning and could vote for the Democrats, I don't think voting for a Democrat, especially one without experience, is a good definition of change. Nor do I support the idea of a bigger government as the solution to the economy or any other woes Americans now face. It seems from FDR's New Deal programs that these are programs that can succeed in the short term but that usually put the U.S. in worst shape years later (read the end of The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan).

At this point in time, I think it would be better for everyone if companies, NGOs and non-profits addressed such problems and not the government. But maybe I'm a little too radical, naive and not realistic in these beliefs. Anyway, there's still 2 months to the elections for something to happen to push me closer to one party and not the other. We'll see.

Reflection of Year 1: Accomplishments and Things to Improve

2008-08-21T04:20:00.001-07:00

I have to make this entry short and sweet, but this will be part of series of reflections and thoughts from my first year that I plan on posting in the next few days.

Over the past few days I've been thinking a lot about everything that has happened over the past year and the idea of the aliyah process - one that is continuous. When I look back at the past year I think of several things I have accomplished and several things I can improve on or need to address. I'd like to share some of them:

(note: these will be expanded next week when I have more time.)

Accomplishments:
Made aliyah with a job.
Active in a business group.
Made several friends.
Attended ulpan.

Improvements:
Practice my Hebrew.
Interact more with Israelis.
Take part in more organized activities.

Nefesh B'Nefesh Jewish Blogger Convention

2008-08-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Last year at this time I was on my aliyah flight with Nefesh B'Nefesh. Tonight, I attended the first annual Nefesh B'Nefesh Jewish Blogger Convention. There were well over 100 people in the audience and over 1,000 people online watching the live Webcast.

The purpose of the conference was to discuss how to get more people to make aliyah and how to use blogging as a method. There were two panels with bloggers from the JBlogosphere (see end for list) that discussed the best ways to improve a blog's visibility and why they blog in the first place - whether for family and friends, to share with everyone, as part of an agenda...

Here are some thoughts on the convention and different events:

*In addition to what the panelists and moderators said, I would add that all bloggers, especially relatively beginners, should follow the blogs of Chris Brogan, Jeremiah Owyang and ProBlogger among others for additional tips, advice and general reference.

*I was a little surprised that the majority of the audience was over 35 years of age. It shows that blogging has really become mainstream. The audience was also primarily made up of right-wingers, which offered a very interesting/entertaining perspective at times.

*Former Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, Benjamin "B.B." Netanyahu spoke and answered questions. The main thing I took away from what he said was agreeing with him that the government needs to be reformed and more balanced. The last thing he said was that Jewish bloggers should "write the truth and with conviction."

*Conviction and passion were two major themes that would come up repeatedly throughout the convention. After the first panel and B.B.'s speech, Zavi Apfelbaum, the Director of Brand Management for Israel's Foreign Ministry. During her presentation, titled "Branding Israel - From Vision to Reality," she explained the purpose of branding Israel and how the concept of and approach to hasbara has changed over the years. She conveyed to us that people in the United States support Israel but don't find us (the people and country) attractive (because they only mainly associate it with strife and concrete).

*A few months ago at the the President's Conference (which I attended thanks to NBN), I attended a session on whether Israel needs another PR person. The main thing I took away from that was that the only way to succeed in this matter will be through one-on-one relationships. Based on this and what Apfelbaum shared, I would do the following if I was charged with solving the matter.

One, current Jewish bloggers can make a difference by following and visiting the blogs of non-Jews, especially those who have never met a Jew and become part of those communities naturally (through conversations in comment sections and referencing them in blog posts). Let them see and learn about a Jew and Israel that way.

Two, it made me think what an interesting and fun project it would be to have one or a few Olim travel around the United States, specifically rural areas, for a summer or something and just meet and blog/vlog and become friendly with as many people as possible. This can break people's current perceptions and can make them have a positive opinion. Of course, talking about Israel would be part of it. There are also other campaign ideas related to this that maybe I'll go into further in another blog.

*Anyway, Apfelbaum also said that Israel is currently working on its branding strategy and that passion might be chosen as its persona since Israelis are very passionate (you need to be to make aliyah and to live here). There was also a very vocal audience member who demonstrated this at one point.

There were also some comic elements, planned and unplanned, throughout the night. One planned event was a performance by a comedian and the author of the FrumSatire blog (name not found), did a few minutes of stand up comedy and made fun of blog promoting etiquette.

OK, this is enough for now. Thanks to NBN for organizing this! Pictures in this entry and a reflection of my first year of aliyah coming...

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Note about the panels: The first panel session included the authors of the blogs Treppenwitz, Jewlicious, IsraelMatzav and Hirhurim. Esther Kustanowitz of My Urban Kvetch and JDaters Anonymous fame moderated. The second panel session was made up of the authors behind the blogs Oleh Girl, My Shrapnel, My Right Word, Treppenwitz and WhatWarZone. Yishai Fleisher of Kumah was the moderator.

More BB Netanyahu at NBN JBlogger Convention

2008-08-20T08:54:00.001-07:00

BB Netanyahu

2008-08-20T08:44:00.001-07:00

Jewlicious founder

2008-08-20T08:27:00.001-07:00

Audience

2008-08-20T08:25:00.001-07:00

Pictures from the first nbn jewish blogger convention

2008-08-20T08:22:00.001-07:00

2008-08-18T00:29:00.001-07:00

Harriet the Spy likes Alissa (her owner). She also likes Alissa's room, bed and clothing. Last week she found a new way to enjoy Alissa's clothing while hanging out in her room. .. her laundry basket.

Plastic Israeli Currency

2008-08-18T00:24:00.001-07:00

This doesn't rip. New 200 NIS and 20 NIS bills are made of special plastic that don't rip or tear no matter how hard you try. They're a lot of fun.

Luxury apartments in a place that doesn't exist

2008-08-03T05:53:00.001-07:00

English ads in Israel are the best. Will apartment owners be upset when they find out that the advertised area doesn't exist? I believe they meant to write the German Colony.

Jerusalem bus experience of the week

2008-07-31T05:57:00.001-07:00

For anyone who isn't familiar with the 38 bus line in Jerusalem, it is a miniature-size bus that goes to and from the Jewish Quarter in the Old City. The line begins in the Jewish Quarter and goes through town before returning to the Jewish Quarter. Since the line begins and ends in the Jewish Quarter, there is usually a lag time of a few minutes between when a bus arrives and when it will leave.

Earlier this week I went to the Kotel and afterward made my way to the 38 bus stop so that I could take it back to my apartment. When I got to the stop, there were three charedi guys in their early and late teens waiting and no bus. There wasn't a bus there when I got there, which meant that I would have to wait for the bus to get to the stop, rest for about a half hour and then finally leave the Old City. The bus came after a few minutes and the riders got off except for 3 people, a charedi woman, probably in her early 30s, and two guys, one in his late 20s and another probably in his mid- to late-30s. They were friends of the bus driver's and were hanging out with him on it during his half hour break.

One of the charedim next to me, about 14 or 15 years old, at one point decided that he wanted to wait on the bus instead and took a seat on it. For fun, the bus driver took the charedi kid's hat and put it on his head and put on sun glasses that he had. He reminded me of the Blues Brothers. I decided to go on the bus to take a picture of him with my phone and then promptly got off until the bus was ready to leave the Old City.

There were three festivals in Jerusalem last week

2008-07-20T01:01:00.000-07:00

There was a film festival, poetry festival and wine tasting festival in Jerusalem last week. It wasn't because of any of these though that I didn't get a chance to write any entries. Now that it's a new week, here's a recap of some of the things that occurred last week:

Instead of going to kick-boxing on Monday night, I went to see with Alissa and some other friends a free outdoor showing of "The Band's Visit," at the Old Train Station. The movie was originally Israel's top pick to be considered for this past year's Oscar Foreign Film entries, however, as it is more than 50 percent English, Israel had to enter Beaufort instead. Unlike Beaufort, this film was very original and had some very funny scenes, particularly one that took place in a skating rink. Before the movie, a band performed but it wasn't very good.

On Tuesday I finished reading my first book in Hebrew, a translated version of Matilda. Though there were several words I didn't know, I understood it overall. I can't wait to start reading my next Hebrew book.

On Thursday, I went to Ulpan Etzion (one last time?) to pick up my Teudah (certificate) that verifies my completing the course. I also received a certificate that I successfully passed Ramah Daled (the fourth level), which would indicate that my Hebrew skills are advanced. It's funny because my conversation skills are still at the aleph (beginner's) level so my skills aren't actually advanced.

Later on in the day on Thursday, I went with some friends to the annual Jerusalem Wine Tasting Festival (my favorite festival next to the Cherry-Picking Festival) on the grounds of the Israel Museum. The place was PACKED. As such, I didn't get a chance to try as many of the wines as I would have liked to, but instead, I ran into a lot of people that I know which was a very nice consolation. Afterwards some friends and I went out to Big Apple Pizza.

Rebecca went away for Shabbat, so only Alissa and I were in. On Friday Night, we went to Alissa's friend's for dinner. It was only the three of us which was nice. In contrast, for lunch, there were 12 people at the meal we went to. Both meals were very good and entertaining.

On Motzai Shabbat, Alissa and I went to Tmol Shilshom for dinner before the fast. Unsurprisingly, town was very crowded with tourists and teen tours. A bit surprisingly though, Tmol Shilshom wasn't crowded at all. Maybe it's due to its recent increase in prices?

Networking and Setting Up

2008-07-11T01:50:00.000-07:00

Last night the group that I help organize events for, the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum, held a panel discussion on cleantech (clean technology). Over 50 people attended, including venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and many others. There was even a VC who was at the kick-boxing class that I attended earlier this week who randomly heard about it and attended. Anyway, the event was held in a very nice lecture hall at Machon Lev (the Jerusalem College of Technology) and I, with some help, set up snacks in the entrance hall of the building before the event.

It was the first time since my days as Religious Programmer at the BU Hillel (only a year and a half ago), that I had to set up food (though I didn't have to buy the food). As it happens, I'll have another chance to set up food very soon as my roommates and I are hosting Seudah Shlishit tomorrow. The food and presentation for that will be a little different. Below is a picture of one of the set tables and a picture of the lecture hall during the event. Allyson, regarding the food and presentation, I bet you know what the differences will be.

Kick-boxing at YMCA

2008-07-07T14:22:00.001-07:00

Nearly a year into my aliyah, I have decided that the time has come for me to take some classes in things that I'm interested in. I tried signing up for a 5-week graphology (study of handwriting) course at Merkaz Edna that would have started this evening but because not enough people have signed up for it yet, it has been postponed or canceled completely. Instead, I decided to attend a kick-boxing class at the YMCA (conveniently located right near my apartment).

I attended it because in college I took a kick-boxing course that I really liked and that gave me a tough workout. Maybe because I am older, or maybe because I haven't really been so physically active in the past few months, but this was probably the toughest workout I ever had. I really enjoyed it though and depending on what happens with the graphology course, I would like to add this to my weekly routine.

Attending this class also gave me an opportunity to interact with a different set of people from the ones I usually spend time with. While waiting for the class to begin, I met one woman, originally from Newfoundland, Canada, who moved to Israel because of an Israeli boyfriend. Another person I met is in Israel for the summer studying at Hebrew University's ulpan. She is currently getting a Masters in Education from JTS. It was very interesting talking with them and I look forward to the next class that I will be able to attend.

Fourth of July in Israel

2008-07-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night, Alissa and I went with some other friends to see Neshama Carlebach in concert. It was really nice. She has a great voice and proved to be quite the entertainer when she compared a song to a big rubber ducky in a bath tub. She was joined by Naomi Teplow.

On Friday, Alissa and I joined some friends for a a refreshing 45-minute walk through Hezkiyahu's Tunnel in Ir David. As Alissa pointed out, it was very symbolic. In front of us the whole way was an Israeli teen program and behind was an American teen tour program. It was very appropriate that we were in the middle, as we are all still undergoing the transition into real Israelis while not really being fully American any more.

After the hike we had lunch in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. It was interesting to walk around and think about how it has changed since the days I lived there when I studied at Midreshet Harova for the year. For Shabbos, I went to my relatives in Kfar Etzyon.

Here is a clip from the Neshama Carlebach concert:

Mt. Bental in the Golan

2008-05-21T08:25:00.001-07:00

With Julie and Oriyah. I also ran into my cousin who's on Taglit-Birthright here.