Category: Israel

Disclaimer: 1) The following story is not true. It is a complete work of fiction. 2) Even if it was true, which it isn’t, it didn’t happen to me, it happened to my friend. 3) But it really didn’t. Last week, I had to take my car for the annual inspection/failure process, something about as…

Before making Aliyah, my views on Arabs and Israelis were fairly black and white. Years of watching newscasts of Egged buses blown to smithereens along with all the men, women, and children inside had led me to the conclusion that all Arabs were really, really bad. On moving to Israel I would do my best…

Let’s face it, being an Orthodox Jew is pretty weird. I say this with no disrespect intended for the traditions that are thousands of years old and that I believe are a set of rules that our Creator has “chosen” us to follow. But you know, we still do some pretty weird stuff. I just…

.Last year, my wife and I watched with a great deal of nervousness as our children got on their buses for their first day of school since making Aliyah. Although we knew that this was the only way, and that many, many kids had successfully managed to integrate, we were still worried that they would…

Last week, our phone and Internet connection stopped working. I made a quick call to Bezeq and was assured that a technician would be speedily rushed to the scene that day. I was pleasantly surprised when a Bezeq guy did indeed show up not much later. He climbed a ladder, used some tools, and told…

Welcome home! This morning I went to the airport to greet the latest Nefesh B’Nefesh flight bringing Jewish “refugees” from America to Israel. It was not all that long ago when we were stepping off that plane into such an unknown life. I remember feeling physically and emotionally exhausted as we stepped out into the…

A few years ago, my wife was visiting Israel. A friend was driving her around when he needed to get gas for the car. He pulled into the gas station and told her to just wait a minute. While the guy pumped the gas, he went into the station. She was somewhat surprised when he…

I have just achieved a personal victory in my step towards becoming an Israeli. I yelled at someone in Hebrew and won. I have already mastered the art of drinking milk from bags, and my car has a generous layer of pumpkin seeds on the floor (although to be honest, I still can’t figure out…

There are really only two types of people in America today who will stand by the side of the road and get into the car of a stranger. The first are axe murderers. Now, to tell the truth, I don’t really know if axe murderers hitchhike all that much. An axe is a pretty hard…