Tuesday, June 05, 2007

12 Reasons to Live in Israel

In honor of Parshat Sh'lach, here's a meme from Nefesh B'Nefesh, asking every Oleh to compose a list of 12 great things they appreciate and love about living in Israel.
  • Knowing the truth behind the fiction of 99% of what I hear on the radio or see on television.
  • Having dozens upon dozens of synagogues that I don't go to within walking distance (because I found one just right for me).
  • Being able to taunt everyone else who says they want to move to Israel but hasn't.
  • Being within driving distance. Of everything.
  • Having access to incredibly good, cheap, and plentiful kosher wine and food.
  • Being admired for being American. Being admired for moving away from "wealth" to move here. (Wealth? What wealth?)
  • Being admired for being religious.
  • Messing with people's minds when they find out that I'm a religious and right-wing Israeli and yet not a racist.
  • Hearing even the television wish me shabbat shalom.
  • Being able to post while a lot of my readers are still asleep.
  • Making history with every step.
  • A mitzvah every minute.
My wife, Rachel, adds her own reasons:
  • The people are great; high-bred and low-brow mix together; even teenagers have a sense of purpose outside of themselves; real, strong, non-Jappy women
  • The Hebrew language; aside from being beautiful, Torah quotes abound in the language; even the taxi driver will quote tanach to you; bus advertisements are biblical
  • There is no apologizing for being Jewish
  • You can buy anything you want in a grocery store
  • The davening is amazing; the best synagogue services in the world
  • There is a mikva in every city within walking distance
  • There is no Torah learning like Israel Torah learning
  • Yom Kippur; Jerusalem shuts down and people dressed in white meet everywhere in the streets, happy
  • Simchat Torah; dancing in the streets and between synagogues
  • Sukkot; the weather is pleasant, and the kids sukkah hop
  • Tisha'a Ba'av on the Haas Tayelet, with readings in all Jewish denominations, overlooking the Kotel, full of hope
  • Israel is my home; I am living around the corner from David's palace; everywhere I go I know people
Other entries: Muqata, Rafi, Ben-Yehuda, Zahava, Israluv.

Yehuda

3 comments:

mother in israel said...

"Being admired for being religious."
I feel much more hostility here that I never felt in the US (although the Israeli attitude has been imported.

Yehuda Berlinger said...

Depends where you go, I guess.

Yehuda

therapydoc said...

Has anyone mentioned hearing Hebrew? I fly El Al for that reason alone. I love it when the pilots begin everything in Ivrit and clearly don't translate it all when they switch over to English.