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 |  My life in Tel Aviv. Welcome to Israel! |
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Shalom! I was born outside of Haifa, moved to Tel Aviv when I was twelve, and served in the Israeli Defense Force for two years. Now, I am a student at TAU. I hope I can show the world the humanity of my nation. We're not so different, after all.
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world. |
| Sweden's PM is refusing to come to Israel because he stands by his anti-Semitic reporter. In Hungary, 500 neo-Nazis stormed a Jewish neighborhood (not "ghetto", as they insensitively labelled it) to protest a gay pride/human rights parade. Hamas says it will hurt Gilad Schalit if a deal is not reached. Some Venezualan hypocrite met with Syria to support them in their efforts to eliminate Israel. A bunch of people are boycotting the Toronto film festival because of its decision to celebrate various cities, one of which is Tel Aviv. Overwhelming news. Too much to think about. Going to the beach and then to cafe and then I don't know, but if I stay here I have to do homework and listen to the news. Sometimes you just don't want to think about current events and you just want everyone to go away and leave everyone else alone, yes? Live and let live. Coexist. We don't shoot if you don't shoot first. There's nowhere in the world that is peaceful, I think, except the Mediterranean shores. |
My brother is coming to Shabbas tonight at my parent's house! I haven't seen him in over a month, and I am so excited to. He's been stationed near Lebanon, so it's been difficult to get leave. But he'll be here!  Good mood! So excited! Family is all together  . I love my family. I love how my father tells long, rambling stories and gives a million hugs. I love how my mother complains and complains and then decides everything's meant to be. I love how my sister spends too much time in front of the mirror and straightens her hair three times a day. I love how my brother likes to read and play soccer, sometimes at the same time and always when he's supposed to be doing something else. I am happy . |
| Dear Germany, 36%? 36% of you aged 18-35 qualify as anti-Semitic? Come now. Why? What have we done to you? If there was a word for anti-German I am sure you would find explosive numbers here in Israel, but of course such a thing does not exist. What right do you have to still dislike us? I am in a bad mood because I have a financial class that is very easy and very boring in fifteen minutes. Investment is simple, so why have a class? I would rather have the money I paid to take the class and invest it. Yesterday I accidently vacuumed up my glasses. So thank G-d for contacts. After class I am going to the beach and I am not leaving. |
| Had a long and useless conversation with my roommate that went nowhere and made the problem worse. Conflict resolution is not one of my best skills. I am an Israeli, after all. Did I go to the Madonna concert? Yes . Did I enjoy it? For the most part. It was fun. She was asked to dress apporpriately by the Rabbinical Council. She did not. But it was still high--energy and a good time. I came to a conclusion today: the war will never end. Never. Only when we have exhausted every last resource and nobody can manage to fight anymore will it all end. So, really, it's all about our side outlasting their side, |
| I was involved in a fantastic argument on the bus today with a woman who took up two seats with her grocery bags, leaving me and about five others to stand. When the bus is full, you do not do this! Me: Move your groceries. People need to sit down. Woman: It won't kill you to stand for a few minutes. I have eggs I don't want to break. Me: So put the eggs in your lap. Come on. People need to sit down. Woman: Why don't you just listen to your music? Leave me alone. Me: Let someone sit down next to you! The bus is full! Woman: So get off the bus if you don't like it! Me: I'm not getting off the bus! You get off the bus--you're the one being rude! Woman: I'M being rude? Shut up and leave me alone. You can stand for a few minutes. Anyway, she got off at the next stop. I let two old women take the seat and stood with the men because I have morals. Thank you very much. I have a late-night class I do not want to go to. Anyone want to go to Financial Institutions in Ancient Rome for me? |
| Horrible day. Horrible. Exhausted and my eyes hurt. Life is hard. |
| The Haredim are protesting again in Jerusalem. How nice of them to wait until I was back in Tel Aviv, just like the Germans waiting until I was no longer in Berlin to criticize my country . Clearly the world caters to me, haha. In all seriousness: the issue the Haredim are protesting is a parking lot. Seriously  . A parking lot in Jerusalem that is to be kept open on Saturdays, on the Sabbath. They think that this will lead to the destruction of the holiness of this day. I feel sympathy for them. They feel this way, "This is a Jewish country. Why in a Jewish country do I have to fight for my rights on the Sabbath?" It is sad. It is the changing of the world. Things must change and old ways must adapt, or be lost.My roommate came back drunk last night. On Shabbas. That was fun. I locked my door and told her to sleep on the couch and shut up. After I came back from Shabbas dinner with my parents, she comes back like an hour later and is drunk. Oi. Also my brother may be able to come home next Sabbath! He's stationed near Lebanon so it's difficult for him to get time off to come visit, but he thinks he can. I have not seen him in a long time. I would love to have my parents, my sister, and my brother in one room again before Yom Kippur. Shabbat Shalom . |
| Kind of a serious topic today because I have read an article that has left me thinking for a long time (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1110762.html). The article says this: the West feels guilty for doing absolutely nothing to stop the Holocaust. And they should feel guilty, because eleven million people were killed. But, according to the article, the West is "repenting" for this apathy by supporting Israel, and therefore not supporting the Palestinians. A man is quoted in the article and says this, "Germany is guilty for two crimes. One, for what they did to the Jews. Two, what they are doing to the Palestinians." Here is what is interesting. If there had been no Holocaust, there would be no Israel. There would be no Jewish Holy Land. We would not have access to our most sacred places. We would still live in Poland, Germany, Holland, Ukraine, France, and Russia. We would not be here. I would not be in Tel Aviv. And yet when we speak of the Holocaust it is with great sadness and horror--people were slaughtered like animals! But let us face the facts, yes? Would we have the IDF to protect the Jewish people without first experiencing genocide? No. Would we have a homeland for these same Jewish people free from anti-Semitism without first experiencing hatred? No. Would we have the ability to pray at the most holy places in the Tanakh without first losing all ability to do so? No. This issue has troubled me for some time. The Holocaust, which has touched my family and almost every Jewish family in Israel, is the reason that Zionism triumphs. We are a member of a Jewish race that is strong, intelligent, capable, and more than able to defend itself, and this would not have happened so dramatically without first seeing what the opposite sort of Jewish race leads to. Oppression is always bad, yes? But the progression that follows a period of oppression is how the world advances. So do the Palestinians suffer because of what happened in Germany during haShoah? There is Jewish saying, "I fight the Nazis at night and lose. I fight the Arabs during the day and win." Are we exerting the aggression and anger we have for the Germans in executing our families onto the Palestinian people? Either way, we, the Jewish people, have drifted from G-d's will. We are not victims anymore. And I think that sometimes we look into the mirror and do not recognize ourselves. |
| Going to Jerusalem in a few minutes . I haven't been in awhile and I want to put a note in the wall and maybe go to Yad Vashem and the old city again because I have not in years. I am going with my friend, but I am meeting my cousin there. I do not often go to Jerusalem because of all the Arabs, but also because of the Hasidem. They both intimidate me . Classes are hard and long and I have too much work to do. I do not want to do all this reading! I must read these American books in English and is so long. Is hard enough to read the English, but then also to understand what is meant. But is very important. Gilad Schalit's younger sister entered the IDF because she is eighteen. I feel so bad for the mother and father. But there is nothing to be done and the price cannot be paid. Americans, do you like the store "Gap"? There is the first one ever in Israel in Jerusalem. I might go but I wonder if it is a good store? Is popular in America? |
| Yom Kippur is coming. All these people I'm going to have to apolize to. It's been a bad year, I think, in terms of how nice I have been to others . Especially my new roommate. Speaking of my new roommate, she has no sense of humor and I think my very presence offends her. She is too religious for her own good, I think. Last night I made a joke about the Holocaust ("My little cousin wants to go to a camp, so he put his name down on a list. I told him this was a very bad idea for anyone with the last name Finkelstein.") and she was very offended. Oops. How do you make friends with someone who is offended by everything you say? Also she acts like no matter what words I say, they are always wrong. She always refutes everything. I could say the sky is blue, and she would ask me why I would think that and then tell me a million reasons why it is not blue. She thinks she knows all. I am not liking to share a room. Advice? |
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