SHARE: Your Israel Experience

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We want to know WHY you care about Israel. This part of the site is designed for you, the reader, to share your story. It can be anything, from an experience you had visiting the Kotel to simply how great the hummus and shwarma are. The important thing is that they are your experiences. You will be “changing the brand” of Israel so we want to hear your voice! Why does Israel matter to you?

Learn more about Change the Brand by visiting the who we are tab or read about the staff and send us a question on the “Ask Us” page.

91 responses to “SHARE: Your Israel Experience”

  1. i love Israel because Israelis are some of the nicest people in the world. They always welcomed me with smiling faces and open arms, even though i don’t speak a lick of hebrew!

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  3. Israel is special to me because my grandparents live there. When I visit them, we walk around Jerusalem, and I cannot compare the way I feel in that city to any other. I feel the radiating love that people have for the holy city. Caesarea is my favorite place to explore. It is fun to peek in and out of Roman ruins, and collecting thousands-of-years-old seaglass on the shore is unique to this location. I love Israel.

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  4. The last month in the Middle East has been quite polarizing. Several innocent teens of Muslim and Jewish descent have gotten brutally murdered; lives lost too soon. Then rockets started flying towards populated Israeli towns, endangering innocent bystanders, via terrorists from Hamas and other groups that are from Gaza and Lebanon. Israel has had to retaliate out of self defense and this has caused major unrest amongst people around the world.

    Amidst all of this tension, I have seen sports play an integral role in bringing people together and causing happiness in a difficult situation.

    The first instance was through the most unlikeliest of sports: gymnastics. My tour group, YJ’s Machon, visited a center that brings together American kids, Jewish Israeli kids, and Muslim Arab kids to make for an incredible gymnastics show with circus like tricks.

    Obviously there are a lot of factors that have caused the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas. But the broad reason is that Hamas hates Jews and, in turn, Jews are ignorant or hate all Arabs and Muslims (of course there are always exceptions). The friction is no more evident than it is in the Middle East, specifically Israel. And everything that has to do with Israel.

    All the acts that the Galille Circus did were incredible to see, especially for someone as inflexible as I am. But the most spectacular act to watch was the final act. All 26 members from various backgrounds of the Galilee Circus were in sync and had to rely on each other. They had to trust each other in the most basic of ways. It was awesome.

    If only politics were as black and white as gymnastics are.

    The second instance where I saw first hand just how powerful sports can be was in the northern Israeli city of Tiberias. Machon had not originally planned on staying in Tiberias for four nights, but with all the rockets being fired by Hamas to the south of Israel we were only permitted to stay up north. But we had it easy. We were staying at a relatively nice hotel right near a lake and on top of all that we were with our best friends. Not a worry in the world. Other guests of our hotel were less enthusiastic about their stay at the King Solomon.

    A group of 50 or so kids ranging in age from 8 to 15 had been evacuated from their homes in the south of Israel, where rockets are fired upon more than 4 times a day. They were in Tiberias because their parents were all doctors, medics, or were called up to defend the State of Israel. The doctors and medics in the south are constantly on call because of the constant barrage of missiles to highly populated areas. These kids were brought up to Tiberias by a group (unfortunaltye** I never managed to get the group’s name) so that these kids could have someone to care for them. These kids were all strangers to one another and one can only imagine how difficult it was to be with completely random kids without your parents at the age of 10. They were not having a good time.

    But that all changed during our first night in the hotel. As a group, we, Machon, had decided to play various games with these kids. Me and a couple other friends got together and decided to play some pickup soccer with the kids. The kids were hesitant at first, but before we knew it we had a full fledged game going on. Five gangly, seventeen year old, terrible soccer players from America against fourteen energized, skilled Israeli ten year olds. It was fun. We were the physical team and they were the good team. Both teams were laughing the whole time. I was wearing an Arjen Robben jersey, and of course they knew who that was. But I told them that I am not like Robben in two ways: I have hair and I can’t play football. We ended up losing 7-6 after they beat us in PKs.

    Everyone had such a good time that we came together with these brave group of kids again, two nights later. The Robben jersey was back on. So were their big smiles. We lost again, this time 10-9. But in truth, both teams won. For about two hours, they forgot that they were evacuated from their homes that were having missiles fired upon while us, the teenage Americans, got to bring joy to kids who desperately needed it. Best part of my trip.

    By the time you are done reading this article, there will be no true peace between Israel and Hamas. Civilians on both sides will unfortunately continue to be in the crosshairs. Although a cease-fire seems close, true peace does not seem as close. But finding those little slivers of hope and coexistence means we are going somewhere, right?

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  5. I’ve had a lot of different homes. I’ve moved from house to house and even from country to country. But even though I’ve never lived in Israel it’s more of a home to me than any other place I’ve ever been.

    I don’t speak Hebrew. I studied it for six years, but the most I can do is make a desperate attempt at understanding simple phrases like “thank you” and “you’re welcome”. That doesn’t matter. Even though I don’t speak the language I’ve always felt like I belong in Israel. It’s the one place in the world I’ve always felt one hundred percent accepted for who I am. And what else is a home supposed to be?

    Israel is where I can wear a Star of David and proudly show it off without having to wonder if anyone is going to comment negatively on it. It’s where I can talk loudly and proudly about my bat mitzvah and years at a Jewish school without anyone raising their eyebrows. It’s where I feel accepted for my religion, even though I’m not religious. It doesn’t matter if I’m on the beach in Tel Aviv or the The Western Wall in Jerusalem – I feel at peace. At peace with who I am, who I have been and who I’m probably going to be one day (which, if anyone is wondering is a total yiddishe mom who force feeds my kids hummus).

    There’s a lot to say about a place existing that makes a simple tourist feel like they’ve come home. It really shows what Israel is. It’s not just a country. It’s not just a home in the simple meaning that people have houses and jobs there. It’s a home for those who have never fully belonged anywhere else. Israel has a lot to offer. The biggest avocados you will eve see, the nicest beaches, the most amazing people and the socially accepted norm of talking to complete strangers on the street (try doing that in Sweden and you’d receive the biggest silence treatment of your life) and I love all of it. I love every single part of Israel; the good and the bad.

    Because it’s my home.

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  6. I spent a month in Israel on a Young Judaea program this summer and what I loved most about it’s atmosphere was that people don’t hesitate to be direct. I was shopping in a grocery store talking to a friend when a small Israeli woman confronted us and proceeded to educate us about the history of Kibbutz Degania. She asked us why we were here and where we were heading and continued from there with no further small talk. Although we were fighting exhaustion from swimming in the Kineret and tomato picking earlier that day, we appreciated the story and began to understand the efficiency of verbal communication in the Holy Land. In Eilat, I felt a spontaneous impulse to have a conversation (in Hebrew) and was coincidentally craving a smoothie, so I approached the nearest smoothie store and ordered a very complicated smoothie, entirely in Hebrew, only to conclude with the vender telling me to “just say it in English…” It was an unfortunate moment but it demonstrated Israel’s overall aspiration to be as efficient as possible all the time. I love this country!

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  7. Over the past few weeks many people have approached me and said, ” I bet you are thankful to be at home safe and sound”. Though I am grateful to live in a place where I don’t need to find shelter within thirty seconds of hearing a siren or see my peers go to war, a huge part of me yearns to be back in Israel. After spending nine months in my homeland, I developed an inseparable connection with the country, the culture and the people.

    During my nine months in Israel I traveled to over forty cities, spent Shabbat (the weekend) at approximately sixteen different households, and cared for more than three hundred patients on the ambulances. I no longer view Israel as a far away country, instead I see it as a place with poor drivers, nosy grandmothers and opinionated people who lack manners. But, no where else in the world do people address elderly women (even those who they do not know) by “Savta”, the Hebrew word for Grandmother. No where else in the world will one be invited over for a meal after simply saying hello and starting a conversation on an Egged Bus. No where else in the world does the cashier say “Shabbat Shalom” as one checks out at the local grocery store.

    Though I am physically in California at this point in time, my thoughts and emotions are still in Israel. I am currently reading a book about the Yom Kippur War (1973), receive a “red alert” on my phone every time a rocket crashes into Israeli soil, spend hours a day reading articles on Facebook and Jewish newspapers, and of course am in close contact with friends and family in Israel.

    One of my friends whom I have known since seventh grade is an Israeli Navy Seal and is currently doing his best to defend his home on the battleground. He is a true warrior as he was not obligated to take a combat position because his older brother was killed fighting in the war against Lebanon eight years ago. My friend who got married a month ago had to say bye to her husband of less than two weeks as he went off to the reserves. My friend who is spending two years of service volunteering with Magen David Adom (Israel’s national ambulance service) did not budge during the code red siren as she needed to continued CPR on her patient and just a week later, she delivered the horrific news to an Israeli family that their son was killed in the current operation, Protective Edge.

    It is hard for me to fathom how I can work hours a day teaching swim lessons at a private club, while my friends are jeopardizing their own lives for the well being of others and their country. I can easily picture myself doing CPR while listening to the code red sirens blaring around me or finding out that one of my best childhood friends was killed fighting in Gaza.

    I hope there is an imminent solution to end this horror and madness. But until then, “Am Yisrael Chai”.

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  8. I was recently in Israel about 1 month ago. I had so many amazing experiences. One experience that changed my life, it legit changed my whole perspective on the world was on friday night, my class and I went to the Wall. I went up to the Wall, placed a note in, and said my prayers (which was very meaningul on its own) and while I was walking to where my class was meeting I saw a circle of women dancing to lots of Jewish songs. I joined in, my arm around an Israeli soldier. I had such a high spiritual connection during those few minutes. Another experience was when I was walking in the streets of Jerusalem with a few of my friends and we find this beautiful gold door, it was the door to a shul and it was amazing.

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  9. I have only been to Israel once when I was 5, and I remember crying when I was leaving because I didn’t want to leave, but I care about Israel because I have a lot of family there and Israel is the only country in the world where the majority of people are Jews and it’s always there for safety for any Jew.

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  10. I am not Israeli, but I speak Hebrew. The second I got to Israel I felt right at home because I knew I was a part of a community that was thousands of miles away from my home in Brooklyn.

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  11. I love Israel because of my Jewish background and I feel connected to the land and the events that occurred there.

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  12. I have never been to Israel, but I feel connected to it because my Dad grew up there, and my mom went on Year Course to Israel. I care about Israel because my extended family and family friends live there. I hope to go on Year Course in a few years to see Israel.

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  15. I was in Eilat and my mom took me and my sister to a restaurant overlooking the water. It was very peaceful and calm. And the food was good.

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  17. I love Israel because it is where my whole family comes from and where I have some of my most prized family memories have taken place.

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  20. Israeli’s are the nicest people and so hospitable. I walked into shuk and they’re all so nice, there was an old man who was eating a potato like an apple.

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  21. I feel connected to Israel because of the family that I have that lives there. It is like a second home to me.

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  22. I have been to Israel twice. My first time was in 2006 with just my immediate family. The second time was in 2007. That time, I went with my extended family for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. The ceremony was on top of Masada. I, along with the rest of my family, took a tour over all of Israel. It was a lot of fun. We were in Jerusalem, Tevariah, the Golan Heights, Tzfat, Tel-Aviv, and Eilat. I even saw the Jordan River which was really pretty. I had lots of fun traveling in Israel.

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  25. I lived in Israel for 2 years in a small town called Ra’anana. My parents once forgot to pick me up from basketball practice so after 2 hours of waiting I decided to walk home. When I found myself walking in the wrong direction I asked a random man where my street was. Finally, he walked me all the way to my street so he knew I would arrive safely.

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