First impressions of Israel (after a 5 year hiatus).

I had packed shampoo and soap in my carry on. Nobody at JFK gave me any problems for it. At my Vienna stopover-however- some pimply, dorky Israeli security guy said I couldn't bring more than an x amount of liters on the plan and proceeded to dump it in the trash and then leave abruptly. Lo nora. As the plane broke through the clouds and the sight of Tel Aviv was clearly visible from the window I felt a sudden surge of emotion. I am not ashamed to say that a tear trickled down my cheek as I thought of the sacrifices Jews have made over the ages to get here. Yes, I'm known to be a Zionist, but my passion has cooled down substantially over the years as I watched in exasperation Israel capitulating to Arab and American demands. I Arrived in Ben Gurion on Thursday afternoon after a smooth flight and got a sherut to Jerusalem. As I sat in my seat staring out the window I listened to the idle banter over the cab radio and knew that I was in Israel. Two cabbies were doling it out on the radio loudly. Apparently one guy was annoyed that the other guy was asking him about his visa (to America presumably). The affronted individual told the first cabbie to go home because he won't give him anymore work. At that point another guy chimed in saying that he didn't have the authority to tell the guy to go home. Like I said, welcome to Israel...

Thursday night I walked to the center of town. The Coffe Bean cafe is a really nice place (sans all the bored loud teens milling about) especially since they have free wireless. I stayed there untill closing. After it closed I needed to charge my laptop so I stopped at local shwarma place, bought a bottle of water and asked if I could charge the computer. Right away the owner asked me how much i wanted for the laptop. When i told him it wasn't for sale, he didn't give up and asked if I would sell him the battery. This went back and forth. At one point he offered me a free meal every day untill i leave- in exchange for the computer. I raised my hands again and just muttered איזה עם אתם.. which elicited a good deal of laughter.

On Friday, I walked to Yafo and the Shuk to get the foods that I love. Stopping off to check the prices at Optika Helperin again drove home to me why I haven't yet moved here. I went in to inquire about the price of contact lenses. The proprietor-a young Russian-Israeli- was closing up and I asked her as politely as I could in Hebrew if I could just ask her one question. She responded curtly that he is closing and that I needed to leave immediately. I repeated myself and said I have one simple question that would take only a minute. Her whole demeanor was just nasty. I don't think I have ever experienced a similar situation in the US. Instead of responding in kind, I smiled and raised my hands in exasperation which made her feel like an idiot-apparently- because she then said 'ok, what can i help you with'. Don't you just love stories with happy endings...

Welcome!

Enjoy your stay. Or better yet, make Aliyah!

I beg your pardon.

My first impression of Israel was "wow here everybody is Jewish" and I really loved it (I was waaaay to young to know about Zionism or politics or anything). I was on vacation with my parents and I didn't really notice the rudeness and I was completely oblivious to most of the stuff I dislike about Israel). I just went to Israel so many times and spent so much time there and with Israelis that I found out a lot of stuff that I really don't like and had some pretty ugly experiences.

Like I've said before, Israel and I go a long way back...

I was never a Zionist, but Zionism has nothing to do with loving EY. (In my experience it was a product of naïvetée)

Did you ask for her phone number?

My first impression of Israel is that the elevators all smelled, the coke was too bubbly and the kosel was much smaller then I imagined.

The rudeness never really bothered me, maybe it's because I'm from NY and it made me feel at home....

You really need to get to know Israel to appreciate it. It took me a while to see the real Israel, then I stayed for six years.

I thought so too.


My first impression upon landing at Ben Gurion was, wow, the palm trees are real! Followed by many other impressions.

Isn't it ironic that I loved Israel when I got there but I liked it gradually less the longer I was there, while you didn't really like it when you go there but liked it gradually more the longer you were there?

Moral of the story: The grass is always greener on the other side.

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I think I slowly realized that the problems I had with Israel were insignificant "kleinekieten" compared to what I was coming to appreciate and like. More then anything was a feeling that I really belonged there, that it was my "place" I felt more at home in Israel after a couple of years then I did where I grew up after nearly two decades.

I hate to say this but Krums got a point. This is my 5th visit to Israel I believe, and I had to leave and come back in order to appreciate it.

I felt the same in a way.

I loved Israel when I visited many times for trips or extended stays for summers or vacations.
But when I moved there, and ended up staying for years, I saw some of the real hardships of living there.

Hmm... when I got to Israel I immediately identified myself as "one of them" and eventually my Hebrew got to be native-sounding enough that I was treated as one. I gradually realized how much the group mentality in Israel was very 
different from my own personality which made me feel out of place. Not out of 
place like a foreigner in a foreign country, but out of place like a natural 
rebel that doesn't fit in her own society.

Maybe your view of yourself as different helped you like Israel. I assimilated well enough to feel certain cultural and societal
pressures I might not have felt as an outsider. 

That's very interesting. I never integrated into Israeli society and never felt I had to. Yerushalaim has such a diverse population, and there were so many Americans that I was happy to be an American living in Israel instead of trying to become "Israeli".

I used to hang out with the older yerushalmis when I was in the Mir. I loved to hear their stories and would shmooze with them a lot. Again, I was never and would never be considered Yerushalmi and didn't feel I ever had to. I was the Americaner.

In any case, my attachment and sense of belonging struck a cord way deeper then integrating into the Israeli society. It's intangible and I couldn't even begin to explain it.

Corrected my typos.

I passed by some charedi schoolgirls in shmuel hanavi and i overheard them talking about Britney Spears. What's the world coming to?

Went scuba diving at Eilat last week, an amazing experience. If you haven't done it yet, you must. You might want to wait for the summer because Eilat wasn't much warmer than Jeru.

My first impression was that the airport toilets had flush-pedals.

Nu? She had 2 kids by 25, what's not to like?

Last summer when I went, the only way to survive was underwater. It was 118 degrees all week.

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"Don't it always seem to go/
That you don't know what you got till it's gone.."

--Counting Crows/Joni M.



More like american seminary girls (in similar uniform to Israeli BYs) in the area on their way to/from chessed in Shm. H/Maalot Dafan/Arzei. It's sad when you find out the ipod one of them has with songs by the likes of MBD & Shwekey..are really just a cover for whatever teen singer is 'in' in the states.