Thursday, May 8, 2008

13 Things I Love About Israel

(13 of the 13 bazillion...)

1. Felafel with cheeps and charif and pickles. Mmmmmm....

2. Walking on Ben Yehuda on Motzei Shabbat.

3. Watching kids play in parks that are full of ancient artifacts.

4. The whale sculpture in Old Jaffa.

5. Seeing Israeli kids riding the busses, hanging out, running around, just being kids and speaking Hebrew!

6. Spotting the blue paint in Tsfat.

7. Bumper stickers!!!!

8. The grottos of Rosh Hanikra, especially when the water levels are really high....

9. Watching the faces of first-timers when they really do float in the Dead Sea.

10. Reading Rachel's poems at her graveside.

11. Knowing that the young men and women carrying those big guns are Jewish kids ready to defend their homes and families.

12. Feeling Shabbat as it comes into Jerusalem...the frenzy of activity followed by the lovely calm. (And the shuk - rugelach and tomatoes and hummus and pita and spices and oranges and.....)

13. Feeling like I'm coming home.

Happy 60th Birthday, Israel!

(Read more about my recent Israel trips here and here)

See more Thursday Thirteen here.

Plus, read my 60bloggers post about Israel here.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this list. I wanna go home...

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Did you see Robin's awesome post today?

One day, I'll get there. The Tour Manager might be headed out on business next month; we're waiting to see.

Eve said...

Sounds like a lovely experience.

Juliana RW said...

Great post

Will you visit mine Thanks

Hootin Anni said...

Very educational list for me to read.

My 13 is a gross group of funny advertisements I made up for fun, and using this week's 'gross' theme for T-13. Hope you can stop by.

Robin said...

You could always make aliyah, and then you really would be coming home ;-).

Vered said...

"Watching the faces of first-timers when they really do float in the Dead Sea."
Priceless, isn't it?

Also... feeling Shabbat on the steets. I miss that.