Tuesday, January 6, 2009

13 Things I Love About Israel

This is a (slightly edited) repost from May, 2008, in honor of The Real Israel's "Why I Love Israel" Carnival (to be posted on Wednesday, I believe) Now UP!!!

(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.

Plus, read my 60bloggers post about Israel here.

What do you love about Israel?

P.S. Make sure you're still checking out Jack, who is regularly posting updated roundups of posts and news, as well as Muqata and IsraellyCool who are both live-blogging. Other really great posts this week have come from A Soldier's Mother and this piece by Daniel Gordis too.

5 comments:

RivkA with a capital A said...

Watching kids play in parks that are full of ancient artifacts -- this is one of my favorites! My kids learn in the Old City and they run around these ancient sites as if they were their backyard. It is SO COOOL!!

Anonymous said...

I'm so sad to see the big fuss the media is making of this gaza strip stuff....Israel has been under attack for a long time and it never got this type of coverage!

Mottel said...

Your reasons touched a chord in me, why I too loved being in Israel.
What do you mean by rachel's poems though?

Marci said...

LOL - I just did this today, and really enjoyed the exercise. Your list is wonderful!! You reminded me of so many things I left out :)

Anonymous said...

"Feeling like I'm coming home," is so true. It brings tears to my eyes sometimes when I hear fellow Jews say that about Israel because a lot of people just don't understand how much we have wanted acceptance of our different identities for so long. We finally have a place to do these totally tolerated!

I personally love being able to wear a kippah in public and not being thought of as a religious wacko! =)