Awareness is Contagious

America is such a large country, filled with so many people. Some of the most intelligent, kind and charming people I've ever met reside in America. However, sometimes people are so concerned with their own lives, their own problems and dramas that they become ignorant. Ignorant of the world around them. I'm definitely aware that we are all entitled to our own opinions, being a former journalist, I've come to appreciate what it means to be non-judgmental. So this is my opinion.

As a resident of this world, I feel that it's important to know about what's going on in other parts of the world. We all live our lives differently and often times your place of residence can affect they way you live your life. Living in Israel is affecting my life. It's changing my life and making me more aware of what's going on here and what Americans may not have been informed of. Every day Jewish people in this country are fighting for their religion and their right to be here. Most people are aware of the Jewish-Arab conflict but I'm not so sure they know how often Israelis have to deal with it. It's not just bombs. It's hurtful words, it's people's personal property being destroyed and having large rocks thrown at them. Yes, it happens. And no, these hateful actions are not reserved for the Gaza Strip. It happens in Jerusalem and it happens in Yafo, Tel Aviv.

As I was having my breakfast this morning, I looked down on the couch and saw a picture in the newspaper that shocked me. Several Arab men were destroying a Jewish person's car that was parked in Jerusalem. The first thought that popped into my head was, "Why didn't anyone stop them?" But I guess living here hasn't changed the fact that I'm still a bit naive.

From what I've been told, this kind of stuff happens all the time. I saw other pictures in which Arab men were throwing some pretty big rocks at a bus filled with Orthodox Jews and lighting a car on fire. "This happens all the time," they tell me. But that doesn't make it okay. It makes me sad to think that it could have been anyone on that bus, it could have been one of my cousins or it could have been me. Anyone could have easily been knocked unconscious by the size of those rocks. The point is that even I didn't know it was quite that common. Hate crimes can be avoided. We work toward so much for our future. Why not work toward tolerance? It's important to talk about these things. Do you know what's going on in your country? In your world? Because honey, this is YOUR world. We all live here, breathe the same air and require the same basic necessities to live. Be aware because your awareness is contagious and it's about time this universe was infected with something positive.

TTFN XX

A Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur. Some of you may be familiar with the holiday. For those who aren't, let me give you the run down. Yom Kippur is the highest Jewish holiday in which we cannot eat, drink, use any type of electricity or light any fires for 25 hours. There is so much that we can't do so it might just be easier to tell you what we are allowed to do, which is sleep, read, walk, talk, go to the bathroom and wash our hands. If you're wondering if we're allowed to shower, the answer is "no." The main purpose of this extremely holy day is to atone for any sins we may have committed during the past year, which is also why Yom Kippur is always right after our New Year (Rosh Hashana). Now I usually dread Yom Kippur because I love food and because no one else I know celebrates the holiday so I always feel like I'm suffering alone. But I couldn't be further from the truth.

Never in my entire 22 years of living on this Earth have I ever seen an entire nation come together to celebrate a holiday in tandem. We celebrate many holidays in America but because the country has come to be a melting pot of sorts, there is not one single holiday that the entire country celebrates together. Since most of Israel is Jewish and Yom Kippur is such a high holiday, a great majority of the country celebrates it.

We start the holiday right before sundown, by eating foods that satisfy, like chick peas, eggs and rice. After the meal we lounge around for a bit and wait for nightfall. The main idea (for young people at least) is to stay up really late so that we can sleep during the day and not feel the fast very much.

As the stars began to take their places in the sky, my cousin and I made our way to the main street in Holon. Since no one is allowed to drive during Yom Kippur, people were walking in the middle of the streets with no worries of being run over. I had already begun to be amazed by the sight of people walking everywhere but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw as we approached the main street. A very large street usually packed with cars on their way to various destinations, tonight the dreary asphalt was brought to life with hundreds and hundreds of people walking all over it. Already a brilliant sight, it was even more radiant because almost everyone was dressed in white. It is tradition to wear white during Yom Kippur because it is the color of purity.

We walked around for a while and talked to so many people I couldn't even remember all of their names. As my eyelids began to feel heavy, I headed back home. As I walked the 20 minutes it took to get back home, my mind was clouded with all the charming memories I had just made. I may never be in Israel again for Yom Kippur but I will never forget the way the streets looked that very night.

TTFN XX

Back In Businesss

Dearest Readers, I'm not sure if you noticed but I haven't really posted anything new lately. I've been a bad blogger! My apologies. The truth is, I've had a pretty stressful past couple of weeks :-/ I'm actually not living in Ariel anymore. Living with my sister and her husband wasn't working out so great so I thought it would be best to go elsewherez. Yes, that means I don't have a job anymore either. But I'm working on getting a new one. I'm staying in Holon now, with my awesome cousins. They've been incredibly welcoming and I know that things will start to get real fun once I finish getting settled in. As for now, I got a bit lost on the bus today, which I was totally expecting but you live and you learn. I just wish I didn't have to learn in 105 degree weather.
School is going pretty well, I got almost everyone in class to start speaking English. I feel like a proud parent. Everyone talks to me about what they like and dislike about Israel and how they'd love to visit America one day. They ask me lots of questions like, how are your teeth so white? and do you have lots of celebrity friends? Needless to say, I am fascinated every day. Sometimes I love that things are so different here but other times I can't stand it. I guess this all comes with the territory. Moving your life across the globe is pretty hard and I'm understanding this more and more each day.
p.s. I totally have a tan now. My 110 spf is no match for this medeteranian sun.

TTFN XX