Chanukah

Forget Christmas, I want Chanukah

Here are my reasons

1) Christmas: 1 day. Chanukah: 8 days! By the sheer numerical statistics it's better

2) Latkas are better than turkey and green beans

3) During Chanukah in Israel, you get sufganiyot

Look at how happy Blaise David is. His face alone is a case for Chanukah

But finally, the reason Chanukah beats Christmas is because it's not based on a story of a false messiah, and wrapped up in a modern story about a fat man in a red suit.

This is the World We Live In

My friends Brooke and Levi are coming to Israel. Yay! But they're not coming as tourists, instead as activists. They will be traveling throughout Israel, Asia and Africa over the next year to document those making the bold attempt at changing the world. They will be highlighting a variety of causes including poverty, veganism, environmentalism, human rights and the list goes on...

You can follow their journey at http://thisistheworldwelivein.com/

Yeah, they're kind of bad ass

Friends=Family

Yes, we're all born into a family with a mother, father and in the case of most people (excluding me), there's also brothers and sisters included in the equation. More fascinating than the clan we're born into is the people around us that we choose as friends. I can recall the strong and seemingly undying love and devotion I had for my group of friends in junior high and how that has changed, grown and matured into the relationships I have now.

This post is dedicated to the friends (family) from the past and the close ones I have now.

<3 of Israel

Here's some of the things that I love about Israel:

Pomegranates. I even bought a juicer from the Old City so I could make pomegranate juice at will.


The Temple Mount and everything else in this country that I was only able to read about in books before coming here. I'm so fortunate to be here.



Shabbat dinner. Whether it's in the kfar or at someone's house, it's the best night of the week.



Challah. Plain challah, with hummus or challah french toast. It's all so good.



Friends! I have met the best people who I know I'll be friends with for a long time.

Food in Bags

In Israel you'll find a variety of foods that, in the U.S., are located in boxes or cartons, but here are in bags. Weird? A bit. Fun? Definitely!



My favorite food-in-bag: Choco b'sackeet

Visitor

I'm so excited for my closest friend, Blaise David Lipman Embry, to visit in December. We'll be traveling around Israel, Jordan and Egypt. What a little Hanukkah miracle.

End of Ulpan; beginning of Holiday

Literally 12 hours after I took my final Hebrew exam on September 24th, I was on a plane to Munich! On my two-week trip I visited Munich, Paris, Prague and Berlin.

Paris bike tour

Paris

At the Musée d'Orsay with one of my favorite Manet paintings

Xavier Veilhan's installation at Versailles. In my opinion, the most beautiful piece of art in the entire place.





Prague



Monument to those who lost their lives and sanity because of Communism



Giant metronome

My Prague hostel

One of my favorite place in Prague: the Kampa Museum of Modern Central European Art.

View of the river from the Kampa Museum

Creepy babies

Me and creepy baby

Creepy babies on the TV Tower

Quaint little town outside of Munich

Post-Octoberfest crowd in Munich


Berlin with the best tour guide ever-Zach!



Berlin Wall: 20 year anniversary of its destruction



Jewish Museum in Berlin



Museum Island: my heaven



Seeing the Gates of Bablyon was quite possibly one of the happiest days of my life



Pergamon in Berlin



Favorite Modern Art Museum in Berlin: Berlinische Galerie



Berlinische Galerie



Memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust



Inside the Holocaust memorial

I had an amazing time in Europe visiting museums, monuments and some friends I made at Hebrew University this past summer.