Domino's Pizza Delivers...to Haifa!

Whether you are watching the ballgame somewhere in Iowa, or drinkin' some Gold Star beer with your chevre in Haifa, you need pizza.  Domino's Pizza delivers!  Here's a refrigerator magnet I picked up in Haifa in 2005.

OTZMA X - Tiyul to the Shfela Plain (1996)

Part of my OTZMA experience (www.otzma.com) was a stint as a volunteer on Hatzerim Air Force Base.  During those weeks, we took a day-long tiyul (tour) of sites in the Shfela Plain.

For a .PDF of both sides of the document, click here:   http://www.divshare.com/download/8617935-855

OTZMA X (1995-96)

I really can't explain how important the OTZMA program was in the context of my life.  After graduating college, I went on this 10-month journey (I actually stretched it to a year), and haven't been the same since.  My connections to Israel and Judaism strengthened and I now see this experience as one of the important milestones in my life.  Birth, College, OTZMA, Marriage, Children:  It may sound like I am going over the top, but trust me, I'm not.  The "X" means this was the 10th iteration of the program.

This photo (that's me in the back row/center - eyes closed, of course) was taken at the end of our initial 3-month stay at Kibbutz Ma'ayan Tzvi, where I volunteered as a gardener.  No, not planting tomatoes like your grandma, but essentially landscaping and irrigating the entire kibbutz.  I had a ball and was thankful I wasn't working down in the fish ponds.

My connection to the Land of Israel has only strengthened since 1996.  I have returned numerous times, and was married in Haifa in 2002.

Later in the program I was stationed elsewhere in Israel, specifically Beit She'an in the North, but I often skipped out on my "duties" (volunteering at a school) to go have fun with my Israeli boss-turned-friend who lived down the road at Kibbutz Nir David.

I encourage any recent college grad to check out the program at www.otzma.com.

Yitzhak Rabin Telecard (1995)

Following Yitzhak Rabin's assassination on 4 November 1995, the term "לא לאלימות" or "No To Violence," gained a lot of popularity.  Not simply as a term, but as a meaningful realization that the right-wing political rhetoric may have gone too far.  Before Rabin died, some rabbis associated with the right (I emphasize some, NOT all) placed curses on Rabin, images of Rabin in Nazi uniform circulated widely, and a general extreme hatred of him and his policies began to spread.  I picked up this telecard (used to place calls at public phones) in '95.

Salute To Israel Parade, NYC (1968)

Although this photo was taken a few years before I was born, I thought it would be great for my first post! (I just won this photo on ePay)

It is Erev Rosh Hasahna 5770. Yitzhak Rabin is a man I will always admire.  His bravery on the battlefield can never be questioned, and his bravery in Knesset is something that every politician should strive to duplicate.  Though his legacy will always be debated, I see him as a true hero - a man willing to risk everything for the sake of his people.