34. SMART PEOPLE

There are so many smart people in such a small country.

Factoid: Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. 24% of Israel's workforce holds university degrees.

33. Astonishing

In any comparison of the lives and accomplishments of a civilization - Israel is beyond simply "awesome". It is "astonishing".

Factoid: Depite being a comparative small and young country Israel has 9 Nobel laureates. They are;
Ada E. Yonath, Chemistry, 2009

Robert Aumann, Economics, 2005

Aaron Ciechanover, Chemistry, 2004

Avram Hershko, Chemistry, 2004

Daniel Kahneman, Economics, 2002

Yitzhak Rabin, Peace, 1994

Shimon Peres, Peace, 1994

Menachem Begin, Peace, 1978

Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Literature, 1966

32. Tipat Halav (well baby clinics)

When my wife gave birth to our first child, she was registered in the hospital under her maiden name. A few weeks after our daughter was born, we got a phone call from our local Tipat Halav clinic. Because of the difference in last names, they did not realize that I had already brought the baby in for her first checkup.

In other words: Tipat Halav makes sure that your baby gets the medical attention it needs. If you don't bring your baby in, they will call you to remind you. This way, every baby gets the care it needs, no matter what.

Isn't that awesome?

Factoid: The National Health Insurance Law sets forth the state's responsibility to provide health services for all residents of the country. Medical services are provided through four health insurance companies (sick funds) also known as Kupat Holim.

31. Bat Mitzvah Program

Jerusalem is an awesome place in Israel. The Kotel is such an amazing place. They have a program there for bar and bat mitzvah’s. They take you on a tour of the Kotel tunnels and connect it to your parsha. That was my favorite part.

Factoid: The tunnel at the Kotel (Minheret Hakotel) is adjacent to the Western Wall and is located under buildings of the Old City of Jerusalem. While the open-air portion of the Western Wall is approximately 60 m long, the majority of its original length is hidden underground. The tunnel allows access to an additional 485 meters of the wall.

30. Food

You can find foods from all over the world.

Factoid: Humus, falafel, goulash, or couscous are only some of the choices of ethnic cuisine that are available in Israel. Jews have returned from more than 80 different countries, bringing with them the foods and recipes they developed during their wanderings. These traditions have commingled with other Jewish recipes, dietary laws, and the native ingredients of the Land of Israel to create an awesome culinary experience.

29. Me'arat HaMachpela

The most amazing thing about Israel is the Me'arat HaMachpela.

Factoid: The Cave of Machpela (the Tomb of the Patriarchs) is located in the ancient city of Hebron. The site is the burial place of three Biblical couples: Abraham and Sarah; Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob and Leah. According to Midrash and other sources the Cave of the Patriarchs also contains the head of Esau.

28. Acco

Acco - where I have a pen pal.

Factoid: The city of Acre or Acco is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, dating back to the time of the Pharaoh Thutmose III (1504-1450 BCE). Acre has a population of approximately 46,000 people.

27. Red Chicken Lollipops

Israel is the only place that they sell lollipops that look like red chickens.

Factoid: The Red Heifer (פרה אדמה‎; Parah Adumah) in Judaism, is a sacrificial cow whose ashes are used for the ritual purification of people who come into contact with a corpse. However, we have not found any references in the Torah to red chicken lollipops.

26. Cell Phone

Israel made the cell phone which is the best thing ever to me.

Factoid: The cell phone was invented by Motorola, with it’s largest R&D center in Israel. Other cell phone applications invented in Israel - GPS, text and IM.

25. Accents

Israel has such cool monuments and even better Israeli accents from the people.

Factoid: In the 15th edition of Ethnologue - it lists 33 different languages and dialects spoken in local communities in Israel.

24. Rhythmic Gymnastic

Israel has an awesome rhythmic gymnastics program.

Factoid: At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Israel came in sixth in the final round of the rhythmic gymnastics competition.

23. Walking Distance

Everything is in walking distance.

Factoid: The width of the country, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east, can be crossed by car in about 90 minutes; and the trip from Metulla, in the far North, to Eilat at the country's southern tip takes about nine hours.

22. The Masada

The Masada.

Factoid: Masada is the site of the most dramatic and symbolic act in Jewish history, where in the year 74 C.E., its 960 inhabitants chose mass suicide rather than face certain capture, defeat, slavery or execution by their enemies. The account of the siege of Masada was related to Josephus by two women who survived the suicide by hiding inside a cistern along with five children. Masada is located at the top of an isolated rock on the edge of the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea valley, between Sdom and Ein Gedi.

21. The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea. You float instead of sinking which is awesome.

Factoid: The Dead Sea (Yam Hamelakh -- "The Salt Sea") is the lowest place on earth, roughly 1,300 feet below sea level. It is 34 miles long and varies between 11 miles and 2 miles in width. The Sea is 1,400 feet deep. People float effortlessly on the waters of the Dead Sea due to its concentration of minerals, which is the highest in the world.  

20. My Grandma's House

What I love about Israel is playing at my grandmother’s house and then eating falafel.

Factoid: Falafel is a fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas and/or fava beans. Falafel is usually served in a pita. The falafel balls are topped with salads, pickled vegetables and hot sauce, and drizzled with t'china sauce.

19. Freedom of expression

It is a place where we are able to express ourselves freely as Jewish people.

Factoid: Yom Ha'atzmaut is Israel's independence day. It commemorates the 

declaration of independence of the modern State of Israel that took place on the 5th of Iyar 5708 - May14, 1948. It is preceded by Yom Hazikaron Israel's Memorial Day. In 2010, Israel honored the memory of 22,684 soldiers killed in the line of duty and 3,971 civilian terror victims.

18. The Brave Soldier

There was an Israeli solider that jumped on a grenade to save all the other soldiers. His name was Roei Klein.

Factoid: Roei Klein was a commander in the IDF. During the war against Hezbollah (2006), he noticed a grenade thrown into the room they were in. He saved his fellow soldiers by leaping on the live grenade, his body taking most of the blast. 

17. My Homeland

Israel is my homeland! It is home for Jews from all over the world!

Factoid:
David Ben-Gurion - Plonsk, Poland, 
Menachem Begin – Brest-Litovsk, Poland

Yitzhak Rabin – Jerusalem, Israel, 
Ariel Sharon – Kfar Malal, Israel, 
Levi Eshkol – Oratovo, Ukraine, 
Golda Meir – Kiev, Ukraine, 
Moshe Dayan - kibbutz Deganya Alef, Israel, 
Yigal Allon - Kfar Tavor, Israel

16. Flags are Everywhere

The amount of Israeli flags one sees just on a typical day. It makes everyone proud and it creates a sense of unity.

Factoid: This design was first displayed in Rishon-LeZion in 1885 and was also used at the First Zionist Congress in 1897. It was inspired by the tallit.  The flag was adopted officially on October 28, 1948, five months after the country's establishment.

In 2007, an Israeli flag measuring 660 meters (2,165 feet) long and 100 meters (330 feet) wide and weighing 5.2 metric tons, was unfurled near the ancient Jewish fortress of Masada, breaking the world record for the largest flag.

15. We Can Do it

The most wonderful thing about Israel is the spirit of “ We Can Do It.”

Factoid: Operation Entebbe (Thunderbolt) was a hostage-rescue mission carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on July 4, 1976. 
An Air France plane with 300 passengers was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and supporters. Shortly after landing, all non-Jewish passengers were released. Israeli transport planes carried 100 elite commandos over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) to Uganda for the rescue operation. The operation, lasted 90 minutes. 103 hostages were escued. 
All the hijackers, three hostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed. One IDF commander, Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed. He was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, currently the Prime Minister of Israel. The operation is often referred to as “Operation Yonatan.”

14. My Brother in Yeshiva

My brother is studying in a Yeshivah in Jerusalem.

Factoid: A Yeshiva is an academy for (boys/men) the advanced study of Jewish texts. A girls Yeshiva is most often referred to as a Seminary.

13. Birkat Kohanim

During Birkat Kohanim you can see the Kohanim put their "talleisim" over their heads every day of the year.

Factoid: Brikat Kohanim is the Priestly Blessing performed on a daily basis in the land of Israel. In the diaspora  the ceremony is performed only on Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. 

12. My Aunt's Apple Strudel

My aunt’s apple strudel.

Factoid: A strudel is pastry made from a thin sheet of dough rolled up with filling and baked.

11. Kever Rachel

My family, the kotel, and Kever Rachel.

Factoid: "And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day." —Genesis 35:19-20

10. The Atara Cafe

French onion soup and ice coffee with ice cream at Café Atara on Ben Yehudah Street. La ulpan 1978.

Factoid: Ben Yehuda Street is a major street in downtown Jerusalem. It is now a pedestrian mall and closed to traffic. 

9. Cheerful Tears

My first experience of The Kotel (Western Wall) - I stood at the front with some of my childhood friends. We sang, danced, and cried in the country of my people.

Factoid: "The Kotel" or Kotel HaMa'aravi or in English the Western Wall. It is the last remnant of the second Beith HaMikdash (Holy Temple) that was destroyed in the year 70 C.E. 

8. Yom Yerushalayim

Being in Jerusalem on Yom Yerushalayim in 1973. There were hundreds of people at the Kotel, davening,talking, singing and dancing.There were Rabbanim and Ministers from Israel speaking about Jerusalem. The Chayalim (soilders) were there and all my friends.
Factiod: Yom Yerushalayim started after the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six Day war in June of 1967. Yom Yerushalayim is the newest holiday to be put on the calender.

7. No soldier left behind.

The State of Israel will never leave a soldier behind.

Gilad Shalit

Factoid: In the past 30 years, Israel has released approximately 7,000 Palestinian prisoners to secure the release of 18 Israeli soldiers and to retrieve the bodies of 8 others.

6. Smart people.

Israel's percentage of the total number of scientific articles published worldwide is almost 10 times higher than its percentage of the world's population.

Factoid: Israel is second only to the US in the number of patent applications filed every year.

5. Kosher McD's.

In Israel you can go to a Kosher McDonald's.

Factoid: McDonald's Israel opened its first restaurant in October 1993. There are seven Kosher McDonalds in Israel.

4. Only in Israel.

Combat soldiers aren't embarrassed to phone their mothers and grandmothers.

Factoid: The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: Tzva Hagana LeYisra'el) commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal, are the overall unified armed forces of Israel.

3. All you need is love

It is the best place on earth to meet and fall in love with Jewish people from near and far.

Factoid: Every year 15,234 couples get married in Israel. The average age at marriage is 24.6 for women and 25.5 for men.

2. The "shuk"

The Machaneh Yehuda market in Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon.

Factoid: Machane Yehuda is an open market in  Jerusalem also known as a “shuk”.

1. Yum, Yum.

The fresh sofganiot from the Marzipan bakery in Jerusalem - so many fillings choices, I had to try them all.

Factoid: A sofgania is a type of doughnut eaten during the festival of Chanukah.