The One Top Lesson I Learned from Basic Training in the Israel Defense Forces
It's one thing to go through a difficult or challenging life experience. It's another thing to figure out the best way to write the lessons of that difficult period of myself, a mere 18-19 year old, complete basic training in [...]
Staying Positive in Tough Times: 3 Top Lessons from my Memoir about Serving in the Israel Defense Forces
One of the hardest things I had to deal with while serving in the Israel Defense Forces was learning to keep the faith and staying upbeat in touch times. I hardly spent enough time in Israel as a kid to [...]
3 Lessons I Didn’t Know Before Writing My Memoir About Serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
"I want you to show me what type of power they exercised over you when you were younger. I really want to experience your life early on. What I would also like to experience is the emotional pull of your [...]
How I Was Able to Write About a Bullying Experience While Serving in the Israel Defense Forces for My Memoir Accidental Soldier
Chapter 10 of my memoir, Accidental Soldier: What My Service in the Israel Defense Forces Taught Me About Faith, Courage and Love and I'm faced with a daunting task of writing about a bullying scene which is key to solving my [...]
What Makes You Feel Emotionally Connected? Memoir of Serving in the Israel Defense Forces
The difference in size between the US and Israel is what makes the culture in Israel so accessible. When I first had my taste of watching IDF soldiers hitchhike and entertained the possibility of volunteering for the service, what comforted [...]
Blogging the Themes of My Memoir: Trying to Find a Home while Serving on a Kibbutz (Israel Defense Forces)
Doritos? Like what the fuck? How did he know to call me that name? He’s a Brit. They don’t have Doritos over there. Or do they? I want to tell him to go to hell. To shut the fuck up. [...]
How I Got to “BreakthroughLand” with My Memoir, “Silence: What the Israel Defense Forces Taught Me About Faith, Courage and Empowerment
Each day when I go to write at our local library or our neighborhood coffee shop to write my memoir, Silence: What the Israel Defense Forces Taught Me about Faith, Empowerment and Courage, I'm already filled up with nervous anticipation: [...]
The Long Bus Ride to the Kibbutz: Pre-Induction to the Israeli Defense Forces
Note from author: A "garin" is a term used to describe a group of young people (either immigrants or native born Israelis) who do the army together - from start to finish - usually in the Nahal unit/division of the [...]
Landing in Israel in 1990: My First Steps as a New Immigrant
Once I'm outside Ben Gurion airport and without my immigrant card, I try to remember what I'm supposed to do. Luckily, I have kept the letters my Dad and stepmother telling me about the brave decision I did to leave Mom and [...]
Green Beret: Our Twenty Eight Kilometer March in the Israeli Defense Forces
I had no idea how much 28 kilometers would really mean until we were about halfway through. Part of our march would lead us through the backway of houses and orchards and more apple fields. It was the first time [...]
Green Beret: Our Twenty Eight Kilometer March in the Israeli Defense Forces
The day of our twenty eight kilometer march was scorching hot. Our “special” meal for the day consisted of the same old – eggs, cottage cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, and hot tea – similar to kibbutz food. I ate an [...]
Basic Training in the Israeli Defense Forces
“Smol, smol, smol, yamin, smol!” Left, left, left, right, left!” Groups of girls march in uniform past our tents, to the dining room and from every which way. As we waited for our commanding officers to arrive to our platoon [...]
Singing in the Israeli Army
About halfway through our service on Shitim, a settlement in the middle of the Arava desert, the Israeli garin announced a theme night called, “An Evening for Love,” and I decided to contribute a musical solo by singing 2 well-known [...]
My Boyfriend in the Israeli Army
I could hear Eli’s excited voice echoing through the telephone at the communications room known as “the kesher” at settlement Shitim. “When you gonna visit again?” he asked. Eli called! Eli called! Could it mean I finally get an Israeli [...]