Bear with me... I want to tell you about what it feels to be far, so far away from Israel, my heart and home... Each year from the 3rd week in December to the 2nd week in January, I ask myself the same 3 questions: Why is it so cold in Pittsburgh? Why is it [...]
Six years ago, I self-diagnosed myself with Reverse Culture Shock, or RCS, an emotional displacement syndrome. I know this because, after 7 years of doing reverse immigration to the States in 2007, I stumbled upon the symptoms of Reverse Culture Shock on an archived U.S. State Department's home page. Suddenly, I felt recognized and validated [...]
Today is my Jewish 50th birthday. Turning 50. Like...wow. What a milestone. 50 years ago on the Jewish calendar, G-d gifted me with life and my mother of blessed memory gave birth to me in New York City Hospital. Just the number itself feels round, full of hope, potential, and promise like the challahs I [...]
Now that I'm back on US soil, I feel compelled to share a report of the She Writes Press Israel edition tour I did for Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces. General thoughts and impressions: To be at my home country where I did my voluntary service in [...]
I'm way beyond excited to share the official news! I'm working on the second book in the Accidental Soldier series. If all goes well, it will be published sometime in 2017. (that doesn't seem a long time away in the grand publishing world of things!) The second book focuses on my displacement as an immigrant [...]
Yep. That's the question that concerns me too. But as a college freshman fresh from New York City. As an author of Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces, I'm revisiting this story again by sharing with you short video "sneak peaks" of each chapter. So here [...]
Each day as I build my business, I'm constantly making decisions that take me out of my comfort zone. You learn things as you go in less-than-perfect conditions. You feel inadequate, afraid, insecure. There's no guarantee you'll succeed and that can feel scary. Courage is a mindset that when nurtured earlier in life, allows you [...]
By the time I was inducted in the Israel Defense Forces on February 12, 1991, I was already making space for "something new," -- learning to coexist with an Israel culture as an American, and yet, I was running on "something borrowed" which turned out to be stale girlhood energy from years past. I'm a [...]
This coming of age story of transformation and personal growth is uniquely told from a female immigrant serving in the Israel Defense Forces. This post focuses on all the juicy bits - the scenes of courage that aren't in the memoir, from the scary to the unexpected. 1. Learning about mines on the Israeli-Syrian border. [...]
A new direction with my site has been brewing for the past few weeks. A new me. Part of me wanted to align the content from my memoir and yet, I'm also wearing all these other hats: radio show host, book marketer for writers and entrepreneurs. So I had a strategy call with my writing [...]
I've often wondered why these sections got the cut, (my memoir had to be pared down to below 100,000 words) and what prompted me to include them in the first place in my memoir Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces. (SheWritesPress, 2016) As I retyped them from the [...]
Just the other day I went to a networking event on a rooftop lounge known as Sky Bar in Pittsburgh. I felt antsy though prepared. It seemed as if everyone knew each other. Each person had a colored coded name tag for his/her industry and it seemed as if everyone was deep in chat. Who [...]
I'm an innocent nineteen year old American who decided to leave my hometown of New York City to serve in the Israel Defense Forces mainly to get away from Mom's irrational fear and worries. Everything I've in fact, learned about the Arab speaking world in Israel has been heavily influenced by the media in relation [...]