From 90210 to Sderot

I've participated in and staffed dozens of trips and missions to Israel. This last one -- a Birthright Israel Solidarity Mission that I staffed as part of my work as Israel Liaison for Birthright Israel Foundation -- was the most meaningful of them all, by far. Picture of the American participants on the solidarity mission, outside the Sderot municipality building.  We visited the South of Israel last week on the Gaza Border Region which is today a closed military zone. We went to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Kibbutz Alumim, Netivot and Sderot, where I lived for a bit in 2007/2008 to volunteer and write about life under rocket fire on this blog,  From 90210 to Sderot. It just made sense to post my reflections here, as I used to back in the day when I was living down there.  So many of us have been on tours of Sderot and been there in the police station. And now it’s gone.  A picture of me in 2007 with a rocket that had landed near me while giving out  Sufganiyot  on C...

Check out this article - UNRWA supsends Gaza aid after Hamas steals supplies .  And this is being covered by international news agencies as well. CNN - UN suspends Gaza aid shipments  BBC -   UN Halts Gaza aid over 'thefts' So here's the story.  As soon as the UN aid - over 200 tons of grain, flour, etc - made its way through the Kerem Shalom Crossing from Israel into Gaza on Thursday, it was seized by trucks contracted by the Hamas Ministry of Social Affairs. Are we seeing the emergence of the ruthless, Islamist, terrorist version of Robin Hood? Hamas claims that the UN was distributing aid to their "enemies", and was being political in their actions, and therefore they needed to change the situation on the ground.  This incident, which is the second time Hamas has jacked UN this week, is not a new trend. They love to take, take, take. Nuaf Atar, a Fatah operative captured during last month's war in Gaza, told the Israeli Shin Bet (Security Agency) that the ...

In the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East) came to our attention when the IDF struck an UN school after Hamas terrorists hiding amongst the civilians seeking shelter in the school fired mortars at Israeli forces.  According a report I read, the Hamas dudes had been holding the women and children in the school hostage - what a surprise, terrorists using human shields against Israel! There is precedent for Hamas doing this. Look at this video from October 2007 of terrorists launching mortars from a UN school.  On the other hand, UNWRA's man in charge in Gaza declared that there is no evidence of Hamas using his school to hide, or do any other of the shady/scandalous/terroristy things that they do.  If that's what Mr. UNWRA has to say, then it's obviously true.  Of course, Israel was not attacked by terrorists from the school because how could bad guys be hiding in ...

I just returned from a two week visit to Israel. I spent my last weekend in Sderot and the Western Negev. One year out from volunteering in Sderot, I have written this piece on the international media's lack of context in covering the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. Get the Story Right! Hundreds of journalists from all over the world just left Sderot and the surrounding areas covering the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. Where were they one year ago? Where were they four years ago, eight years ago? I spent six weeks volunteering in Sderot exactly one year ago, and I can tell you, the journalists were no where to be found.  (Look at the little  village they had overlooking Gaza) Unfortunately for Israel, it took eight years for the international community to understand that innocent civilians in a western democracy live daily under the current threat of rocket fire. During this time, the range of the threat expanded from a tens of thousands to over one million i...

My flight to England (where I'm going to study this upcoming semester) boards in 10 minutes. I've officially left Sderot for now (much to my parent's happiness), but there's no doubt in my mind, I will be back. I dreamt last night of Qassams; thought I heard a boom as I woke up. The alerts in the airport as you wait for security sound like the alert before the "Tzevah Adom" sounds. I wonder how long it will take for me to forget the daily booms and alerts that were apart of my life for the last month. I wonder, will I ever? Sderot will always be with me in my heart, and it should be for you too. My plight to help the people down there has only begun, for now I'm ready to engage the world, to spread the word of the constant horror and terror of life in Sderot. In the coming week, I'm starting a blog with a Palestinian student at George Mason University (20 minutes from GW, my university in the states) workings as a freelance journalist in Nablus and Teh...

Check this out - good stuff. Click Here

Today I went to the hip-hop dance class for 10-12 year olds in Sderot. Not only was I the only high school graduate in the class (besides the teacher), I was the only boy. As many of my good friends at home - including my wonderful 18 year-old sister, Gaby - are hip-hop stars, I was pretty familiar with the dance moves. See below – I’m rocking out (focus on the last 15 seconds, really see the extent of my skills). The dance studio looks like it could be from L.A. Mirrors, rails on the side of the room (for ballet?), hardwood floors, a sweet stereo – it’s got it all. I could see Britney in the 90’s using this facitily to practice her moves before the Oopps I Did it Again music video. In the studio, an alarm goes off when “Tzevah Adom” occurs, and the class runs to the shelter near by. That withstanding, dance class seems to be the greatest escape from the constant sound of “Tzevah Adom” and the daily landing of Qassam rockets into the city. You’re completely isolated from the...

Today I met Nicol Alchazov, a Russian immigrant to Sderot over 13 years ago. She was in the firefighters unit in the army, and upon her withdrawal, was admitted to be tested to be the first firewoman in Israel (that year Israel decided women could be firefighters). According to Nicol, two of the four women had what they call in Israel - "protexia" (connections) - so she didn't get the job. A few years after the army, she became a manager in a textiles factory in Sderot. One of the owners of the factory is Palestinian and the other is Jewish. Before the disengagement, seven of the workers there were Palestinian. Nicol made friends with the Palestinian workers and still keeps in touch with one today. Here's what's really interesting: The Palestinian owner's brother - who lives in Gaza - calls Nicol to see how she's doing on days when lots of Qassams land in Sderot. How crazy is that? Someone from Gaza calls a friend in Sderot to see how she's doing...

Shimon Bouskila, also known as Shupan, grew up in Sderot and has been a hairstylist for twenty-three years. Five years ago, a Kassam rocket landed right in front of his barbershop, breaking the glass windows and causing damage to his shop. He was the first person to see the Kassam and as soon as he laid eyes on the rocket, the idea came to him – the “Kassam hair-due”. Free of charge, anyone can get Shupan’s specialty. He said besides the time he did the hair-due for a local model, one person asked him to give him “the Kassam” for a costume in celebration of the Jewish holiday Purim (customary to dress up for this holiday). Shupan doesn’t stop with the Kassams. He can also fashion your hair into a Menorah and a Shofar, the trumpet-like biblical instrument made form a ram’s horn. Shupan also did a promotional hair-due for the German based hair product company, Wella. The Sderot hairstylist uses Israeli supermodels to show off his specialties, with Miri Boadana pictured with the ...

After the presentation with the WUJS (talked about it in prior entry), I saw some kids outside the cinema playing soccer (futbol). I've never really enjoyed the sport, you know, it's for Europeans. That withstanding, I still joined on in and played a little. I got in the action, starting kicking the ball around. Then I proposed an idea to the kids. Let's play a game. And of course the 11 year olds were like, hell ya we want to play a game. This was the game. I was the goalie. Each player (11 year old kid) got three penalty shots on me in goal. Whoever made the most - obviously - would be the winner. In 3rd grade, I was the best goalie in the Macabee League (Jewish league in L.A.) - or so I like to think. So I brought my "A" game - 110 percent baby. I shut Shaked (one of the kids) down - 0 for 3 - sorry buddy. But the other two kids, they got one goal on me. I was just being nice though. After the game, we just played with the ball for a while. Then I...

Today the Sderot Media Center did a presentation for 120 students from around the world on a trip to Israel with thel World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) - great networking opportunity if you know what I mean. We started at the police station and ended up at the Sderot Cinema to watch important videos and hear from important speakers on the situation in Sderot. We heard from Tal, one resturaunt-bar owner in the town. She retold the story of when a Qassam landed thirty feet outside of her eatery, while she and her cook were preparing the grub an hour before opening. Someone in the audience asked: "So what did you do right after the Qassam fell?" Tal responded, "Drank a cup of Whiskey - relaxed - and then opened the resturaunt on time - with the broken windows and all". Someone else asked why she opened a resturaunt-bar in Sderot. The eatery owner said people here in Sderot also have lives; they like to eat, drink, go out on dates, do things you guys do. It...

Check this article out. Mentioned by the editor of the Jewish Journal - top ten mensch in L.A! Pretty sweet honor right? Click Here: Brave + mensch = ? By Rob Eshman, Editor-in-Chief Three years ago, we were sitting around our offices dreaming up an end-of-the-year issue, inundated with examples from other magazines: The Ten Best Movies, The Ten Richest Angelenos, The Ten Most Powerful Hollywood Players, The Ten Top Restaurants, The Ten Hottest Bars and et cetera. Since these lists are both celebration and statement, we decided we wanted to promote something a little different. What if a list championed a Jewish value, not people, things or bars (not that there's anything wrong with them....)? Thus was born The Mensch List -- a roster that, humans being human, is far more difficult to crack than one tabulating power or wealth or even cool. But this year, after we made the list, I -- in the spirit of some holiday -- checked it twice. And there are four people missing. These a...

Here are pictures from the house hit by a Qassam rocket two weeks ago. All of the pictures show different Jewish Symbols, that in some miraculous way, survived the attack. Here is an excerpt of Noam Bedein's, director of the Sderot Media Center, report of the attack. When the Chabad Rabbi of Sderot, Chaim Pizen, viewed the damage on Mount Sinai Street in Sderot the day after the eight day holiday of Chanukah finished, he remarked, “The Miracles that we are seeing in Sderot have revealed themselves more clearly than the miracles we witnessed on Mount Sinai itself”...

Yesterday, I went to Cherna Rosenberg's house for lunch and stuff. Cherna, who lived in Israel from 1964-1984, returned from Canada to Israel in January 2006, to Sderot of all places. Yes, Cherna made Aliyah to a town safer than any gated community in the San Fernando Valley. Cherna's grub was phenominal - I'm still stuffed! The conversation, however, was even better. She delighted me with her candor, humor and passion. Cherna did move to Sderot so, umm, the new immigrant's got a little personality to say the least. Cherna, in her sixties, is my kind of lady- she says what's on her mind, always. Even being the crazy Zionist that she is, her second husband of thirty years comes from the Druze population in Israel. To most people, that might seem odd, but to Cherna - it was an obvious choice. The dude loved Israel and served in the IDF - a zionist at heart- perfect match. Her house, like many others in Sderot, is not protected from Qassam rockets. If you don...

Yesterday was my first day back in Sderot since the Qassam attack on Thursday. I convinced my good friend David Lawrence Abraham to come down with me; I wanted to give him a tour – my first one! As soon as we arrived into town, we headed directly to the police station. There we met these two young guys from New York (still a few years older than me), who just so happened to stop in Sderot (of all places) on their way to enjoying stuff, foreign to the western Negev, in Eilat. I gave em’ a quick run down on Qassam rockets: what the different colors mean, their impact, how many are launched – all the good stuff. We go outside, and they ask me “so where should we go in Sderot, seems like a happening town” (it went something like that, they were pretty funny), and I’m like, “Yo, I’ll take you around, got a car?” Knowing I needed to pick up my laundry and get a ride for David and I to Kibbutz Saad (where we were going for the afternoon), it was the perfect situation. Ari and Adam, the ...