Israel is way more diverse than one might imagine. Before I visited this country, I imagined a country full of white American Jews, basically like New York with an army. Now that I have been living in the Moishe House for Lone Soldiers here in Tel Aviv, I’ve been sharing my home with people from all around the world. We’ve had Brazilians, French people, Englishmen, African-American-Israelis, and even Israeli’s who have Lone Soldier classification in the army because for some reason or another their family could not support them. One guy specifically has an interesting story that I would like to share. His name is Claude, but we call him Putters for some reason. He is from London, and opted to come here on his own and enlist in the IDF. Originally his family is from Iraq, and sometime around 1948 his father traveled from Baghdad to Israel without the help of airplanes or cars. I’m not sure how he managed to make it here (I’m guessing camels were involved) but I imagine it wasn’t easy. Its stories like this that continue to amaze me, and challenge my preconceived notion of the Jewish State.
--Dave
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