Israelis born in other places, I want to hear your stories. Had you been to Isreal before you emigrated? When/where/how/why? Are you Jewish? Were you born Jewish? Did you know Hebrew? Did you learn it quickly? Did you move for religious reasons? Cultural reasons? Both? Neither? How have you been accepted there? How do you and your countrymen view immigrants? How different is your life there? How do you view the Tel Aviv/Jerusalem dichotomy? How do those in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem view it? Where in Israel do you live? Why? What do you think about it? Is it a very religious place? Do you visit sites that are culturally or spiritually important to Judaism? On a regular basis? If not, why not? Do you feel guilty about it? How old were you when you emigrated? What stage of your life were you in? Did your career path significantly change on account of moving there? Was it difficult to continue doing what you did before you came out? How was your military career? If you got a waiver, how/why/what kind? And if so, did you want to be waived from service? Are you glad you were? If not, do you look back and wish you had found a way to get out of service?
Feel free to answer all, none, or any combination of the above questions. I just want to know your story.
I’m asking this because I consider myself a Jew culturally but not religously. I was raised Jewish, I’m partially Jewish ethnically, and I’ve been to Israel once and the experience was beyond words. I had my mind set on emigrating to Israel when I came back to the states, but dropped that dream and joined the (US) military, which turned out to be a mistake, but that’s a story for another thread.
When I went to Israel I was infatuated. I told myself it was my home. I really felt like I needed to be there, but I never emigrated, and seeing a post in another thread by someone in Tel Aviv made me think about these questions. So, Israeli dopers, please, have at it!