First I have to say it’s coming up on 20 years since I was in Israel. As a backdrop, at the time when I went, Israel had been in relative peace but the second half of this story there was a war going on. I’m not going to be detailing any of the political stuff that was going on but just know there was a lot more going on than courting.  This is just to give the women of Israel their flowers and share my experiences. At least half of the country is women so the character of the women tells a lot about the nation and the people as a whole.

All that to say, I don’t know what it’s like now but up to this point I’ve never seen women as beautiful, on the whole, as women in Israel. People will talk about it sometimes but I don’t think they get the credit they deserve. Being there in person was different. This was especially the case in Jerusalem across all faiths for the women that live there. It’s probably in the water.

When I was there, there were very few women who were overweight. They had natural faces, hair, and figures that were amazing especially for it to be the norm. There was an expression there at that time that the old ladies look like little girls and the little girls look like grown women. Women in Israel have a warrior spirit as military service is mandatory for women as well. There are a lot of women who do it because it is required but there are definitely some who live in the smoke. So this lends itself to a certain toughness and fitness across the board. You can find young Israeli women at a bar with an Uzi or M16 slung over their shoulder. At the same time these women carry themselves overall very modestly, respectfully, and gracefully. So it is natural to treat them as such. They take good care of themselves and are blessed.  Likewise, with everything they do, it is natural that they have commensurate requirements of their men.

This is no slight to anywhere else. This was just my experience when I was there. I think . Israel was the first place I visited when I got my passport and the reason I got a passport in the first place. I went on a six month visa and came back about a week or two shy of expiration. I didn’t come to Israel to find a wife but the more I planned my trip the more I thought about it as a possibility.

When I came to Israel, I was and still am a follower of Christ, a Christian, but I did and still do have issues with some parts of all the major religions as they are practiced. I did not grow up Jewish at all but I was told by my Paternal grandfather and my mother that we have some Jewish ancestors. So I was open to any woman regardless of her family’s religious affiliation because I knew my goal would be to lead her in truth.  So as long as she would follow my lead we would end up in the same place. It’s not always so simple but I still believe the same applies.

The strange thing is I remember a lot of people from my time in Israel. Some I stayed in contact with for years, a couple are still in my social media and a few I could contact today if I dug far enough back but none of them are women I dated or tried to court. More than that, I remember a lot of people’s names from when I was there. However, I don’t remember any of the women’s names who I dated even though I remember a lot of details. I suppose that says something about how my brain and memory works. I spent a lot of time after thinking about my time in Israel but even more time intentionally not thinking about the women I met in Israel besides a passing thought I pushed to the back of my mind. Once I’m involved with someone I try not to even give thought to past relationships but that’s not the case now. So, these are my recollections. Hopefully some of the things I learned, relearned, and am still learning will be beneficial to someone.

Daughter of Israel

The first woman I met was only through video when I was living in the tower of David. I had just arrived and knew no one. I was making some contacts online and just starting to explore my surroundings. I think we were using Yahoo video chat at that time.  We talked on the phone, then video quite a bit. She was in a different part of Israel. We were talking back and forth for a few weeks and planning to meet. She was currently in the military. She was somewhat tall, athletic, very pretty with thick, shiny wavy almost black hair. We never got into a deep spiritual conversation but we knew where each other were from and she knew I was a Messianic Christian. In a conversation going more into our  backgrounds I said something looking back that was dumb. I was giving her a compliment in my mind based on that she had a rich golden complexion and I said something related to her looking like a beautiful Egyptian.  She said calmly something like is that what I look like? I said “yeah you look like you could be Egyptian,” which in that moment seemed innocent. Then she said “is that what you think I am?”… and paused in a way to say think about what you’re saying.  I thought for a second and said no. She breathed a sigh of relief like she was recovering from an insult. I told her something like I think she’s beautiful whatever she is …and that made it worse.  She got cold fast and there was no explaining.

We talked a couple more times but it was obvious she took it seriously as the exact opposite of a compliment and didn’t forgive me.

I guess it wasn’t enough that I was sitting in the tower of David talking to a daughter of Israel, who are all soldiers, knowing that hostilities had not even been that long ago for me not to say something that dumb…Egypt and Israel haven’t had the best relationship since biblical times and God chose Israel as a nation (male and female) so it only makes sense that the standard would be being a true woman of Israel…I knew that even then but there was a cognitive dissonance. Chalk that up to speaking without thinking and having a subconscious association to Egyptians with beauty, gold, Cleopatra etc. As I reflect, I was also, in a way, disassociating her and myself from Israel and everything I already knew from history and the reality at the time. So never tell a beautiful Israeli she looks like a beautiful Egyptian!

The Israeli Activist

I met her in a bar in the old city. She was sitting at the bar by herself and I came up to the bar to order something trying to order in Hebrew but I wasn’t saying it right. So she was like “wait what are you trying to say?” She smoke English with no accent so I could tell she was American. So she told me how to say it. So we started talking and introduced ourselves. Then she was pointing to different things on the menu and she was impressed that I knew all the letters and sounds and that I could read Hebrew better than I could speak it or understand it. Then she was pointing out some stylized signs with non-standard fonts that were around to see if I could read them and understand them. She was pretty and petite with jet black straight hair and a bright personality. She was getting ready to leave but we exchanged numbers. I called her the next day and we spontaneously decided to meet again at the same place.

Now we’re having a deeper conversation. She was older than me. I was 25 and I think she was 32. She had made Eliyah but I don’t think she ever had to serve in the military. She was a writer / journalist / activist and was working with CNN if I remember correctly. She was also writing a book about what it means to be Jewish from the standpoint that being Jewish is unique in that it is considered a race, a religion and a nationality. That’s something that stuck with me. She was also a big advocate for Palestine which to me seemed strange and some of it seemed almost bordering on self-hate. Even with her being older and having more experience living in Israel, a lot of her viewpoints seemed naive to me. It was like she was on a mission to spread more western ideology. However, I felt, right or wrong everything was coming from the goodness of her heart with good intentions. We had fun and a good conversation.

She was leaving from Jerusalem to go to Tel Aviv the next day and then a bunch of other places in rapid succession related to her work to a point I didn’t think we were going to see each other again. We ended the night with a hug and kiss on the lips and I never saw her again.

So now I’m living in the Tower of David going to visit all the biblical sites and in between my eyes are bugged out of my head looking at what to me just looks like a sea of beautiful women everywhere I go. There was a lot more diversity in Israel than I expected also. So at this point I’m on my own and just planning where I want to visit in Israel and occasionally trying new foods or going to coffee shops and bars in the evenings.

The Hebrew Beyoncé 

I started talking to another Israelite girl on Yahoo who had dual citizenship in America. I don’t remember if she was born in the U.S. or Israel but she lived in between both and as far as being attractive she fell right in line. She was from Boston and her family was Jewish but she was kind of unsure and on the fence with Christianity and Judaism. If you saw her you would just think she was a black girl with curly wavy hair. She was a honey light brown complexion. Jews are stereotypically known for having large hook noses. Well she had the shape but she had a small button nose version of it. It’s hard to describe it and make it sound attractive but she was really pretty.

We made plans to meet in Tel Aviv. She told me her friends were going to be with her but I was cool with that at the time. When we were supposed to meet she was late and called me from somewhere else and I went somewhere else also and she ended up coming to meet me. However before she came she was telling me a particular friend was with her. She didn’t want me to be put off but this was a gay male friend. I still wasn’t in favor of it but I was more liberal minded then so I was like no problem. I was just interested in getting to know her.

When she showed up she looked amazing. Up to this point in my life I had never been out with a woman that was this glamorous looking. She had on a one piece short sleeve denim outfit that was tight and cut right below her butt cheeks. Her legs especially but all exposed skin was smooth and shimmering from whatever oils she used. Her nails and toes were done with blingy stilettos and she had a gold anklet and jewels on her toes that looked like real diamonds. She was ahead of her time. That wasn’t really a thing back then and it wasn’t some chunky crystals on her feet, it was some real artwork and sparkling. She was looking like a prettier finer version of Beyoncé.

So we’re walking and bar hopping and everything is going good. We’re kind of maintaining a distance from her friends (another girl and the gay friend) and just checking back in periodically or when we move to a new place.

That is where it went left. We got to one bar and her and her friends are speaking in Hebrew which I didn’t speak well. So she explained to me her friend wanted us to go with him in this bar which was gay bar. Of course I didn’t want to. I’m like I’ll just meet ya’ll somewhere when ya’ll leave. She’s like noooo we’re just going to be there a minute and putting her arm in mine hugging up to me. Saying like don’t worry I’ll make sure nobody bothers you kind of joking like she going to protect me. So I’m looking at her thinking like well I’m bout to be in the corner hugged up with her forget what these weirdos are doing. My spirit was telling me not to go but I went along. We sat in a section in the very back corner. I’m in the corner so no one can sit behind me or next to me on one side and she’s on my other side. I’m still uncomfortable and my inner voice was saying if Jesus shows up right now or you die in here you’re going to burn with them. On the outside I’m trying to be cool and cracking jokes to her privately making fun of some of the outlandish looking people in there. And of course we’re extra cuddly because of what she said before we came in. Probably not 5 minutes after we sit down, the gay friend gets up and walks to another man about 10 feet in front of us and starts sloppy tongue kissing this dude. I was done. It felt almost like the room was saying now that we’ve rocked him to sleep let the real evil begin. My mood went straight to disgust and anger at myself that I allowed this woman to influence me to go in there. I came to Israel to see the land of the Bible and here I am in a place like this.

I was like move get off me and I was gone out the door. It’s funny now but all I could think about was Sodom and Gomorrah…don’t even look back. She caught me down the street and they had come out the club too. I talked to her for a min and I was cordial but I was outta there. She tried to get me to stay out with them and even showed concern for me getting back to my hotel alone when I didn’t know the city or the language. I didn’t care about none of that. In that moment I just saw her as a Delilah like it was a spiritual attack. I don’t think that was her intention and she was really sweet with a fun personality but in that moment she was an instrument being used to corrupt me.  I know the logical thing to ask is what did you expect to see going into that place with her but the realization was actually traumatic. From then on a woman with a “gay best friend” is an automatic no go for me.

So I’m meeting all kinds of people around and I learned about a moshav for Christian volunteers. I went to see it and ended up becoming a volunteer where I went between working in the kitchen, which was at a restaurant that funded the Moshav, and doing security around the Moshav.

The Jerusalem Bombshell 

The restaurant was really busy all the time and during the time I was working in the kitchen I’m running through tons of dishes, pans, grills etc. with my headphones in, a big sprayer with a long cord just bobbing to the beat. There was a station around the corner that prepared all the fruits and vegetables. Next to the dishes, it was probably the busiest spot. There was a girl who worked there who would constantly be dropping off these bins for me to wash and bring back. A lot of times since it was mostly produce she would skip the line and just pop over and ask me to rinse them out real quick. So it’s a fast pace environment, the floor is wet and we’re sliding around the corner probably every 15 -30 mins or so back and forth. So at times we’re being playful with each other making little comments to each other to keep the day going.

Now I have to take a moment to describe her.  It’s redundant to say but she was beautiful. She was fair skin with thick black hair that had springy curls that were like black coils. Her features looked like you could drop her off in a Spanish or Afro-Caribbean country and no one could tell the difference. She was also as athletic and voluptuous at the same time as a woman could be. Anyone that saw her now would think she had her body done. Her proportions were very rare. She was the type that if she walked in the room where I’m from back then men would start talking under their breath, biting their lip, and stomping their feet. She was a little top heavy but very blessed everywhere and not fat at all. Her body was screaming fertility. She was a little stand-offish with everyone but with good reason. The other women did not like her. And they would be trying to make her out to be a bimbo or like she was dumb but she was actually smart and didn’t really talk to anybody. She wore her hair mostly in a pony tail and didn’t dress provocatively at all or wear makeup. It was a case of she’s just built like that. She can’t help it. She was either 20 or 21 from a Jewish family but I think she was at a point in her life of decision what she wants to do in general. Most of the people there were Christian. It was probably 70/30 with all the volunteers and employees.

After a while we started talking more and eating lunch together. She was mostly serious but I could make her laugh a little. There was supposedly a no fraternizing policy between Jews and Christians there but I didn’t care about that. I had never even heard it mentioned until we started talking and sitting together. There was a guy that worked with me sometimes. He was an Arab Christian. He reminded me of the guys from the Jersey Shore show. Same type gel spiked haircut, same style clothes and same kind of energy. He started working there around the same time she did. Before me and her started eating lunch together me and him would usually eat together. It was just a thing where we got cool working together. He was gone for maybe a week and that was when me and her started eating together. Before that he would see us interacting and have that “yeahhh bro” energy. If you’ve ever had a friend that gets more excited about you talking to someone than you do, that was him. On the other hand she did not like him at all. I get the feeling he might have said something to her real early on she didn’t like. So the day he comes back it’s around lunch time and he ask me something like am I ready to eat and I’m like I’m going to eat with her. So I did and after we’re coming back he had seen us together and he’s all excited like yeahhh bro she likes you. She’s still in the same room just on the other side of the dining area away from us. I’m telling him to chill and he’s still going. My back is turned to where she is but I know she’s back there. So I kind of half turn around to glance at her. And he’s like “oh no she saw me. This is bad. This is really bad.” I’m like what you mean?” At the same time I turned around and he’s like “yeahhhhh bro” he’s getting worked up doing like the coke bottle 36-24-36 curve hand gesture which I didn’t even see but it was a bad look from her perspective. After that she was giving me the cold shoulder and the next day the first thing is “You know your friend is not so smart!” I apologized for him and let her know I wasn’t encouraging or participating in. I even got him to apologize and he seemed sincere. However, I know in her mind she thought I had been doing what she was most sensitive to, which was objectifying her. Even though I wasn’t she didn’t forgive me. Maybe she secretly wanted me to put hands on him…which I don’t think he righteously deserved but I probably should have been more angry at him.

She was gone a week or so later. Besides just the volunteers there were always temp workers rotating in and out depending on how busy they were planning to be.

The Gothic Jewess

So now there’s a new girl on fruits and vegetables. She was pretty and petite with fair skin and very long black straight hair with a part down the middle mostly covering her face on both sides. She wore baggy all black goth style clothes. She was serious and kept a mean expression on her face. If you’ve ever seen someone really putting effort into frowning and looking mean that was her. So I’m just dealing with her cordially and she is doing likewise. As I mentioned there’s a lot of back and forth between these two areas. One day I just decided to start messing with her. Randomly I would just bring her stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with her area. First it was some meat tongs that they use in the grilling area. I stopped by and said “here these are for you…they work like this” open and closed the tongs a couple times real quick straight face like I’m really explaining something and walked off with her looking like she was trying to figure out if I was retarded. Then later on it was some of the plastic grapes from the dining area. Just dropped them off like here you go. I don’t remember what was next, but she came right back around the corner like “Hey! What is this?! I don’t need this!” I was trying to keep a straight face but couldn’t keep from smiling and then she broke too smiling pretty. From then on she was sweet. The next day we worked together she brought me a little chocolate. Then I brought her some candy. Then she would bring me little stuff to taste like try this…this went on for a few days.

I didn’t know but she had finished her temp assignment there. We hadn’t really talked much but we had said something about going out. After a few days she came back up there to say hi and give me her number. When she came she had gotten a big guaged septum nose ring. And she had a small slim face so it looked real crazy to me on her and I just kept thinking about the proverb that says, like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. So I really lost interest and we never went out.

Solomon’s Stone

Now there is yet another girl working on the fruits and vegetables. I’m not trying to be the guy that’s going out with all the fruit and vegetables girls but it’s just happening like that. Also out of the women I mentioned she was the one I was least attracted to initially. But in her case she was the one that was coming over all the time talking to me and just being nice in general. She was also the type to be “I may not be the most beautiful but …and list her good qualities with a smile. She was humble but confident and really upbeat. She was still cute with a round face.  We went out one time. She brought her friend with her who also works in the same restaurant further down around the corner. Her friend’s full mission was to make sure we didn’t have a good time. There personalities were totally opposite. The people actually on the date had a good time. The thing I remember is she said “I know at first you didn’t like me but I won you over with my inner beauty.” And she was right. We went several places that were nearby and the friend was always “I’m ready to goooo..” I think she invited herself from the beginning anyway. So the night ended early after it started turning to “I’m ready to go hoooomme” even when she got in the cab first as were saying goodnight to each other it was “let’s goooooo” Yela Yela Regardless me and her were still cool. We continued talking after that but the impasse was one conversation we were having she said “no matter what I’ll never leave Israel and not even visit more than a month.” I really respected that, but I wasn’t ready to make that commitment. I’m leaving soon too so it was apparent there was no future.

That’s three girls in a row … Now I really am the dude trying to date all the fruit and vegetable girls. I need to fall back. Also the war is getting more serious. The Israeli men have been called back to the military. The one volunteer who was really serious about security is leaving. There are two other volunteers doing security but they didn’t have any security or military training. We can see and hear sparks from the munitions in the distance at night when eating dinner. The good thing is we have a mountainous area on one side. We’re high up with a steep rocky climb to get to us on foot and I don’t think any vehicle could make it. The battles seemed far away from the everyday life there but we’re still actually in a potentially dangerous situation.  I don’t need to be playing patty-cake in the kitchen with the women. So I asked for the last month or so that I stay on security which was overnight.

My Essene Bride

It’s a little solitary because everybody is sleep and you’re making rounds so a lot of times we’d post up in different locations and just communicate by radio. Even though I’m living at the Moshav now I still had a place in the tower of David. So one day I’m off and decided to go to the old city by myself and spend the night there. I went to a club in Jerusalem that night that played like top 40 international type music.

We met on the dance floor and danced a little bit together and then we sat down and started talking.

-Explanation Needed

Before I tell the rest of the story, because it happens fast, I have to give some more background. When I said in the beginning that I am a Christian but had problems with all the major religions and denominations as they are practiced. This caused me to seek for an answer to the question: What is the way? At that time I reasoned that being an Essene would be the closest. The Essenes were a sect in Israel from 2nd century BC to 1st century. Jesus was said to have been an Essene. If you search in Google or ChatGPT it will tell you there are no Essenes in Israel. It will tell you there are no Essenes anywhere in existence who are the descendants of or even claim to be descendants of the original Essenes nor have there been for a very long time. You will only find new age mystics who have taken the name and added some new age philosophy but acknowledge they are not descendants of the original sect. Also if you study you will find that the early church was set up similar to how the Essenes lived sharing everything in common.

Now that that’s established let me describe her. She looked similar to how I described Hebrew Beyoncé, just as pretty but she was dressed more modestly and was a little thicker. She would be considered overweight there but still less than average weight for women in the U.S. especially where I’m from. She has a golden brown skin tone with wavy, curly hair that goes from dark brown to gold with fiery eyes. As I was writing this I was trying to figure out what ethnic mix made them look like this because I believe in both cases that was their natural hair not highlights. I had also seen some other women in Israel who had those same characteristics. It was a fashion then for Ethiopian women in Israel to bleach their hair a golden blond. However neither of these women looked Ethiopian. So then I thought maybe they were a mix of Ethiopian and Sephardic Jews. But then I remembered the Bedouins in Israel and started pulling up pictures of them and saw some that are right in line. I’ll add the pictures. Notably, some of these photos are old black and white pictures that A.I. can now colorize. They didn’t look specifically like the women pictured on an individual basis but they looked like they would be sisters or cousins in the same family. Bedouin are typically Arab Muslims though and neither of these women claimed that. “My Essene Bride” was wearing a shirt very similar to the blue dress the woman in the middle picture is wearing. In fact, it was like a maternity shirt that looked like a dress that would have been too short by itself, so she had shorts underneath. Anyway, just based off looks it seems like there is a genetic connection.

Back to the conversation. I don’t remember what was before, but she asked me whether I was Jewish, Christian or Muslim. I said something like I’m Christian but I lean more toward the Essene way. She said, “I am an Essene.” I was like huh?? with my face confused and I asked her again with emphasis like, “Essene? you know what that is?” and she said yes. She was so happy and hugging me tight.  We started dancing together again. This was not like twerking. This is more like seductive dance where she is going back and forth between facing me and pressing her back against me looking over her shoulder. All of this has been in probably our first 10 minutes of meeting. She finished the dance faced me and then pointed down with her finger with a look of surprise. I looked down and half my manhood is out my baggy jeans at full attention. He’s looking at me and I’m looking at him before I even recognized myself. OMG!!! I hurried up and put it back up and zipped my pants embarrassed looking from side to side to see who saw, which was probably just the few people standing in our immediate vicinity. That’s never happened before or since. She’s laughing and grabbed my hand to lead me away from the embarrassment. We went to the other side of the club. Im apologizing. I didn’t even feel the air touch me. She’s still laughing trying to talk and hugging me back and forth. I’m going over in my mind if I felt her touch my zipper at any point. I still don’t know. On the side of the club we’re on now there is a hallway that goes to another portion of this club which is basically its own separate club that is bigger than the side we’re on. It’s closed and all the lights are shut off and there are stacks of chairs at the entrance to block because there is no door separating the sides. Normally there is a security guard that sits at the other end of the corridor but he is not there. So we slide in between the chairs trying to disappear from the situation.

Now we’re in a totally different environment. It’s dark besides the moon light and streetlights through the bar style windows and the light leaking in from around the chairs. So now it’s like we have this whole club to ourselves. We looked around for a second. There were two bars and a couple corners and multiple exits. Now the tone has changed. This is all probably still within 15 mins of meeting each other. She’s like “it’s ok” and we start kissing. During this time she’s telling me I love you, I want to be your wife, I want to have your babies and everything good a woman can say to a man. Then we can hear somebody coming so we ducked behind one of the bars. I’m at a position where I can see the entrance and the security guard is coming back with a flashlight basically saying if somebody is back here come out. We’re ducked down looking at each other silently laughing. He went one way and we moved to another corner. He doesn’t really look hard because we could have already left out of one of the one way doors. As he’s leaving he says “You better not be back here having sex!” and he was dead serious. We were looking at each other laughing and as soon as he left what do you think we did?  We were back there a while. At one point we heard her sister talking to the security guard and saw her stick her head back there like they were going to start looking again. We put ourselves back together and left out one of the doors. We eventually met her sister again. I walked them to their cab and we said our goodnights. Everything was kisses and hugs.

The next morning she called me at around 10am crying saying she was pregnant. No test but she just felt it. Before that I had been celibate for over a year so I didn’t doubt it. Her sister wanted to take her to get the morning after pill. At that time I had just heard of it on TV. It may not have been new but I had never heard anyone I knew even talk about. Definitely wasn’t common like it is now. Of course I didn’t want her to take it. I calmed her down and told her to meet me in the evening. I didn’t have any children at that time. So my mind is racing thinking I might need to actually move to Israel now and what I’m going to do. I think we ended up meeting earlier around 3:00 pm. She came with her sister. She was like a totally different person. She had already taken it. She wouldn’t make eye contact with me or even say much. Her sister was the one doing the talking. And really it was like her sister just showed up to scold me. Like “who do you think you are getting my sister pregnant.” “My sister has her whole life ahead of her. You think she wants to have a baby by you?!” If I try to say something to her she just looking off with a kind of proud look. Sister gets in between pushes me in the chest like talk to me don’t talk to her. She’s painting her own picture. It was all negative and getting repetitive so I left.

Now my head is spinning trying to make sense of all this. Later that night I wanted to have a drink so I go out and I see them again and this is around the same time we had originally planned to meet. And here comes the sister as soon as she saw me like she wants to get me out of the area like I’m just a sister impregnator on the loose. She’s trying to make sure I don’t get anywhere close by her sister. With the talking down and pushing me in my chest. Now I’m kind of angry and I’m also thinking about the fact that I was on the dance floor really briefly with older sister before younger sister before I knew who they were. So I’m like “what’s up with you then? You don’t want me to talk to your sister but you keep getting in my face and touching me. You must like me or something.” So now she’s like “ohhh wowww I can’t believe this guy” type of energy and walks off to her sister and they leave. Which is what I kind of expected in that moment. I just thought like if they can be so cold hearted to be like we unalived your baby and really be kind of taunting me then I can be cold hearted too.  I went home right after that too. I didn’t see them again.

This situation had me vexed. I was trying to figure out what it all meant and what I should have done differently.  I know what a lot of people would say but I think the only mistake was us not following through. If instead of her going home that night I had taken her into my tent, so to speak, we stuck together and that was the beginning of our family it would have been a beautiful story and likewise if she hadn’t let her sister convince her to take that pill before we met the next day.

Of course, I’ve thought about that she could have never been pregnant to begin with, or she could have said she took the pill and not have.  But that just makes me ask what would even be the point of doing that. So the rest of the time I had in Israel I just stayed doing security and forgot about going out. I was mainly just reading, exercising and enjoying the mountain view. We did have some excursions as volunteers throughout the country but that’s another story.

Suppressed Emotions Lead to Memory Loss

I’ve been writing this on and off for about a week. I thought it would take me an hour or two…When writing the story I also realized that in certain instances both I and whoever I was talking to would be speaking in Hebrew.  When I first got there, I had some knowledge of Grammar but my speaking and understanding was not up to par. So most conversations I was having were in English.  As I was getting closer to the end of my trip I was much better so more of my conversations were in Hebrew or a mix of Hebrew and English. However, now I only remember very basic Hebrew. So the quotes are not all exact. When I first started writing I also said I didn’t remember any of the womens names. I left that in because at the time I didn’t. However, since I’ve been writing and reflecting a couple of the names have come back to me as well as a couple more dates I went on. However, I had already laid out the format, these were the most impactful, and 7 is a good number.

I want to say even in the last story I don’t think any of the women I mentioned were after any short term gain. None of them asked me for anything and as I mentioned some would do little nice things for me too. I think there was an understanding that the man should be the primary provider but the women there were real helpmates and ride or die for their husbands and their families from everything I saw. So they contribute meaningfully to whatever the mission is. As I said it’s been 20 years since I was there, so I don’t know how things are now but this time was one of the most impactful in my life. Much love to the reader, everyone that was mentioned, the women of Israel, and Israel as a whole.