Leigh Hartzman, at The Blogs

Leigh Hartzman

Mother. Googler. Community Builder. Succeeded at Aliyah the Hard Way.

Jan 12, 2026, 10:06 AM

Can we separate the authors from the antisemitism?

Losing an intellectual home means losing a source of comfort – it's a painful realization that the culture that shaped you no longer wants you

Jan 8, 2026, 12:51 PM

The Truth About Infertility and Equality in Israel

"High Risk." It is a label that turns your body into a ticking time bomb. At thirty-two years old and twenty-seven weeks pregnant with twins, I was exactly where I did not want to be: the High Risk Pregnancy Unit...

Dec 16, 2025, 1:16 PM

Featured Post

How to love in Israel without losing yourself

When you move here, you will often feel like a child, stuttering in the grocery store and misreading your bills. Here's what you must do if you want to grow

Dec 9, 2025, 12:23 PM

Featured Post

Hitler marriages and ‘Happy Place’

Like the show's protagonist, I'm the granddaughter of a match that was arranged by history, survival, and grief, acting out a script that was written before I was born

Sep 28, 2025, 12:09 AM

Where Have All the Big Brothers Gone?

I had just landed back in Israel from a business trip to Copenhagen. For a few days, I’d been away from the heaviness that hovers over this country, breathing in a different rhythm, almost forgetting the constant ache of...

May 4, 2024, 9:19 PM

Finding My Voice as a ‘3G’ Holocaust Survivor

My teenage son’s teacher wrote in the class Whatsapp Group a week before Yom Hashoa: "Second reminder: We are looking for a Holocaust survivor or descendant to tell their story to the class on Holocaust Memorial Day. Contact me privately...

May 16, 2021, 11:58 AM

An unexpected friendship

“I’ll leave you the key. I’m going to the office today.” “Office? Since when did you stop working from home?” asked Miryam. “Last month, I got a new job that pays much better.” “I knew it would work! Every day, I hold...

May 11, 2020, 11:48 PM

Covid-19 & freelancing: 4 areas with huge gig potential

Living with uncertainty has been one of the hardest parts of this coronavirus crisis. Once, it was mundane and predictable to get up every morning, go to the same job, and earn the same paycheck to do the same...

Apr 16, 2020, 8:31 AM

A business of her own

“Do you have any assets?” “What do you mean?” I asked the volunteer lawyer sitting across from me at the WIZO office. “I mean, do you own anything? Property, a car, investments?” “Just the house and the two cars. But they belong...

Feb 2, 2020, 7:15 PM

Featured Post

Confessions of a wannabe Zionist

Detail of poster showing Paul Newman as Ari Ben Canaan in the 1960 movie Exodus

This virile Israeli archetype fantasy was going to take care of me -- until it didn't and I had to forge my own path.

About Me

Leigh is a Communities Manager for Waze at Google. She moved to Israel from Toronto, Canada, in 2001, right smack in the middle of the Second Intifada. She likes to write about her reflections on Aliyah on her Substack 'Becoming Israeli". From romantic dreams of kibbutz heroes to the reality of divorce, raising kids, rediscovering desire and building a career, she writes about what it really means to stay in Israel, belong, and keep choosing this life.

Contact Me