IsraelB – Your Virtual Jerusalem Buddy!

We all know that living in Jerusalem is special.

The variety of people, cultures and languages you experience when walking through the Jerusalem Shuk (market) or down Ben Yehudah Street in town is enough to make Jerusalem the most magical and interesting place in the world!

But, beyond the once off experiences , how do you actually make a life for yourself here on a day to day basis?

Coming to Jerusalem on holiday or to study is certainly fun and really enriching,but the challenge is to make a routine, normal life for yourself like we had in the countries we grew up in or even like you would have in other cities in Israel.

This is where the IsraelB online community I run comes into it.

Comprising of the IsraelB website, the IsraelB newsletter, Twitter (@IsraelBayit) and all the Facebook groups ( links on IsraelB homepage), IsraelB is your virtual Jerusalem buddy, that will provide you with all you need to know of what’s going on in this unique city of ours.

IsraelB stands for, ‘Turning Israel into your Bayit (Home)’. Yes, running IsraelB takes time, but it’s worth it when you find out people meet and have more interesting lives as a result of my work.

IsraelB serves both English and Hebrew speakers. For instance, every Wednesday night Sivan Rahav Meir gives a shiur (lecture) in Hebrew at Heichal Shlomo next to the Great Synagogue ( Click on here for details) and every Thursday evening at the Begin Center there is a shiur (lecture) in Hebrew ( Click on here for details).

We make a special effort on IsraelB to feature religious events and shiurim (lectures) for mothers and women. For instance, on Purim we did a listing of women for women Megillah readings, as well as later readings for women. Click on here. 

Whilst IsraelB serves all ages, I particularly focus on the needs of singles and retirees who have more time on their hands and are looking for, in general, more activities and to meet new people. Therefore you will see that the events I feature are often more focused on singles and retirees.

Here are 10 links from this week on the IsraelB website that reflects how IsraelB can really be your virtual Jerusalem buddy.

Click on the hyperlinks at the end of each line, for more details:

1. Marathon Details for this coming Friday. Click on here.
2. Retirees – Weekly listings of what’s on each week.Click on here.
3. Singles – We make a special effort to help singles meet. An example of an event we feature each week, is, ‘Shiur and Beer’, run by JICNY. Click on here.
4. Charity & Kindness projects – This week, we supported a project to collect left over Mishloach Manot which would be distributed to the poor. Here is a photo we were sent, with the mishloach manot that were collected in Katamon, as a result of the information being posted on IsraelB. Click on here.
5. Community news – Plenty of Mazal Tovs. We love sharing happy news on IsraelB. Click on here.
6. Listing of cultural events and networking events – Each week we do a listing of cultural events happening – Click on here. Special festivals – This week we focused on the Sound Festival – Click on here and the Arts Festival – Click on here. We also feature Networking Events for job seekers, freelancers and entrepreneurs. Click on here.
7. Rentals – We help people find apartments and to rent them out. With Pesach coming up, we are publicizing apartments which are available for rent. Click on here.
8. Pardes Highlights for this week – Here on IsraelB we work with all the main educational organisations from across the religious spectrum, including the OU Israel Center, the AACI and the ELC ( Emek Learning Center).Click on here.
9. General news – For instance, the latest on the JLM-TLV fast rail – Click on here, Rav Kav changes – Click on here or bus detours due to road closures at the entrance to the city – Click on here.
10. Religious information and articles – 1) I do listings each week of all the, ‘Zmanim’ – times you need for daily religious life – Click on here. 2) The famous sage, Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach passed away. I wrote this article reflecting on his life.Click on here.

So, there you have it. Ten links from IsraelB this week, to show you how the IsraelB online community can really be your virtual Jerusalem buddy!

We look forward to you joining us!