5 Secrets To Living Successfully in Israel
From learning to type in Hebrew to mastering the art of haggling, some extra suggestions to make your aliyah experience a success
When it comes to starting a new life in Israel, most of us who move here voluntarily know the basics — or if we don’t we become acquainted with them fairly quickly.
You need to get up to speed on the lingo. You need to pay your arnona (municipal tax). And you need to come to grips with everything else that goes on in a new culture.
Here are a few less commonly advocated-for suggestions that may take your aliyah the extra mile — and beyond.
Avoid Anglo communities — online and in person!
For those who haven’t encountered the term yet, an ‘Anglo’ — in Hebrish — simply means an an English-speaker.
And no, I’m not actually advocating that you wedge a ten foot bargepole between yourself and every other English-speaker that you encounter (after all, I’m writing this in a Medium publication written in English intended for those living in Israel!).
Here’s what I mean instead:
- While ensconcing yourself in a so-called ‘Anglo bubble’ — social or geographical — might seem like the most comfortable way to begin your time in Israel, it’s probably not in your long-term interests to remain in one. Note: this issue is somewhat divisive among olim and there are those who will disagree stridently with my opinion. You have those who positively adore the Anglo bubbles of the country — Ramat Beit Shemesh, Ra’anana, etc. If you want to maximize your development in Hebrew, and expedite your integration, you’re probably going to have an easier time doing that in a neighborhood or social milieu that’s at least mixed.
More importantly:
- Realize that, qualitatively, information available in English tends to be more limited than that available in Hebrew. This is, of course, to be expected. Hebrew is the language of Israel and English isn’t even an official second one.
My specific recommendations:
- Learn to search the internet in Hebrew as your first means of attempting to find the answer to any “Israel issues.” Simply by switching language, you’ll open yourself up to a whole new world of resources that are likely both more plentiful and more current than those available in English.
- Discover Hebrew-speaking online communities, whether Facebook groups or email lists or WhatsApp groups. This is also a fun way to improve your Hebrew and get some colloquialisms pat down.
Learn how to touch type in Hebrew
The most under-taught skill in ulpan — in my opinion — is learning how to touch type in Hebrew.
Being a proficient typist in Hebrew makes it so much easier to:
- Draft personal and business correspondence in Hebrew
- Search for information in Hebrew — per the above
Unfortunately, there are ulpans in Israel that remain frozen in time and still use cassettes to teach vocabulary from the news that is not likely to be the most pressing lingo that a new immigrant needs.
I think that every ulpan in the country should teach students how to type in Hebrew and the basics of business communication.
You may never need to perfect the vocabulary needed to say “Hizbullah is increasing its stockpile of weapons in the north, according to an IDF intelligence assessment”. But if you work even partially in Hebrew you’ll probably need, at some point, to say “please find the document attached. I would be grateful if you could confirm receipt.”
Start shopping like an Israeli — not an Anglo
Israel is a very expensive country within which to live. If you’re reading this, then you probably didn’t need me to tell you this.
But you can decrease your food bill at least a little if you make a conscious effort to begin favoring Israeli products and brands over more expensive imports:
- Ditch the single malt whiskey. Drink arak instead.
- Stock up on pita and humus.
- Silan (date syrup) is delicious and a lot easier to find than maple syrup.
While the above might sound somewhat capricious, there’s an element of truth to it too. Judging by Facebook groups, many English speakers seem to waste an inordinate amount of time and energy attempting to source specialist American products from the relatively few supermarkets that stop them.
Embracing Israel’s Mediterranean diet can be a great way to live even a little more cheaply.
Don’t be afraid to shop online
Israelis are massive fans of e-commerce.
Israelis love online shopping so much in fact that Israel Post — the country’s mail service — had to provision a new sorting and handling center largely to handle the influx of packages from Asia which Israelis ordered.
Israel is a small country and a small market but international websites are increasingly including Israel as a shipping destination. Sometimes the shipping incurs no extra charge.
Some of the companies that ship to Israel include:
- iHerb for cosmetics and supplements (may not be kosher)
- BookDepository for books (at the time of writing, free worldwide shipping, although books can take a while to come)
- Amazon.com. Not a lot of the inventory ships to Israel and above $75 you’ll need to pay VAT of 17% as well, possibly, as other fees. Amazon should calculate these before checkout.
Haggle over everything (or almost everything!)
Despite being situated in the Middle East, the reality is that no, you can’t actually haggle over everything in Israel.
Nevertheless, there are certain situations in which it is both possible and socially acceptable to try to get yourself a better deal:
- In the job market, it’s common, of course, for new hires to haggle over compensation, vacation entitlements, and fringe benefits
- Israeli credit cards aren’t notorious for their generous benefits, but one can quite often get the monthly maintenance fee cancelled simply by calling up and asking for it to be removed. Try it!
Living in Israel can be a challenging experience at times but with a few extra skills it can be significantly easier. Hebrew skills are as must. Unless you’re really incapable of coming to grips with the language, even knowing how to type and use Google Translate will get you surprisingly far — or provide a basis from which you can build.
