Soooo, it's been 47 days since I posted anything. Woweee is that a long time. I'm going to try to get back into the posting swing and not blow all my thoughts in this one post, but here are a few updates.

Jerusalem is amazing. If anyone finds themselves in the MIddle East from now until May, please swing by and drinks are on me. It's just such an exceptional city with amazing people. So much history and culture in one place. Yea, so it's also the center of all the religious hatred in the world. Details, details. There's a reason it's so important...and I get to live here...so so so freaking cool!

I've done some amazing things in the past month and a half. I camped out for a night in Hebron at the graves of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Leah, Sarah, Rebeccah (which both the Jews and Muslims agree are there). The Jews are only allowed in 10 days a year, and it was surreal to be in an Arab controlled area....there were guys riding by on donkeys, women carrying groceries on their heads, I even walked by the shelled out home of a former Hamas leader (I think he's still on the run). It's just so weird that only 20 minutes away is the modernity of Israel, whereas Hebron feels like an entirely differently country.

I've gotten to go up North to a few areas in Israel recently. I've been developing quite the wine collection of fine Israeli wines. There are now close to 500 wineries in Israel and some of the wine tours are amazing. I've had some really exceptional bottles here...and for ~$50 you can get a Kosher bottle which is comperable, if not better, than just about anything I've had back in the States. The Golan region is really fascinating...because the terrain is so variable (ranging I think from 400 meters above sea level in some places to 200 meters below sea level in others), they're able to produce every type of grape and every type of wine, even in a country as small as Israel. Sadly, these bottles cost about double in America because of taxes, so I'll have to figure something out.

And a mini-rant about Israeli taxes: look, I've grown to love this country. But the taxes are out of control. The general sales tax is 16.5%, and if you buy an imported car (I don't think Israel has domestic cars) you pay 120% tax. Meaning that if you buy a Honda Accord which is ~$25k in the USA, you pay $55k in Israel. $55k!!!!! It's insanity. At the same time, amazing health care in Israel is $1/day and private schooling in Israel is capped at like $1,000/child (I don't know the exact details on this), so there are some perks. Plus you're protected by possibly the most advanced and well trained military in the world.

Speaking of the military, I recently got to hang out with a few Israeli soldiers from a stealth unit called Duv Duvon. This is probably the 3rd of 4th highest unit in the Israeli army. Their jobs include dressing up as Arabs to gather intelligence, rescuing hostages from Muslim controlled areas, invading terrorists' homes, etc. They couldn't tell me too many stories, but what I did hear was fascinating. They never know where they'll be the next day...they could be in bed one moment, and undercover in an arab bazaar 90 minutes later. It seems like such an exciting life, though I'm definitely not cut out for it. A number of the guys in my Yeshiva want to start taking Krav Maga lessons, so I'm hoping that gets off the ground as it would be an awesome skill to have.

Okay, a few more points....I do want to reflect on the passing of CardRunners member "Lou Pinella." I had only met David once or twice in real life, but wow, what an amazing guy. He just exuded energy, and confidence. Yet at the same time, you felt safe connecting with him. He wasn't arrogant, he was just friendly - he simply wanted to connect to everyone and everything. I don't to dwell on this too long, but do want to chat about one of the lessons at Yeshiva that I've been thinking deeply about. Right now, I'm 25 years old. I've been made lots of money from poker and am financially sound. I've got lots of connections, I have the world in front of me, my options open. I feel invincible. But I'm not invincible - it's just an illusion. I will die. Sooner than I think. And when I'm 40, or 50, I don't want options in front of me - I want accomplishments under my belt. Things I'm proud of. I will go more deeply into this in a future blog post. But something like this should be a wakeup call - to be appreciate everything we have and not to waste any more time than we have to. Time is so precious. Once think that is very admirable about "Lou Pinella" is that he seemed to love every second he was life, he was excited by every day - his new creative energies, new ideas. We should all be as excited by life as he was and love life as much as he did. Because we're not immortal. And we're not invincible.

I'll leave it at that for now with a resolution to bang out a post a week from here on out.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Love,
Ezra