Hey guys, happy Chanukah!

I officially began my aliyah (literally "ascent" in Hebrew, for ascending to Israel) last week, joining this program called Garin Tzabar for American oleem chadasheem (new Israeli immigrants). Going to Israel in August to get started.

I can't describe how much I'm looking forward to this; my whole reason for becoming an Israeli is because we've all seen what has happened to the Jews when we didn't have our own state or our own Army with which to defend ourselves. Israel gets a lot of criticism from genuinely ignorant people who look at the collateral damage the IDF might cause, and that's all they see. In Gaza last winter, for instance, Israel was responding to over 4,000 Qassam rockets launched by Hamas terrorists at Israeli civilians, and while Israel was shielding its children, Hamas was using Palestinian children as shields--literally. Which is why Israel had such a hard time with the collateral damage part. But this isn't a political rant, so I'll stop haha.

Basically, my own Grandfather may he rest in peace suffered pogroms in Russia for the simple fact that he was Jewish, and of course 6,000,000 of us were killed in the Holocaust when we essentially walked to our deaths with not much resistance. To me, this is so very against Judaism; if you know the story of Chanukah, the Jews rebelled fiercly and heroically against their oppressors and overthrew the Greeks. Israelis are tough people in a tough neighborhood, and I'm proud to be part of this Jewish nation. When I hear a self-hating Jew like John Stewart make fun of himself for being "Jewey"--that's not something I associate myself with. Everyone should be proud of where he/she is from, and the nation from the Bible should be far from an exception in my humble opinion. I go to school in UW-Madison, and I can tell you the Sconnies--whom I love--are very proud.

Anyway, on the poker side of things, I've been doing pretty well but with finals it's been tough. If any of you are in Wisco (or Israel) hit me up for sure. Happy chanukah, happy holidays, and I genuinely wish you guys all the best in poker and in life.

-Jordan/ridetime