 Hey guys, welcome back to my YouTube channel Daniel Rosal here this YouTube channel is all about everything to do with living in Israel and Jerusalem and bringing you this video today a little bit hungover and that is because it is Yom Ha'atzmahut Israel's national day. It's 75th birthday, which is just crazy There are plenty of people walking out there on the streets that are older than the state of Israel has been in existence But Israel has turned 75 and the Independence Day is a big celebration in Israel The Israeli Air Force do a flyover on the night of Yom Ha'atzmahut And that's the thing about the Jewish calendar. It starts on the night and ends at the night So Yom Ha'atzmahut started last night. So there was lots and lots of fun in Jerusalem city center lots of parties lots of drinking lots of music Thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it and today it's more typical for folks to do stuff like Barbecues, that's like the big classic Yom Ha'atzmahut pastime. So I'm getting ready to tend to Quiet barbecue in a few minutes, but I thought as an act of national service on the 75th birthday of Israel I would talk about 10 things that are great and good about living in Israel. So here's my list Okay, so starting this off in no particular order and not ordered by Significance, I'm gonna go with that Israeli wine as my number one choice because it's one of those things You know, we're gonna get on to the heavy stuff about Israel being the only Jewish country in the world Let's just start off with something almost everyone can appreciate and that is good wine It used to be an oxymoron to say Israeli wine. It was terrible there was kind of kiddish wine in the Jewish world and that's what people thought Israeli wine was but Everything has changed dramatically in the period since and now Israel is pretty established as a Wine terroir if I'm saying that correctly of growing importance on the international scene And you can go visit wine tasting is a popular pastime here So lots of the wineries the smaller ones at least will allow you to come into their place And they'll tell you about their wine and it's amazing where where you can find wineries in Israel We went down to the Egyptian border their videos are on my YouTube channel In fact, I have a playlist about the wineries I visited in Israel I'll put a link to it But something I'm realizing after living here for eight years is you need to kind of stack the positives of Living in a country as far as possible And I think one of the big positives about living in Israel is the Mediterranean lifestyle that you can have here It's such good weather and I think that alcohol and moderation wine in moderation Can definitely be can definitely be a nice a nice part of that I think So there's lots of good wine here in Israel and unlike so much in Israel. It's relatively affordable You don't need to spend generally more than 30 shackles 40 shackles Which is like eight or $10 to get a very drinkable bottle of wine now I'm far from a wine expert, but I would like to think I know a good Rose from a bad one. That's my favorite color of wine and there's lots of good wine in Israel And we're seeing a growing trend of wine bars opening up Which I'm very excited about because I think it's wine bars are wonderful And if you needed a recommendation for a wine bar in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv drop me a comment I'll be happy to send you to some cool places Second pro positive about living in Israel the country is really small I did a video recently comparing the size of Israel to Ireland I think I got the fact that Israel is something like 200 a little bit over 200 square kilometers I could be totally botching that figure, but it's a very very small land area one figure that I that I know I'm not botching as Ireland is like three to four times bigger than Israel and Ireland's not a very big country That's where I originally come from so the fact that Israel is super small Can be a disadvantage because it can feel a little bit claustrophobic here at times, but I also think it's a major advantage It's it's a small country, but it varies so dramatically like the parts of the country when you go up to the north of Israel You're in this like lush forest is area with spectacular views of mountains the mountains stretching up to Syria and Lebanon and then you go down into the then you have like Tel Aviv and the whole kind of like coastal plain Which is very sort of hip and fun Lots to do there are great beaches What have you and then you can go to the south of the country and you're in an arid desert Right stretching out for hundreds of kilometers literally and actually one of my favorite places in Israel are at both ends of the country I love Matula on the Lebanese border. It's not perhaps you could say the most spectacular place The town itself, but I don't know. I like it. I love exploring borders And I've had some good times in Matula and Mitzpehramon in the desert is that also one of my favorite places? I think it's a lot nicer than a last and definitely a cool place to check out okay positive three and This would actually be this is really the number one positive for me But I'm trying to sort of order this video so that it's not just from a let's say Jewish perspective but the whole reason I moved to Israel is because I am Jewish and Living in Israel as a Jewish person. There's really nowhere else. I would rather live my life I love about being Jewish in Israel is that it's integrated into the state and it's the only Jewish Majority country in the world, which I think again, it's kind of like sometimes you could say that's a bad thing You've only got one option if that's if you want to live somewhere where you're not in a religious minority and the other on the other Respect its advantage because you don't really have a difficult choice to make you've got basically Israel What I love about Judaism practicing Judaism in Israel is again as they mentioned it's integrated, right? It's not like you need to live in a specific Neighborhood and like there's a list of kosher restaurants now. I live in Jerusalem. So it's a bit more You know there's more kosher Let's say food than other places in the country but there's tons of kosher food options here for every type of a culinary interest whether you're into Asian food or You love just a good greasy shawarma. You've got to cover it The national religious days and Judaism are public holidays in Israel. So you don't need to use up your Vacation time just to observe your religion because during those religious holidays Jews religious Jews abstain from work and using even electricity So that makes it very difficult to you know, too. So that's nice It's baked into the country and there's just a great feeling from not being a small minority like growing up in You know in the Cork Ireland I was like sort of almost the only Jewish family in the entire city And what I love about Judaism in Israel is you get to transcend your Judaism because we're most of us Who come from different parts of the world to move to Israel what you call in Hebrew making aliyah because most of us I think made that decision for that reason we can define ourselves in ways that don't involve just being Jewish Reason for the diversity of the food in Israel firstly the food is if I can say so great There is a falafel now These are the foods that I enjoyed a lot more and enjoyed so much that I had to get an organ cut out of me I'm talking about my dear beloved departed goldbladder. So I have I'm training a bit more healthy now So stuff like falafel is slightly off the menu for me, but I still I still a falafel You know talking about more healthy foods fresh salads was a huge emphasis in Israeli cooking on Using fresh ingredients and the use of preservatives here is also not a big thing You'll even see this when you buy bread from the supermarket that if you keep it out on the counter in the hot summer It'll start like going very very badly off like growing mold in at two days It's just they don't really use preservatives and the just the amount of fresh ingredients One particular food and it's it's kind of a melting pot the Israeli cuisine It's sort of a melting pot from Jews from all over the world So you've got Jews coming from you know, Arab countries like Tunisia Introducing amazing dishes like shakshuka into Israeli cuisine. Of course, you've got falafel classic Middle Eastern food And there's also even a substantial Russian population here of Russian Jewish immigrants to Israel, which means of course There are good Russian bars where I spent Probably a little bit too much time and money and Last night there's good Russian bars in Israel and there's Russian foods as well Russian restaurants So yeah, it's definitely And I want to say one one another food stuff that is very you wouldn't associate with Israel necessarily is Ethiopian food there are again a lot of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel and they bring with them their cuisine So Ethiopian foods amazing. It's become my second Favorite food. I would only put it after maybe Indian and Nepalese food and I don't even know sort of which way I'd have to order those two But I love I love those foods I've come to really love Ethiopian food You get a flap breadcull in Jera and you scoop it up if you haven't tried it When next time you're in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem put Ethiopian restaurant into Google Maps And you'll be surprised to see how many options there are and just pick one that gets a good rating and go there And you might also become a convert to Ethiopian food Reason five to love living in Israel. Tel Aviv has great beaches and that's not to be taken for granted Tel Aviv is not the only place with beaches in Israel Israel has All the way along its western coastline down to the Gaza Strip and up to the border with Lebanon There are beaches the southernmost beach in Israel the one right by where the Gaza Strip starts is called Zikim It's actually a pretty cool beach. There is surfing in Israel, which I really need to get back into because it was one of my biggest hobbies growing up in Tel Aviv You have a lot of tourist beaches and it's a great place to to hang out Pal Machim is a really nice beach that I want to recommend to people It's a little bit more quiet than the beaches in Tel Aviv. It's a public nature park So you do need to pay an entrance fee But I find it much more pleasant less people blasting music and it's just a more laid-back vibe So that's actually my favorite beach in Israel. Habonim in the north is also a really nice beach that I can recommend Habonim I'll put a little sort of like graphics To check out so don't limit yourself to checking out the beaches of Tel Aviv If you have a car or you're renting a car go up and down the coastline because it's cheap and it's quick hyphes You can got a couple of of beaches and of course I can't forget the Dead Sea which has beaches as well There's Cali Beach in the north and other beaches along the coast of the Dead Sea The Dead Sea is a very different experience because during the summer it is crazy crazy hot there You can't really swim obviously because it's you know the Dead Sea and it's like salty So I personally for the it's kind of like a novelty I I personally prefer going to the beaches on the Mediterranean with some people really like the Dead Sea It's supposed to be very good for stuff like asthma and skin conditions and I actually have asthma So maybe I should be doing more Dead Sea expeditions random Thing number six on my list easy access to to be shishima and I was putting together This list today. I was thinking from back to last night. I was thinking what can I say is so great about Israel? There's so many things not on this list like the diversity of the population if you are Jewish and you're looking to You know to marry Jewish how easy it is good options within both Gender is whatever gender you are but then I was like, you know the little things as well to be shishima. It's so good it's this Israeli spirit based around citrus and It's a uniquely Israeli product is made here ginger. It's got like ginger Lemon, it's just amazing to be fantastic. Unfortunately, to be has a reputation among Israeli bartenders for being a drink for students Which is just terrible. It is so much more than that. I love fruity stuff. I love fruity cocktails More than they love me back But that's actually one of my favorite drinks as well and you can make very simple cocktails by taking a bit of to be Shishim Shishim in Hebrew means 60 a little bit of ice and tiny touch of water and beautiful Reason 7 is the sunny weather. I mean, it's hot in Israel It gets really hot and the summer is really long what I find interesting about the climate here coming from Ireland is It's kind of like there. It feels like there's only really two seasons You've got a big long hot summer that stretches all the way to September even early October before there's like a real noticeable cooling in the temperatures and it starts around this time of year They're recording this video But it's sunny and during that time. There's just like no rain essentially every day is sunny So it means that you can't sort of banter about the weather forecast Which is one of the most popular pursuits in Ireland But if you're into sunny weather hot weather Whether to go to the beach lots and lots and lots of sunshine in Israel Number eight and this is actually I would consider a big one that if I was reordering this list if I had a little more energy today I might have put this like towards the top health care system in Israel There is really really top-class health care in Israel that's affordable and Israel sort of makes it available to all its citizens I've done a couple of separate videos on how health care works in Israel just a real basic stuff But you know, everyone it has to be a member of one of four Kupot rolim that's a health fund And that gives you like your basics that gives you your doctor visits your specialist visits medications at very very discounted rates. I talked about that also in a video and It's just affordable to get like conditions treated. I don't mind sharing a bit about my personal medical history I have a depression and the Antidepressants I take every day. Trentalex are super affordable compared to what they are in the US And I'm currently in the process of attempting to get my blood blood pressure down So I was able to do a test yesterday 24 hour blood pressure thing and that was like basically free as well So, you know, no one's going to move to Israel because of the health care I don't think and Hopefully people don't have health problems that requiring health care, but eventually probably most of us will And I really have very limited criticisms or just almost all almost exclusively positive things To say about the quality accessibility and affordability of health care in israel Okay, getting towards the end reason number nine It's easy and cheap to travel to europe people wouldn't think about israel as a really sort of a great travel Destination travel base. I mean definitely a travel destination, but it's actually a great Base for traveling into europe and this is a reason that's going to maybe appeal more to Any americans who watch this video of them folks from other countries, but Traditionally, it was expensive like everything to fly to and from israel Then israel and the eu concluded something called the open skies agreement in which basically reciprocal israeli Israeli airlines get to fly to european destinations and the european destiny airlines start flying to israel breaking the monopoly of Airlines like ll. What have you and what that has the change that that has brought to the travel market here has been really really Quite significant. You have now ryan air operating in israel easy jet Whiz air I've gone plane spotting a couple of times here sitting at the edge of the You know the airport and recording on my little camera here take off the landings And it was just extraordinary all the airlines are here. There's like I haven't heard a half of these There's like air air dubai or dubai hops since israel signed the agreement the abraham accord. There's been there's been a huge Surgeon traffic between those two countries So lots and lots of flights going back and forth to dubai these days and speaking of ireland ll actually just recently started the first ever Direct flight to ireland from israel that is scheduled There was one that only ran in the summer and that's going on a few times per week now It's a five-hour flight So if you want to get to to ireland you can now do so on a direct flight with ll from israel And I think it runs something like three times a week Okay, the final reason because so far we've talked about kind of very much lifestyle stuff I want to talk a little bit maybe about professional things as well. Um, great country. This is the last list I actually I'm using sort of a low budget teleprompter here. I've got a Piece of paper taped to my tripod and it says great country to launch tech careers So speaking of professional stuff for a moment israel is known as a startup nation because there are so many startups here Now it's true that recently in the last year There's kind of been murmurs of a slowdown in what we call in israel high tech Which really means that whole world of startups But it's still a pretty vibrant scene now. It doesn't mean that you don't have to be a Coding prodigy to work at one of these companies. There's obviously lots of jobs within these companies like sales marketing or personally work in marketing communications or Right now I work for a nonprofit but before that I really worked for tech companies So that's a big employer in israel and definitely, you know, if you want to reskill or upskill or whatever There's boot camps what they call boot camps now throughout israel There where you'll do an abbreviated course in, you know, whatever you want to sort of Whatever field you want to do whether it's ux design product design Content writing probably doesn't require a course, but that's also, you know If you really enter writing that's a decent way to enter the world of high tech and maybe move on to other More lucrative positions within the company. Okay. I need to go 10 to my barbecue now on yoma at smoot These were my on the 75th birthday of israel. These are my 10 reasons I love living in israel 10 things. I think are super positive about the country. Yes, there are negatives spoiler alert for the Counter video to this is the cost of living is absurd. It's way too expensive to live here But let's talk today about the good things and those are my 10 reasons Hope this video has been informative interesting. Give me your thoughts if you live in israel What are your top 10? List or just anything really that you love about living here And of course as I always say at the end of my videos if you do want to get more videos From my good self about life in israel and jerusalem Hit the subscribe button. Thanks for watching guys