The Beginnings...

Well, it's about time!  

After my first visit to Israel at age 15, I wanted to spend a semester of high school in Israel on the Alexander Muss program.  My parents didn't agree.  Senior year of high school, thoughts of joining the Israeli Defense Forces briefly crossed my mind but passed before my mom could even voice her objections.  I'll go to IDC Herzliya instead, I thought - college in Israel!  To that, my mom did object, and I easily gave in and remained stateside for college.  Of course, I was going to spend a semester of school studying abroad in Israel, but that too never materialized.  A quick winter trip to Israel my freshman year did spur me along in becoming religious, though, and I was determined to spend a year in yeshiva after graduating.  And then came senior year of college, career fair, and - finally - a job offer at Deloitte.  In the months between graduation and starting my career I spent time traveling throughout Israel and learning briefly at couple different yeshivot.  But before long, I had moved to Columbus to start auditing.  

Now, eight years and a CPA later, I have taken a step back from public accounting and accounted for my own personal state of mind and spirit.  The result: committing myself to spend a year in Israel.  My reasons and purpose are very different than those of my fifteen-year-old self, but I am now more appreciative of the opportunity before me and determined to get as much out of it as possible.  

Throughout the year I will use this blog as a way of keeping-in-touch from afar. 

Off to Israel...