Rachel Bookstein is Executive Director of Long Beach Hillel, Stylist for Jewlicious Festivals, and blogs at BeachHillel.com.

1. The leggy houses of Tel Aviv
2. Chocolate covered corn flakes
3. Swimming in the Kinneret at sunset
4. The surprise of desert rivers and falls
5. Archaeological digs in the center of town
6. Hiking with the Torah as a guide
7. Tile floors with drains & squeegee mops
8. Men who can carry washing machines on their backs,…up four flights of stair and take calls to their pelephone.
9. Eating icy watermelon in the summer heat
10. My mirpesset
11. The smell of Erev Shabbat cooking all over town
12. Hearing the sing-song chanting of school children learning mishna
13. The Baptist church that holds its service on Shabbos, ‘cuz Sunday is a work day in Israel.
14. Doud Shemesh- roof top solar water heaters. Ordinary and brilliant
15. Living by the Jewish calendar and Spring break is Pesach vacation
16. Kibbutz dining halls
17. Tif-toof irrigation
18. Olim from the 60’s with stories to tell
19. Juice shops
20. Faith in God
21. Belief in Science
22. Trust in friends
23. Love of family
24. Dreams of peace
25. Dedication to life
26. Commitment to national survival
27. A country of people who read books
28. Street music fit for Carnegie Hall
29. Bad Chinese food
30. Mediocre pizza
31. Great Turkish coffee
32. Amazing chumus!
33. Being invited over for a meal
34. Being yelled at for not calling cousins every three days
35. Being yelled at for not bagging my groceries fast enough
36. Being yelled at for looking without buying
37. Being yelled at for fumbling for a bus pass
38. Being yelled at by perfect strangers for not wearing a coat
39. Tasting friends family recipes from Russia, Poland, Morocco or Yemen.
40. Old German cousins with their lace doilies and checkerboard cake.
41. Knesset members in sandals
42. Socialist-Realism & Zionist art: the Girl, the Boy and the Tractor Israeli style
43. Dana International
44. Socialized medicine
45. Streets named for Jews
46. Jews named for trees
47. Sun-dried laundry
48. Cool tiled bathrooms
49. “Shoes off in the house” policy & na’ale bayit
50. Thursday night shopping and falafel at the shuk.
51. Paying with money printed with Golda Maier’s face on it.
52. Fab Hebrew faux pas, and the smile of the shuk vendor when I asked for bottles to store b’samim (uhh,… drugs in modern Hebrew) and not tavlinim (spices).
53. French, Arabic, Polish, Amharic, Russian, English, Italian, Spanish and Chinese spoken here
54. The Law of Return
55. How passengers applaud the pilot when the plane touches down in Lod.
56. People really kiss the ground!
57. Everyone has a Doda Rachel.
58. Rumors of our Demise are greatly overstated: Israel’s improbable existence proves we can only write history after it has already happened.
59. The dark cool stones of the Kotel, smoothed by thousands of hands and millions of tears.
60. Still waiting for Moshiach, but we vote for Prime Minister.

The 60 Bloggers project is co-production of Jewlicious.com and the Let My People Sing Festival. It is published daily for 60 days to celebrate Israel’s 60 birthday.