My Life in Israel

About the Book

After years of keeping my stories hidden from the eyes of friends and family members I have selectively begun to show them. Their reaction has been from a howl to belly laughs and just knowledgeable smiles.

My Life in Israel is a collection of more than twenty stories, each one a little portrait highlighting my experiences. They will be appreciated by anyone who has moved from one country to another and started a new life.

The stories are tinged with humor. Encounters with some of the famous and some less than famous are encapsulated into short stories. Among others the personalities include former Prime Minister Begin and Fanny, my household helper.

One of the stories is about a young chasid about to meet his designated bride.

Another touches on an idiosyncratic mother and mother-in-law.

Another tells how my beloved husband came up a cropper against his fellow synagogue congregants.

One describes a less than friendly encounter with El-Al Israel Air lines while yet another is about playing the commodity - Israeli style.

No really important aspect of My Life in Israel is overlooked. Other stories are about cockroaches, Jaguars, investments, lovers and home improvements.

About the Author

Debbie Morgenstern was born in Poland, educated in New Zealand and is an American living in Israel.

She started writing short stories when she felt that her grey-cells were departing too quickly.

As an American, her life in Israel was a total frustration. As a Brit, the complete irreverence to life in Israel drove her utterly mad. As a European, she found humor and even charm in the goings-on and triumphant survival of each day, by herself and the people connected to her. Her own survival depended on her sense of humor, which kept her going through the settlement of her family, the education of her children, and the continues life, with her Lord and Master, who after 47 years of marriage still lets her beat him at Scrabble. Sometimes...