This book paints a charm­ing yet com­plete­ly down-to-earth and real­is­tic pic­ture of what it is like to live in Israel in the year 2023. The authors are both immi­grants from the Unit­ed States, and through their eyes we see Israel’s strengths, weak­ness­es, foibles, and suc­cess­es. It is obvi­ous that they have a deep and abid­ing appre­ci­a­tion for their adopt­ed land — and their wry humor makes it clear that they enjoy the lives they have built in this com­plex, val­ue-laden country.

The book is divid­ed into sec­tions. The first, ​“Israeli Psy­che,” uses Hebrew words to ana­lyze traits that are com­mon in Israeli soci­ety, as well as how they com­pare to Amer­i­cans’ expec­ta­tions of Israelis. ​“Jew­ish Life in a Jew­ish State” inves­ti­gates the dif­fer­ence between an Israeli and a Jew and how Judaism affects Israeli soci­ety. In ​“The Hebrew Lan­guage,” we learn about Eliez­er Ben Yehu­da and his suc­cess­ful efforts to revive a lan­guage that was not in use dur­ing mod­ern times. We also gain insight into the Israel Acad­e­my of Hebrew Lan­guage, which con­tin­ues to shape and mod­ern­ize Hebrew. A short, inter­est­ing sec­tion dis­cuss­es the devel­op­ment of ​“Aravrit,” an amal­gam of Hebrew and Ara­bic that is unfa­mil­iar to most peo­ple but that has fas­ci­nat­ing poten­tial applications. 

“Gov­ern­ment, Social Pol­i­cy, and Edu­ca­tion” looks close­ly at Israeli pol­i­tics, elec­tions, the edu­ca­tion sys­tem, and the famous Israeli states­men and stateswomen in Israel’s short but event­ful his­to­ry. ​“Econ­o­my, Work, and Work-Life Bal­ance” dis­cuss­es real estate, shop­ping, bank­ing, and some of the rea­sons why Israeli busi­ness­es have become inter­na­tion­al­ly suc­cess­ful. Oth­er chap­ters pro­vide an overview of the Israeli Defense Forces as well as Israeli arts and cul­ture. In ​“Mak­ing Aliyah,” we learn about the intri­ca­cies, dif­fi­cul­ties, and rewards of immi­gra­tion and accul­tur­a­tion. The authors point to some deeply fun­ny lan­guage faux pas that occur reg­u­lar­ly, as when the word for post­cards is mis­tak­en for ​“birth con­trol pills,” or when a degree in eco­nom­ics is con­fused with a brand of bleach.

Although the Arab-Israeli con­flict is not with­out men­tion, the authors care­ful­ly avoid a pro­tract­ed dis­cus­sion of it. They note that much has already been writ­ten on the top­ic, and they point out the dan­ger of peo­ple equat­ing life in Israel with enmi­ty and war. Life in Israel, they remind us, is rich and sat­is­fy­ing. It is not only about the conflict.

Israel 201 is infor­mal, inclu­sive, and filled with humor — just like Israeli soci­ety itself. It is an enjoy­able and fas­ci­nat­ing look at life in Israel today, reflect­ing the expe­ri­ences of many res­i­dents. For those who have con­sid­ered mov­ing to Israel in the near or more dis­tant future, this is a must-read.