Readers: Help Me Get To Israel
Dear Readers,
A few months ago I was informed of a very good school that could provide me with a very good opportunity.
As some of you may know, I am Jewish, although I haven’t been raised in a very observant family. I’m on a mission to learn more about Judaism, and be in touch with my culture, so I’m doing what I can to learn.
This school that I learned about is a Jewish studies school, located in Israel, and it’s known to be the best in the country. It’s the best at what it does.
It’s not designed for people that have always been religous, and want to learn more. This school is designed for people like me, that have one foot in, and have made this decision to learn as much as they can.
The one thing about this school, something that I can’t say for all other schools, is that they’re strictly against all kinds of holy-holy brainwashing. This school takes 25 people a year, many of whom American kids that attend ivy league schools such as Harvard, and MIT.
The way that I was even considered for this school is by conveniently meeting several powerful and influencial people. These people believe in me, and see that I’m on a mission in life. They’re enrolled into the fact that I operate with the greatest good of all in mind.
They’ve seen this website, which has been a good show-case, or portfolio, of how I think and how I am as a person. They introduced me to the person in charge of this school, and it seems like his thoughts and mine really resonate, so he said he would make room for me, even in these late stages of the game.
The school’s name is Machon Shlomo, and classes start Wednesday September 3rd. Trying to arrange payments for the school is one thing, but I first need to make my way over to Israel.
I don’t have money for this. To be honest with you, my family does not support me. They don’t know why I have to go. I feel like it’s necessary for me, and my time to go is now. I just finished my Masters degree, and I have a year off until Dental School.
This is the year to make this happen. Many of the other students of this school come out to be Doctors, Lawyers, and very successful businessmen and professionals. I think this is the perfect fit for me, and you can call it luck, or coincidence, but the way everything came together to give me this year off, to allow me to meet the people that I met, and everything else that points me in this direction is amazing.
I need approximately $1,400 to get a plane ticket from New Jersey to Tel-Aviv. I don’t have too many options at this point, so I’m going to appeal to my readers, the people that I love, and have supported through my writing over the past year and a half.
If you can help out by donating through paypal, by passing this message along, either by e-mail, to your rich uncle, posting about it on your blog, buying advertisement space, or simply leaving a comment with some words of encouragement I would appreciate that greatly.
My paypal account is alex((at))alexshalman((dot))com or you can simply click on the ChipIn widget in the post, and in the sidebar, which will allow you to donate securely through paypal or credit card.
I can’t express how thankful I am, I really appreciate your tremendous support.
Update 1: It’s been only a few hours since this post, and the mail to my newsletter, and already $255 collected (a $25 check is in the mail), and someone said they’ll be purchasing a $100 ad spot shortly, specifically for this cause.
Also, one of my Rabbis is trying to raise money from several people he knows. I followed a readers suggestions in the comments, and I’m working on getting additional scholarships through google searches. Thank you so much for your tremendous support. I can feel this trip is going to go great!
Update 2: Thank you for everyone’s support, I am no longer accepting any support. After two weeks of Israel I realized that it wasn’t for me. I’m back in the states and starting an internship today 9/18. More on this soon.
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Posted by Alex Shalman in Updates | August 25, 2008 | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumble | Print | 16 comments
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Let’s do it man. I am down for helping out.
@israel Thanks for your generous donation to the paypal account Israel. With a name like Israel, how can you not help sponsor a trip to Israel? =)
You’re very sweet, thank you!
If you become an Israeli citizen, your flight is free. One week might be cutting it a little bit short. Look up Jeff Seidel on google, he might help though. Your synagogue may have a scholarship fund. Talk to a rabbi whose good at getting stuff done.
@Nate Thank you for the advice. I’m not sure about the process of becoming an Israeli citizen, and I’m not sure if it’s the best move for me. Of course, I’ll follow any lead, and I’ll look into it.
I’m googling Jeff, and I see some things already, and I’m trying to get funds and scholarships where I can, but haven’t heard back anything so far.
Thanks for advice.
With a new home on the way… money is a little tight right now. I’ll certainly pass the word along though. Best of luck Alex.
@Marc Thanks for the support buddy. Passing the word is really, really appreciated, and so are the well wishes. Thanks!
Best of luck with the new home guys.
If you have a credit card, buy the ticket and trust the rest will work itself out (as you can see it already is!) – that will help put the Law of Attraction to work by committing you to being there and already taking care of the “what” and just letting the “how” sort itself out.
@Chris Thank you for your generous donation. I’m pretty much going to have to do exactly as you say.
Alex – for what it’s worth, I am doing something sort of similar. Today I gave my employer my “1 year notice.” Basically, even though my websites/products/services are only bringing in a couple of hundred dollars per month right now, I *know* I have to follow my heart…
I don’t know how this will all turn out, but I do know I have to give it a go and trust that the universe will help me reach my dreams (and help me help others reach their dreams).
The way I figure is it’ll take me about 2 years to build up enough income to support my family, and in 9-12 months I’ll have enough money to get us through about 1 year (assuming I withdraw 401k and other savings/investments)…
Of course live never goes as planned, so we’ll see!
You praise so much the law of attraction and you are broke?
you are hebrew and you dont know that becoming israeli citizen you get a free plane ticket?
Man, I smell you are a liar, just like one of your teachers, Steve Pavlina, guys “so successful” and begging for money. Grow up man.
@Ruben I just finished college, and a masters degree, and I’m paying off a lot of bills. I have a year off before dental school, and was going to use this year to get a nice nest egg. Now, I have this awesome once in a life time opportunity to go to Israel at an amazing school, and I’m not going to pass that up.
Law of Attraction is what got me into the school in the first place, plus luck, God’s will, and some great networking skills.
Steve Pavlina has way more money than I do. By the end of the year he’s going to be a #1 best selling author. He doesn’t beg for money, he offers free content, and asks if people want to donate, if they found it valuable.
I didn’t know about getting a free ticket if you become a citizen, but I also don’t want to become a citizen there, I like being a citizen of the USA — this is home.
Btw, I’m not hebrew, there is no such thing, I’m Jewish. Hopefully I will be able to read/write Hebrew (that’s a language) after my 9 months in Israel.
Thanks for you comment.
@Everyone-else Thanks for your support everyone. I used the free virtual assistant service http://www.timesvr.com to find me the cheapest ticket. They found me an $800 ticket that goes through greece. There is a 17 hour stop over in the airport, which is fine, since begger (as Ruben puts it) can’t be choosers. I’ll have enough to pay off that credit card in no time, and I’ll keep doing my freelance writing, and possibly get a job in Israel (even though it’s a 12 hour school schedule and I should be concentrating on studying and learning Hebrew (that’s personal choice in addition to curriculum).
Well, Alex, at least I have to recognize your good gesture in not deleting my comment and for teaching me what hebrew really means.
Steve Pavlina perhaps will be best selling author because of those naive-blind believers in his wacko theories. He is just taking advantage of them.
Ill give you this piece of advice, dont try to be like him and all those “self-help-gurus”. You have done some good stuff in this website, but you are just downgrading yourself with all this begging stuff.
Oh, and now that you want to know more about judaism, I recommend you reading your teachers article, “10 reasons you shouldnt have a religion”. Anyway, I know you have already read that, that is one of the few good articles by mr. Pavilina.
@Ruben Steve and I speak frequently, and I asked him about that religion post. Just because he doesn’t believe in organized religion doesn’t take away from me believing he is a good person, smart, out to cause a positive difference in the world, and is my friend.
I’m not trying to be like Steve, not because there is anything wrong with being like Steve, but because I’m only trying to be like Alex Shalman.
hi alex! hope you have a mission successful. im thinking about you
Do you work(part-time?)? How do you make living? how do you pay your other bills?