Apparently this used to be a thing, moderators nearly-suicidely leaving themselves open to any attack by making a throw-anything-at-me thread. But I do love talking about myself, so here goes:
Username: Harel13
Meaning of username: Harel (my first name) + the number 13. Shocker, I know right? Actually, 13 is a number with some significance in Judaism, so that's why I chose 13 (contrary to common misconceptions, it's not because I have twelve siblings named Harel).
Name: Harel (didn't see that one coming, huh?)
Country: Israel (lived in the USA for 3.5 years as a kid; recently requested to vote for the first time in the USA federal elections but unfortunately received no reply yet...)
A little about me: I'm an Orthodox Jew. In Israeli terms, I'd be described as somewhere between National Religious to Ultra-Orthodox National (those are fancy terms for Orthodox Jews who have Zionistic views but differ on some nuances and in religiosity levels).
I started a couple of months ago my 7th year in my Hesder Yeshiva and will most likely head to university next year.
I served for a year and five months in the IDF, first completing Basic and Advanced Training in the Artillery Corps, then moving to the non-combat position of Mashak Dat (according to an old government document found online, this can be translated as "religious coordinator"), which is like being an assistant to the unit's military rabbi, in the same brigade. I also became the unofficially official graphic designer of my brigade's rabbinate division. About a month before discharge, I moved to the Rabbinate Corps' administrative base, where I spent half of my time chasing high-level military rabbis and the other half of my time lounging about doing nothing.
Political views: I'm a right-wing conservative sort of guy (comes with the kippah) (nah, kidding, there are religious guys on all sides of the political spectrum). Here in Israel I've always voted for the Bayit Yehudi party. During the last two elections I volunteered to help get people out to vote.
Interests: Torah study, in particular Tanach, writing essays on my Torah-based research, drawing, reading, creative writing, graphic design, walking, hiking, listening to music, collecting and discussing weird/interesting IDF facts, in particular artillery facts.
Some random facts about myself: While I like drawing animals, I don't really like them close up; The first time I ever petted a dog was four years ago; I once wrote an op-ed which was published in an Orthodox Israeli niche-news site; I volunteer in a non-profit organization that is working to better the IDF; mentioned above in interests - I write essays for the fun of it. I'd post some here, but they're in Hebrew...
Feel free to ask me stuff, but please keep it clean.
Coffee or tea?
