Where I have been and what I have experienced is something that I don’t think many people my age have done. I grew up in New York City. I finished junior high school, and my freshman high school year in Brooklyn Tech. Then I embarked on a journey that changed me forever. I decided to go to Israel for the next three years and finish my high school education there. The challenge wasn’t small. I was going to have to learn Hebrew from scratch. Although I knew how to read and write from childhood education, I didn’t understand the language at all, so it didn’t help me whatsoever once I got to Israel. I had barely any family in Israel, and I wasn’t close to them for that matter either. The experience was absolutely amazing. I left Mosinzon Youth Village high school with fluent knowledge in Hebrew, and a better appreciation for the State of Israel, and for the people there. Yet, my journey hadn’t ended. My high school in Israel was completely secular, yet there was some tradition whenever holidays came around. For me it wasn’t enough, and I started searching my Judaism. I decided that after high school I wanted to spend a year just immersed in the study of Torah, and before I knew it, I found myself in the Old City of Jerusalem, studying ancient mind blowing texts, with the Temple Mount and Western Wall right outside my window. It was this year in Yeshiva in which I started to understand what I wanted to accomplish in my life, what I stood for, and what I was ready to commit my life to. My plans were heading towards serving in the IDF for a few years already, yet my mother wouldn’t hear of it. It was then that I decided that it would only be fair for me to make up for some of the lost time when I was in Israel, and to make a decision once I experienced what college in America would be like. My plans for college are simple. I want to get a job that will allow my future family and I to live comfortably in Israel. There is a very high demand for people who understand American tax laws in Israel. I also think that I will try to learn an Eastern language, possibly Mandarin Chinese, because many companies are looking for Chinese speakers in order to expand their businesses. All my work here in America is to ensure a future for my family and I in my Homeland.