"Israel: The Beautiful Chaos" by MSIH first year blogger Jonathan Abres

Shalom!!! It is a great pleasure and honour to be able to write for the MSIH blog. Exactly a year  ago, I read all the blogs in anticipation of what was to come. Hopefully, over this next month, I can give you a glimpse into my experience here at the Medical School for International Health.
When I tell my friends and family back home (Canada) that I go to MSIH, they always ask how it is to go to school in Israel and for those that know Israel: why Beer Sheva? Israel has such a polarizing hectic culture. The uniqueness of going to school here lies in its beautiful chaos. I have always had a fascination with this country. Whenever I would come back from a trip, I would show my friends pictures of my experiences. I would show them the waterfalls in the North, ‘rafting’ down the Jordan River, the desert in the South, and the beaches of Tel-Aviv. I would look at the pictures and see that the waterfalls seemed bigger in person, the Jordan River is more of a stream, and Tel-Aviv looks like any other big city. I then talk about the people I met, and the magic begins to shine. Now that I have been living here, I realize that the milk and honey do not lie in the land of Israel rather in its people.
When I think about the culture in Israel, I think of family. When I think of family, I think of my sisters who will be brutally honest with me when I dress or look terribly, my parents that will go out of their way to do anything for me, and me taking my frustrations out on them. In Israel, everyone thinks they are each other’s family. Therefore, when I look bad, I hear about it, but that same person will also go way out of his/her way to help me. Another person will also take all his/her anger out on me for no apparent reason. Every Israeli must get involved and have an opinion about other people’s business. This can get frustrating though it breeds passion, which is ultimately why I love Israel. It is not that there is no passion to be found elsewhere, though there is a certain spark among Israelis. They can be screaming at each other in one instant and hugging in the next. That passion is also seen in the daily protests, whether it be about the refugee crisis, the current government, religion, sports, food industry, the Palestinian conflict, or any other topic.
How does all this translate to going to medical school in Israel? After all, learning about proteins anywhere in the world is the same. Like the culture that surrounds the school, it translates not in the buildings, the textbooks, the resources, rather in the people that surround me. On the first day of classes, I already had more interaction with my professors than I had during my whole undergraduate degree. I was invited for Shabbat dinner at the families of the administration, and they adopted me lovingly into their home. When I go see a teacher at his office and I take up over an hour of his time, he asks me if I need help in other classes. Other teachers decide to give us their phone numbers in case we have any emergency questions (i.e. neurotic crises), though they are also not shy to tell me when my questions are completely derailing the class and to shush. The director of the school requires that we meet and talk to him, and we talk about surfing and any other interests I have because people are what matter. The lady at the coffee shop invites me over for Shabbat, the librarian becomes our good friend, or any other stories of what would normally be strangers becoming family. These stories are endless.
Among the students, MSIH attracts a certain demographic filled with passion about a vast array of topics united by a passion for global health (see my good friend, now brother, Aerin Philip’s blog above). It has been a humbling experience to be surrounded by people so eager to help others. In the same way my classmates help each other with anything class related, they are eager to get involved in human rights, development, and other global health issues. I have learned a great amount about what I can do to help others and more importantly how to do it.
So what is unique about MSIH: the people. I hope over the next few weeks to show you how the people have impacted me.

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