And the gates just keep opening....

And that is definitely the truth!

Aside from receiving full grant funding to attend the Rothberg International School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, I have just been offered a position as a public affairs intern at the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs! This is especially exciting because there were two things that I swore up and down about if I were to even think about the opportunity to come back to Israel, these such criteria listed next had to happen. They both were: (1) I would have to have a fully funded, check-in-hand, paid-in-full, guaranteed graduate semester with courses that would transfer to an accredited graduate university program back in the U.S.A, and (2) a paid internship that would correspond with such a program that would give me all kinds of amazing experience with the fields that I want to go into, ideally in something related to both broadcast journalism/media and public policy/political science.

I am thoroughly pleased to tell you that you can officially check off numbers (1) AND (2) on that list! :)

And on top of that, here it is folks, I'm getting paid a whole lot extra in grants to go to Jerusalem for four months (even from the agency that told me that my BGU program was not going to work out! Even check-in-hand...wow!) ...to take a few classes, to intern in political public affairs, to learn a little Hebrew (and some Arabic), to speak FRENCH (that's right!) full time as an intern, and...oh did I mention...travel??? Holy cow, I can't believe it!!

Now there's a few things left to do... (1) Book a flight to Israel...yay! (2) Finish my grad school apps to UCLA and USC, (3) Take the GRE... grr..!, and (4) to do laundry before I have to go! Haha, it's all going to be that awesome.

Let me enlighten you some on what my internship will be like. It is located in the German Colony of Jerusalem off the Sderot Emek Refa'im, not too far from the East Edge -- Abu Tor region -- of the city. I will be here about 20 hours a week or so working on and analyzing political dissertations and discourses between the U.S. Department of State (you know, Condoleeza Rice's office), the United Nations, the European Union, NATO nations, and the bulk of nations that comprise of the Middle East, including but not limited to Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan. This I have to tell you friends, is a huge deal. The topics I will be pursuing, which goes for a dissertation I might add, is anti-Semetism as it relates to the State of Israel. I will get the chance to work one-on-one with Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, one of the leading scholars on public policy in the Middle East. He has been an chief political adviser to several world leaders, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and current U.S. President George W. Bush. You can find out all about it here at: http://www.jcpa.org/


I'm thrilled to get the rare opportunity to do this, as they only hire three interns a year from all parts of the world. Again, languages will be my challenge with this internship, as it is required of me to speak French, English and Hebrew full-time with this job. I will definitely be learning a lot! Please be in touch with me through comments and messages, I absolutely love hearing from you all! Lots of love through this holiday season, and I can't wait for the foreign policy butt-kicking in Jerusalem that is about to come!! :)

Breaking News...!!!

Breaking news......!!!

New grant funding has totalled the cost of attendence to Hebrew University, which means...JOSH CAN OFFICIALLY COME BACK TO ISRAEL FOR THE SPRING!!

The question is now when it will all happen!! Thanks to my friends at the American Friends of the Hebrew University and the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater San Francisco, they have made it possible!!! Let's see just how things are going to fall into place.....

The good news is now that I will OFFICIALLY be able to attend school on Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem for four months!! (Don't worry Mark Jacobs, I'll bring the red party cups :P )


PS to all ---- thanks so much for your comments! I love to hear from all of you !!

USC, HUC, Los Angeles, and Beyond!

Hey everyone,

I'm not sure who is still reading this anymore (you might want to comment so I know...haha!) but I am updating this blog anyway since it still is relevant to my return to the Holy Land. And much has happened since my arrival two weeks ago back in Sacramento... Acceptance to the Hebrew University, a trip to San Francisco, a trip to Los Angeles, and seemingly several hours of phone calls to various agencies.... yes, this blog entry will definitely be worth reading...!! All things considered, there are several new developments to life in general that might worth noting! And on top of that, two job interviews tomorrow in Los Angeles.

So there's a song my buddy Brandon played for me the morning I graduated from USC when he crashed with me called, "Go Getta..." by R. Kelly...and that would definitely summarize my two weeks back in the United States. Honestly, as of two days ago, I had ruled out completely the chance to end up back in the Holy Land for school, but a lovely little note that stated that I would be receiving a 75-percent donor tuition discount on my program was a definite cause for a re-ignited track to see just how best that I could return to the Holy Land...on a full ride.

I would love to be back there, all things considered, but there's a lot more work that needs to be done. AND to top it all off, the morning I was going to just randomly drive to Oakland, CA to try and find a financial person to speak with is when I got a call from Loui Dobin, URJ Greene Family Camp director... at 7am Pacific Time! I mentioned I was going over there that day; he mentioned a friend of his to speak with. That friend has been making it all happen! She has been making calls on my behalf to local federations, some in Sacramento, some as far as Los Angeles, to see who would be willing to donate funding for this. And long story short, it looks like as soon as next week, I might have a fully funded trip back to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem...not including the MASA grant that would be coming in! That is definitely good news!

In the meantime, I had the chance to take a trip back to Los Angeles to do some job interviews, tour graduate schools, have some job interview, and even attend the USC vs. UCLA football game! And it all was soooo much fun! The first night I was back, I stayed with my pal Megan in her apartment in Hollywood. It was great to see her and to go out with all the old friends the following night at Woodranch Grill by the Grove in LA. I also went out to the DTD TROY toga party and got the chance to hang out with my friend Laura from Sacramento, who is a fine arts student at USC. It was all good times. And I officially have two graduate programs that I will be applying to: One is a Joint Master's Program with the Hebrew Union College and USC in public administration and communal service, and the other is at UCLA (i know, it's ok though!) in their public policy/administration program. Both applications will be keeping me busy in the coming weeks.

This week has been getting all of the scholarship as mentioned above together. Tonight I'm driving back to Los Angeles for two job interviews, one at USC/HUC and another with Porter Novelli, Inc. in downtown LA. They're a PR firm that I used to work for in 2004, and they're offering a full-time PR intern/account staffing position. We'll see how it all goes!

Anyways, if you'd like to call and check in, I'll be on the road tonight, Dec. 9 and probably arrive late night from LA on Dec. 10. Keep checking back for new updates :) And of course, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and all that good stuff!

~Josh :)