Essential Tips for Living in Israel

The Swedes Make the So-called TV Tax Almost Cool!

How about this for a TV Tax: The Swedish have got it right when it comes to the so-called TV Tax. First off- they don’t call it the TV Tax which is confusing and wrong— they call it the Broadcasting Tax, and define it as “Everyone who owns, rents or borrows a television receiver has to pay for a TV License. It doesn’t matter which channels you watch, the mere fact that you have a TV receiver makes you liable to pay for a license.” Perhaps if the tax was about broadcasting, and the actual receiver as opposed to the TV box then we could all get along here. I mean after all, that’s really what the tax is about: taxing us for government funded channels. But if I don’t watch those channels, can’t even get those channels on my TV and only use it to watch DVDs then I shouldn’t have to pay a TV tax which is really just a Broadcasting Tax. And believe me I have explained this to no end to the Israeli TV Tax folks, but they are just not interested (they literally don’t read the letters I send, emails, or phone calls). And furthermore if they could give people the option of not having a Channel receiver then the mess would be even less of a mess and maybe not a mess at all!

OK, this is a rant I have given way to many times. This time I am just saying check out the really cool way the Swedes have managed to inform people about paying their tax. Rather than sending threatening letters, giving you fines, and just assuming you are guilty of owning a TV and watching their amazing channels without paying for them, the Swedes say, hey, we’re good at what we do so check out our amazing commercial and will prove how awesome we are, and then pay your tax.

Check out this commercial which may start off slow, but believe me it’s so worth it to watch. Why you ask? Because in this version of the film the Felafel Ladies make an appearance, and if you watch it to the end then you too can make an appearance. Just watch it to see what I’m talking about. And just imagine if the TV Tax bureaucrats in Israel could get out of their mob mentality and actually do something this creative, perhaps people wouldn’t be fighting the tax at all, and just enjoy good entertainment!

9 ways to order or download English books in Israel

I love walking into bookstores. I love the smell. I love rummaging and looking for great finds. I love the bargain bin.  I even love reading book spines until my neck is permanently stuck to my shoulder. But if you live in Israel, there is no massive Barnes & Noble – like store or well-stocked library with English books besides Hebrew University.  There are a few bookstores that carry English books but it’s very possible that you won’t find what you’re looking for.  So, as much as I love dawdling around in a bookshop, I find myself drawn back to the web to find more choices. The problem is that some online stores like Amazon charge a ridiculous amount to ship books to Israel.  Luckily, I’ve spotted a bunch of bookstores that ship relatively cheaply or even for free to Israel and a few websites where you can download books for free.

Note about shipping: If you order books over $50, you may be required to pay a VAT tax at the Israeli post office.

1. 
   The Book Directory Free worldwide delivery
2. 
   Better World Books - $3.97 shipping worldwide; Bargain Bin has 5 used books for $15
3. 
   Books 4 Now- Israel-based online booksstore that sells used books in Israel. Order 4 books, get free delivery anywhere in Israel
4. 
   AngloBooks – website to trade English books with others in Israel
5. 
   Hook A Book – focused on Israel although prices are in dollars. Free international standard shipping. The site is a little hard on the eyes and there is no search function which makes it a bit difficult to browse but maybe they’re still developing the site as it’s pretty new.  PayPal accepted.
6. 
   Project Gutenberg Over 30,000 works of literature, cookbooks, reference works, periodicals, etc.  in the form of e-books and audio mp3s that you can download for free.
7. 
   42Scifi New and used English sci-fi books in Israel.
8. 
   Bookmooch – bookswap based on points sysem. For each book you want, you have to send 2 books to others
9. 
   HebrewBooks Over 40,000 classical Hebrew books for free download. Mostly Jewish books and texts. Books in Hebrew and English.
10. Abebooks.com English books. Check the Shipping Destination and Rates for each book to see the rate to ship books to Israel
11. Bookme.co.il – Mostly Hebrew books. Seems like only new books
12. Obook.co.il – Used and New Hebrew and English books
13. Findabook.co.il – Used Hebrew and English books
14. BookTrade.co.il – Used Hebrew and English books
15. gilboabooks.co.il – Used Hebrew books and small selection of English books
16. book4book.co.il – Used and New Hebrew and English books
17. books4u.co.il – New Hebrew books and small selection of English books
18. Steimatsky – New Hebrew and English books
19. Tzomet Sfarim – New Hebrew and English books

Watch Season 2 of Srugim ONLINE (Israel only)

Thanks to @avihein on Twitter for being the first to alert everyone that you can now watch “Yifat gets married”, the first episode  of the second season of Srugim online. You can read what we’ve written about Srugim here and here.  If you need to catch up and do a marathon of the first season – you can watch it free online [Israel only] or here [international].

For the uninitiated, Srugim is an Israeli drama series (in Hebrew) about young religious singles and couples in Jerusalem.  Srugim’s portrayal of life in Jerusalem is fairly accurate and it really touches on a lot of issues that come up for the 20′s and 30′s crowd in the holy city. The show really hits home – I literally ran into them filming a few times just walking around my neighborhood. It’s also really fun to try and figure out where each shot is filmed and to spot someone I know casually walking by in the backdrop.

As Molly wrote up, we were lucky to see the first 2 episodes at the Jerusalem Cinemateque with “Amir” (Amos Tamam), Laizy Shapira (director) and Chava Divon (co-director) from Srugim.  Now I’m spoiled and want to watch the rest of the season with the whole cast! If you’re reading this, Srugim cast, you’re invited over to watch on my laptop (I don’t watch TV) as I hunt down each episode online! I’ll even make some popcorn. Yalla!

Other peeps talking about Season 2:

• Swamped with Singles – Jerusalem Post
• Weaving Together a New Season of Srugim – Jerusalem.com
• Laizy Shapira, one of the brave ones – Habitza.com

“Srugim” the show, I ask you: “איפה (Where’s) Ha-Anglo?”

The ever popular TV show “Srugim” is about to start its second season January 10, 2010. But cool people like me and my co-blogger and skinny friend Rebecca have already seen the first two episodes. How did we accomplish such a feat? Well it was simple really, during Hannukah the Jerusalem Cinameteque held the preimere for the new episodes along with a panel of the show’s producers, writers and one of the actors.

I have to admit that for Jerusalem this was pretty cool. Rebecca and I had front row seats which we thought would be great to view the subtitles extra large, but unfortunately Hebrew Ulpan was hardcore that night with no subtitles and lots of Israeli slang. While the seats didn’t help our Hebrew lesson, they were great because we ended up right in front of one of the actors of the show, Amos Tamam, who plays Amir. In some ways it was weird, you know, was I supposed to laugh extra hard in the funny scenes because he was behind me? Should I have sighed when it was sad? It felt like I was on the TV show, not him!

Anyway, I won’t give away anything so no spoiler alerts, but I will say this: For a show that does a pretty good job depicting Jerusalem’s young religious and semi-religious and non-religious crowd, where’s the token Anglo!! If you remember back to the first episode there was Stacy the ‘American immigrant-reform-lesbian’ that lived next door and was handy for some morning tefilin, but since that appearance we have yet to bump into any Anglos on the street, in classes, or date anyone — which is just hard to believe.

Come on Laizy! That’s the writer and director’s name; I’m not just calling him lazy! Where’s the Anglo? Either bring Stacy back for more episodes, which I am sure Shira Katz, my improv buddy would love or get an Anglo supporting character in the cast. You must know there’s a lot of us watching and basically there’s a lot of us in Jerusalem. So as you start to write the third season please keep us in mind. And, if you can’t think of a plot or two, let me give you some starters- just know that if you use my ideas I want the credit or at least a pat on the back!

Plots:

1. Stacy has a (insert Jewish holiday here) party and invites the building. Here the characters meet and become buddies. They share a Shabbat or two, hang out on Emek Refaim and drink like an Anglo whose under age!
2. The Anglo turned immigrant turned student who meets Hodaya at school.
3. Nati dates an Anglo girl. That’s simple fun and goes a long way.
4. Nati dates Molly. Hey it could happen!
5. Yifat has to design something for The Big Felafel. Molly and Rebecca make a star appearance later to have reoccurring roles on the show. Get it! We play ourselves, it’s pure genius! The blog will truly come to life.
6. Nati wants some underage booty and ends up at one of those bars with the ‘Shana Alef kids’ we’ve all come to hate.
7. While the gang hangs out at a café on Emek Refaim a Birthright group invades their space. But one of the members leaves a lasting impression on someone in the group. (it’s not porn, just romance)
8. Amir teaches an Anglo Hebrew for extra money and ends up setting up the Anglo with either Nati or Reut (depending on if it’s a boy or girl).
9. Reut meets an Anglo boy at synagogue over Kiddish- hott!
10. Hodaya becomes friends with an Anglo at her bar who is also debating her level of religiosity.

Laizy, I got more if and when you want it! Just write us!

To join the Bring Back Stacy Facebook Group click here

Photo credit (thanks): Rebecca for the first photo and Dana Lavi Dekel for the bottom 2 photos

To watch the show’s first season for free online

Ode to Merkaz Hamagshimim

A few months ago I heard that Merkaz Hamagshimim was sold and moving to another location. All because of scumbag Madoff who lost $90 million of Hadassah’s money. I started reminiscing with others about what a wonderful “soft landing pad” The Merkaz was and how chaval (a shame) that it won’t be there in the same format for the next olim or would-be olim who come to Israel. The Merkaz was a combination of absorption center and community center located in the German Colony of Jeusalem. A place where you could live for a year on the cheap after making aliyah or while figuring out what to do in Israel and seeing if you want to move here for good.

If it hadn’t been for Merkaz Hamagshimim, I don’t know that I’d still be in Israel. It was while living in The Merkaz that I got to go to ulpan, work at an internship-turned-job, do Jewish learning, meet my would-be husband,  meet co-blogger Molly and other friends, and the list goes on. In order to get a real sense of coming to Israel through a newcomers eye, I dug into group emails I had sent and found hilarious observations from my first year in Israel in 2004-05 while living at The Merkaz.  Enjoy!

Arrival

I’ve arrived!!!!!!!  Merkaz Hamagshimim is unbelievable. I love my room but am still slightly nauseous from the ride from the airport. Replace ride with crazy israeli driver. i think he thought it was six flags great adventure and that we were on a roller coaster. he was the only one that went weee. oy.

Walking to town

We timed the walk to town today, and with our new carefully planned route it takes about 20 minutes to the Conservative Yeshiva and 30 minutes to town. I know the time, not because I have a watch, which I don’t, but because I’ve been carryng around my clock. Every time I want to check the time I pull out a clock from my bag. Maybe I should tie it around my neck. Or get a watch. We’ll see.

My Room

My room is really cute, airy, breezy, and right across from a camp (I hope) where Abba’s “dancing queen” has been playing since 9AM. Sometimes they listened to it in hebrew for variety and sang along. To say the least, its been in my head all day. My room also has a stove top and a fridge. the stove top was SOOOO nasty, so i bought some cleaning spray, only to find out later it was really to polish wooden furniture. yeah for hebrew and the english i failed to pay attention to. way to go. but actually it cleaned the grime nicely and also turned it into wood, which was an added bonus.

Only two computers at The Merkaz

Thank you for your emails, i read them over and over (you know who you are who have been emailing) because i miss you and because i love staring at this computer screen, i have been at it for (gasp) the past 2 hours almost. i am hogging the computer at the merkaz (there’s more than 1) because i am far too tired to be social  So last night after scrubbing my stove for 3 hours (or so it felt) i tried to fall asleep to the beautiful sounds of cats meowing. oh jerusalem, you will never cease to live up to your reputation of being infestd with stray cats, even for me.

The no-shake internship

This morning I met with the people that I will be interning for. It took me less than 20 minutes to walk there, which is great. The walk to work is so nice, with lots of flowers, and cute stores, and fruit stands,  and i’m sure i won’t be able to resist the little bakery with fresh, warm, baked goods (my biggest weakness) so i’m really looking forward to it. The guys that I’m working for are really laid back and seem very nice. They are religious so there was no handshake (in case that was on your mind, now you know)

Awkward Change

Speaking of hands, I am sooo awkward, well in general, but more specifically at the supermarket, I extend my hand for the change but they always place it on the plastic counter. next time i will remember. woooops.

Supermarket Shopping

I went to the supermarket and pretty much bought everything in sight. How could I resist those sesame pretzels, and ‘vaflim’, and nutella, and cucumbers that I thought were zucchini. Woops.

Hebrew and Japanese

Ya caught me- i got nothin on japanese, but my hebrew is improving drastically. I love the people in my ulpan- i went to lunch with them and spoke hebrew for an hour. it was ‘fantasti’ .

Israel. week 25? Maybe. whos going to check.. honestly

What I’m trying to say is that I’ve been here for a while and am still very unsure of the future.

Discovering sabich

one more thing- food item called sabeech— amazing! ‘madheem’ wowsers. i hate eggplant but not sabeech eggplant, so fried and delicious and the pita and the hardboiled egg and wow. come visit and i’ll show you the best place.

Going on tiyulim

so i’m going on a Merkaz  tiyul this weekend with hiking and biking and raking and caking and poking and soaking (?)

The Lingo

Rak Rega. (insert hand motion here which makes me want to curse out Israelis every chance I get)

Returning after a trip to the States

here i am. back in israel. as an israeli. more agressive? don’t think so. better hebrew? yes. better than an israeli? ehhh…

Making Aliyah

so i’ve gone and i’ve done it. the big A word. not the curse word, the other one. aliya. or aliyah. depending on how much you like silent letters.

What’s in Season? Winter Fruits and Vegetables in Israel

Note from Rebecca: I’ve been reading Miriam’s blog, Israeli Kitchen, and asked her if she could help us out during the year to remember which fruits and vegetables are in season. For some reason, I can never remember when celery turns wilty or avocado can sadly no longer be found or when strawberries make a most welcome comeback. So Miriam to the rescue!  Miriam creates original recipes and posts them on her blog and agreed to share some of her favorite winter recipes with The Big Felafel. Enjoy and make sure to check out Israeli Kitchen for more recipes. Stay tuned for the Spring, Summer and Fall editions of “What’s in Season”. Without further ado, Miriam of Israeli Kitchen:

When rain streams over my window and it gets dark early, I cook soup. The family shleps in towards evening, dripping and complaining. As they pull off coats and put umbrellas away, they sniff the aromatic odor wafting from the big pot on the stove, and know that in a few minutes they’ll be sitting down to their favorite winter food – home-made soup.

I started my soup in the supermarket, slowly cruising the vegetable aisles. All kinds of mushrooms were on sale. Then there was firm, golden corn on the cob, which made me think of cornbread baked with corn kernels in it. Slender, pale-green leeks and crisp celery lay in orderly rows. Piles of potatoes, both white and red varieties…hmm. A delicate leek and potato soup, aromatic with celery, possibly?

Or how about a robust white bean soup with tomatoes and diced carrots, flavored with thyme and plenty of onions? There were so many vegetables! But I was enjoying this cook’s dilemma.

I pushed the shopping cart on. Knobby celeriac and pale parsley roots were fat and tender. When the weather gets hot again, they’ll go thin, not as good. I like to include one or two of those roots in my chicken or beef soups for the rich, sweetish flavor they give out. All those vegetables are in season and reasonably priced. What soup, what soup would I feed my family tonight?

The mushrooms won. I could have bought a few vibrantly green stalks of broccoli, also in season, for a broccoli/mushroom soup, but I love the pure taste of mushrooms alone. I chose a little basket of firm, brown Portobelos and served my soup with warm slices of that chunky cornbread.

We ate and thawed out. The soup performed its reliable magic, filling stomachs and souls with comfort. By the time we sigh and push our bowls away, life had started looking good again.

A colorful salad of sliced tomatoes and avocados followed. It needed only a little lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil, and a dusting of salt for dressing. All Israeli winter produce for dinner last night.

Recipes:

Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons olive oil

450 grams – 1 lb. fresh mushrooms, clean and sliced thinly. Put 4 aside for later.

1 medium onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small potato, peeled and diced

1 bay leaf

1 cup water

3 cups of milk

2 Tablespoons white wine

1 Tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, or a sprig of fresh

salt and white pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped chives or chopped parsley

Method:

1. In your soup pot, sauté the onions till they’re wilted.

2. Add the sliced mushrooms and the diced potatoes. Stir and cook till the mushrooms have released their juice and the potatoes are starting to get soft.

3. Add the garlic and the bay leaf.

4. Add the water. Cover the pot and cook the vegetables over low heat till they are all soft.

5. Take the pot off the heat. Either transfer the soup base to a blender or food processor, or use a stick blender, but process it till the vegetables are blended.

6. Return the blended vegetables to the pot (I just take my stick blender to the whole thing – off the heat, of course).

7. Add the milk, bring it up to a simmer, and cook for another 15 minutes. Don’t let the milk boil over.

8. Swirl the butter in. Add the wine and the thyme and the 4 sliced mushrooms you put aside, and simmer the soup another minute or so.

Spoon out some of the mushroom slices into each bowl and sprinkle chopped chives or parsley over them. Serve.

Cornbread with Fresh Corn Kernels

Ingredients:

1/1/4 cups white flour

3/4 cup corn meal

4 Tblsp. sugar

3 tsp. baking powder (Israelis can just empty out a little package of baking powder into the bowl)

3/4 tsp. salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 Tblsp. melted butter. You can use oil or marg, but it will never be as good.

2 corn cobs, broken in halves and steamed till the kernels are tender.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 F – 190 C.

Have ready a medium-sized bowl and two smaller bowls.

1. Scrape the kernels off the corn cobs; put into one of the smaller bowls and set aside.

2. Sift the dry ingredients into the larger bowl.

3. In the smaller bowl, beat the egg. Add the milk and melted butter and mix well.

4. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing well again.

5. Add the corn kernels to the batter and mix.

6. Spread the batter in a butter 9-inch pie dish; or line your pan with baking paper.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cornbread is golden brown all over.

Here’s a quick list of especially delicious and available  fruits and vegetables during the winter months.

Please feel free to comment with your favorite winter eats in Israel.

1. mushrooms, many varieties
2. all the citrus: oranges, pomelos, grapefruits, tangerines
3. apples
4. avocados
5. lettuce: cos or Arab lettuce, oak-leaf, iceberg

Beautiful Sufganiyot

We may not have Dunkin Donuts here in Israel, so Chanukah time and Roladin bakery’s sufganiyot (Israeli version of donuts)  are the closest we can get. Most sufganiyot could be confused with a roll – a big round piece of cakey bread, with a dot of filling which could fall off if you’re not careful. However,  I think there are a few bakeries that really put in the extra effort (read: filling)

• Cafe Ne’eman – King George St. I recommend the white chocolate
• Marzipan Bakery - Mahane Yehuda Market & Rahel Imenu St., Jerusalem
• Roladin – Mamilla Mall [featured below]

Is it wrong to frame this picture and hang it over my couch? I think it’s beautiful.  I recommend the chocolate chocolate flavor. Pure heaven.  I think I’m gonna have to keep going back until I’ve tried every flavor.

Flavors include macchiato, halva, pistachio, vodka melon, banana, with all sorts of goodies sprinkled and added on top. For more sufganiya goodness, read Haaretz’s writeup.

“Safe Sex in the Holy City”

It’s World AIDS Day once again and we still don’t have a cure. That said we must continue to stay safe and informed about the disease. Here in Jerusalem it seems we’re more worried about terrorist attacks, getting jay-walking tickets or a spontaneous protest headed up by those crazy Haredis (see what happens when you don’t have TV, you have to make your own Entertainment at the expense of others). But the truth is, AIDS is a deadly disease in Israel just like the rest of the world. And even if it doesn’t make headlines like the Swine Flu, it’s still affecting your life and your loved ones.

Staying safe and informed is the best way to battle the disease until we find a cure and the Jerusalem Open House is the best way to do that. The organization has a weekly clinic open on Sundays which provides a free and completely anonymous rapid HIV testing service, as well as counseling, information and education about HIV/ AIDS. The clinic has also packed up their bags and visited other sites to give these free and anonymous tests. This World AIDS Day they will be at The Hebrew University’s Mt. Scopus campus giving those tests to students and staff alike.

As well as the free testing, the organization will be celebrating “Safe Sex in the Holy City” Thursday, Dec. 3^rd at the Talpiot club ‘Campus’ where your NIS 40 entrance fee will support the clinic. The night’s festivities will begin at 11:30pm and rock on until the wee hours of early morning. Best of all there will be a drag show to keep us entertain while staying safe.

And so to get you in the party mood, I remind you of the World AIDS Day post I wrote about last year.

For more info about the organization check out their website or contact Shira at shira@joh.org.il.

Chanukah Time! Flash Mob in Jerusalem

In case you’ve been following my tweets you may have noticed that I’m obsessed with Improv Everywhere and the whole idea of going into places and doing random things to surprise strangers and cause a scene. Every time I’m in the central bus station or supermarket in Jerusalem, I just want to break into song and dance or freeze in place like they did in Grand Central Station in New York City or Tel Aviv’s version.

I finally got my chance to partake in a flash mob last Friday at Jerusalem’s popular hangout spot, the midrachov/Ben Yehuda St.  Nefesh B’nefesh organized the mission, taught us the dance, and now, released the official video. Enjoy and Happy Chanukah!!

And if you still want more, here’s the Making of the Flash Mob Video.

Here are some of my other favorite Improv Everywhere videos:

• Grocery Store Musical
• I love Lunch!
• Invisible Dogs

19 questions you should ask before renting an apartment in Jerusalem and the rest of Israel

After moving apartments several times in Jerusalem, I’ve started keeping track of all the questions I ask during each apartment hunt. Here’s a helpful guide for how to find an apartment in Israel with lists of different apartment websites.

Here’s a translation of an apartment notice from one of the best flat hunting sites  Yad2:

1. Price: Price range is usually the first thing that narrows down my apartment search. If the price is in dollars, make sure you feel comfortable with the conversion solution which typically is either a)whatever the rate is on the first of each month or b)setting a rate at the beginning of the contract. I prefer the second option so I’m not nervous about what the rate will be each month.
2. Entrance Date: One of the first questions to ask each apartment is if it’s relevant anymore (actuali in Hebrew). And if so, when is the move in date?
3. Location: Will you feel safe walking around at night? Are there lots of busses nearby? Is it near things that are important to you (friends, supermakets, kindergarten, etc.). To help find the street before you head over, you can use Google Maps which takes english or hebrew street names.
4. Number of Rooms: Be wary of the 2.5 rooms – what exactly will that .5 be and will it actually make a difference in adding space to the apartment.
5. Size: How many square meters is it? Sometimes an apartment will sound big in square meters but it may not be set up in a very user-friendly way
6. Arnona: Depending on the size of the apartment, you’ll have to pay a certain amount of municipal property tax.
7. Floor Number / Elevator: Find out what floor number it’s on – and whether the building is on a raised platform or not. If it’s a high floor, is there an elevator? Shabbat elevator?
8. Vad Bayit: The maintenance fee for each building differs slightly and can range anywhere from 40-300+ shekels per month. The lower range usually covers someone who cleans the building once a week. The higher range usually means that there is heating (hasaka) for the building during certain times of the day.
9. Dud Shemesh(solar panel for hot water): For me, this is really a dealbreaker and I try to only look at apartments that have a dud shemesh. Mainly so I can just say dude a lot, but also because there is so much unbearably hot sun during the summer that it would be such a shame to let it go to waste, and a dud saves electricity costs.
10. Daytime/Nightime: Is there plenty of warm sunshine during the day? Is it scary at night. I recommend checking out an apartment both during the day and at night so you get the full picture.
11. Balcony (mirpeset) / Closed balcony (mirpeset sherut) If an apartment has a balcony,  find out if it’s open or closed. Also nice to know if it is sukkah-friendly.
12. Furniture: Does the place come with a stove, fridge, built-in closets, washing machine, couches, etc? Sometimes landlords just happen to have an extra closet laying around. On the other hand, we went to see an apartment that didn’t allow gas stoves so be sure to ask, ask, ask about any details you can think of.
13. Landlords: Does the landlord pace the apartment every 2 seconds? Are they nice on the phone but then shady in person? Pay attention to the landlord’s behavior – you don’t want to be handing your hard earned money over to a scumbag each month. Make sure to ask about repairs, and the landlord’s responsibilities to you.
14. Pets: What I’ve found with pets is that there’s usually a don’t ask, don’t tell policy. The landlords usually don’t care as long as you keep the place clean and it doesn’t cause trouble with the neighbors.
15. Parking: If you have a car, make sure there is either a designated parking area, or at least lots of little side streets nearby with ample parking
16. Heating/air conditioning: Find out what kind of heating system there is. Also, you can ask the current tenants how the apartment fares during the summer and winter.
17. Roommates: If you’re looking to live with others, you’ll have a whole new list of questions – do you want to live with religious people, people that you know, Israelis, etc. Make sure you get a good, friendly vibe when you’re choosing roommates because you’re gonna see these people plenty.
18. Agent: Check to see if there is an agent. If the apartment is going through an agent, the fee is typically one month’s rent. You can find plenty of apartments without an agent so only use one as the very last resort.
19. Storage: Does the place come with a separate storage space?

Good luck with your apartment hunt!

If you have anything to add, please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

© 2012 The Big Felafel