Display Name : Zemer
Gender: Male
Birthday: 27 Tammuz / 24 July 1987
HomeTown: Johannesburg, South Africa
Current City of Residence: Israel
Favorite City outside of Jerusalem: It's not a specific city, but I LOVE the Shomron area... I think I want to live there one day...
Occupation: I will be beginning a BA at Bar Ilan in October. I'm involved in informal Jewish education, music, and other projects.
Interests or Hobbies: Playing music, listening to music, writing music, thinking deeply and trying to make sense of this crazy existence, Israel, humour, trying to improve the world through interactions with people, learning Torah that really speaks to me, finding intrinsic beauty in people, things, and this wonderful world, karate, Linux, a bit of computer programming, languages, writing, reading, playing computer games, Heroes...
Favorite Music: Mostly anything with soul. But depending on my mood I'll listen to a fair amount.
Jewish Music:
Great Nigunnim. Rebbe Shlomo Carlebach. A little Moshav Band. Not the general hora-type dancing music so much.
Non-Jewish:
Counting Crows, Coldplay, R.E.M., The Shins!, Simon & Garfunkel, U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers (unfortunately some of their songs are a bit obscene, but they ROCK!), Pink Floyd, Queen, Oasis, Norah Jones, Lighthouse Family (the few songs of theirs I have heard), the Beatles, Van Morrison...
Favorite Books:
Jewish:
The Holy Torah..., Likutei Mohara"n (Reb Nachman of Breslov), Orot (Rav Kook), stories and Torah of Rebbe Shlomo Carlebach, Chassidic stories
Non-Jewish:
I love reading little kids' books. They are so simple. I also love the Harry Potter series, Narnia series, Sherlock Holmes, Roald Dahl, books about kids who are beginning to find themselves, Terry Pratchett!!! (just about anything he's written), Exodus, by Leon Uris (wow)...
Freestyle description:
I'm trying to find my way through life, and to find my unique path to Torah and G-d. To be real and meaningful, such a path is full of variation, suspense, change, and real-life surprises. I LOVE people, especially kids, and I LOVE music. I want to see so much beautiful light shining in the places that are so dark today, and I want to help with that... I would love to see much, much more Shalom amongst us, the Jewish People, and ultimately in the whole world. One thing that really upsets me when people have no idea who they are, and who don't have a clue as to how special they are and what they can achieve. I LOVE Eretz Yisrael.
Random Questions:
1. When you hesitate before hitting snooze on your alarm clock, are you being lazy?
Which of the 3 alarms? I had a really late night, okay, give me a break! :) Don't you know the best time of day is late at night, when it's quiet? The world can wait 15 minutes...
2. What's the earliest you've gotten up to watch cartoons and what did you see?
I once got up to see the sunrise, but it was all fogged up. So much for that!
3. For your birthday, your aunt gave you a maple syrup dispenser shaped like a rooster. Please write her a thank-you note.
Dear Aunt __, thank you for your dubious gift of questionable use. Do you still have the receipt from the shop? I want to take it back. Your taste in gifts has declined steadily over the years. It must be all those soap operas you watch so addictively. Get real. (KIDDING!!!)
Mostly. In South Africa we call it 'cold-drink'.
5. What is your dream vacation?
A trip with a few good friends to the Drakensberg mountains. Guitar, jamming, quiet sunsets, bonfires, braais, beer. Road-tripping!
6. Do you like hot sauce?
No. More than a drop of Charif on my Falafel and I'm hiccuping and my head feels like it's going to overheat and melt. Falafel ROCKS!
7. Whats your favorite planet and why?
I wouldn't trade this one with any other... sure, we have some problems, but on the whole this Earth is a beautiful, wonderful place! It's great.
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