My Story
Originally from Arlington, VA, Rebecca is an average suburban girl who finished her BAs at the University of Chicago and celebrated by making aliyah by herself at the age of 22. Upon arrival, she took on the IDF's draft policy to convince them to accept a woman of her advanced age. That was when her adventures really began....
In the ensuing decade, Rebecca managed to improve her Hebrew, serve as the only combat-certified woman in her battallion, command medics in the field, teach English in a development town, pull 36-hour shifts at the desk of the emergent jpost.com, work as the Internal Security and Knesset correspondents for the internationally-acclaimed Jerusalem Post, appear as a guest commentator on numerous television and radio programs, both report on and then serve as a reservist in the Second Lebanon War, and
spend time embedded in elite security force units and emergency response teams. She has advised a number of prominent Israeli politicians on speeches and speechwriting, particularly for English-speaking audiences.
Rebecca's interests are ecclectic. She has a deep personal interest in women's issues, particularly in the framework of Israeli politics, in emergency preparedness and response, in political culture and identity and in the Jewish world. She currently is based in Baltimore, where she is completing a PhD in History at Johns Hopkins University. While in the States, she served as the acting Washington editor for the Jerusalem Post, and co-wrote their election blog "National Zoo". This semester, she will be teaching a groundbreaking course on military studies for non-majors, translating the major questions facing military thinkers and civilian policy-makers into a political science framework. Her own research focuses on political identity and agrarian culture, and she has articles forthcoming on such diverse topics as memory and the American whaling industry and economic thought on the Israeli right.
"What are you
doing here?"
-Golani Brigade corporal in Bayt Hanun, Gaza Strip