Joe R.

Born in Iraq. Iraqi Jewish parents. Dad was tortured after Saddam took power. They captured him the day before his wedding, and imprisoned him for 6 years. Mother waited. They escaped via Iran because Iran was very friendly to Jews in the early 70s before the revolution.

The Iran revolution was promising better elections and such, but instead it was the opposite. That’s what people are worried about in Israel now, too. (He explained the current judicial reform issue to me.)

In 1972, they moved to New York, and he grew up there, though his parents were understandably over-protective.

He moved to Israel from New York in 2010. It's so small which is great for a family, the kids’ extended family is all nearby. In America, you don’t see your parents much after age 18. Here, you do. His mother moved here last year, too.

Israel is the best place to raise kids. It’s very community oriented. Kids go to the park and there are a hundred other kids. Yom Kippur is the best for kids because there are no cars, so the kids ride around on their bikes, totally free, roaming with their gangs of friends. No appointments. Everything spontaneous. Don’t even call, just show up and knock on the door.

His creative outlet is helping people start businesses. He does a direct mail business, as a favor to a friend. Great CEO with a big heart and his employees would take a bullet for him. He makes sure everyone is growing personally and financially. His friend does Burning Man type events in Vermont every August.

When people want a meeting with him, he invites them to the beach, and tells them to bring a swimsuuit, then they go paddleboarding or surfing.

After the army, people are sick of being told what to do, so they go travel the world for a couple years. That’s how he met his wife. He was still in New York, and she came through, they met, and a week later he hopped on a plane to Israel to be with her.

UAE only recently started allowing Israelis to visit, so he’s taken his family many times now, for the nature, with the ibex in the desert.