Getting settled
The first month in order, the Hebrew you will meet, ulpan, getting around, safety, and cars and driving.
The paperwork, accounts and registrations most new arrivals need in their first four weeks, in the order that saves the most return trips.
The Hebrew that appears on the contract, the bill and the clinic door, grouped by situation, with the script, how to say it and what it means.
Every new oleh is entitled to a free ulpan, and every English-speaker in Jerusalem knows someone who never finished it. Here is how the courses work and how to get value from them.
The Rav-Kav card, the light rail, buses and the apps that tie them together — plus what stops on Shabbat and how to reach the airport.
Two different questions hide in "is Jerusalem safe": ordinary crime, where the city is calmer than most, and the security situation, which has its own routines. Here is the resident's version of both.
Blue and white means pay, red and white means don't. The rules, the apps, the residents' permit, and where to park when you're heading to the Old City.
You can drive on your foreign licence for a while after arriving, and then you have to convert it. The process is mostly online and a single short drive, if you start before the clock runs out.
Cars are expensive in Israel, used cars are the normal purchase, and the paperwork is lighter than the price tag suggests. Here is the process and the traps.
Israeli car insurance comes in three layers, and only the first is compulsory. Here is what each covers, how to buy it, and what happens after a bump on a Jerusalem street.