Author: Andrew Hammer

Writing a blog entry the week following Google’s acquisition of Waze, one of the largest high-tech acquisitions in Israel’s history, reaffirms why I decided to spend my summer internship working at OurCrowd.  You may have already read about my fellow interns’ collective experiences and personal stories (Amy Sheng & Nikolaus Lawitschka).  My name is Andrew Hammer, and my path to OurCrowd’s summer internship diverges from that of my peers. The lure of Israel I grew up in a New York suburb and, from a young age, was instilled with a strong sense of Zionism and Jewish pride.  After graduating high school, I spent a year and a half studying in Jerusalem.  The non-Israeli students hailed from all parts of North America and Europe.  But even as self-centered 18-year olds, we were mesmerized by our Israeli classmates.  What is it like to have friends who divide their time between studies and army service?  How does it feel to share a meal with a table full of students each of whom are being shipped off to different army units?  While in school,...