People make aliyah for many reasons. Some do it out of a desire to seek something new in life. Others due to a belief in Zionism and the Jewish state. But for Dov Joseph Goldman Aloof, making aliyah wasn’t particularly a choice.
It was a promise fulfilled.
“My grandfather, Menachem Goldman, was a Holocaust survivor and veteran of the Palmach that fought in Israel’s War of Independence,” Aloof recalled. “In 2007, he had recently passed away, but my mom had made a promise to him to move to Israel, that the blood he shed in the war wouldn’t be in vain.”
And like that, in July of 2007, 10-year-old Aloof set out for Israel for his new life.
Since graduating high school and serving in the IDF, the now 24-year-old Aloof has made a name for himself with one of his biggest passions: video games.
He has enjoyed video games for as long as he can remember. Growing up with his sisters, he had an old Nintendo Entertainment System and a PlayStation, with some of the classic titles of the generation.
“I, as someone with Asperger’s syndrome, inevitably ended up developing a passion and obsession with video games,” he explained.
The list of video games he has played over the years is quite extensive, but at around the age of eight, he first got into Pokémon.
“I started playing Pokémon around 2004, a few years before I made aliyah. I had started in the 3rd Generation with Pokémon FireRed Version, a remake of the first Pokémon games.
I collected cards, watched the TV show and movies; it was my default hyperfixation, and it kind of still is,” he said.
The appeal of Pokémon is certainly understandable. Since it first hit shelves in the late 1990s, Pokémon’s popularity has exploded worldwide, becoming the world’s most successful multimedia franchise.
But the series has its critics, and many had thought a sense of ennui was setting in as it became formulaic and boring in its plots. Aloof was no exception.
“When the 6th Generation of Pokémon (X & Y) was released, I finished the game and grew bored of the lackluster post-game,” he explained. He then recounted how this led to him experimenting with the game, honing his skills to create his ideal team.
“I eventually decided that I should try to make a perfect Charizard build and end it there, but it didn’t end there. Right after the next set of games (Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire) was released a year later in 2014, I had crafted several ‘perfect’ builds and had a full team ready when I found out about a tournament going on at a convention in Petah Tikva.”
“I honed my skills as a competitive Pokémon player and scored my first tournament victory a year later,” he said. “I currently have a total of six trophies. This earned me a lot of respect as a competitive Pokémon player in Israel’s community, the title of champion, and has made me one of the top authorities on Pokémon in the country.”
SOON ENOUGH, he found a way to manifest his passion and creativity online through content creation and video game streaming.
“In high school, I wanted to start making gaming videos to share funny and exciting moments from my gaming career, so I started a YouTube channel and taught myself basic video editing,” he recalled. Aloof operated his channel under the name FiendRiver.
Eventually, however, FiendRiver went on hiatus, as he was drafted into the Israeli Air Force. But he continued to develop his hobby while off base,” he said.
“I returned to content creation, but I decided to start streaming on Twitch instead of making YouTube videos, though I have since returned to YouTube and have been working on growing my presence there. Nowadays, I’m streaming games like competitive Pokémon, new releases or other stuff in my massive backlog of games to my YouTube channel. I also upload other videos like unboxings, product reviews, funny montages, guides, reactions to gaming news and more. I also teach people how to start playing competitive Pokémon.”
Aloof’s persistence has paid off. In the years since, he has become a fixture at all of Israel’s major geek conventions, and his face is recognizable as a notable figure in Israel’s gaming community.
AND THEN Nintendo Israel arrived. Managed by Tor Gaming, this marked the Japanese gaming giant’s official entry into Israel, as up until that point, its products were not officially sold in the country. The company opened up an official retailer in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Center, and Aloof soon found himself as an official Nintendo Israel ambassador.
And from here, he is working to make the scene grow even more.
“I’m Israel’s previous competitive Pokémon champion, but this title is given by the local community, and is not officially recognized by the Pokémon Company, which still doesn’t have a presence in Israel,” he explained. But this will hopefully change. Aloof, alongside other members of the Israeli competitive Pokémon scene, have been working on forming an official league, but in order to do that, there needs to be demand.
“We started a league run by Nintendo Israel and the local Pokémon community, which has in-person events every other Thursday at the Nintendo Store in Dizengoff Center. The more people that show up to league events, the better. Even if someone doesn’t play competitively and wants to learn, there are several members in the community that will be willing to teach them, myself included.”
This led to Aloof’s biggest foray yet: Getting Israel signed up for Victory Road’s VGC World Cup.
“Victory Road’s VGC World Cup is a big team Pokémon tournament where some of the best players in the world fight for their country rather than for themselves,” he explained. “Victory Road is one of the biggest online communities for competitive Pokémon, so this is the first time Israel will be competing on a global scale. I’m the manager of Israel’s newly formed Team Adamant and I am planning on expanding the team further into other games in the future, should I get the required funding.”
Until then, Aloof continues his work. He can still be seen most days online, streaming and creating content on YouTube, whether it be competitive Pokémon tutorials, videos of other video games like Minecraft or Super Smash Bros, or just him and his big white Samoyed dog, Ghost. And his talents aren’t just in video games. He has been exploring work as a developer and technology specialist in Israel’s tech industry, and dreams of one day starting a tech company of his own; and he makes incredible sushi.
With such a diverse skill set, it is no wonder Aloof’s ambitions are sky high. As Israel’s gaming scene continues to develop rapidly, with the rise of Team Finest fostering Israel’s competitive eSports scene and the Gaming Channel bringing gaming to a televised audience, he is in the right place at the right time to help shape this community further.
Is it any wonder, then, that his last name, Aloof, is Hebrew for “champion?” ■
Follow FiendRiver on social media at @FiendRiver and at www.youtube.com/c/FiendRiver.
DOV JOSEPH “FIENDRIVER” GOLDMAN ALOOF, 24
FROM NEW JERSEY TO YAD BINYAMIN, 2007