Shuli, I agree about bringing deodorant, but they do sell regular American brands over here, so you don’t have to bring a whole year’s supply. With luggage limitations, that’s a whole lot of space just for deodorant.
As far as bringing money goes, you should have your parents set up a bank account with a bank that does not charge for withdrawing from ATM machines in foreign currencies – yes, there are still banks with good fee rates. There may need to be a minimum balance in the account to obtain this (no) fee rate, but it’s worth it. When you need money, your parents would deposit a certain amount in the account that they will tell you and you can withdraw the proper amount in shekels over here. You can find out the Bank of Israel exchange rate for the day before and do the multiplication (take a little bit less). It’s definitely better than getting dollars and paying money changers their fees since they will undoubtedly be higher than the rate you will get from the ATM machine. Also, there is less danger of theft with a card than with cash. Once the cash is gone, you can say goodbye. But a card can be cancelled immediately once you realize it has gone missing and a new one ordered to come to you in EY (student name should be on account with parent).