I've been telling myself for days to write in my blog, but I don't seem to listen to myself very well. It's the same problem when I say (actually, when I think) to myself, "Vickie, you need to exercise" or "Vickie, you need to dust." Sound familiar?
We keep a white board on the wall by the kitchen to write down things we need to buy or things we don't want to forget. Yes, it is a very large board. Anyway, there's been a list there for a week that reads Red Heifer, goats, guns. Those are three things that I didn't want to forget to blog about. (You may have noticed how the word "blog" is used as a noun in the first paragraph and a verb in the second. According to Wikipedia, both are correct. I thought it important to mention that in case either a teacher or an English major might happen to be reading this.) (It's also possible that you're in for a very long blog tonight.) (Or a weird one.)
There are more things that I plan to blog about than those three items; however those are three more "only in Israel' stories I want to relate. The first item concerns a couple, Tzivia Rivka and Shlomo Chizkiyahu, who got married on our yishuv last week after a 2 1/2 week engagement. Perhaps I already told you about this? Ah, yes, I just read my last blog. I ended up going to the girls' high school on the afternoon of the wedding to help set up instead of going to the kotel with the kallah (bride). The women who formed the committee that planned the entire wedding, from kabbalas panim to chupa to seuda to dancing to sheva brachot did a fabulous job; everything turned out perfect.
The night after the wedding the couple went out to dinner with the kallah's family who had come from America. They went to a very nice restaurant, the Red Heifer. (editor's note: This place has great ambiance and delicious steaks!) At the conclusion of the meal, the choson (groom) stood up and announced that he and his wife were newly married and could the men in the restaurant join in their bentching for the second sheva brachot? Shlomo and Tzivia (pronounced Tzvee-ah) Rivka told us that all the men and the waiters came to the table and enthusiastically joined in. After they bentched, all the men started singing Mazel tov usiman tov, and dancing all around the restaurant! Possibly this same scenario could have played out in Brooklyn or Lakewood or Monsey, but since I've never lived in any of those places, I would have to add it to my "Only in Israel" stories.
Penina and Pinchas hosted the third sheva brachot in their home. Penina did a fabulous job, not just with the food but also with the decor. It looked like we were at a fancy restaurant! And the fact that they'd had no water for six days (half of the "dudes" - hot water heaters that are located on the roofs of most houses - on our yishuv had frozen and burst the previous Shabbos - thank G-d ours was not one of them) didn't deter her from using her best china for the nineteen people who fit comfortably in her salon. I'll put some pictures in a separate blog because the pictures never go where they're supposed to when I add them.
Penina's family came for Shabbos lunch. Her oldest son, Daniel, is in the army. Hold on - here comes the second Only in Israel story. You know, I think we're going to shorten that - whenever I have one of these kind of stories, I'll label it an Oi (shortened from OiI. Then I can write, "Oi, do I have a story for you!").
Hmm. As I was saying, when Daniel walked in the door I was surprised to see him carrying his M-16. It seems (Oi, here it comes) that the gun has to be disassembled in order for the soldiers to be able to leave it at home. If they forget to do that , then even if it's Shabbos they have to keep the gun with them at all times. The funny thing was that my friend, Rachel's, son showed up later with his gun also slung over his shoulder. My only surprise was that they could carry them on Shabbos. It's commonplace to be anywhere in Israel - bus stops, walking down the street, in restaurants and stores, the central bus station - and see many young men and women in their army fatigues carrying guns that are sometimes longer than they are. Some of these kids don't look old enough or strong enough or even knowledgeable enough to have one, but in a country where war is a possibility twenty-four hours a day, the military is always in a state of readiness. When I think about the maturity level of the eighteen and nineteen year olds back in chutz l'aretz, I'm amazed at the difference. I guess it's all about what you're raised to believe and know what's expected of you.
Erev Shabbos last week (Friday afternoon) (Oi, here comes another one), I was driving up the hill to the yishuv when I had to slow down because there was a huge herd of goats about to cross the road in front of me. There were two young Arab boys holding them back so that my car and the one behind me could get by before they crossed. You know, that doesn't sound as exciting now as it was when it actually happened. Maybe YHTBT (you had to be there...)
The last week has been extremely interesting for me. I pulled three diaries of mine out of my file cabinet; diaries I don't think I've ever read since writing them thirty-seven years ago. Can I really be this old?! The diaries start January 1, 1971 when I was 15 1/2 years old in 10th grade, and I wrote one page every single night until December 31, 1973 when I was 18 1/2 in the middle of my freshman year of college. It's fascinating reading, although I suppose not for anyone other than me. The first diary is mostly about classes and school and friends and boys and fitting in and things I did with my family and all the fun I had in BBYO (B'nai B'rith Youth Organization), which was my whole life back then. I was a pretty secular teenager (I didn't become observant until I was 38). It's amazing how similar my writing style was back then to how I write now. My only connection to Yiddishkeit back then was BBYO and going to a reform Sunday School and getting confirmed in 10th grade. It sickens me to read how each week we went to a different church to learn "comparative religions." Why would they do that? Why not teach us about our OWN religion? I couldn't wait to get confirmed and have a party and get presents, and most of all - never have to go back to Sunday School again! There's so much to learn about Judaism; one can learn for hours every single day (and many do) and still not learn it all. And yet, people who don't know any better aren't engaging our young people to ask questions, to encourage them to keep learning, to teach them our traditions and laws. One day in my first diary I actually wrote (after reading Mila 18 by Leon Uris - my all-time favorite novelist - for the 5th time) that I wanted to be an orthodox Jew and move to Israel and fight for our country. It only took me 36 years to do it!
I've only read through August of the first diary and about half of the last one. I've actually started typing certain days and am thinking of writing a book with the theme something like How I Got Here From There or possibly How Did A Girl Like That End Up In A Place This This? G-d willing.
Did I tell you about our new hot water pot? For the past year and a half we've had a water urn plugged in 24 hours a day so we can have hot tea and coffee, but we never had an electric hot pot. It's so cool! You add water to it, turn it on, and in two minutes or less you have boiling water, much hotter than the urn which we'll now use just for Shabbos. You know, there are certain things I still miss from back "there", but there are definitely things here that are pretty useful and actually work well.
All right, time to end this blog and post some pictures.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Busy, busy, busy:
1) The writing seminar this past week was terrific. Oops - I can already see that I started off on the wrong foot. Instead of a boring sentence, "The writing seminar was terrific" (which doesn't tell you anything), I should have written, "There was a feeling of excitement as I walked into the room where the writing seminar was being held. Women were crowding around the registration desk, and another crowd by the coffee bar was also buzzing. Four dynamic speakers enchanted a group of about fifty women for the better part of a day, keeping our pens busy as we tried to capture every glimmer of knowledge the professionals imparted. The warmth in the room belied the chill of the insistent rain drumming against the windowpanes throughout the day." Much better, no?
2) Yesterday (erev Shabbat) I felt as if I was getting the flu again; as the day wore on I began to feel ache-y (is there a correct spelling for that word?) all over, and extremely fatigued; then I became so chilled that no amount of warm clothes could help. Miryam and Shaya left right after dinner instead of staying to play cards, which has been our usual Friday night minhag (custom) for the past few weeks. David and I both went to bed early and slept late this morning. Baruch Hashem, when I woke up the pain, chills and fatigue were gone. I walked down to Penina's a little after 1 for the Shabbat Kallah for Tzivi Rivka who's getting married on Tuesday - after a 2 1/2 week engagement. We only expected about eight to ten women, but twenty-two showed up, not including children. Beth, who seems to be Tzivi Rivka's closest friend, spoke first and then whoever wanted to gave a bracha (blessing) to the Kallah (bride). I loved looking around the room and realizing that I knew all but two of the women, and I made sure to introduce myself before they left. There really is a nice community of English-speakers here.
2) Tomorrow Miryam and I are going into town (yea! Bush is gone!). I have to get an ultrasound for possible kidney stones (do you think they're actually serious that I have to drink a glass of water every 15 minutes for an hour and half before the procedure and I can't go to the bathroom until after the test? Do they understand that I go every hour as it is, and that holding all the water in for that long after drinking that much will lead to an extremely humiliating disaster? I'm pretty sure they don't have a realistic opinion of my bodily abilities). After this little procedure, I'm going to help Miryam find a crafts store in Geula (I know of a couple), and then we're going to a florist shop in Ramat Eshkol. Miryam was a wedding planner in the states and is making some of the decorations for the simcha (happy event).
3) Monday - day off - a breather day.
4) Tuesday 1 PM; the kallah in her wedding dress and several of her friends will go to the Kotel to daven and say Tehillim for her, leading up to the kabbalos panim at 3:45 and chupa at 4:30 PM. Yikes! I don't know how we'll get back in time. David won't make it for the chupa, but there's dancing for the entire community from 8-10:30 that night at the moadan (community center).
5) Wednesday night in Beit Shemesh - one year anniversary dinner for everyone who made aliyah in 2006. It's supposed to be fancy and a really nice evening. We haven't signed up yet; David hasn't decided if he wants to go. Our friends from Ramat Beit Shemesh, Zvi and Tobi, will be there and I'd love to see them. Tobi's sister was diagnosed with lung cancer just after Yom Kippur, and Tobi's been in New York more than she's been in Israel since then.
6) Thursday night we're going to sheva brachot at Penina and Pinchas'.
Next Monday, 14 Shevat, is my father's 12th yartzeit. It just amazes me that so many years have gone by; it seems like yesterday. There are so many things my parents missed by being niftar (deceased) so young. They never met my husband, David, or my nephew, Daniel; they never saw me grow in Yiddishkeit or got to see their six grandchildren grow. I've been sitting here for some time trying to put more thoughts about my parents into some coherent way to share it, but it doesn't seem to be possible this late at night motzi Shabbat (Saturday night).
NEWS FLASH: There is a product in Israel that is better - yes, folks, I say BETTER - than coke slurpees. I know; hard to believe, huh? But I have found a place at the takanah merkazit that sells an amazing passion fruit slushy. It's little pricey at 10 shekels but well worth every argarot. When I head back home from town I take one on the bus with me; it makes the ride home pass by so much more pleasantly!
1) The writing seminar this past week was terrific. Oops - I can already see that I started off on the wrong foot. Instead of a boring sentence, "The writing seminar was terrific" (which doesn't tell you anything), I should have written, "There was a feeling of excitement as I walked into the room where the writing seminar was being held. Women were crowding around the registration desk, and another crowd by the coffee bar was also buzzing. Four dynamic speakers enchanted a group of about fifty women for the better part of a day, keeping our pens busy as we tried to capture every glimmer of knowledge the professionals imparted. The warmth in the room belied the chill of the insistent rain drumming against the windowpanes throughout the day." Much better, no?
2) Yesterday (erev Shabbat) I felt as if I was getting the flu again; as the day wore on I began to feel ache-y (is there a correct spelling for that word?) all over, and extremely fatigued; then I became so chilled that no amount of warm clothes could help. Miryam and Shaya left right after dinner instead of staying to play cards, which has been our usual Friday night minhag (custom) for the past few weeks. David and I both went to bed early and slept late this morning. Baruch Hashem, when I woke up the pain, chills and fatigue were gone. I walked down to Penina's a little after 1 for the Shabbat Kallah for Tzivi Rivka who's getting married on Tuesday - after a 2 1/2 week engagement. We only expected about eight to ten women, but twenty-two showed up, not including children. Beth, who seems to be Tzivi Rivka's closest friend, spoke first and then whoever wanted to gave a bracha (blessing) to the Kallah (bride). I loved looking around the room and realizing that I knew all but two of the women, and I made sure to introduce myself before they left. There really is a nice community of English-speakers here.
2) Tomorrow Miryam and I are going into town (yea! Bush is gone!). I have to get an ultrasound for possible kidney stones (do you think they're actually serious that I have to drink a glass of water every 15 minutes for an hour and half before the procedure and I can't go to the bathroom until after the test? Do they understand that I go every hour as it is, and that holding all the water in for that long after drinking that much will lead to an extremely humiliating disaster? I'm pretty sure they don't have a realistic opinion of my bodily abilities). After this little procedure, I'm going to help Miryam find a crafts store in Geula (I know of a couple), and then we're going to a florist shop in Ramat Eshkol. Miryam was a wedding planner in the states and is making some of the decorations for the simcha (happy event).
3) Monday - day off - a breather day.
4) Tuesday 1 PM; the kallah in her wedding dress and several of her friends will go to the Kotel to daven and say Tehillim for her, leading up to the kabbalos panim at 3:45 and chupa at 4:30 PM. Yikes! I don't know how we'll get back in time. David won't make it for the chupa, but there's dancing for the entire community from 8-10:30 that night at the moadan (community center).
5) Wednesday night in Beit Shemesh - one year anniversary dinner for everyone who made aliyah in 2006. It's supposed to be fancy and a really nice evening. We haven't signed up yet; David hasn't decided if he wants to go. Our friends from Ramat Beit Shemesh, Zvi and Tobi, will be there and I'd love to see them. Tobi's sister was diagnosed with lung cancer just after Yom Kippur, and Tobi's been in New York more than she's been in Israel since then.
6) Thursday night we're going to sheva brachot at Penina and Pinchas'.
Next Monday, 14 Shevat, is my father's 12th yartzeit. It just amazes me that so many years have gone by; it seems like yesterday. There are so many things my parents missed by being niftar (deceased) so young. They never met my husband, David, or my nephew, Daniel; they never saw me grow in Yiddishkeit or got to see their six grandchildren grow. I've been sitting here for some time trying to put more thoughts about my parents into some coherent way to share it, but it doesn't seem to be possible this late at night motzi Shabbat (Saturday night).
NEWS FLASH: There is a product in Israel that is better - yes, folks, I say BETTER - than coke slurpees. I know; hard to believe, huh? But I have found a place at the takanah merkazit that sells an amazing passion fruit slushy. It's little pricey at 10 shekels but well worth every argarot. When I head back home from town I take one on the bus with me; it makes the ride home pass by so much more pleasantly!
Saturday, January 05, 2008
What a week! So much going on these days; nothing important or earth-shattering, just stuff happening.
On Tuesday, Miryam, Shaya, Penina, Pinchas and I got on the 3:35 PM bus into Yerushalayim. They all bought their chofshi chodeshi (monthly bus pass) at the takanah merkazit (central bus station) since it was the first day of the month. I had been to town the day before so I already had mine. Then we all hopped on the #18 and headed down to Ben Yehuda Street, where we had dinner on the meat side of Cafe Rimon. Dov and Lisa came a little later (they had to be home when their kids got home from school), and David met up with us as well when he got off work. After dinner, the eight of us walked up King George to the Hechal Shlomo building (it may have been a shul; I'm not sure) for the very first live show of Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem. We had gotten free tickets to be in the studio audience of this new television show that will be broadcast on Shalom TV and another non-Jewish cable network, broadcast around the world. It is also shown on Arutzsheva.com. It was so much fun!
David was stressed out from work and ended up leaving before the show started. There were a lot of seminary girls in the audience who were screaming seemingly without end (everyone was pretty excited) and he didn't think he wanted to sit through that. The other seven of us enjoyed the show immensely. They actually taped two shows - the first half you can see on Arutz Sheva now and the next week's show will be on the website next Thursday. I just watched the first show and the taping didn't turn out so well. They're going to have to learn a whole lot about lighting and where to place microphones. The taped version doesn't do justice to the excitement of being in the audience. Everyone in the audience (from kids to a 92 year old woman) were Anglos who had either made aliyah or were studying here or just visiting from other countries, but we all had one thing in common - we were Jews who love Israel! We can't go to the next show because there's a wedding on our yishuv in two weeks, but I'm hoping to go to the following taping at the end of January.
On Wednesday I got the urge to clean (finally! I was wondering when this house was ever going to get clean again) and spent most of the day sweeping, mopping, washing, etc. Then, for some reason, I decided to do all my Shabbat cooking on Thursday. Somehow my neshama (soul) must have known that I needed to do that because late in the afternoon I got an email from a friend of Nathan's who lives in Ramot inviting us to the pidyon haben of his son the following day. A pidyon haben is a ceremony that you have on the 30th day after the birth of a son. But there's a lot of conditions of who can actually have one: it has to be the first pregnancy and the first born has to be a boy. The ceremony involves the father "redeeming" his first born son from a Kohain; he has to say that he either wants the baby or five silver coins; the Kohain gets whichever one he doesn't want. The rabbi (when speaking later) said that he hadn't met a father yet who wanted the money instead of his child (Baruch Hashem)!
The nice part about it is that Yishai (who's been a friend of my son's since they were in eighth grade) also went to the same to yeshivas in Israel that Nathan attended, so all the rabbaim (rabbis) who came knew my son, plus there were other friends and relatives of Yishai that I knew as well. They held it at a dairy restaurant in Har Nof. It had been called for 11, and of course David and I were the only ones who showed up then. We just can't get it through our heads that everyone here goes not just by Jewish time, but by Israeli time so you can always add at least a half hour to the "suggested" start time of any event. The ceremony didn't actually start until after noon, which was followed by lunch, and Shabbos started at 4:25 PM yesterday. We left the restaurant at 1:30 and got home in plenty of time, even though --
We drove all the way into town and all the way back with no problems. We've known for at least 2-3 weeks that our car was not feeling well so David has been taking the bus to work every day and I've only been using it to get groceries and to pick David up from the bus stop at night. When we got back to the yishuv, we stopped by the mailboxes to get our mail and as we were pulling out onto the main street we heard a loud noise under the front end and a clanging noise. David very slowly backed into the empty lot behind us and we took out our belongings and locked it up. We kept saying, Thank you Hashem for letting us get all the way there and back before it fell apart. We had passed several accidents on the way home, and all we could think of as we walked home from where the car was parked was how grateful we were to be back on the yishuv, safe and sound - especially two hours before Shabbat. Hashem really looks after us; we are so, so blessed in so many ways. There's so much to be grateful for, every single day!
Yesterday (Friday) was the first time that it's rained in awhile (which explains all the accidents), and by dinner time it was really coming down. Miryam and Shaya joined us as usual, and we enjoyed their company. At 8:00 PM we were supposed to go to a vort/dessert reception at Dov and Lisa's for the couple getting married a week from Tuesday. Shaya walks with a cane and David is still limping from his knee, and the vort was down at the bottom of the yishuv (remember, we're on the very highest street). But we went! And it was really nice! David's never really had a chance to meet other English speakers on the yishuv. I've been meeting the women because of the Shabbat afternoon shiur every week, and because we all do things for each other and help each other out. Not a lot of people came in the rain, but enough did that it was an enjoyable evening. At least it wasn't raining on the way home, but we had to stop pretty frequently so Shaya could catch his breath. This was the second time this week we made him walk a pretty good distance.
Today the rain was kind of on-again, off-again. It didn't stop ten ladies from coming to the shiur at my house late this afternoon. There are two rebbetzins (rabbi's wives) who take turns speaking every other week about the parsha (weekly Torah portion). This was the first time I've hosted it. I actually made Rice Krispies treats which a lot of people remember from the "old" country; I even took some to the vort last night. They don't have real Rice Krispies here, but they do have another American off-brand which is better than the Israeli version. Also, the only bags of marshmallows I've found in this country are a mixture of strawberry and regular, so I had to use marshmallow fluff which didn't hold the squares together too well. But I think people liked them anyway.
The daughter of the rabbi who paved the way for my becoming observant lives here in Israel and just had her first baby. Her mother, Brocha, came to Israel just before Shabbat so I'm hoping to see her sometime while she's here. Leah and her husband just moved to Kiryat Sefer which is north and west of Yerushalayim, but Brocha's sister lives in Ramat Shlomo which is fairly close to us. Unfortunately, and I say this for a number of reasons, President Bush is coming to Israel on Wednesday.
Besides a number of major roads in Jerusalem being closed down for three days, his agenda in coming here makes me sick. I HATE reading the news. I can't stand to read what Bush and Olmert and Rice and all the other politicians have to say about giving away our holy land or dividing up Jerusalem or trying to pretend that Israel isn't a Jewish country. It's sickening to hear Olmert blame Israelis when we get attacked by terrorists or to hear people say that the only way to have peace is to give and give and give without getting anything in return. It doesn't make sense that people can be so blind. How can they not see that the Arabs don't want to make peace? How can they not see that they want to wipe us off the face of the earth? How can they continue to give them arms, to release the terrorists from jail, to give them our precious land that Hashem gave to US, to the Jews? The only answer that makes any sense is that Hashem is hardening their hearts, like he did to Pharaoh when we were slaves in Mitzrayim (Egypt). He must be setting the stage for Moshiach to come and finally bring peace and understanding to us humans. Please may it be so!
I'm very thankful that the writer's seminar I'm going to is on Tuesday, before Bush gets here. Unless it's to see Brocha, I'm not going into town after Tuesday!
On Tuesday, Miryam, Shaya, Penina, Pinchas and I got on the 3:35 PM bus into Yerushalayim. They all bought their chofshi chodeshi (monthly bus pass) at the takanah merkazit (central bus station) since it was the first day of the month. I had been to town the day before so I already had mine. Then we all hopped on the #18 and headed down to Ben Yehuda Street, where we had dinner on the meat side of Cafe Rimon. Dov and Lisa came a little later (they had to be home when their kids got home from school), and David met up with us as well when he got off work. After dinner, the eight of us walked up King George to the Hechal Shlomo building (it may have been a shul; I'm not sure) for the very first live show of Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem. We had gotten free tickets to be in the studio audience of this new television show that will be broadcast on Shalom TV and another non-Jewish cable network, broadcast around the world. It is also shown on Arutzsheva.com. It was so much fun!
David was stressed out from work and ended up leaving before the show started. There were a lot of seminary girls in the audience who were screaming seemingly without end (everyone was pretty excited) and he didn't think he wanted to sit through that. The other seven of us enjoyed the show immensely. They actually taped two shows - the first half you can see on Arutz Sheva now and the next week's show will be on the website next Thursday. I just watched the first show and the taping didn't turn out so well. They're going to have to learn a whole lot about lighting and where to place microphones. The taped version doesn't do justice to the excitement of being in the audience. Everyone in the audience (from kids to a 92 year old woman) were Anglos who had either made aliyah or were studying here or just visiting from other countries, but we all had one thing in common - we were Jews who love Israel! We can't go to the next show because there's a wedding on our yishuv in two weeks, but I'm hoping to go to the following taping at the end of January.
On Wednesday I got the urge to clean (finally! I was wondering when this house was ever going to get clean again) and spent most of the day sweeping, mopping, washing, etc. Then, for some reason, I decided to do all my Shabbat cooking on Thursday. Somehow my neshama (soul) must have known that I needed to do that because late in the afternoon I got an email from a friend of Nathan's who lives in Ramot inviting us to the pidyon haben of his son the following day. A pidyon haben is a ceremony that you have on the 30th day after the birth of a son. But there's a lot of conditions of who can actually have one: it has to be the first pregnancy and the first born has to be a boy. The ceremony involves the father "redeeming" his first born son from a Kohain; he has to say that he either wants the baby or five silver coins; the Kohain gets whichever one he doesn't want. The rabbi (when speaking later) said that he hadn't met a father yet who wanted the money instead of his child (Baruch Hashem)!
The nice part about it is that Yishai (who's been a friend of my son's since they were in eighth grade) also went to the same to yeshivas in Israel that Nathan attended, so all the rabbaim (rabbis) who came knew my son, plus there were other friends and relatives of Yishai that I knew as well. They held it at a dairy restaurant in Har Nof. It had been called for 11, and of course David and I were the only ones who showed up then. We just can't get it through our heads that everyone here goes not just by Jewish time, but by Israeli time so you can always add at least a half hour to the "suggested" start time of any event. The ceremony didn't actually start until after noon, which was followed by lunch, and Shabbos started at 4:25 PM yesterday. We left the restaurant at 1:30 and got home in plenty of time, even though --
We drove all the way into town and all the way back with no problems. We've known for at least 2-3 weeks that our car was not feeling well so David has been taking the bus to work every day and I've only been using it to get groceries and to pick David up from the bus stop at night. When we got back to the yishuv, we stopped by the mailboxes to get our mail and as we were pulling out onto the main street we heard a loud noise under the front end and a clanging noise. David very slowly backed into the empty lot behind us and we took out our belongings and locked it up. We kept saying, Thank you Hashem for letting us get all the way there and back before it fell apart. We had passed several accidents on the way home, and all we could think of as we walked home from where the car was parked was how grateful we were to be back on the yishuv, safe and sound - especially two hours before Shabbat. Hashem really looks after us; we are so, so blessed in so many ways. There's so much to be grateful for, every single day!
Yesterday (Friday) was the first time that it's rained in awhile (which explains all the accidents), and by dinner time it was really coming down. Miryam and Shaya joined us as usual, and we enjoyed their company. At 8:00 PM we were supposed to go to a vort/dessert reception at Dov and Lisa's for the couple getting married a week from Tuesday. Shaya walks with a cane and David is still limping from his knee, and the vort was down at the bottom of the yishuv (remember, we're on the very highest street). But we went! And it was really nice! David's never really had a chance to meet other English speakers on the yishuv. I've been meeting the women because of the Shabbat afternoon shiur every week, and because we all do things for each other and help each other out. Not a lot of people came in the rain, but enough did that it was an enjoyable evening. At least it wasn't raining on the way home, but we had to stop pretty frequently so Shaya could catch his breath. This was the second time this week we made him walk a pretty good distance.
Today the rain was kind of on-again, off-again. It didn't stop ten ladies from coming to the shiur at my house late this afternoon. There are two rebbetzins (rabbi's wives) who take turns speaking every other week about the parsha (weekly Torah portion). This was the first time I've hosted it. I actually made Rice Krispies treats which a lot of people remember from the "old" country; I even took some to the vort last night. They don't have real Rice Krispies here, but they do have another American off-brand which is better than the Israeli version. Also, the only bags of marshmallows I've found in this country are a mixture of strawberry and regular, so I had to use marshmallow fluff which didn't hold the squares together too well. But I think people liked them anyway.
The daughter of the rabbi who paved the way for my becoming observant lives here in Israel and just had her first baby. Her mother, Brocha, came to Israel just before Shabbat so I'm hoping to see her sometime while she's here. Leah and her husband just moved to Kiryat Sefer which is north and west of Yerushalayim, but Brocha's sister lives in Ramat Shlomo which is fairly close to us. Unfortunately, and I say this for a number of reasons, President Bush is coming to Israel on Wednesday.
Besides a number of major roads in Jerusalem being closed down for three days, his agenda in coming here makes me sick. I HATE reading the news. I can't stand to read what Bush and Olmert and Rice and all the other politicians have to say about giving away our holy land or dividing up Jerusalem or trying to pretend that Israel isn't a Jewish country. It's sickening to hear Olmert blame Israelis when we get attacked by terrorists or to hear people say that the only way to have peace is to give and give and give without getting anything in return. It doesn't make sense that people can be so blind. How can they not see that the Arabs don't want to make peace? How can they not see that they want to wipe us off the face of the earth? How can they continue to give them arms, to release the terrorists from jail, to give them our precious land that Hashem gave to US, to the Jews? The only answer that makes any sense is that Hashem is hardening their hearts, like he did to Pharaoh when we were slaves in Mitzrayim (Egypt). He must be setting the stage for Moshiach to come and finally bring peace and understanding to us humans. Please may it be so!
I'm very thankful that the writer's seminar I'm going to is on Tuesday, before Bush gets here. Unless it's to see Brocha, I'm not going into town after Tuesday!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
I had two really great "Only in Israel" stories to relate, but now that I'm sitting down at my keyboard, I can only remember one. Maybe that's another story in and of itself - you know, the whole swiss-cheese-for-brains kind of thing. Not!
We'll get to one of the stories eventually. First I'll try to remember what's been going on in my life.
Last week I went into Yerushalayim three days in a row. I just felt like I needed to get out of the house and off the yishuv. The first day, Miryam and I first drove to Pisgat Ze'ev where we took a zillion (more or less) empty soda and water bottles to the recyclable bin, and then to the pet store (she needed bird food). We had fun taking the #8 bus into Yerushalayim; I love riding different buses and seeing what their routes are. After changing buses at the takanah merkazit (central bus station), we headed down Yaffo Street intending to go up King George and head to Talpiot. Instead, we got off the bus right as it turned onto King George so Miryam could get some American bills changed into shekels. Once we were there, I asked her if she was up for some walking and we decided to try to find Yosi Peking, which used to be a fabulous restaurant when David and I would come to Israel as tourists. I say "used to be" because they've switched locations three times, and I knew that they were just a small carry-out place now. My dentist's receptionist had told me they were now on Keren Hayemet, so we headed down King George to find it. It was supposed to be a fairly warm day, but it was overcast which kept it kind of chilly and I had just worn a light jacket. It was still SO nice to be walking in the fresh air. We found the restaurant without any trouble, but I have to say that the meal was very disappointing, especially considering how fabulous it used to be. There were just five tables inside and a few more outside; it was definitely too chilly to eat outside. The menu was small, and the food was already on a warming table ready to be ladled up. The soup was delicious but I don't think we'll be eating there again.
After lunch we just walked around. We found a great used book store where Miryam bought a couple of books. Lately it seems as if there are a lot of book stores with English books opening up. I remember when Nathan was going to yeshiva here he was always looking for bookstores with used English books (much less expensive than new ones) and now they're all over the place. Most of the bookstores even buy back the books at 70% of what you paid for them. Many of the books, though, look as if they've been packed away since the 40's and 50's, although you can always find whatever authors you're looking for and the latest bestsellers.
The following day, I jumped on a late afternoon bus and browsed around Geulah (a religious neighborhood with lots of stores) until David got off work and joined me. Waiting for him at the bus stop I ran into Karen, a friend from Ramat Beit Shemesh. It was nice to talk to her for a few minutes until David's bus came. Karen and her husband, Al, are going to the states for three weeks in January. I wish we could afford to go for a visit. All I really want to do is go play mahj with my old group! For a week straight!
David and I just walked around for a little while until we went to the takanah merkazit to catch the #143 back to Kochav Yaakov. We got there just as the bus pulled up. If David hadn't had to get home to study for ulpan the next evening, we would have stayed in town later.
The following day, my friend Ellen in Ramat Beit Shemesh and I each got on the 9 AM bus in our respective communities, and met at the takanah merkazit. We arrived at practically the same time! It was so nice to spend some time with Ellen again; we have so much in common. She doesn't get into Yerushalayim so much, so we decided to go exploring. This time we took the #14 to Talpiot. Talpiot is where most of the shopping is - for cars, furniture, household items, you name it. Every block has another mall or car lot. This day was absolutely gorgeous - 60's and not a cloud in the sky. We went through a couple of malls and then ended up walking all the way back to Emek Refaim in the German Colony. It wasn't actually so far and we both enjoyed the walk. There are a lot of restaurants on Emek Refaim, even a lot of mehadrin ones, but Ellen didn't hold by any of the hechsharim. It's amazing to me how religious people hold so differently in what they'll eat. We ended up going back in to Cafe Rimon which pretty much everyone holds by, and we split a salad. Afterwards we walked up Strauss and I got Ellen to the bus stop for the #417 back to Ramat Beit Shemesh, while I grabbed a #56 down to Shmuel Hanavi and Bar Ilan where I waited for the #143.
It's always iffy not getting on the #143 at the starting point, which is the takanah merkazit. But it was 3:15 in the afternoon so I thought I had a good chance of getting a seat. While I was waiting for the bus, I heard someone saying, "Mrs. Lecy, Mrs. Lecy" and I looked up to see Chaim, a boy who lives on my yishuv with his mother and sister. I greeted him, and then he ran back to play with his two friends; they'd obviously just gotten off school. Within two minutes, the #143 showed up and it was totally packed. All of us (and there were many) who got on at this bus stop were totally squeezed together in the aisle. I had four bags, my purse and my jacket in my arms, so I was extremely appreciative when a young girl offered me her seat (there are SOME positive aspects to getting old, it seems).
While I was getting situated in my seat, I realized that the bus driver was continually yelling, "Yeladim! Yeladim! (Children! Children!) out the door. (Get ready - this is the "Only in Israel" part.) When I looked out the window, I could see Chaim and his two friends racing around each other, oblivious to the fact that the bus had been loading for the past few minutes. They continued playing while the bus driver continued to call for them. Now where else would a driver of a packed bus be concerned about three kids who would have to wait for an even more crowded bus a half hour later? And to be cognizant of the fact that they probably rode his bus every day at that same time? The boys finally realized he was yelling for them, and they raced into the bus, having to stand in the doorway for the 40 minute drive home.
It's so wonderful to see people who care about others, whether it's bus drivers or just people on the street, and you see it every day. On one city bus I was on last week, an elderly man was still walking down the aisle to a seat when the bus driver took off, making him lose his balance. A secular girl sitting near the man grabbed his hand to help him get his balance, and they both smiled at each other as he nodded his thanks to her. I just love seeing those kind of exchanges.
It's now several hours later and I still can't remember the other story I wanted to relate. Guess I'll have to blog again when I think of it!
We'll get to one of the stories eventually. First I'll try to remember what's been going on in my life.
Last week I went into Yerushalayim three days in a row. I just felt like I needed to get out of the house and off the yishuv. The first day, Miryam and I first drove to Pisgat Ze'ev where we took a zillion (more or less) empty soda and water bottles to the recyclable bin, and then to the pet store (she needed bird food). We had fun taking the #8 bus into Yerushalayim; I love riding different buses and seeing what their routes are. After changing buses at the takanah merkazit (central bus station), we headed down Yaffo Street intending to go up King George and head to Talpiot. Instead, we got off the bus right as it turned onto King George so Miryam could get some American bills changed into shekels. Once we were there, I asked her if she was up for some walking and we decided to try to find Yosi Peking, which used to be a fabulous restaurant when David and I would come to Israel as tourists. I say "used to be" because they've switched locations three times, and I knew that they were just a small carry-out place now. My dentist's receptionist had told me they were now on Keren Hayemet, so we headed down King George to find it. It was supposed to be a fairly warm day, but it was overcast which kept it kind of chilly and I had just worn a light jacket. It was still SO nice to be walking in the fresh air. We found the restaurant without any trouble, but I have to say that the meal was very disappointing, especially considering how fabulous it used to be. There were just five tables inside and a few more outside; it was definitely too chilly to eat outside. The menu was small, and the food was already on a warming table ready to be ladled up. The soup was delicious but I don't think we'll be eating there again.
After lunch we just walked around. We found a great used book store where Miryam bought a couple of books. Lately it seems as if there are a lot of book stores with English books opening up. I remember when Nathan was going to yeshiva here he was always looking for bookstores with used English books (much less expensive than new ones) and now they're all over the place. Most of the bookstores even buy back the books at 70% of what you paid for them. Many of the books, though, look as if they've been packed away since the 40's and 50's, although you can always find whatever authors you're looking for and the latest bestsellers.
The following day, I jumped on a late afternoon bus and browsed around Geulah (a religious neighborhood with lots of stores) until David got off work and joined me. Waiting for him at the bus stop I ran into Karen, a friend from Ramat Beit Shemesh. It was nice to talk to her for a few minutes until David's bus came. Karen and her husband, Al, are going to the states for three weeks in January. I wish we could afford to go for a visit. All I really want to do is go play mahj with my old group! For a week straight!
David and I just walked around for a little while until we went to the takanah merkazit to catch the #143 back to Kochav Yaakov. We got there just as the bus pulled up. If David hadn't had to get home to study for ulpan the next evening, we would have stayed in town later.
The following day, my friend Ellen in Ramat Beit Shemesh and I each got on the 9 AM bus in our respective communities, and met at the takanah merkazit. We arrived at practically the same time! It was so nice to spend some time with Ellen again; we have so much in common. She doesn't get into Yerushalayim so much, so we decided to go exploring. This time we took the #14 to Talpiot. Talpiot is where most of the shopping is - for cars, furniture, household items, you name it. Every block has another mall or car lot. This day was absolutely gorgeous - 60's and not a cloud in the sky. We went through a couple of malls and then ended up walking all the way back to Emek Refaim in the German Colony. It wasn't actually so far and we both enjoyed the walk. There are a lot of restaurants on Emek Refaim, even a lot of mehadrin ones, but Ellen didn't hold by any of the hechsharim. It's amazing to me how religious people hold so differently in what they'll eat. We ended up going back in to Cafe Rimon which pretty much everyone holds by, and we split a salad. Afterwards we walked up Strauss and I got Ellen to the bus stop for the #417 back to Ramat Beit Shemesh, while I grabbed a #56 down to Shmuel Hanavi and Bar Ilan where I waited for the #143.
It's always iffy not getting on the #143 at the starting point, which is the takanah merkazit. But it was 3:15 in the afternoon so I thought I had a good chance of getting a seat. While I was waiting for the bus, I heard someone saying, "Mrs. Lecy, Mrs. Lecy" and I looked up to see Chaim, a boy who lives on my yishuv with his mother and sister. I greeted him, and then he ran back to play with his two friends; they'd obviously just gotten off school. Within two minutes, the #143 showed up and it was totally packed. All of us (and there were many) who got on at this bus stop were totally squeezed together in the aisle. I had four bags, my purse and my jacket in my arms, so I was extremely appreciative when a young girl offered me her seat (there are SOME positive aspects to getting old, it seems).
While I was getting situated in my seat, I realized that the bus driver was continually yelling, "Yeladim! Yeladim! (Children! Children!) out the door. (Get ready - this is the "Only in Israel" part.) When I looked out the window, I could see Chaim and his two friends racing around each other, oblivious to the fact that the bus had been loading for the past few minutes. They continued playing while the bus driver continued to call for them. Now where else would a driver of a packed bus be concerned about three kids who would have to wait for an even more crowded bus a half hour later? And to be cognizant of the fact that they probably rode his bus every day at that same time? The boys finally realized he was yelling for them, and they raced into the bus, having to stand in the doorway for the 40 minute drive home.
It's so wonderful to see people who care about others, whether it's bus drivers or just people on the street, and you see it every day. On one city bus I was on last week, an elderly man was still walking down the aisle to a seat when the bus driver took off, making him lose his balance. A secular girl sitting near the man grabbed his hand to help him get his balance, and they both smiled at each other as he nodded his thanks to her. I just love seeing those kind of exchanges.
It's now several hours later and I still can't remember the other story I wanted to relate. Guess I'll have to blog again when I think of it!
Monday, December 17, 2007
What an awesome, warm, sunny, cloudless, G-dfilled day!
I woke up to the doctor calling me with the results of my lab test from last week. He told me that I had a pretty virulent whatever-it-was and warned me to keep taking the antibiotics. He said no bacteria showed up but he's pretty certain it's still there and said my white blood cell count was off the charts (or way too low, I can't remember which). After I dressed and davened and ate a filling breakfast (these are all firsts for the last week, you should know), I said goodbye to Emma and walked down to the bus stop. And rode the #143 all the way to the takanah merkazeet (central bus station) without feeling sick at all! I had an ophthomologist appointment in Givat Shaul that took over two hours, counting waiting in the waiting room for my turn and for my eyes to dilate. By the time I got back to Kochav Yaakov, I'd been gone six hours! Never ever ever underestimate the value of a) a car that works and b) time.
By the time I got home the sky was totally cloudy and everyone in the bus was probably wondering about the crazy lady in the sunglasses (remember - dilated eyes). Poor Emma was very glad to see me (after my not being out of her sight for the past ten days), and was especially happy to uncross her legs and make a mad dash for the yard.
Now it's 7:45 PM and about an hour ago, I HIT THE WALL. If I weren't here typing, I'd be sacked out on the couch with my blankie. Why aren't I, you may be asking? Because I have an ulpan class here in forty-five minutes and I already cancelled on them last week. Rachel can't have it at her house because she has little kids, and Penina can't have it at her house because her second lift arrived this morning and I'd be willing to bet her house is in total pandemonium right about now. I tried to study my verbs from last year's ulpan, but the words kept swimming in front of me (to swim: לשחות)(I cheated; I just looked that up...).
David started back to ulpan after work tonight, too, after his Chanukah break. He finishes at 8:30, when we start, but by the time he grabs the #14 to the bus station and catches the 9:15 bus home, he doesn't get home until almost 10. Long day for him. Sometimes he gets tired from all the hours away from home, but sometimes he's actually energized by it. I wonder how much more energy we would have had if we'd made aliyah sooner?
By the way, did I mention we now have grass? Let me re-phrase that: WE HAVE GRASS!!! Since we've had a few rains now, grass has been sprouting like crazy in our yard. Okay, I admit there's more than a few weeds mixed in - and green onions, for some reason, but I'll take 'em! Now I have to find out, come Spring, if I can water and mow the yard. During Shemitta year there's a lot you can't do, especially to promote growth, but there are some things you can do to keep it from dying a slow, dry death. I'll keep you informed.
I woke up to the doctor calling me with the results of my lab test from last week. He told me that I had a pretty virulent whatever-it-was and warned me to keep taking the antibiotics. He said no bacteria showed up but he's pretty certain it's still there and said my white blood cell count was off the charts (or way too low, I can't remember which). After I dressed and davened and ate a filling breakfast (these are all firsts for the last week, you should know), I said goodbye to Emma and walked down to the bus stop. And rode the #143 all the way to the takanah merkazeet (central bus station) without feeling sick at all! I had an ophthomologist appointment in Givat Shaul that took over two hours, counting waiting in the waiting room for my turn and for my eyes to dilate. By the time I got back to Kochav Yaakov, I'd been gone six hours! Never ever ever underestimate the value of a) a car that works and b) time.
By the time I got home the sky was totally cloudy and everyone in the bus was probably wondering about the crazy lady in the sunglasses (remember - dilated eyes). Poor Emma was very glad to see me (after my not being out of her sight for the past ten days), and was especially happy to uncross her legs and make a mad dash for the yard.
Now it's 7:45 PM and about an hour ago, I HIT THE WALL. If I weren't here typing, I'd be sacked out on the couch with my blankie. Why aren't I, you may be asking? Because I have an ulpan class here in forty-five minutes and I already cancelled on them last week. Rachel can't have it at her house because she has little kids, and Penina can't have it at her house because her second lift arrived this morning and I'd be willing to bet her house is in total pandemonium right about now. I tried to study my verbs from last year's ulpan, but the words kept swimming in front of me (to swim: לשחות)(I cheated; I just looked that up...).
David started back to ulpan after work tonight, too, after his Chanukah break. He finishes at 8:30, when we start, but by the time he grabs the #14 to the bus station and catches the 9:15 bus home, he doesn't get home until almost 10. Long day for him. Sometimes he gets tired from all the hours away from home, but sometimes he's actually energized by it. I wonder how much more energy we would have had if we'd made aliyah sooner?
By the way, did I mention we now have grass? Let me re-phrase that: WE HAVE GRASS!!! Since we've had a few rains now, grass has been sprouting like crazy in our yard. Okay, I admit there's more than a few weeds mixed in - and green onions, for some reason, but I'll take 'em! Now I have to find out, come Spring, if I can water and mow the yard. During Shemitta year there's a lot you can't do, especially to promote growth, but there are some things you can do to keep it from dying a slow, dry death. I'll keep you informed.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
What a week! If I'd had to give odds at any point last week that I would still be alive today, it would only have been 50/50, chas vashalom. And I wouldn't have been sure about odds that high. In a nutshell: chills, fever of 103, cramps, (shhh - this is a whisper) diarrhea, unrelenting nausea, exhaustion. Nausea still. Get the picture? No details; enough said. Although - I wonder if I can keep those seven pounds off?
I missed so much last week! A writer's workshop with a well-known Jewish writer, a workshop on kashrut and hecsharim, a yishuv Chanukah party for all the English speakers, doctor's visits. Time to get back in the swing of things.
A friend I'd met at the dog park in St. Louis reconnected with me last week. She's originally from South America, moved to the US for awhile, and then moved to Toronto when David and I moved to Israel. What a mobile society we have! We actually met through a bit of inadvertent "bageling." One day when I had my dog, Anton, at the park and Deborah was there with her dog, Jake, we began talking (this was about three or four years ago). When I mentioned that Anton liked to pish all around the perimeter of the park, Deborah took the bait on the bagel and we established our Jewish connection. So, Deb - this blog's for you!
I just realized you have absolutely no idea what I meant when I said Deborah and I bageled each other. Please go to aish.com and search for an article called "The Bagel Theory." In a nutshell, the article explains how Jewish souls yearn to connect and so when we meet a fellow Jew and want them to know that we, too, are Jewish (or vice versa), we make a comment or use body language to convey that point. For instance: when I worked at Aish in St. Louis, the bathrooms for the building were upstairs. Once when I was in there, a woman from another office walked in with a dirty air conditioner vent and proceeded to wash it off at one of the faucets. She glanced at me, then looked down and said in a loud voice, "Oy! I don't know how I'll get all this shmutz off this thing. There's so much shmutz on here." That's bageling.
I thought I would get to take the car into Yerushalayim tomorrow for my ophthamologist appointment, but when David got home from work today he said there was a serious problem with the steering. I don't know if I can make that bus trip in if I'm still feeling nauseated tomorrow. And even though rain wasn't predicted (we haven't found any accurate forecasts here), it rained today. I HAVE TO GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE TOMORROW! I've been in this little house for the past ten days (four of them in pajamas...) and I'm beginning to think just being here is poisoning me. Rationally I know there's a squirmy bacteria eating its way through my intestines (I really gross myself out sometimes) (Is that really rational?) (Do I use too many parenthesis?). Maybe NOW you'll believe me when I say I need to get dressed and go somewhere tomorrow!
I missed so much last week! A writer's workshop with a well-known Jewish writer, a workshop on kashrut and hecsharim, a yishuv Chanukah party for all the English speakers, doctor's visits. Time to get back in the swing of things.
A friend I'd met at the dog park in St. Louis reconnected with me last week. She's originally from South America, moved to the US for awhile, and then moved to Toronto when David and I moved to Israel. What a mobile society we have! We actually met through a bit of inadvertent "bageling." One day when I had my dog, Anton, at the park and Deborah was there with her dog, Jake, we began talking (this was about three or four years ago). When I mentioned that Anton liked to pish all around the perimeter of the park, Deborah took the bait on the bagel and we established our Jewish connection. So, Deb - this blog's for you!
I just realized you have absolutely no idea what I meant when I said Deborah and I bageled each other. Please go to aish.com and search for an article called "The Bagel Theory." In a nutshell, the article explains how Jewish souls yearn to connect and so when we meet a fellow Jew and want them to know that we, too, are Jewish (or vice versa), we make a comment or use body language to convey that point. For instance: when I worked at Aish in St. Louis, the bathrooms for the building were upstairs. Once when I was in there, a woman from another office walked in with a dirty air conditioner vent and proceeded to wash it off at one of the faucets. She glanced at me, then looked down and said in a loud voice, "Oy! I don't know how I'll get all this shmutz off this thing. There's so much shmutz on here." That's bageling.
I thought I would get to take the car into Yerushalayim tomorrow for my ophthamologist appointment, but when David got home from work today he said there was a serious problem with the steering. I don't know if I can make that bus trip in if I'm still feeling nauseated tomorrow. And even though rain wasn't predicted (we haven't found any accurate forecasts here), it rained today. I HAVE TO GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE TOMORROW! I've been in this little house for the past ten days (four of them in pajamas...) and I'm beginning to think just being here is poisoning me. Rationally I know there's a squirmy bacteria eating its way through my intestines (I really gross myself out sometimes) (Is that really rational?) (Do I use too many parenthesis?). Maybe NOW you'll believe me when I say I need to get dressed and go somewhere tomorrow!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Living in Israel means:
א) Seeing Arab boys on donkeys by the side of the road, herding goats (or sheep).
ב) having dust and/or sand cover every surface in your house, even if you dust and sweep on a daily basis.
ג) having a car stop suddenly in front of you in the middle of the street, to either pick up people "tremping" or discharging passengers.
ד) not minding a work commute to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem, or from Tel Aviv to Haifa, or from Ramat Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem, or from Beersheva to Tel Aviv, on a daily basis.
ה) having a doctor's appointment on a Sunday night at 7:oo PM, or an MRI at midnight.
ו) sitting in an ulpan class with people from twelve different countries.
ז) seeing a boy with purple spiked hair and a ring in his nose jump off his seat to help a religious woman maneuver her stroller onto the bus.
ח) hearing an entire crowd of people at a bus stop answer "Amen" to someone's bracha.
ט) knowing where twenty falafel shops are within a one kilometer area in Jerusalem.
י) never having to hear or see anything about xmas, but having xmas decorations available at Succot.
כ) walking down the street and seeing people slinging live chickens around their heads on every street corner for a few days in the Fall.
ל) striking up conversations with other English-speakers and ALWAYS either knowing someone they know or having them know or be related to someone you know.
מ) turning on the radio and the only songs in English are from the 50's and 60's.
נ) walking a whole lot more than you used to.
ס) hearing the rooster down the street crow at all hours of the day.
ע) watching a mother be stopped on the street by an older woman telling her either to put a sweater on her child or take a sweater off her child - and thanking her for the advice.
פ) being on a bus taking an alternate route because a child forgot to get off at the right bus stop.
צ) all of the above
I just googled "Only in Israel" and there's an actual website with a whole lot of wonderful stories! Check it out!
א) Seeing Arab boys on donkeys by the side of the road, herding goats (or sheep).
ב) having dust and/or sand cover every surface in your house, even if you dust and sweep on a daily basis.
ג) having a car stop suddenly in front of you in the middle of the street, to either pick up people "tremping" or discharging passengers.
ד) not minding a work commute to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem, or from Tel Aviv to Haifa, or from Ramat Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem, or from Beersheva to Tel Aviv, on a daily basis.
ה) having a doctor's appointment on a Sunday night at 7:oo PM, or an MRI at midnight.
ו) sitting in an ulpan class with people from twelve different countries.
ז) seeing a boy with purple spiked hair and a ring in his nose jump off his seat to help a religious woman maneuver her stroller onto the bus.
ח) hearing an entire crowd of people at a bus stop answer "Amen" to someone's bracha.
ט) knowing where twenty falafel shops are within a one kilometer area in Jerusalem.
י) never having to hear or see anything about xmas, but having xmas decorations available at Succot.
כ) walking down the street and seeing people slinging live chickens around their heads on every street corner for a few days in the Fall.
ל) striking up conversations with other English-speakers and ALWAYS either knowing someone they know or having them know or be related to someone you know.
מ) turning on the radio and the only songs in English are from the 50's and 60's.
נ) walking a whole lot more than you used to.
ס) hearing the rooster down the street crow at all hours of the day.
ע) watching a mother be stopped on the street by an older woman telling her either to put a sweater on her child or take a sweater off her child - and thanking her for the advice.
פ) being on a bus taking an alternate route because a child forgot to get off at the right bus stop.
צ) all of the above
I just googled "Only in Israel" and there's an actual website with a whole lot of wonderful stories! Check it out!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
I just had to write again. The past couple of days have been some of those "only in Israel" experiences that I want to share.
Last night at 7 PM I had an appointment in Yerushalayim with a pain management specialist. I've had neck and back pain for years, probably from a combination of sitting at a computer for seventeen years, bad posture, and osteoporosis. I've had massages, physical therapy and chiropractic care, so when my doctor suggested this, I thought "why not?" So I got on the 4:20 PM bus into town (David had driven in to work). I absolutely LOVE switching buses and knowing where I'm going! I wasn't exactly sure where the office was, so I gave myself plenty of time to get there. David has ulpan on Monday nights and finishes by 8:30, so we figured we drive home together. It was actually not so cold when the sun went down and I ended up walking from 5:15 until I got to my appointment at 6:45. There were, as usual, a lot of people out on the streets and it was fun to just be part of the crowd. That's not to say I didn't stop at various shops along the way and tried on a few clothes... One of the streets I walked down was Hillel, off King George, where David's ulpan is. I think maybe on one of our previous trips to Israel as tourists we might have walked on part of that street, but it was so beautiful! There were a lot of restaurants, bars, chic little clothing stores, coffee shops - even a tatto parlor!
They took me into my appointment early, and I had over an hour to wait for David, so I meandered through some side streets and ended up on Ben Yehuda, a long and popular outdoor pedestrian mall. I figured I'd be safer sitting still for awhile rather then doing any shopping, so I headed to the Koursin for a bowl of hot 'n sour soup. As I was walking towards the (small) restaurant, a policeman started yelling at me. Okay, ready for the first "only in Israel" story? I looked around and realized that there were lots of policeman herding hundreds of people (mostly kids) away from the spot I was standing on. I ducked into the restaurant, ordered my soup and then took it to one of the outside tables that was enclosed by glass. As I looked around, I realized that the entire area outside had totally cleared of people. A policeman saw me through the glass and waved his arms to motion that I should move to the inside part of the restaurant. There was one other English-speaking family in the restaurant at the time (young couple with a toddler, and parents obviously visiting from the states), and together with the two girls who worked there, we all crowded at the door to watch the robot in the middle of the street head for a plastic bag sitting by the side of a stone sculpture. We watched as it circled around and then took pictures (X rays?). After a few minutes, the robot lifted the bag in the air as hundreds of people watched from the windows of nearby shops. Then it flipped the bag upside down, and out dropped what looked like - a tablecloth wrapped in plastic. There were cheers as policemen converged to get the bag and tablecloth and put it in an official vehicle, and within seconds there were people everywhere once again. It was interesting to see all the tourists and yeshiva boys crowding around the robot with their camera phones taking pictures!
This morning I had to be back in Har Nof at 8:35 AM for another appointment. This is the other yearly event for us "mature" women where sadistic people in white coats make you take off all your clothes from the waist up in a freezing room, after which they position your body in positions that they must have learned from contortionists. Then they flatten certain female body parts in a vise while you stand on your toes trying not to writhe in pain - at which point they tell you, "Oh, looks like the computer isn't ready yet. Hang on; it'll just be a minute."
I know - you're thinking, "But Vickie, that happens in chutz l'aretz too." So, okay, that was just the background, that wasn't part of the story. Here it comes.
David and I drove in together this morning and then I took two buses from Har Hotzvim (free parking!). I took the #11 up Yehezkel and then switched to the #15 in Geulah because it got me closer to my appointment than the 11 would have. I had never taken the 15 and it was a newer bus and not so crowded. As we headed up Malachi Yisrael, I realized that the bus driver had an Elvis Presley tape playing, and boy, was he enjoying himself! He was whistling and clapping and dancing in his seat - I don't think I've ever seen a happier bus driver! I have to admit, that's the first time I've heard Elvis in Israel!
Fast forward a couple of hours. I've already had my mammogram but I'm now sitting in the "back" waiting room for the second part of the exam. (This clinic is very popular because they're very thorough and have the best equipment. They do an ultrasound with every exam, and they tell you up front to expect to be there for about three hours.) Anyway, I was reading the book I'd brought with me when I looked up and saw an older woman (much older than me) getting a neck massage by another woman. After a few minutes, the massagee got up and moved to another chair and the massager asked, "Who's next?" By this time, everyone in the room was watching with interest, and after the second woman got up, I rushed over to take her place. It turned out the massager (and pretty much everyone else in the room) spoke English, so I told her about my appointment with the pain management specialist the night before and how he had suggested that I get some massages. She said, "See how Hashem takes care of us?" When I asked her if she worked for the clinic, she just laughed and said, "No. I'm a patient, too. I'm also a massage therapist and I was bored just sitting here, so you're all helping me pass the time." I was flabbergasted! We all thought it was a perk provided by the clinic, and she was just doing it out of the goodness of her heart! She must have worked on five or six of us before they called her name.
Okay, those are my stories. I could tell you that Penina and Miryam came over this afternoon for a couple of hours of mahj, but that's probably not as exciting for you as it is for us. Although - the last time we played, I mahjed on the 75 cent hand which is the hardest one on the card. If you're not a mahj player that means nothing to you, but if you ARE a mahj player, you know what I'm sayin'.
And tonight I surprised David with a really great dinner. I was so proud of myself! (I have to admit, I like being a homemaker for the first time in my life...) We still have leftover turkey and today I decided to make a turkey pot pie - from scratch. I made two pie crusts which turned out much better than the ones I made for the pies last week. There's no parve cream of mushroom soup in this country (that I've found), so I enlisted the help of Vanessa who works at the makolet and speaks fairly good English. She found me a cream sauce and read the directions to me. Then I found a bag of mixed veggies - not just plain 'ole peas and carrots, but peas and carrots with corn and green beans and potatoes. I seasoned it with parsley and oregano and basil, and it looked and tasted יפה (be-yoo-ti-ful); just like a pro! Perhaps you're thinking that I'm tooting my horn a little too loudly. The truth is that most of the time I'm my own worst critic. This is one of the few times that I actually think the end product really did turn out well. Ask my husband - he had two helpings!
Last night at 7 PM I had an appointment in Yerushalayim with a pain management specialist. I've had neck and back pain for years, probably from a combination of sitting at a computer for seventeen years, bad posture, and osteoporosis. I've had massages, physical therapy and chiropractic care, so when my doctor suggested this, I thought "why not?" So I got on the 4:20 PM bus into town (David had driven in to work). I absolutely LOVE switching buses and knowing where I'm going! I wasn't exactly sure where the office was, so I gave myself plenty of time to get there. David has ulpan on Monday nights and finishes by 8:30, so we figured we drive home together. It was actually not so cold when the sun went down and I ended up walking from 5:15 until I got to my appointment at 6:45. There were, as usual, a lot of people out on the streets and it was fun to just be part of the crowd. That's not to say I didn't stop at various shops along the way and tried on a few clothes... One of the streets I walked down was Hillel, off King George, where David's ulpan is. I think maybe on one of our previous trips to Israel as tourists we might have walked on part of that street, but it was so beautiful! There were a lot of restaurants, bars, chic little clothing stores, coffee shops - even a tatto parlor!
They took me into my appointment early, and I had over an hour to wait for David, so I meandered through some side streets and ended up on Ben Yehuda, a long and popular outdoor pedestrian mall. I figured I'd be safer sitting still for awhile rather then doing any shopping, so I headed to the Koursin for a bowl of hot 'n sour soup. As I was walking towards the (small) restaurant, a policeman started yelling at me. Okay, ready for the first "only in Israel" story? I looked around and realized that there were lots of policeman herding hundreds of people (mostly kids) away from the spot I was standing on. I ducked into the restaurant, ordered my soup and then took it to one of the outside tables that was enclosed by glass. As I looked around, I realized that the entire area outside had totally cleared of people. A policeman saw me through the glass and waved his arms to motion that I should move to the inside part of the restaurant. There was one other English-speaking family in the restaurant at the time (young couple with a toddler, and parents obviously visiting from the states), and together with the two girls who worked there, we all crowded at the door to watch the robot in the middle of the street head for a plastic bag sitting by the side of a stone sculpture. We watched as it circled around and then took pictures (X rays?). After a few minutes, the robot lifted the bag in the air as hundreds of people watched from the windows of nearby shops. Then it flipped the bag upside down, and out dropped what looked like - a tablecloth wrapped in plastic. There were cheers as policemen converged to get the bag and tablecloth and put it in an official vehicle, and within seconds there were people everywhere once again. It was interesting to see all the tourists and yeshiva boys crowding around the robot with their camera phones taking pictures!
This morning I had to be back in Har Nof at 8:35 AM for another appointment. This is the other yearly event for us "mature" women where sadistic people in white coats make you take off all your clothes from the waist up in a freezing room, after which they position your body in positions that they must have learned from contortionists. Then they flatten certain female body parts in a vise while you stand on your toes trying not to writhe in pain - at which point they tell you, "Oh, looks like the computer isn't ready yet. Hang on; it'll just be a minute."
I know - you're thinking, "But Vickie, that happens in chutz l'aretz too." So, okay, that was just the background, that wasn't part of the story. Here it comes.
David and I drove in together this morning and then I took two buses from Har Hotzvim (free parking!). I took the #11 up Yehezkel and then switched to the #15 in Geulah because it got me closer to my appointment than the 11 would have. I had never taken the 15 and it was a newer bus and not so crowded. As we headed up Malachi Yisrael, I realized that the bus driver had an Elvis Presley tape playing, and boy, was he enjoying himself! He was whistling and clapping and dancing in his seat - I don't think I've ever seen a happier bus driver! I have to admit, that's the first time I've heard Elvis in Israel!
Fast forward a couple of hours. I've already had my mammogram but I'm now sitting in the "back" waiting room for the second part of the exam. (This clinic is very popular because they're very thorough and have the best equipment. They do an ultrasound with every exam, and they tell you up front to expect to be there for about three hours.) Anyway, I was reading the book I'd brought with me when I looked up and saw an older woman (much older than me) getting a neck massage by another woman. After a few minutes, the massagee got up and moved to another chair and the massager asked, "Who's next?" By this time, everyone in the room was watching with interest, and after the second woman got up, I rushed over to take her place. It turned out the massager (and pretty much everyone else in the room) spoke English, so I told her about my appointment with the pain management specialist the night before and how he had suggested that I get some massages. She said, "See how Hashem takes care of us?" When I asked her if she worked for the clinic, she just laughed and said, "No. I'm a patient, too. I'm also a massage therapist and I was bored just sitting here, so you're all helping me pass the time." I was flabbergasted! We all thought it was a perk provided by the clinic, and she was just doing it out of the goodness of her heart! She must have worked on five or six of us before they called her name.
Okay, those are my stories. I could tell you that Penina and Miryam came over this afternoon for a couple of hours of mahj, but that's probably not as exciting for you as it is for us. Although - the last time we played, I mahjed on the 75 cent hand which is the hardest one on the card. If you're not a mahj player that means nothing to you, but if you ARE a mahj player, you know what I'm sayin'.
And tonight I surprised David with a really great dinner. I was so proud of myself! (I have to admit, I like being a homemaker for the first time in my life...) We still have leftover turkey and today I decided to make a turkey pot pie - from scratch. I made two pie crusts which turned out much better than the ones I made for the pies last week. There's no parve cream of mushroom soup in this country (that I've found), so I enlisted the help of Vanessa who works at the makolet and speaks fairly good English. She found me a cream sauce and read the directions to me. Then I found a bag of mixed veggies - not just plain 'ole peas and carrots, but peas and carrots with corn and green beans and potatoes. I seasoned it with parsley and oregano and basil, and it looked and tasted יפה (be-yoo-ti-ful); just like a pro! Perhaps you're thinking that I'm tooting my horn a little too loudly. The truth is that most of the time I'm my own worst critic. This is one of the few times that I actually think the end product really did turn out well. Ask my husband - he had two helpings!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
I just spent about half an hour reading the recent posts on my blog. It's difficult to remember what I've written or even when I've written (it's actually difficult to remember what I did an hour ago or what I said five minutes ago, but we won't get into that right now).
It's actually sunny and hopefully will continue to be so all week. After so many months of sun and warm weather, fall finally arrived with cloudy skies, wind, and temperatures between 15-20 degrees (that's Celcius in case you were shivering as you read that). We've also had enough rain to keep our yard muddy for the past week. Emma's so funny; she knows when she comes in from outside I'm going to grab her and wash her paws in the sink, so she just stands there when I open the door, hoping I'll back up enough for her to rush by me. I've had to resort to holding treats out, but she doesn't fall for that any more. Now we just have a standoff, with me closing the door in her face a few times, and even then I have to let her come all the way in and close the door before I try to grab her. She, of course, runs for the couch (light beige in color) and by the time I get to her she's run the length of it before jumping off, leaving a trail of muddy paw prints. It's going to be a long winter.
You're probably wondering what Israeli Americans do at Thanksgiving time. I would have to say that everyone does things differently but I actually have very good memories of Thanksgiving and enjoy celebrating it. We joined forces with our friends, and had a Thanksgiving feast on Friday night. Miryam made the turkey (rather well, I might add), Penina made the stuffing and green bean casserole, and I made the candied sweet potatoes and a deep dish apple pie, pumpkin pie, ice cream pie, and the whipped cream. Oh yeah, and I opened a can of cranberry sauce. There were ten of us, and even though we were extremely crowded in our dining room, we all had a great time. I read a great article from aish.com called "It's my Party" about being thankful for what we have, and not feeling entitled to have anything. We sang lots of zemiros; Penina's family have great voices, and it was very uplifting.
I planned to go into Yerushalayim this afternoon to meet up with a friend's husband and stepson visiting from St. Louis (looking into yeshivot), but he never answered his cell phone. I have to go into town tomorrow and again on Tuesday, so I'm not so disappointed. Tonight is my ulpan class. Did I tell you about that? Four of us (all women) are learning with an Israeli woman at my house one night a week. Unfortunately, we're all at very different levels so the teacher has her work cut out for her. I've actually been surprised at how much I remember from ulpan last year, or have learned throughout this past year. I really think new olim shouldn't take ulpan until they've been in the country for at least six months. After you've heard Ivrit spoken a lot, and you get used to hearing it, learning it gets a whole lot easier. Right now we're just going over the basics, but we want her to teach us conversational Hebrew so we can talk to the people at the post office, the grocery store, the bus station, and things we need in our everyday lives. B'seder?
Let's see, what else is new?
Penina's daughter, Rachel, who's going to seminary in Bayit Vegan, told us Friday night of another "only in Israel" story. She related that she and some friends were at a bus stop near their school when they struck up a conversation with a young mother. The woman invited them all to Seudat Shlishi that week! I told about a time when I was at a crowded bus stop when a very pregnant woman walked up and people made room for her to sit on the bench. The woman then started searching through her backpack and finally pulled out an apple. She held the fruit out in front of her and very deliberately, enunciating every word, made the blessing ha'adamah. Everyone said "Amen." It was so beautiful! And then, last Wednesday (in the pouring rain) I had to go into Yerushalayim for a doctor's appointment. Afterwards I got on the #11 bus (the seats were drenched) to go to Givat Shaul where I went shopping at the Cheaper Kol. This is a grocery store that has a lot of American products. I was looking for mandarin oranges, chow mein noodles, canned pumpkin, and cranberry sauce. While there, another woman heard me on the phone with my friend, Lisa, who was trying to direct me to the correct aisle where the chow mein noodles were located. She helped me find several products that I was looking for. Before I went to check out, I thanked her for her help and we began playing the Jewish Geography game. It turns out I know her mother-in-law, who is a big supporter of Aish St. Louis, and I had even seen her mother-in-law when I was in St. Louis in August (she lives in El Paso but was in St. Louis for the same bat mitzvah I had attended). She ended up inviting David and I for Shabbos whenever we wanted, and we exchanged phone numbers. I LOVE being part of a world-wide extended family where everybody knows somebody you know!
It's actually sunny and hopefully will continue to be so all week. After so many months of sun and warm weather, fall finally arrived with cloudy skies, wind, and temperatures between 15-20 degrees (that's Celcius in case you were shivering as you read that). We've also had enough rain to keep our yard muddy for the past week. Emma's so funny; she knows when she comes in from outside I'm going to grab her and wash her paws in the sink, so she just stands there when I open the door, hoping I'll back up enough for her to rush by me. I've had to resort to holding treats out, but she doesn't fall for that any more. Now we just have a standoff, with me closing the door in her face a few times, and even then I have to let her come all the way in and close the door before I try to grab her. She, of course, runs for the couch (light beige in color) and by the time I get to her she's run the length of it before jumping off, leaving a trail of muddy paw prints. It's going to be a long winter.
You're probably wondering what Israeli Americans do at Thanksgiving time. I would have to say that everyone does things differently but I actually have very good memories of Thanksgiving and enjoy celebrating it. We joined forces with our friends, and had a Thanksgiving feast on Friday night. Miryam made the turkey (rather well, I might add), Penina made the stuffing and green bean casserole, and I made the candied sweet potatoes and a deep dish apple pie, pumpkin pie, ice cream pie, and the whipped cream. Oh yeah, and I opened a can of cranberry sauce. There were ten of us, and even though we were extremely crowded in our dining room, we all had a great time. I read a great article from aish.com called "It's my Party" about being thankful for what we have, and not feeling entitled to have anything. We sang lots of zemiros; Penina's family have great voices, and it was very uplifting.
I planned to go into Yerushalayim this afternoon to meet up with a friend's husband and stepson visiting from St. Louis (looking into yeshivot), but he never answered his cell phone. I have to go into town tomorrow and again on Tuesday, so I'm not so disappointed. Tonight is my ulpan class. Did I tell you about that? Four of us (all women) are learning with an Israeli woman at my house one night a week. Unfortunately, we're all at very different levels so the teacher has her work cut out for her. I've actually been surprised at how much I remember from ulpan last year, or have learned throughout this past year. I really think new olim shouldn't take ulpan until they've been in the country for at least six months. After you've heard Ivrit spoken a lot, and you get used to hearing it, learning it gets a whole lot easier. Right now we're just going over the basics, but we want her to teach us conversational Hebrew so we can talk to the people at the post office, the grocery store, the bus station, and things we need in our everyday lives. B'seder?
Let's see, what else is new?
Penina's daughter, Rachel, who's going to seminary in Bayit Vegan, told us Friday night of another "only in Israel" story. She related that she and some friends were at a bus stop near their school when they struck up a conversation with a young mother. The woman invited them all to Seudat Shlishi that week! I told about a time when I was at a crowded bus stop when a very pregnant woman walked up and people made room for her to sit on the bench. The woman then started searching through her backpack and finally pulled out an apple. She held the fruit out in front of her and very deliberately, enunciating every word, made the blessing ha'adamah. Everyone said "Amen." It was so beautiful! And then, last Wednesday (in the pouring rain) I had to go into Yerushalayim for a doctor's appointment. Afterwards I got on the #11 bus (the seats were drenched) to go to Givat Shaul where I went shopping at the Cheaper Kol. This is a grocery store that has a lot of American products. I was looking for mandarin oranges, chow mein noodles, canned pumpkin, and cranberry sauce. While there, another woman heard me on the phone with my friend, Lisa, who was trying to direct me to the correct aisle where the chow mein noodles were located. She helped me find several products that I was looking for. Before I went to check out, I thanked her for her help and we began playing the Jewish Geography game. It turns out I know her mother-in-law, who is a big supporter of Aish St. Louis, and I had even seen her mother-in-law when I was in St. Louis in August (she lives in El Paso but was in St. Louis for the same bat mitzvah I had attended). She ended up inviting David and I for Shabbos whenever we wanted, and we exchanged phone numbers. I LOVE being part of a world-wide extended family where everybody knows somebody you know!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Some people call it "luck" or "fate" or "coincidence." People with faith call it Hashgacha Pratis (Divine Providence). All would probably agree that it's "being in the right place at the right time."
So, first, some background.
David has really been going through some angst lately, trying to figure out his life. He's been working for almost ten months now, without any clear cut goals. Before we made aliyah David told me several times that he didn't want to stay in the field of IT (Information Technology) when we got here. But once we got here and he began looking for work, he realized that in order for us to stay afloat it only made sense to work in the field he had experience in. So many people are finding it hard to find any kind of work at all. We were blessed that he found a job so quickly - except that he had the attitude that since it wasn't what he wanted, he was going to be unhappy. In his mind he felt that, once again, his job was taking over his life and he was resentful. There was commuting time and then 9 hour work days. Add to that ulpan two nights a week, and then studying for ulpan class on other nights. Two nights a week is learning by phone with a chavrusa (study partner). And when was down time? Or time with his wife (that would be me)? And between the time he gets home at night and the time he has for sleeping there's a lot to cram in, so sleep gets sacrificed. When you get up at 4:30 AM but don't make it to bed until 11 or 11:30 at night on a consistent basis, you tend to get grumpy and dissatisfied.
So David decided to talk to me about it last night at dinner; I had actually cooked and we sat down to eat our meal together. He told me about his frustrations and anxieties. I knew he'd been upset and unhappy; now I understood why. You see, David is a computer person. He needs to compartmentalize his life - everything fits in a specific slot and needs to be dealt with separately. He's slow about certain things, but only because he's sorting it all out in his mind; almost 100% of the time the end result is a perfect answer (which sometimes drives me crazy because how can you live with a person who always knows everything? Not that it doesn't occasionally {or usually} come in handy...).
Anyway, the conclusion he came to after much thought is that he has to concentrate on just one thing and do that thing to the best of his ability instead of trying to spread himself so thin that he can't be good at anything. He's decided that he's going to change his attitude. Of course he'd like to make learning Torah his #1 priority but right now, since he's not yet retired and has to make a parnassah, he's going to be the guy at work who volunteers for extra projects, who contributes during staff meetings, who goes the extra mile. He wants to show the company what his talents are and show them what his vast experience can offer them. Until now he deliberately has just laid back and not been part of the team, and he hasn't felt very good about that. In order to go from being a consultant who just works at Intel, he's going for the blue badge - which means that he's going to show Intel that they need to hire him directly and promote him according to his talents.
Ulpan is part of that. In order to get ahead he's got to learn the language, so he's going to concentrate (for now) on ulpan and work. He'll still learn with his chavrusa and whatever he can do on Shabbat, but our tzedakah money will have to support other people's Torah learning for now.
So this morning he woke up with a new attitude and a new purpose. We had a bris to go to this morning in Yerushalayim, right down the street from where David works. It was for the new grandson of friends of ours from Ramat Beit Shemesh, Tzvi and Tobi. Tzvi is the one who almost hired me to work for him at Aish, but he just doesn't have the money in the budget right now to pay a new person (a pretty repetitive theme for a not-for-profit). Anyway, it was mostly family and friends of the couple who had the baby, but I found myself sitting next to a woman at the seuda (festive meal) who was very sweet. She lives in Ramat Shlomo, her husband works at Aish, and of course we knew people in common, yada yada yada. You know how it goes. Then she asked what my husband does. I answered, "What does he do now or what is he capable of doing?" I explained that he was a software tester but that back in the states he designed computer networks for large companies. She became thoughtful and then said, "I have a friend whose husband works at XXX (don't want to give out too much info yet and jump the gun, but it's a nice company right around the corner from where David currently works) and I think they're looking for people right now." Then she asked for my cell phone and called her friend, Karen, and put me on the phone. It seems Karen's husband's computer company is conducting interviews right now for senior managers. They want people with experience, not these young people right out of college. It's also a great place (so says Karen) for religious people; the cafeteria is kosher with a good hechsher and they have daily minyamin (prayer services) in the building. Karen said even if her husband's department didn't need David's specific skill sets, he could steer him to a another department that could use him. She gave me her husband's phone numbers and email address, and said she would tell him to expect a call and an email with David's resume. WOW!
Does Hashem listen to us or what? Now that David finally made up his mind to change his attitude, it feels like Hashem is saying, "I've been waiting for you. Just walk though the door."
***********************
It's now late evening. David called Yisroel, but the position he was looking to fill in his department was in an area that David is not qualified for. He still told David to send him his CV and he would forward it to other applicable departments in the company. Oh, well. David and I talked about it tonight and we decided that we're just happy he has a job. I played mahj with two friends this afternoon (first time in a LONG time), and neither one of their families are doing well financially. One woman has four kids and her husband still hasn't found work after 11 months here; they're scraping together meals from donated canned goods and pasta. The other woman related that the electric company was on the verge of turning off their power. Another family in Ramat Beit Shemesh we're close with have been here over two years and they've both just done odd jobs to bring in some money. We are SO blessed. Now we're just trying to figure out what we can do to help without being intrusive.
At least now David has some perspective; he said going to work today with a changed attitude made all the difference. Baruch Hashem!
{printed with permission from subject}
So, first, some background.
David has really been going through some angst lately, trying to figure out his life. He's been working for almost ten months now, without any clear cut goals. Before we made aliyah David told me several times that he didn't want to stay in the field of IT (Information Technology) when we got here. But once we got here and he began looking for work, he realized that in order for us to stay afloat it only made sense to work in the field he had experience in. So many people are finding it hard to find any kind of work at all. We were blessed that he found a job so quickly - except that he had the attitude that since it wasn't what he wanted, he was going to be unhappy. In his mind he felt that, once again, his job was taking over his life and he was resentful. There was commuting time and then 9 hour work days. Add to that ulpan two nights a week, and then studying for ulpan class on other nights. Two nights a week is learning by phone with a chavrusa (study partner). And when was down time? Or time with his wife (that would be me)? And between the time he gets home at night and the time he has for sleeping there's a lot to cram in, so sleep gets sacrificed. When you get up at 4:30 AM but don't make it to bed until 11 or 11:30 at night on a consistent basis, you tend to get grumpy and dissatisfied.
So David decided to talk to me about it last night at dinner; I had actually cooked and we sat down to eat our meal together. He told me about his frustrations and anxieties. I knew he'd been upset and unhappy; now I understood why. You see, David is a computer person. He needs to compartmentalize his life - everything fits in a specific slot and needs to be dealt with separately. He's slow about certain things, but only because he's sorting it all out in his mind; almost 100% of the time the end result is a perfect answer (which sometimes drives me crazy because how can you live with a person who always knows everything? Not that it doesn't occasionally {or usually} come in handy...).
Anyway, the conclusion he came to after much thought is that he has to concentrate on just one thing and do that thing to the best of his ability instead of trying to spread himself so thin that he can't be good at anything. He's decided that he's going to change his attitude. Of course he'd like to make learning Torah his #1 priority but right now, since he's not yet retired and has to make a parnassah, he's going to be the guy at work who volunteers for extra projects, who contributes during staff meetings, who goes the extra mile. He wants to show the company what his talents are and show them what his vast experience can offer them. Until now he deliberately has just laid back and not been part of the team, and he hasn't felt very good about that. In order to go from being a consultant who just works at Intel, he's going for the blue badge - which means that he's going to show Intel that they need to hire him directly and promote him according to his talents.
Ulpan is part of that. In order to get ahead he's got to learn the language, so he's going to concentrate (for now) on ulpan and work. He'll still learn with his chavrusa and whatever he can do on Shabbat, but our tzedakah money will have to support other people's Torah learning for now.
So this morning he woke up with a new attitude and a new purpose. We had a bris to go to this morning in Yerushalayim, right down the street from where David works. It was for the new grandson of friends of ours from Ramat Beit Shemesh, Tzvi and Tobi. Tzvi is the one who almost hired me to work for him at Aish, but he just doesn't have the money in the budget right now to pay a new person (a pretty repetitive theme for a not-for-profit). Anyway, it was mostly family and friends of the couple who had the baby, but I found myself sitting next to a woman at the seuda (festive meal) who was very sweet. She lives in Ramat Shlomo, her husband works at Aish, and of course we knew people in common, yada yada yada. You know how it goes. Then she asked what my husband does. I answered, "What does he do now or what is he capable of doing?" I explained that he was a software tester but that back in the states he designed computer networks for large companies. She became thoughtful and then said, "I have a friend whose husband works at XXX (don't want to give out too much info yet and jump the gun, but it's a nice company right around the corner from where David currently works) and I think they're looking for people right now." Then she asked for my cell phone and called her friend, Karen, and put me on the phone. It seems Karen's husband's computer company is conducting interviews right now for senior managers. They want people with experience, not these young people right out of college. It's also a great place (so says Karen) for religious people; the cafeteria is kosher with a good hechsher and they have daily minyamin (prayer services) in the building. Karen said even if her husband's department didn't need David's specific skill sets, he could steer him to a another department that could use him. She gave me her husband's phone numbers and email address, and said she would tell him to expect a call and an email with David's resume. WOW!
Does Hashem listen to us or what? Now that David finally made up his mind to change his attitude, it feels like Hashem is saying, "I've been waiting for you. Just walk though the door."
***********************
It's now late evening. David called Yisroel, but the position he was looking to fill in his department was in an area that David is not qualified for. He still told David to send him his CV and he would forward it to other applicable departments in the company. Oh, well. David and I talked about it tonight and we decided that we're just happy he has a job. I played mahj with two friends this afternoon (first time in a LONG time), and neither one of their families are doing well financially. One woman has four kids and her husband still hasn't found work after 11 months here; they're scraping together meals from donated canned goods and pasta. The other woman related that the electric company was on the verge of turning off their power. Another family in Ramat Beit Shemesh we're close with have been here over two years and they've both just done odd jobs to bring in some money. We are SO blessed. Now we're just trying to figure out what we can do to help without being intrusive.
At least now David has some perspective; he said going to work today with a changed attitude made all the difference. Baruch Hashem!
{printed with permission from subject}
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