A Night at the Musem

Our major tiyul over Channukah was arranged by Misrad Klita (Absorption Ministry) and the Haifa Association for Immigrant Absorption who hosted a program at Madatech (Science Centre)  during after hours. We thought it sounded like a lot of fun. Our local Anglo community even coordinated a bus, to make it easier to get there.

The amount of disorganization is something that one can come to expect from Israelis. Our bus dropped us off on the opposite side of the museum from where we were entering.  We entered through an outside gate, where tropit (Grape drink) and suganiyot (Jelly Donuts) were being served as the only refreshments for the evening. The promise that the tropit would be served later in the evening, in a more contained area to avoid allergy exposure, did not come to fruition. Along with refreshments, we were given tickets and bracelets to help organize the meeting and schedule.

We spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out where the different activities are. There was an announcement for everyone to gather around the open area between the two buildings for speeches. The first speaker was a representative from the Mayor's office, with a dvar torah about the miracle of Channuakah and the miracle of Eretz Israel.

That was followed by announcement for instructions for the evening. The first set were in Hebrew, with detailed instructions of where all the events were taken place and when, along with an explanation of the bracelets. That was followed by the first attempt to make announcements by the Russian interpreter. As the instructions were complicated, they ended up taking a time out to stop and explain everything she needed to announce.  During the pause another interpreter took the opportunity to make an announcement in French, that there were not going to be any instructions in French or English as everyone was expected to understand the Hebrew. Next up was the English interpreter who said that if anyone didn't understand they should speak to her privately. Finally the instructions were given in Russian. They concluded with a message in Hebrew, all activities were going to take place precisely on time.

It was time to move on to candle lighting. People were asked to stay (even though it would have made people late for the activities) A Rabbi with a chair and a menorah was brought to the middle. He made the brachot and attempted to light the candles. It was not an easy task in the strong wind. There wasn't any singing afterwards, which was interesting as they had been playing the music half an hour earlier.

Now that our family knew where events were taking place, our family headed to the motion simulator movie. Shlomo was flagged for not meeting the minimum age 6, while a whole bunch of 4 year olds took their seats with no issue. In the end, I stayed for the movie, while the rest of the family explored the museum.

I am not a big fan of motion simulators. Unless the presentation is designed around the motion technology, such as a race car or roller coaster simulation. Otherwise I find there is too much shaking for the sake of having the ability to, rather than creating a multi-faceted experience. I found the same to be true in this case.

It was a cute presentation on the solar system, starting from the big bang, through the solar system all the way to the outskirts of the Milky Way. They then did a zoom in on a cell in the body, showing how the universe is just as expansive in the other direction, as they went down to a quark.

There were two awkward memorable parts from the presentation. After covering the death of the dinosaurs they transferred in to: A meteor will hit the earth, causing destruction to most of the species on earth. The sun will expand and swallow up the inner planets of the solar system before becoming a white dwarf.  Only after declaring a need for humans to find new places in the galaxy to live, did they mention that it won't happen for a long time. That traumatized some of the kids, who thought we were talking about their life time. Some Mom's appeased their kids by saying that nobody has any way of knowing if such an event could take place. I also saw a kid turn to their mom and ask 'What was it liking living your whole life, thinking something was a planet and then one day find out it wasn't.'  Who knew that Pluto's planetary demotion could make me feel so old.

After the movie, I rejoined the family. We decided to skip the 2nd presentation as all the kids were having a great time at the different exhibits. It was much easier to explore when the individual exhibits were all mostly empty.

Overall everyone had a great time.  It was a good reminder of the level of organization to be expected at these types of events.

Channah & Hoodie

The ball is being kept in the air from air blowing from below

One of my favorite activities at Madatech. You colour a drawing. The drawing is scanned and added to the moving screen.

Railway to Chelm

Back in May, then Minister of Transportation, Yisrael Katz came out with the following quote.

'When I work in my current position as Minister of Transportation around Israel to build roads, ports, airports, and train tracks, I know that this is the real victory over what the Nazis tried to do. Each new rail line is the answer to those train lines that transported helpless and hopeless Jews to their deaths..'

I was among many who made the same joke. If the Israeli Authorities were in charge of transportation in Nazi Germany, the death tolls would probably have been significantly lower. Anyone who has ever taken the train or knows someone who has taken the train, is probably aware of bizarre decisions made by Israel Rail. Of course the hypocritical fight over railway maintenance was a big issue a number of years ago. I never dreamed that their level of incompetence could inconvenience my entire community.

The train tracks mark the border between Kiryat Motzkin and Kiryat Shmuel. There is only one pedestrian crossing point. This crossing point is used by many within the community during the week to facilitate ease of kids getting to school, people going to work, getting to shul during the week and on Shabbat and especially for those wanting to get from Kiryat Motzkin to the beach in Kiryat Yam. Given Kiryat Shmuel closes its roads for Shabbat and holidays, this crossing is essential for those needing to get non-emergent medical care as well. Channah uses the crossing to get to school and to get to the bus for after school activities. We, as a family, all use the crossing to get to shul.

The crossing is located just north of the train station. Due to outdated technology the crossing lights and barrier are activated before the northbound trains even pull into the station. This results in unnecessarily long waiting times and impatient people crossing before the train arrives at the crossing. About a year ago, instructions to be me more careful were painted on the ground approaching the crossing. For some reason it didn't seem to change the situation. 

Last week it was announced in the local news that the pedestrian crossing would be closing. The train station could be used instead of the crossing. A 'high tech' solution would be implemented to allow crossing during the hours that the train station was closed. Confusion around the logistics of the change as well as anger at the inconvenience of the move, were of great concern.

It turned out that Israel Railway is in the process of closing all of their pedestrian crossings. The sudden push to the top of the priority list was caused by a 16 year old, with head phones that was almost hit by a train.

As of today the new system is now in place. The crossing is closed by a gate on each side of the tracks.  The gate is locked with a padlock.  A security guard is stationed in front of each of the padlocked gates. There is a ticket machine located outside the train station. (The machine ran out of tickets today) People have to go through a security check. The ticket allows them access to the platform for 15 minutes, where the stairs are located to cross to the other side.  As the train is located in the opposite direction of school and requires going through morning rush hour security, Channah estimates that it adds another 8 to 10 minutes on her trip to school. Another minute or two on the way home as the train entrance from Kiryat Motzkin is at the opposite end of the station. 

I understand the motivation for eliminating the need to for pedestrians to cross the train tracks. There is no reason why they couldn't have come up with a practical solution to achieving the goal.