Taking a Bed for a Walk

When Hoodie started climbing out of her crib, we had no choice but to immediately move her into her own bed. The problem was that she shares a room with Shlomo and there was not enough room for two beds in the room. We temporarily set up the trundle from under Shlomo's bed, as her bed until the move.

There have been a number of times where we have been 2nd in line to obtaining a bed frame. We finally managed to find one with our names first on the list. The problem was it had been left outside and we had a very small window to in order to pick up before it was passed on to the next in line. 

We immediately drove the 240m to pick up the bed frame. Once it was in our possession the question became how to get it home. It would not fit in our van. Should we take it apart and risk having problems with the reassembly or should we walk it the 160m home.  What would a typical Israeli do?

There was a guy standing at the corner next to a big truck. So we asked him if there was room in his truck to move the bed. He said that it was full but he needed to call his boss. He wandered off, as we continued to discuss our options.

He came back and said that his boss had given him the approval to carry the bed to our place. He picked up the bed, put it on his back and asked where he was going.  He only accepted help, when he reached our building and some complicated maneuvering was required to get it around the stairwell.

When we suggested paying for his help, he was upset because he didn't want to have the mitzvah taken away from him.  He did accept the small bottle of water that we keep by the door for delivery people who have to schlep stuff up the flight of stairs to our apartment.

We are all grateful for his help, especially Hoodie.

Polling Daas Torah Style

Tonight I received my first phone call to make sure I was voting for the right candidate in the election. I was in the mood for toying but not arguing. I didn't have the creative juices flowing, so the conversation went something like this.

Caller: I am sure that you have seen the signs around the neighbourhood that one has to vote for Chen. Your Rav signed it.
Me: Yes.
Caller: How many voters are there?
Me: One (The answered seem to have thrown him)
Caller: So I can put you down for voting Chen?
Me: No.
Caller: You are going to be voting for Abutbol?
Me: No.
Caller: You know that Abutbol supports the Yeshivas and the other guys don't?
Me: That's nice.

Some back and forth where he said that Abutbol supports the Yeshivas and I basically said I am well aware of what Abutbol does.

Caller: Do you know who Chaim Kanievsky is?
Me: Yes.
Caller: He would want you to vote for Abutbol.

He basically took that track that in 120 years, if I Abutbol, Kanievsky would be there to greet me as I would have earned Olam HaBa, if not ......

He didn't ask me how I was going to vote or what my concerns might be. Anyone who thinks that election is that simple, there isn't really anything to discuss.

Right now my vote for Mayor is firmly with Eli Cohen.
My vote for City Council is strongly leaning towards Tov.

What Time is It?

This morning many Israeli's woke up very confused. Over night some cell phone providers and my computer turned the clocks back. As we rely more and more on clocks that change automatically this caused a lot of confusion.

In previous years we would turn our clocks back after Shabbat Shuva. This was to appease the Haredi parties as it would allow the Yom Kippor fast to be shorter. A few years ago some Israelis realized that the fast was still the same 25 hours. They began protesting that it wasn't fair that we were on DST shorter than other countries in the world. There was even a petition to boycott changing our clocks back. There were no reports of the effect of the boycott on the protesters. In July the Government passed a law extending Daylight Savings Time until the end of October.

This presented a major challenge for cell phone companies. The cell phone networks were built in 1948 which means they can never be changed. Some cell phone providers had a work around solution by notifying their customers to set their phones to Athens time. Others decided to take the economical approach and let their customers figure out on their own. My iPhone on the Cellcom network was able to make the adjustment. Although my computer on Windows 7 did not.

It will be interesting to see what happens to all the customers who changed there phones to Athens time when it is time to move forward. Israel turns their clocks ahead on Friday March 28th, while in Athens they will move ahead on Sunday March 30th. Once again Israelis will be waking up in the morning asking what time it is.

I love it here

Today at a random shop in Tel Aviv, a very chiloni looking guy behind the counter was so excited when my daughter bought a Popsicle, he did not let us pay for it before encouraging her to start eating it so "she is a dati girl she can a beautiful shehakol and he could answer 'Amen'". HE made me do it also before I could pay for my drink. There are times where I really, really love living here.

The Freindly Tax Collector

An important part of my job is making sure my Keurig machine is used regularily.  It helps me keep my product knowledge and I have managed to pick up a taste for coffee. Every so often I send in my boss a request for 4 boxes K-Cups. I receive the customs note in our mail box. I pick it up at the local post office.  If the shipment makes it to Israel, I have never had any problems. The last time I placed my request, my boss said there was a problem.  I would now have to order 12 boxes, as it would be more economical in the long run.

On Wednesday I received a note that I had a package in the Postal Tax Office in Jerusalem.  I was a little bit concerned as it had instructions for all kinds of documents that would be required under different scenarios.  It didn't say how much tax I would need to pay.

On Thursday, I went down to the Post Office.  I brought the form to the front desk and said I had no idea what the form was about.  They told me to go to the warehouse in the back to get the package.  They pulled out a huge box and said I needed the customs agent to come back to see it.  They asked me what was inside.  I explained it was coffee.  They opened the box and saw I was right. Since I put in my request we began carrying 6 flavors of Starbucks which I need to try plus a box of Iced Coffee that I really want.  I also started a second job with a company that has 9 flavors on the market.  It has been interesting advising customers without ever trying them before.  It looks like he may have shipped me 16 boxes of coffee. That would be more than 300 cups of coffee/tea.

First I had to explain that the coffee was for personal consumption.  Then I had to explain that I didn't have an invoice because I didn't pay for it.  Finally she decided that she is going to charge me taxes based on the $160 declared value on the shipment.  She begins processing it and I pull out my credit card.  They only take cash or check.  Due to difficulties earlier in the week, I would not have access to cash until the next day.  She starts making phone calls trying to figure out what to do.

Agent #2 jumps in asking about my Hebrew skills.  Agent #1 jumps in with "He speaks some Hebrew, I speak some English.  We understand each other."  Agent #2 says "Don't you learn Gemara?"  This lead into a discussion on where I went to Yeshiva and where it was located.  I drew a blank on the neighbourhood of new location. Agent #3 asks me what street it is on. In the back of my head, I am thinking that something is not quite adding up 100% on the line of questions.

Agent #2 (who is not wearing a Kippah) goes to the cooler and gets me a cup of water.  He asks me to say Bracha that they can all answer to.  He then notices the wedding ring, which blew them all away, especially when I through in it has been 14 years and I have an 8 year old.  We made some more small talk as Agent #1 still does not know what to do.  "The computer won't let her go forward"

I told them that if I had to come back, I would come back another time. Agent #1 didn't want me to do that because I might get a different agent.  The implications was who knew what they would charge me or other problems I would have with the package.  In the end she decided to send it to my local post office.  I would pay the taxes when I picked it up.

The office could have very easily just turned me away until I had what they needed to clear my package.  Instead they thought of me as a person that they did not want to inconvenience.  It is something you expect from friends and family, not a person holding  a rubber stamp.  It is just another of many examples, of where living in Israel really feels like home.

Bringing Stereotypes to Life

There are many stereotypes about Israelis. Most of the time, I just assume that they are exagerations or misinformation about the local culture. It is truly amazing when you see the stereotype come to life. I am currently playing for one of the Toronto teams the ice hockey tournament in Metulah this week. The following conversation took place this morning between Ziv the only true born and bread Israeli and the rest of our team.

Ziv: Do you like Hummus? Have you been the the Hummusia?
Teammates: You mean all they have is Hummus?
Ziv: No. They also have chicken shnitzel.

Only Israeli Police Moment

On the way home from softball, there are often police stationed on the on ramp from Highway 3 (goes to Modiin/Latrun) onto Hwy 1 heading towards Jerusalem. While I have wondered what they are looking for but whatever it was, it was not me.

Tonight, the police decided to pull me and the car in front of me over. While, I didn't think I did anything wrong, I started to panic just a little. I asked what was going on and all the officer said was that I he needed my license and insurance. My baseball uniform doesn't have pockets, so I try to keep remember to keep my phone and wallet in the front seat. Not only had I not done that, I couldn't figure out where I left it. Fortunately, I was giving my team mate a ride to his bus stop. I told him to get out my ownership papers, while I continued to panic looking for my wallet. In the mean time he was also able to deal with the 2 girls who were trying to tremp a ride to Jerusalem. I eventually found my wallet. The officer added my name to the long list of people who had also had random inspections and we were on our way.

In case you missed the only in Israel part of the story. There were two girls, on a highway on ramp, waiting for people to stop (either voluntarily or by the police) to give them a ride to Jerusalem.

As for the softball game. It was the first game of the season. For some reason the coach decided that, I can hit and batted me 5th, as I played 2nd base. The other teams pitcher was throwing real hard. My first at bat, I hit the ball so it landed just outside the batter box in fair territory. That was good enough for a single (the teams first hit of the season). My 2nd at bat I hit a hanging liner up the middle that was caught. I also had two put outs at 2nd base. We lost 11-0 after 5 innings on the mercy rule. Although the game was much closer than the scoreboard made it appear.

It's All Dark, At the Ball Park, That's OK IT's A........

Sometimes the stars or in this case the moon, just line up for a perfect evening. It was the last softball game of the season (before the make up games) and I wanted to make sure Channah was able to come see a game. So Rachel and Channah came tonight, which happened to coincide with the full lunar eclipse. The eclipse began after the game started and by the end of the game the moon was completely gone. An open field, with no surrounding light pollution and an excuse to stay outside, was the perfect setting for such an occasion.

We were playing against the Demona 2 team, which is a young team that reminds of the Mighty Ducks. They have a coach that really works hard to guide them and they are constantly cheering or trying to syke out their opponents. They're aggressive, fast and love to bunt. They also have the hardest throwing pitcher in the league who did not pitch tonight.

There were a few great only in Israel moments. The umpire started the game asking what bracha to make on the eclipse. After call our Rabbi, I passed on the message. One of my team mates was so excited he started the first half of the bracha, then stopped and started waiving his arms. He was so excited to make the bracha he forgot what to say. I was glad to help him out.

The coach wanted to try me out at First Base for the game. I was having a horrible night, during warm ups so they moved me back to my preferred position at Second Base. Although, I normally justify my roster spot with my glove, this time it was my hitting that contributed to a great night.

My first at bat, I put down a first pitch bunt that landed straight in front of the plate. The 1B forgot to go to the bag, so all I had to do was run passed in to get the single. I think some runs also scored on the play. I eventually scored to increase the lead to 4-0.

My second at bat was the most memorable for me. On the first pitch, I tipped off that I was squaring up to bunt. This sent the defence into a panic, after my first successful bunt. The base runner knew, I had no intention of bunting and used the distraction to steal 2nd. I then put down a perfect bunt down the first base line for another hit. I eventually scored on a 2 out wild pitch.

My third at bat, I took the first pitch and the runner was caught stealing. I then took the next pitch and lined it over third base for my third single of the night. Next batter, I was forced out at 2nd base to end the inning.

My fourth at bat, I just didn't feel I had the pitcher lined up right and struck out.

The most bizarre play of the night happened when the other team had a runner on 2nd. The batter walked, while the base runner stole third. The batter then took a big turn towards 2nd. He was nailed in a run down, as we conceded the run. For those scoring at home it was a 2-3-6 out on a walk.

As for my glove, we the first ball hit towards me was mostly knocked down by the pitcher and the runner beat out the throw. The 2nd play was a 4-3 put out on a simple ground ball. I played catcher for the last two uneventful innings, as we nailed down the game for the win.

New video

Pesach - Only in Israel

Pesach was really nice this year. The seder was nice and we were able to fit in a nice balance of seeing friends and touring. I used my flexible schedule to almost get in a full work week. Jerusalem, Hevron, Kiryat Sefer (Modiin Illit). We had a great time even if it was a schedule that would offend the White House.

Here are a list of things that happened that can only be referred to as only in Israel moments.

KLP Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

Buying hot KLP food from restaurants or local food vendor.

Cotton Candy everywhere you turn. You know the kashrut status because there is only one brand of plain white sugar in this country.

(Not so) Hurva Shul - People were trying to get in to have a look. An old security guard came outside to yell at people to tell them it was closed. In the mean time people were walking in behind him, until they put up a physical gate to block the ramp.

Mincha at the Kotel - Chanasat Sefer Torah with a 2 piece band. The band stopped so we could say kedusha uninterrupted. A short time later they pumped up the Kotel sound system. (They played what I call the Hasilenu Song - no idea who sings it or what it is called)

Walking down to the Kotel in the evening and hearing the Windows start up chimes from the Kotel sound system.

Restaurants on the road between the Arova and Kotel were open. Burgers Bar - selling drinks and Kippot, Pizza Shop - selling soft ice cream and chips (French fries), Bonkers - selling packaged ice cream and scarves.

Hevron - 3 buses- 2 pick up/ drop off locations, 2 drop off times - buses had to be boarded based on expected return time. Planning #fail

Praying at Marat HaMachpela in the Yitzchak and Rifka Room (only open to Jews 10 days a year).

In the make shift market in Hevron, I asked the vendor about the Kashrut of the lemonade. She told me she made it at home from lemons.

RBS B Post Office - sign from the post office and the police saying it was closed all of Pesach for safety reasons.

One Seder - Never that moment of "Oh no, we have to do this again tomorrow night"

Chametz in all the stores is covered. It is illegal to sell Chametz publicly over Pesach, athough there are some interesting definitions of public for this law.

Rice and other Kitniyot products are everywhere and kept with the regular KLP products. In Hevron they were selling pop corn.

Rachel made a comment that it didn't really feel like Pesach this year. I answered that it was because the Chagim are so integrated to the way of life that they don't seem out of place. It is really special celebrating the Chagim as they were always meant to be celebrated. Ok, minus the super huge giant BBQ, but that we will have again one day.

Package from Mom

Strike- again

The ganim are on strike. Again.
It is the assistants who are on strike. Again.
They called in parent volunteers to assist the ganenet. Again.

Remember what I said about how it is so much easier now that we are going the same things again? Yeah. some get annoying.

Our street

For Shelly- what a pedestrian street (midrachov) looks like.

In theory a car can sort of get in for renovations and what not from the other end, but it is not really designed for cars. This is the view from the top of the street. Behind me is a busy street that. On the right is the makolet (grocery store).

small ghetto park thing at the top of the street in front of the makolet.

view from in front of our building looking up the street towards the makolet.

park around the corner just so you can see not all our parks are from 1948.

but it is still a touch creepy in it's own way.

Bet Shemesh's Newest Gemach

Gemachim are great because they allow people to share stuff they don't necessarily have a current use for. It also gives people an opportunity to stretch their finances by not needing to buy every single thing they need. This can be especially helpful for controlling the costs of weddings, bar mitzvahs and baby stuff related costs. It is the true meaning of Jews looking out for one another put into action.

The local phone directory "Shemeshphone" has more than 100 categories listed under Gemachim. The listings themselves take up 14 pages. Items covered include basics; clothing, food, loans, cell phones, chairs, baby stuff, chick peas, laundry detergent etc... They also include things that are a little more unusual; snake catching, roof rack, lost objects, emergency auto repair, table cloths, wigs, vacum cleaners, clocks, ladders, DVD players etc.... My favourite is still the השבת אבידה - ילדים Lost Children Gemach. We have 5 of them for all of Bet Shemesh.

I always thought the list was very thorough and complete. Then I saw this sign in our building.

Yes, the sign is for an ice cream gemach. Not only do I live in a city where ice cream is considered an essential service but it is being run out of the building we are moving to next month. I love this country!!!

Absorbing Israeli Culture

It has been approximately been a year since we finalized the decision to move to Israel. It is amazing how much Israeli culture we have absorbed in the last almost 11 months.

I noticed today that I have a tendency to put the noun before the adjective when writing sentences in English.

I was looking at some flyers for summer camps. One advertised that it was run by 13 year olds. Starting age for running a camp is usually 11. What caught me off gaurd was they each had 4 (yes four) years of experience.

As we have a spare guest room we had guests staying with us for a really fancy Auf Ruf one building down the hill. We were told they were a family of 4 until they showed up with 3 kids. Turned out she was within a week of her due date. When they did not return by 11:30pm we concluded they were not coming back. Then I went outside and heard that they were singing Shiur HaMalot. 20 minutes later I went outside and heard them finishing the end of benching. They returned 12:15 am.

I still have moments where I can't believe I actually live here and how much I love it.

Well that was rather anti-climactic

For weeks here they have been telling us that at 11:00 on June the 2nd there was going to be a HUGE, country-wide emergency drill to not only test the siren system but also to ensure that everyone in the country knows what to do in case of a real emergency. For weeks it has been talked about everywhere. "Don't forget THE DRILL." "Remember not to forget THE DRILL." The whole thing has taken on the implications of a nuke going off in your living room sort of scale that YOU. MUST. NOT. FORGET.

For information in English on THE DRILL check here.

Drill just happened. It was about a minute long, not as loud as the normal Yom HaZikaron siren, and sounded like an ambulance driving by. Mom and I went to the mamad (sealed room) and sealed it. By the time we got the door closed it was over.

Lag B'Omer

Massive, 2 story bonfire at the school near our house. Look at the height of the silhouettes in front of it for a size comparison! This picture was taken from at least 50 feet away- and Jason thinks it was even further!



We took the bus to the fire we were going to in the giva. It was funny, the driver was nto charging anyone becuase his machine was broken, but he was saying it was for the "yom chag". It was nice to see every single person who got on the bus get a nice little surprise. you saw them all look a little confused, then smile like they just won the lottery.

En route we got a great look at about 70 or so other fires (those are the ones that were visible, early in the evening, from the road. Some were enormous, some were tiny. One was a live tree stuffed with about a million palstic bags and set alite. Dangerous? Yes. Bad for the environment? Yes. Giving off so much heat our bus had to move into the other lane and we are roasted while we spend by? Yes. Amazingly cool to see? Hell yeah!

This was our "little" fire. It was "only" about 6 feet or so.





Jason with hot dogs

channah with hot dog

creepy picture of channnah with hot dog

there were also marshmellows but those did nto make it into the pictures. By the way, Israeli hotdogs are super-gross. I took one bite and let Channah have the rest of mine.

Everything and anything becomes kindling. Since pessach the park benches have been slowly stripped of their planks. Succah boards magicvally walk away. I do not tihnk there is any wood left in the entire country- no wonder wood furniture is so much more expensive- We need to start from scratch every year!

yes that is a chair
today we had no plans. Jason had to work, and Channah and I were thinking kiddie pool on the mirpeset. Then the noisy truck went by (not the standard kol bo tikunim noisy truck, this one was sponsored by a realtor and had a whole whackload of speaker strapped to the top). It was playing music and inviting all thek ids to a lag b'omer parade at a park nearby.

Channah and I decided to get dressed quickly and run over. we ran into a neighbour with a kid in channah's class who told us it is a huge thing here every year. I guestimate about 1000 kids. give or take 500. I am bad at estimating numbers like that.

Anyhow, it was a Chabad sponsored event. the kids were divided into groups of 20 or so kids and a "leader". they were chanting back and forth different psukim and nice thing. After about 20 minutes there was a giant yechi- but it was sort of too late to pull channah away. Today was a lesson in indoctrination that I will likely post about seperatly. The "parade" wound its way around the main circle in RBSA to a large park where there was an assembly sort of thing. There was supposed to be a migician as well, but as we had run out so fast we were not wearing hats or sunscreen and after being out for over 2 hours and there not being any shade frmo which you could see or hear, I made the executive decision that it was time to go.

channah in her plastic bag vest


some of the mascot things there were also shabbat candles, and a different syle of tzedakah box.





The tent at the park at the end. totally out of room by the tiem we got there.

Yom HaAtzmaute

I know I should have posted on Yom HaAtzmaute sooner, but better late than never I guess.

To be honest, I was so incredibly homesick on Yom HaAtzmaute that I almost did not go anywhere. Believe it or not I was missing sitting at a program that I hated going to full of people I mostly did not want to see, making snarky comments with my sister.

But I went anyway. The tefillat chagigit at shul was really nice. Parts of tefillah were done to various traditional Israeli music, and we finished with tehillim to Hatikva.

Channah at Tefillah at shul. Yes our shul has plastic lawn chairs.



From there we walked up to one of the central streets in RBSA and around to a park not far from here. It was the gathering point for the "parade" to the "City-wide" (minus some flag burning nut jobs over in RBSB) tekes (ceremony).

After shul on our way to the "parade"



It was so old-worldy. People were there, alone and in families, with flags and torches. No, not candles. Torches. These things were like havdalah candles on steroids!

The parade


We walked from the park, across the centre of the top of RBSA and to the ulam sport (open air basket ball court and wannabe fitness centre). Once we got there we went up the stairs and into a "carnival". There was food and glowy toys and some giant inflatable kids jumping/climbing/bouncing things. We went into the seating area where there was a pretty good live band and people dancing. We were shocked to see so many normal looking people in RBS- there was even mixed seating! I know. We are all going to hell. Celebrating the medina with mixed seating and live music durring sefira. Oh well. At least I know I will have some nice looking company!

We spent the rest of the night chatting, hanging out, and enjoying ourselves. We stayed until 11 o'clock when there were some pretty nice fireworks, and then we walked home.

Not sure if all the people who read this blog know that apparently the English translation of "yom HaAtzmaute" is "Thou shalt cook cows over open coals to show thy loyalty to the blue and white".

I was even warned by one of the parents from Channah's class that I should know that picnicing without the "mangal" (coal bbq) does not count. Um, yeah. Sure.

So we went to friends in Tel Aviv for a bbq. We got a ride in with some new friends, and spent the afternoon with a really nice mixture of old and new. The kids watched a movie inside and some people started up a volley ball game. All in all it was a nice afternoon. It is funny, in non-election years it is the ONLY statutory holiday of the year, so everybody, I mean EVERYBODY is out bbq-ing with their families. There were wall to wall people along the sides of the roads trying to carve out a little piece of grass on which to mangal their food.



Someone else pointed out how different it is here. In Toronto, those of us who consider ourselves "staunch zionists" would go to great lengths to go to various tekesim and programs and rallys for Israel. Here it is more of a "woke up this morning. I did my bit".

I mean, do not get me wrong, Yom HaAtzmaute is a HUGE deal here. The kids start learning songs the day after pessach. Everything is covered in blue and white decorations. Every tzioni car has flags. It is unbelievable how into it everyone gets.

Anyhow, so that was our first Yom HaAtzmaute.

A Real Community Bar Mitzvah

This past Shabbos was another only in Israel type of event. There was a Bar Mitzvah for someone who has a brother in Channah's class. They are fond of each other and Channah wanted to go. The family used to daven at our shul before switching at some point during this year. The father still has connections to our shul, so the entire congergation was invited to kiddush.

Our shul made arrangements so everybody who wanted to could go. The Shabbos Mevorchim kiddush was cancelled. Our Rabbi who normally speaks after davening moved his dvar Torah to before Mussaf, so he could daven Mussaf at the Bar Mitzvah. They started davening 30 minutes after us. Many of the after shul programs were cancelled because the people who run them were going.

Rachel wasn't feeling well, so I took Channah. The kiddush was in a room that is under construction. There were walls and a ceiling.The ground was still rough and their were some broken pews around the outside. It felt like being outside in the beautiful weather, while technically being inside.Their was a decent amount of food but nothing obscene. There were lots of people (including many from our shul) but it did not come anywhere close to being a full contact kiddush. Channah got to see her friend and eat some chocolate cake.

The whole thing was just really laid back and nice. It was a real community event.

Let it burn...

Look at all the pretty smoke coming up over the side of the mountain. Is there a forest fire? Baruch Hashem no! Just a bunch of crazy people making toast in the great outdoors.



I wonder if there were any weenies at this bonfire? Probably not. Who wants to be stuck fleishiks at 9am?