An Indian Thanksgiving (NOT Native American, INDIAN)
Lots of U.S immigrant Israeli bloggers wrote about their expat Thanksgiving feasts over the weekend (what with the holiday not being official here, a lot of folks postpone their turkey-roasting and eating to the more convenient Friday or Saturday, when they have the day off from work.)
Others enjoyed non-traditional Thanksgiving activities, like Tif, who went hiking in Ein Gedi, and having grown up on the chilly East Coast, decided that she would give thanks for being able to wear shorts in November.
Brian Blum wins the prize for having the most unusual holiday tradition.
Every year, just about this time of the month, I get a flurry of emails from friends and colleagues all with pretty much the same message. It goes something like this:
“Happy Thanksgiving, that is if you celebrate it over there…er, do you?”
So, what do immigrants from the U.S. to Israel do on the fourth Thursday of November? Well, for many years, we kept up the traditions of the old country. Together with a group of friends, we got together for a feast of turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce (if we could find it in the stores…difficult but not impossible), and pumpkin pie.
As a slight twist, we made it an adult only dinner party, to contrast it from the weekly meal with guests that we already celebrated once a week with the whole family…you know, the one called Shabbat…
But as the years rolled by and we got farther and farther from our old life in the States, the imperative to gorge ourselves and pretend we were interested in sports began to fade. With no Macy’s Day Parade to set the early morning mood, Thanksgiving became just another workday. Still, we kept joining our friends for the obligatory repast.
Until, a few years ago, when my wife Jody and I found ourselves in a very different Thanksgiving locale: India. An opportunity arose for us to take two weeks without the kids touring Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Varanassi. We had a fantastic time (you can read about it here). But we missed the annual Thanksgiving bash.
That turned out to be OK. Because we replaced it with a new tradition, one that is in many ways much more Israeli. Now on Thanskgiving, we make it a point to eat Indian food.
What’s the connection? Here’s where it gets linguistically improbable. The Hebrew for “to give thanks” is l’hodot. The common Hebrew expression “hodu lashem” means “give thanks to God.” Hodu is also the Hebrew name of the country of India. India…thanks…Thanksgiving.
But there’s one more thing: hodu is also a Hebrew synonym meaning turkey. Turkey day, day of giving thanks, India day. How weird is that? Madonna is probably yanking on the red strings big time right about now.
We All Know Israelis Love to Travel Abroad, but this is ridiculous
From Reuters:
Ziggy the cat used up at least one of his nine lives after surviving for 17 days without food on a 2,300 mile voyage that took him from northern Israel to England. The skinny white cat named after Ziggy Stardust – the character created by David Bowie in the 1970s, because like the rock star he has one green and one blue eye – made his epic trip as a stowaway in a 40-foot container. His journey began when he wandered into a consignment of plastic goods which were then sealed in Afula in Israel and shipped from Haifa on October 31. It ended when he emerged, exhausted, starving and dehydrated, at a warehouse in Whitworth in Lancashire on Friday…..Ziggy’s background or owners remain a mystery as he had no collar or microchip, but the RSCPA believe he is someone’s pet because he is so friendly. He will now stay in quarantine in Britain for six months as a precaution against rabies.
What If Ariel Sharon Woke Up Today?
This satiric gem has been whizzing around the Hebrew-speaking online world for weeks, perhaps even months. Finally, someone had the energy to translate it it into English. Thanks are due to the crew at the Life in Israel blog for performing this public service:
If Arik (Sharon) would wake up today….
It is a rainy night and we are at Tel Hashomer Hospital. Only one assistant is around, named Shmiel. He is on night duty tonight in the room of “sleeping” former PM Sharon.
Everybody, but Sharon himself, knows he is no longer the Prime Minister of Israel. Shmiel is sitting peeling an apple and G the Shaba”k agent is nodding off.
Suddenly, all the machines start to beep. The PM is waking up!
Sharon says, “I haven’t slept like that for a long time! Get me [Reuven] Adler, I have some ideas for a new direction.”
Shmiel says, “Good morning, sir. How do you feel?”
Sharon answers, “I am dying of hunger. Where am I?”
The shabak agent continues to sleep while Shmiel explains to Sharon what had happened to him.
Sharon does not take him seriously and says, “So tonight you fooled with the PM, eh Shmiel?”
Shmiel says, “Sorry sir but you are really no longer the PM.”
After a few minutes Sharon asks, “So who replaced me?”
Shmiel answers, “Ehud Olmert.”
Sharon reacts, “Olmert? That Jerusalemite putz? What will happen if war breaks out, he does not know how to run the army! At least Shaul [Mofaz] is still there!”
Shmiel answers, “Mofaz is the Minister of Transportation.”
“So who is the Defence Minister?”
Shmiel says, “Peretz.”
“That old man is still alive?!” asks Sharon in wonderment.
Shmiel whispers trembling, “not Peres, Peretz. Amir Peretz.”
“What? Are you crazy? I close my eyes for a minute and you guys let a labor leader take over the defence of the country?! Not all the factories in Dimona are the same. Does he know that? Listen, get Omri here right away. He will fix everything.”
“Sorry sir, Omri is on his way to jail.”
“Jail?? for that shtus? I do not believe it. So get me my lawyer quickly. Get Klagsbald.”
Shmiel responds, Klagsbald is on his way to jail.”
Sharon calms down and says, “I knew I could count on Klagsbald. he will get Omri out of it.”
Shmiel corrects him and says, “No, sir. Klagsbald is also on his way to jail. He was driving and not paying attention and caused an accident unintentionally running over and killing a young woman and her son.”
Sharon said, “So bring me [Avigdor] Yitzchaki. He always knows how to fix these situations.”
“Sorry, sir. Yitzchaki is under his own investigation for tax fraud. He fixed things too much this time.”
“Can’t be. I know Yitzchaki. They must be framing him. So get me the Head of Police.”
“Sorry, sir, but Karadi is in investigation.”
“Of course he is. He is the head of police. I am sure he is in the middle of a number of investigations!”
“No, sir. Thi sis an investigation against him!”
Sharon takes a deep breath. It can’t be. The whole justice system has been ruined! We must get them out of this. Get me the minister of Internal Security, Tzachi [Hanegbi].”
“Sir, Hanegbi has been indicted for fraud, bribery and job fixing.He is not a minister anymore.”
“So get me the Justice Minister. Who did Olmert appoint?”
“Haim Ramon”
“So get him here!”
“Sorry sir. I can’t. He has been indicted and is on trial for misconduct.”
“What? So get me the president. That is still Katzav, right?”
“sorry sir, but Katzav is under investigation as well, formisconduct and wiretapping.”
“So get me the Chief of Staff, Boogie [Moshe Ayalon]. Sorry I mean Halutz, right?”
” Sir, he got into some trouble in the Lebanon War. Nothing criminal. he sold some stocks. He will soon be giving testimony to an investigative committee.”
“Halutz?? he was a young Piper pilot during the Lebanon War!”
“Sir, that would be the second Lebanon War, while you were sleeping. We… how should I say? lost the war but the PM said we should be patient, victory is coming.”
Sharon looked around his room. “What is your name and what is your position?”
“Shmiel, sir. I am a hospital attendant.”
“Ok, Shmiel. Do not tell anyone about this conversation.”
“You can count on me, sir.”
“I am going back to sleep.”
Welcome To the Wonderful World Of Bilingual Kids
With kid number three starting to talk, I’m a veteran of the humorous language confusion in a bilingual household. It offers hours of entertainment and amusement, as Liza is just now discovering with her first:
We never know what language will come out of his mouth. Earlier on, his primary language was English. As he grows older, however, more and more Hebrew creeps into his daily chitchat. He understands perfectly when addressed in English, but will often respond in a baffling combination of the two languages, at times using English sentence structure and Hebrew words. Eventually, his language issues will sort themselves out, and it is fascinating to watch our son develop his language skills. For the time being, however, it can sometimes be rather challenging as we translate his speeches into whatever language happens to be required by his audience. This was often the case while my parents were visiting, and as a result, we now find ourselves actively working on the issue of bilingualism, trying to make him realize that he speaks and understands two distinct languages, and starting to teach him the to distinguish between the two. We have introduced the concept of “English”, and when he says something in Hebrew, we will often ask him what the word would be in “English”. So far, it seems to be working. On the flip side, when we ask him in English to say something to someone else (“please”, “thank you”, and so on), if the other person is Israeli, he will carry out the request by translating and responding in Hebrew. Sometimes, when he says something in English and receives no response, he switches to Hebrew, so clearly, he seems to realize that there are two sets of words.
When our son was born, I started an internet forum for bilingual families in Israel. I was concerned about the language issues, and wanted to hear how other parents had approached the hurdles we were facing. I queried people in the forum, I queried friends who were in similar situations. I came across the words of supposed experts, who claimed that it was essential that each parent speak to the child only in his or her respective language, and I assumed that this would be the route we’d be taking as well. My husband’s English is quite good, and I liked the idea that we would both speak to our child in English, but felt that I would be asking a lot by requesting that my husband speak to our son in a language that was not naturally his own. I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, when he suggested that we both use English, believing that it would help to ensure that our son felt equally comfortable in both languages, that he would be totally bilingual. Occasionally, we are both guilty of lapsing into Hebrew when speaking to our son, but for the most part, we address him in English. We read to him primarily in English, teach him children’s songs in English, and encourage him to choose videos and television shows in English. He loves “Dora the Explorer”, watching videos of the American version that switches between English and Spanish as well as the more relevant Israeli version, which switches between Hebrew and English and shows him that it is natural to speak in both languages. Of course, it’s still early days yet, but so far, our “hard work” seems to be paying off. He may be an Israeli little boy, but his immersion into the English language can only work to his benefit, allowing him to connect with friends and family across the ocean and enabling him to be a citizen of the world.
Alien in Downtown Tel Aviv
Ernest snapped pictures of this rather fascinating-looking street performer on Nachalat Binyamin Street in Tel Aviv, and ponders the statement he is trying to make:
Weird yet impressive costume, although I have no clear idea of what he really wants to portray – some kind of a man-tree mutation, or an alien visitor from a far-away galaxy.
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