Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Kind of…well…not really)

December 12, 2006 - 5:43 PM by Allison

A great little essay about Israel and the weather that is right on target:

Why do we find the difference between summer and winter so confusing? I know Olim who wear open toed sandals all year round. Despite the intense cold of a mountain evening, there they are prancing up and down Emek Refaim in their thick coats, scarves, and ‘sandalim’. Or the guys who wear T-shirts all through the winter, or at the first sign of rain even if its still 25 degrees will get out their winter apparel.

In the UK it was easy, when it was warm you wore light summer clothes and when it was cold you wore warm winter clothes. Why is it so confusing? What happens during the Aliyah process and even after years of living here that prevents us from understanding the simple formula of clothes = weather / temperature.

The other day, can’t remember which one, I walked through four different weather / temperature zones from wind and rain to hot and humid all in the space of about 15 minutes. By the time I had reached my destination I had removed three layers of clothing and flicked on the aircon.

Then I realized that in a small country where the landscape changes every 2 kilometers, where the political climate changes every 2 hours, where the only certainty is uncertainty, the weather just falls into line.

We have an Israeli culture and the weather just follows suit. Its the ‘I don’t care where you’re from, where you are going and what you’re wearing, I’ll do exactly what I want, when I want and how I want’ attitude.

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