In With the New

August 27, 2007 - 11:30 AM by

An American acquaintance once relayed a story: during a therapy session in Israel, the therapist answered the cellphone and conducted a full-on conversation i.e. no sweetheart, you can’t eat the popsicle until later. You need to do your homework, eat your dinner and then you can have the popsicle. But make sure you brush your teeth!… Not once but twice – during the same session.

If you’re a newcomer to the country it can be pretty off-putting when during a business meeting or interview the other person:

1) answers his or her cellphone
2) takes calls on his/her office phone
3) sends text messages while you’re talking

Israel’s Cabinet Secretary is trying to do something about these annoying habits by upgrading the quality of weekly cabinet sessions. And the old schoolers don’t like it.

Ministers and senior officials are furious over a document issued Sunday by Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel, according to which the presence of people who are not ministers at government meetings should be significantly reduced.

The document also orders civil servants to only bring one assistant to the meetings with them, shut off their cellular phones and not bring laptops along without receiving approval in advance.

Continue reading here…

Yehezkel’s move is aimed at reducing leaks. But it’s also his stab at upgrading and “quieting” the tenure of meetings. Some ministers are balking. Let them. How can you argue with turning off cellphones during a cabinet session?

Like an old Financial Times friend, who at group restaurant dinners demanded that we “plate” our cellphones and have the server whisk away the plate until after supping, used to say: If something happens, we’re all journalists. SOMEONE at the table will get paged. It’s dinner. Let’s keep it sacred.

Yehezekel is definitely moving in the right direction.

Tags: • Category: A New Reality, Immigrant Moments, Life, Politics 

Comments

One Comment on In With the New

  1. AmiV on Tue, Aug 28th 2007 6:28 AM

    2. It’s easy to pick and choose your “good” and “bad” qualities from a foreign culture. The culture is Israel is not just different from anything anglo-saxons are used to, it’s also “assembled” from different pieces. While it’s anoying to have a cell phone ring during a meeting, think of the person on the other side of the phone call. What if it was you? Put yourself in the shoes of the person taking the call and not ignoring the “popsicle until later”. I would take a life of interruptions over a life of neglect of children any time. There is lots of learn, experience and enjoy here. Trying to have an “American” or a “British” life in Israel is simply a waste, if you want that life I would suggest San Francisco or the Lake district. If you want to enjoy more of Israel, take a look at a new blog about life here: http://israeltomorrow.blogspot.com… enjoy your “stay”!

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