The “Rest Year”

October 18, 2007 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness 

I sorta figure that when a specific topic or subject comes up randomly more than once within a 24-hour period it’s time to address it.

Like yesterday. While interviewing someone for an article, she mentioned that Israel’s 60th anniversary falls during a Shmita calendar year. And later, reading blog roundups, I noticed A Mother in Israel has blogged about the same thing. Same day, same topic and I CERTAINLY need some enlightenment on the subject so won’t you come along for the ride?

What’s Shmita? It’s a sort of farmers’ sabbatical year dictated by the Hebrew bible. “You may plant your land for six years and gather its crops. But during the seventh year, you must leave it alone and withdraw from it…

That means no planting crops each 7th year; the Shmita started last month with the advent of the Jewish New Year. The laws are different, by the way, for Jewish farmers living in or outside of Israel.

My first thought was: How do they get around it here? Because there has to be a safety valve of some sort otherwise what would the farming industry do for a year?

And there it was, in good ‘ol Wikipedia:

Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor developed a device to permit agriculture to continue during the Shmita year in the late 19th century, in the early days of Zionism. The basis of the device, accepted by Modern Orthodox Judaism, is that only land owned by Jews must be left fallow, which was interpreted to mean that Jews are permitted to farm fields owned by non-Jews during the Sabbatical. However,….this approach has not been universally accepted in the Orthodox community and has met with opposition.

You might want to look it up. Interesting topic, lots of debate. Amen. Pass the tomatoes.

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You Know You’re In Israel When…

October 17, 2007 by · 6 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

….You duck your head into a stylist’s shop and ask: Do you do kids’ hair? And the reply is: Only if there’s no lice. If I check and find lice, then the answer is NO!

….Rather than go downstairs to the truck to get his ladder, the electrician doing work in your house stands on your UPHOLSTERED DINING ROOM CHAIR (!!!) to wire the ceiling outlet (of course you discover this only after it’s too late)

…The celebrity you’re interviewing for a story blurts: Oh him? That’s my boyfriend. Not very good looking, is he? Ach, he drives me crazy. But I guess he’s okay.

…The person you turn to for directions replies: Come on. I’ll walk you there. It’s no bother whatsoever even if it’s out of his/her way.

…The plumber doing work in your kitchen says loudly: Gee, if there was some good strong coffee around I guess I’d really go for a cup right about now! And you are genuinely more than happy to make him a cup.

…The same plumber uses a bowl he found in the sink to mix his plaster and afterwards wipes the plaster residue from the walls with your clean kitchen towels…All without asking. He sees your expression when you enter the kitchen and queries: “You’re not angry, are you?”

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Funny Duos

October 17, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Blogging, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

Comedy man Benji does it again.

This time he takes historical or classic “duos” to the task by comparing stuff to stuff and as is his style, making it all seem like one big barrel of laughs.

For instance…

- Falafel and shawarma: this pair sustained me through many a trip to Israel. Still delicious even today. As I’ve mentioned before, I love how Americans portray falafel as a “healthy snack.” If you mean that in terms of how it’s deep-fried in oil and clogs arteries like there’s no tomorrow, yes, I suppose it’s right up there with tofu and oat bran.

- Yasser Arafat and Sheik Yassin: Paying attention? Just checking.

- Yiyeh B’seder and Hakol B’seder: The yin and the yang of “everything is effed up real bad.” We’ve devoted a lot of attention to the former, that ubiquitous phrase that Israelis say during times of trouble which, upon further investigation, actually has no healing power whatsoever.

My dog just died!
“Yiyeh b’seder!”
I just failed a test!
“Yiyeh b’seder!”
The doctor wants to amputate my genitals.
“Nu, be’emet! Stop woh-ree-eng!”

Only a few days ago did I meet this phrase’s partner-in-crime, its other half, its soulmate….without further ado, I present to you…

HAKOL B’SEDER!

Whereas “yiyeh b’seder” translates to “it will be ok”, this phrase lets us know that everything IS ok! Let’s try it out, shall we?

It’s worth the click. G’head

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Are you getting your vitamin drops?

October 17, 2007 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, Life 

I always wondered why it was recommended to give babies in Israel vitamin A and D drops in their first year, when babies in the US weren’t given these supplements. Now the Health ministry has decided that babies no longer have to receive vitamin A drops because they get enough in their diet, but they must continue to receive vitamin D. 

Why? Not enough sunshine? Come on. We’re the world leaders in solar power. Turns out, Arab and Haredi children are at high risk of soft bones, rickets or a whole host of other diseases like diabetes and multiple sclerosis because they generally wear clothing that covers their limbs all year round, and aren’t exposed to sunlight. The mothers are also covered up, so their breast milk doesn’t contain enough of the vitamin either. 

Now I understand why my mother used to put me outside to air in my pram in Scotland. With those long dark winters, and rainy summers vitamin D was a short commodity. The result – summer or winter, whatever the temperature, if it was sunny, out I would go. Couldn’t she just have used vitamin drops?  

 

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Traffic Violation

October 17, 2007 by · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Israeliness, Life 

As a former San Francisco dweller, this next story doesn’t get a rise out of these here eyebrows.

Cause in ol San Fran, we had naked protesting bicyclists, naked runners at the annual Bay to Breakers foot race, half naked Dykes on Bikes at the Gay Pride Parade and naked leather fetishists at the Folsom Street Fair. Come to think of it, seems like people on that half of the coast are just hankering for an excuse to get naked.

Yesterday in southern Israel, one traffic-stopper got naked and…stopped traffic. Literally. At Ashkelon’s busiest intersection he simply whipped off his shorts and stood in the center lane.

Speculation was that the man escaped from a nearby mental health institute.

“This man came to be treated at the hospital,” a spokesman for Barzilai said. “After he received treatment at the hospital, he was released. Due to medical confidentiality, we can not divulge details of the man’s medical condition, but he is not mentally ill,” the hospital representative said.

Yeah. Okay. Hmmmmm

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