Israel Scenarios

January 27, 2008 - 8:30 AM by Stephanie

For transplants to Israel, there are those moments that hit us square in the face with the realization: We’re not in Kansas anymore.

They can be shocking or subtle. Either way, they’re inevitable.

Here are a few shares from this week’s “Only In Israel” collection …
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From a friend who sends her 2-year-old to a religious kindergarten:

It’s 4 in the morning and Eli wakes us up with banging against the wall between our room and his. I reluctantly get out of bed and make my way to the kids’ room to see what’s happening. Eli’s sitting on his bed and hitting the wall with a plastic hammer.

What are you doing, Eli? I ask. It’s too early to be making so much noise.

I’m building the temple, Mom

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On Fridays after school lets out a group of friends joins up at a local Tel Aviv park to hang out and chat while the kids play on the playground.

The park is lovely: surrounded by olive trees, there are play structures in the central area and a recessed partially obscured “secret” stone garden area beyond the trees where the kids like to hide.

Last Friday one mom instructed the kids: “Don’t go up near that plastic divider wall above the secret garden. We can’t see you up there and anyway the wall is there to keep you out of there.”

What’s the plastic divider for anyway? I asked, giving it my full attention for the first time.

It’s an archaeological dig site, the mom explained. They’ve found relics up there.

And sure enough, there was the Antiquities Authority marker.
Schoingemacht. Smack dab in the center of a Tel Aviv park/playground.

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