Taking it to the bank

January 15, 2011 - 6:31 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Israeliness, Life 

Dealing with banks is hell everywhere, but in Israel, it’s just a little bit more hellish.

Whether it’s the new policy of not being able to telephone your branch, all those hidden service charges you have no idea what they’re for, or exorbitant interest rates they charge on overdrafts (what? you mean banks in the West don’t let you go into overdraft? oops, drop that complaint), it sometimes seems much more desireable to leave our hard earned shekels under our already lumpy mattresses.

But then, there are they times when they surprise you. Of course, it starts with aggravation. My daughter in the army gets her salary deposited straight into her bank account. When she opened the account a year ago, the clerk suggested that a certain amount be deposited into her day-to-day account, and the rest of the money go into a savings account which would collect interest. Whenever she wanted to transfer money from the savings to the checking, she just needed to call a number, give her code and easy as 1-2-3. Suuuure.

Whenever she’s attempted this process, she’s never been able to get past the code part, before being told, she’s typing in the wrong data. Since she’s virtually never home during banking hours, she’s been unable to clarify, and on Friday, she was basically out of money, unable to withrdaw anything from the ATM machine.

She called me at home and asked me to go into the local branch and clarify, and see if I could transfer some money for her. I got there soon before it was to close for Shabbat, presented the teller with the account info and the story. And she said, of course, only the person with the account can transfer money.

“Then talk to her,” I said, calling my daughter on her cell phone. She repeated the story about the code to the teller, who repeated her mantra that my daughter, herself, must come into the bank, get a new code and transfer the money herself.

“Do you expect her to go around without any money until then? She’s in the middle of nowhere, defending our country,” I argued. She gave me an initial shrug, continued talking to my daughter, and finally said, “It’s against our regulations, but how much do you want transferred?”

The transaction completed, my daughter sitting pretty with money for the Shekem (the army convenience store), and the teller and myself eyeing each other with a combination of wariness and satisfaction, we shared a “Shabbat Shalom,” aware that sometimes the rules must be bent.

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Foto Friday – Snaps from the IDF Spokesperson

January 14, 2011 - 9:27 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Picture of the Week, War 

Two nights ago, after two months of grueling basic training, the cadets of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade held their swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall. This was the first time in two decades that the Golani ceremony was held at the Wall; the emotional event was captured by Cpl. Ori Shifrin, IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit.

The IDF Spokesperson’s office was in the headlines this week with the news that Yoav Galant, is replacing outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, had appointed Lior Lotan as the new IDF spokesman. These sort of nominations are never without controversy but this one was particularly vulnerable to criticism because Lotan, an attorney and soldier in the elite Sayeret Matkal combat unit, has no experience either working in the media or with the media.

“Nevertheless,” Ha’aretz reported, “the prevailing assessment among both journalists and the staff of the IDF Spokesman’s Office was that his [Lotan's] long experience in both negotiations and psychological warfare operations would stand him in good stead.” Which givens you an idea of the historic relationship between the media, local and foreign, and the IDF Spokesperson’s office.

Indeed, the IDF Spokesperson’s office is a powerful force in Israeli culture. It publishes BaMachaneh magazine which, like army radio station GLZ, has long been the training ground for many an Israeli journalist. These days, The Spokesperson’s office is keeping up to date with a revamped website, blog, Twitter feed, YouTube channel and Flickr photostream.

On Flickr, you’ll find images like this dramatic shot of the Hermon Brigade, which is made up of reserve forces, in a training exercise on Mt. Hermon. The photo was taken by IDF Spokesperson photographer Neil Cohen.

This “straw man” camouflage suit, worn by a soldier from the Combat Engineering Corps, was photographed by Michael Shvadron of the IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit.

I’m not a great fan of the “Girl Soldierette Pinup” but it is important to note this genre which, over the decades, has created its own mythology: the strong and sexy Israeli woman, kittenish by night — drill sergeant by day. (Photo: Michael Shvadron).

Really, now that it’s been announced that, in addition to expanded service for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men, haredi women will also be given the opportunity to serve in IDF computer units, they’re going to have to cut down on this sort of thing. After all, there are a lot of good and important things happening that make better stories than snapping wannabe It girls in combat boots.

For example, following last month’s Carmel Forest fire, almost 1000 soldiers from the IDF’s Nachal infantry Brigade were brought in to clear and rebuild in the areas damaged by the fires. While a full-time Citizen’s Conservations Corps is a long way away for our beleaguered little country, it is nice to see a glimmer of what a peacetime national service could one day be.

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Israeli draft dodgers: beware Facebook

November 25, 2010 - 3:26 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Israeliness, News 

Not dodging the draft (photo: Noa Cafri)

The All Facebook blog this week reported that the Israeli army is now monitoring the Facebook profiles of young female citizens in order to catch those who have falsely declared themselves “religious.” Such a declaration results in an exemption from the draft, usually to perform national service.

According to the article, Brid-Gen Amir Rogovsky says the IDF has already found 1,000 Israeli women in violation of the law and brought them back to serve. The women cited by Rogovsky, I must admit, were not particularly clever.

One uploaded a photo in which she was holding a menu from a non-kosher restaurant. Another logged onto Facebook on Shabbat. And, of course there were various poses posted of would-be draft dodgers in revealing clothing, not in keeping with a formal statement of a “religious” lifestyle.

The phenomenon of checking Facebook to determine what you’re getting into is not limited to the Israeli army. Employers now regularly scope out the social media presence of potential employees. A shot of a candidate for vice president of business development swigging from a keg in a strip club might sink a promising career.

The issue of faking religiosity is one that has recently come up in our household. A family friend who is not religious is planning to make her declaration…then skip out of the country entirely, avoiding even volunteer work. Needless to say, my army son and pre-army daughter do not approve.

While it might sound boring to have the job of reading Facebook profiles all day long, the IDF has some more proactive tricks in place. They occasionally create Facebook “events” that take place on Friday nights. If a woman being tracked marks that she will be “attending,” she’ll be getting an invitation of a very different kind.

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Hanging up the cell phone

May 4, 2010 - 9:07 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Israeliness, Life, Technology 

I don’t know if this is unique to Israel, or commonplace elsewhere. But I was hoping it would demonstrate the personal touch and small town care that can still pop up once in a while here, where you least expect it – even from a money-hungry big company.

My kids each have a cell phone from Cellcom, one of the Israeli cell phone companies. Their monthly bills have been relatively consistent over the last couple years, although with one in the army, the calls and SMS messages definitely fluctuate.

However it’s my youngest cell phone user, who has always had the lowest phone bills, who prompted the surprise call from a Cellcom representative today.

“I just wanted to let you know that the bill for this number is much higher than usual this month,” he said. It turns out that the usual reticent teen had turned overnight into a social butterfly and had racked up a phone bill that had even caused the jaded monitors at Cellcom to take notice.

After picking myself off the floor, I thanked the rep, and we discussed options of how to proceed. Even though it was in his – and Cellcom’s – interest to see the user keep on abusing his phone privileges, he was doing above and beyond to help me figure out a solution.

So now we have a teenager with a blocked cellphone – able to receive calls – but not make them. In a few months, after his debt is paid off, maybe we’ll unblock the code. But for now, Cellcom is aiding and abetting in cutting their profits, but doing the right thing.

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A home visit

February 14, 2010 - 10:15 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, War 

In our ongoing learning experience as parents of a combat soldier in training, this morning my wife and I hosted Sarit’s platoon commander this morning for a ‘bikur bayit’ – home visit.

Evidently, it’s something that Shahar does with all the 50-some soldiers in Sarit’s platoon – and reminds me of the time my 7th grade social studies teacher visited every student’s home during the year.

As I drove Sarit to the Central Bus station at 6 am on Sunday morning after her Shabbat leave, among the stupid questions I asked in preparation for the visit were ‘what should we wear?’, ‘should we salute?’ ‘should we offer him food?’

“Just do do anything fadiha,” Sarit said as a parting shot as she got out of the car with her two huge duffel bags and rifle, which roughly translates into ‘don’t embarrass me.’

Getting back home and while we were awaiting his arrival, I straightened up the house, including Sarit’s room – I didn’t want Shahar to get a bad impression of us – or Sarit- as dirty sloths and jeopardize her future advancement in the army – “Sarit, there were clothes lying around on your floor at home, so we don’t think you’d be a good candidate for officer’s school.”

I realized that platoon commanders were usually not that much older than the soldiers they command, but I was still taken aback when Shahar entered the house – he was a kid! Shorter than Sarit and slight in build, he was far from the image of Ari Ben-Canaan in Exodus.

But when we sat down in the living room, Shahar proved to be engaging, polite, and most importantly, full of praise for Sarit. “She’s one of the leaders in the platoon, and if she’s interested, I see a future for her as on officer.” It was like the Israeli equivalent of being told your child is excelling in medical school and should think about brain surgery instead of podiatry.

I don’t think we embarrassed Sarit too much, but we couldn’t help showing Shahar some photos of her as a kid, and telling him what a standout volleyball player she was. After a half hour of banter, we shook hands as Shahar left, reassured that Sarit was in good – albeit young – hands, and also reassured that the qualities that we knew Sarit possessed that held her so dear to us were also recognized by her commanders in the army.

And I even remembered to not salute.

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