H&M to open store in Israel

December 10, 2008 - 6:30 PM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Israeliness 

I was first introduced to the wonders of H&M by my far more fashionable wife a few years ago during a trip to New York. It’s a bit embarrassing to say but if there is an H&M in a country we are visiting, we seek it out. We like big savings, what can I say? The Swedish company is known for its fashionable yet incredibly affordable clothing (though the quality varies from garment to garment) and currently has more than 1,600 stores in 34 different countries. This week they announced that they will be expanding into the Israeli market, the first store to open in 2010.

Israelis have been yearning for H&M for some time now. A very popular Facebook group called “Open an H&M store in Israel!” led the rallying call:

This group is open to all people living in Israel who want great clothes for a cheap price right around the corner. You know what? We don’t even mind driving an hour or two to get there, as long as we don’t have to wait until we go abroad or ask someone else who’s going to get H&M stuff for us (and you know they never get it right!). And we definitely won’t settle for that chain which goes by an almost identical name… We shall not be fooled!

I guess I’m not the only one who goes on a H&M shopping spree when I am abroad. There was also instant backlash to this Facebook group. A counter-group was created called “DO NOT open an H&M store in Israel” not created with a message of hate, but rather love. They believe that if H&M comes to Israel, it will no longer be special and unique because everyone here will be wearing their fashions. (my wife informed me just now via instant messenger and her Facebook status that she agrees with this). In my opinion the real issue here is whether H&M will be able to keep their costs down here. Taxes are very high and nothing is really cheap (except maybe a bowl of good soup). That’s the real challenge and will be the key to their success in Israel. And hey, we’ve got the GAP coming too so you can always shop there – that is, if you don’t care about originality.

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Wedding Survival Tips

November 21, 2008 - 11:13 AM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General 

Matching yarmulkes and matchbooks, engraved invitations, tuxedoes and matching bride/bridesmaids  outfits, and lots and lots of flowers. Sounds like a wedding. Bwedding3.jpgut not an Israeli one! Like most other things in Israel, weddings are like you remember them from “back there” – but different, in a number of ways.

1. Dress – What marks Israeli weddings more than any other featuring is a lack of formality. Having been to weddings where the couples were from all sorts of different backgrounds – secular, modern/ultra-orthodox, very wealthy or otherwise – I’ve come across exactly one tuxedo, and a few suits (usually on the grooms). The most formal any guest is willing to go is usually a sports jacket (not necessarily matching the slacks, either), but the vast majority wear Dockers-style pants and a shirt – white at religious weddings, or a variety of colors where the guests are of a more secular orientation.

2. Venue – In Israel, you’ve got two choices for a venue: In town, at a catering hall (usually in an industrial zone), or, an increasingly popular choice, at an outdoor country location, usually in a kibbutz or moshav. All venues, though, sport the “open chuppah” – with the actual ceremony held under the stars, regardless of the weather (I was at one where it snowed!). In urban halls, this usually entails going up to the building’s roof, which is gussied up for the occasion, while at a country location, the ceremony is held at the most picturesque spot on the property. The venue will also sport just a few dozen chairs, with most people standing – and unless you are at a very ultra-orthodox wedding, you’ll find that, even if there is nominal separation (like standing on different sides of the aisle the wedding party marches down), lots of couples end up standing or sitting together. Because there’s no American-style Sunday in Israel, a Saturday night event is unheard of, and Sunday ceremonies are rare – the preferred evenings being Monday or Thursday.

3. Food – Of course, we go to weddings to help our friends celebrate, and not for the food (yeah, right). But if you’re expected to give a couple hundred shekels as a gift for the new couple, you might as well make a night out of it. The one universal rule for Israeli weddings is – come early, because that’s often when they put out the best food. Pre-ceremony hors d’ouvres and smorgasbords, served while family and friends gather, nowadays often feature treats like sushi, Mexican tortillas and wraps, stir fry, etc., and that goes for catering halls geared to nearly all crowds. It’s at dinner that the differences show themselves; at religious weddings, you often have to wait awhile for dinner to be served, because the major celebratory dancing of the evening takes place first – and the food itself isn’t always, let’s say, gourmet level. Buffets are always better than sit-downs – and generally, from my observation, the more secular the couple and the families, the better the food (it’s all kosher, of course – otherwise no rabbi would conduct the ceremony). In either case, don’t feel like you’re missing something if you leave before dessert.

4. Entertainment – If the food is better at “less religious” weddings, the entertainment and fun is much better where the young couple come from a religious background. The bride and groom invite all their yeshivah or seminary friends, and there is wild and spirited dancing (separate, of course), with friends honoring the happy couple. Depending on how talented the couple’s friends are, you could also get a great “floor show” – with kids performing magic tricks, swallowing fire, juggling, breakdancing, or doing other “shtick” in honor of the newlyweds. At weddings with a more secular tone, they start off with Jewish-style dancing, too (with men and women usually forming separate circles, as well), which will drift into mixed horas or disco-style dancing after awhile. Regardless, after a couple of vigorous rounds of “simcha” dancing on a warm night, anyone who was wearing a jacket has stowed it on the back of their chair – and you realize why no one is wearing a tuxedo!

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Getting ready

October 8, 2008 - 9:35 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Holidays, Israeliness 

kippur.jpgThe day of Yom Kippur eve is, ironically, usually quite pleasant.
Most people don’t go to work, the kids are home from school, and it’s almost like a Sunday morning would feel like if there were Sunday papers and football games on TV.

Since there’s no big meals to prepare for, you get a free pass for the morning – watching a movie in bed with the kids, doing some household chore that had been put off, or doing some reading in preparation for the fast and solemn day of prayer.

In the afternoon, though, the complexion noticeably changes, and one eerie element is that you being noticing that almost all the cars on your street are parked, and everyone is home. As it gets close to sunset, people start emerging from their homes, either dressed in their Beit Knesset finest, or for the neighborhoods kids, brandishing bicycles, scooters and any other mode of transportation that they can ride down the middle of the roads with.

After the Kol Nidre services in the evening, it looks like huge block parties everywhere you go, with neighbors and friends hanging out and milling around. It’s definitely one of my favorite moments of the calendar here, and so uniquely Israeli.

Here’s wishing you a meaningful Yom Kippur.

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