Going home
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Travel
I knew I was headed home to Israel as soon as we passed security in Philadelphia and entered the protected Israel-bound departure gate at US Air. After hearing nary a raised voice for a week, the tranquility was shattered by a woman’s voice shrieking in Hebrew.
She was complaining about something to do with another passenger encroaching on her space in the waiting area, or maybe cutting in line – it wasn’t totally clear. But in either scenario, I had to chuckle at the pot calling the kettle black – those are both Israeli inventions, so maybe she was just upset at having her tactics nicked.
As we sat down to wait for the flight and ran into a friend from Jerusalem on the same flight (also a longtime immigrant from the US), we got to talking about other cultural differences we’d noticed on our visits to the US. I recounted a day trip to Boston with my brother in which a car veered close to his one-month old Infinity forcing him to blast the horn.
“At least the horn works,” he said, looking on the bright side of the encounter. All I could think about was that he had spent a month driving prior to that without having to place his hand on the horn – Imagine being able to last a day like that in Israel?
We laughed together about Americans’ obsessions with the weather (when in both Minnesota and Maine, where we were respectively, the forecast for a few months can just be one one word – cold) and sports, especially fantasy football leagues which take on a far greater importance to fans than the actual games being played.
We contrasted those interests with what we Israelis spend our days debating – the Gilad Schalit release, the settlement freeze, and granted, to a lesser extent, Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the weather – at least as far as rainfall and its impact on our water situation.
Of course, Americans also think about issues – the health bill, gay rights, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – but there’s still a sense of being once removed from them, of observing from the outside. We wondered out loud what it would be like to return to that environment.
My friend – who had lived for many years in the US as an adult before moving to Israel – said that he had made the choice, and that he would do it again without hesitation. Giving up the comfort, the football, and manners of the US for the cramped, in-your-face disfunctionality of Israel was a natural decision all because of this, he said, pointing to his 11-year-old daughter sitting next to him.
With that, our flight was called for boarding, and the planeload of mostly American tourists began to line up. It was time to go home.
A green Purim (not what you think)
The holiday of Purim for me was once synonymous with debauchery, chaos and wilding. Obviously as I matured in the thirtysomething adult that I am today getting rip roaring drunk until I was unable to distinguish between good and evil became a less of a priority. I was thinking last night about my previous Purim celebrations and experiences.
Back in the spring of 2005 (right on Purim) roughly 3000 thousand of Irish football fans (that’s soccer to you Americans) fell in one big swoop on Tel Aviv. The Israel-Ireland World Cup qualifying match was held in Tel Aviv. The Irish football fans are known for their undying dedication to their team and will follow them anywhere to support them. Tel Aviv, to their credit, welcomed the Irish with open arms. I recall the weather being beautiful and the beach and promenade was packed with Israelis and Irishmen alike (way too easy telling them apart). The cultural differences were apparent though. The Israelis were enjoying coffee in the cafes that line the beach while the pubs across the treat were filled to the brim with the Irish with glasses…well..for a lack of better expression…filled to the brim. But it wasn’t a completely segregated scene. I saw many Israelis reveling and shmoozing with the Irish folk in the bars and one too many pasty Irishman soaking in the sun’s rays on the beach. I also witnessed random Israelis approaching green-clad Irishmen and striking up conversations. The vibes and the atmosphere were terrific.
The Irish in Tel Aviv seemed to really be enjoying Purim. Purim celebrates the foiling of a plot against the Jews by the wicked Haman. Most Jewish holidays have the same theme. They tried to kill us all, let’s eat. The Irish are equally consistent. It’s a holiday, let’s drink.
Giving Thanks
There’s an old saying in Israel – “the United States is there, but America is here.” That phrase means different things to different people, but some American olim 
take it literally around the end of November.
Technically speaking, we have everything we need here to celebrate a “down home” Thanksgiving; turkey is big in Israel, and many butchers stock (or can easily order) whole birds – which tend to be bigger than the ones you’d get back in the States. Cranberry sauce? Very common. Chestnuts can be found in almost every supermarket, and pumpkins are here too (although they grow them very big, and the vegetable store usually breaks them into small “retail size” pieces. You can even do the American football game thing – but only on Sunday and Monday, when Middle East TV feeds the games of the week on Fox and CBS. Believe it or not, I saw an ad on TV tonight advertising “Black Friday” prices at some chain store! Now that couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?
In the best American Jewish tradition, most Thanksgiving celebrants will actually have their turkeys Friday night, in honor of Shabbat and Thanksgiving (as we will). Although there are some intrepid people who actually hold their feast on Thanksgiving Day itself. If you’re into having guests, Thanksgiving weekend is a good time to have them – it gives you an excuse to eat turkey, which is way too big to justify preparing for just one family!
But of course, Thanksgiving isn’t just about the turkey – it’s about, of course, giving thanks. Israelis are actually very good about counting their blessings, especially when they hear bad news from other places – like in India. Right now, many Israelis are thankful that they live in a super-security sensitive country, where security authorities are able to nip potential mega-terror attacks in the bud. Seems to me like a good enough reason to have some turkey!
Polls with Camel glasses
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Immigrant Moments, Politics
A landmark event took place last night at Tel Aviv’s Dancing Camel brewery, where citizens of the United States were invited to vote for the next US president by an organization called Vote From Israel.
The first initiative of its kind anywhere in the world, Vote From Israel’s goal is to make it as easy as possible for US citizens currently in Israel to participate in the electoral process. The organization’s leadership estimates that out of 125,000 eligible voters in Israel this fall, only 42,000 are registered, so they worked 18-hour days through the hectic fall holidays to register some 7,000 to 10,000 more.
Now that the registration phase is complete, they’ve set up three events where people can hand in the absentee ballots they sent away for, or they can use Vote From Israel-provided Federal Write in Absentee Ballots. Everything is anonymous and sent via Federal Express to the voter’s relevant district office.
The press seems to be lapping it up, too, as a reporter from Newsweek and camera crews from Austrian public TV channel ORF and Israeli commercial Channel 10 competed for the most colorful comments from participants.
At last night’s event, six delicious flavors of beer were on tap, including a sweet and rich stout and seasonal brews seasoned with lemon and pomegranate bouquets. Voters were given coupons for half off of any beer. The Jets-Chiefs game was projected on an enormous screen.
After voting, participants were asked to complete an exit poll, surely a key element to the Vote From Israel concept. Although the organization is officially unaligned, it’s no secret that most Americans whose Zionist bent is strong enough to put them in Israel are likely to favor the 2008 Republican ticket. And with the influence that exit polls can have on undecided voters, one needn’t get so creative to conjecture the motivation behind Vote From Israel’s anonymous funders. The results of the organization’s exit polls can be released to the public a full week before the East Coast votes.
Regardless of the conspiracy theories, the beer, football and nightlife vibes kept the proceedings last night remarkably light. One reveler quipped that he had come to exercise his right not to vote, while another shrugged that he’s come just to meet up with friends, despite being Canadian.
Hail to the Redskins
Filed under: General, Immigrant Moments, Sports, Technology
It’s Sunday night, and it’s football season — American football — in the U.S., which means I’ve reached the football widow period of my life. Daniel, my husband, is Maryland-born and bred (although he spent a good chunk of his childhood in Israel), and, as such, is a diehard Redskins fan. For him, it is no hardship whatsoever to get up at 2 in the morning on Sunday/Monday during football season (or just not go to sleep), and spend three hours or so sitting on the very edge of the family room couch to watch his beloved Redskins play, fingers crossed in the hopes that they win.
So really, I wasn’t much of a football widow since he tended to watch while I was fast asleep. But, as usual, technology has changed our lives. Last year, we got hooked up to Slingbox, a TV streaming device that enables users to remotely view cable, satellite or personal video recorder programming from a computer with Internet connectivity. For users in Israel, that can mean hooking up a Slingbox to a friend or family member’s cable connected TV in the States, and then being able to watch whatever they have on TV at that time, through your computer. For American sports fans, it means Slingboxing with just the right person, that is, those in one’s life who are also apt to be fans of the same teams.
So Daniel and his brother in Washington, DC got Slingboxed, but alas, something wasn’t working with our Internet connection, which meant that while he could watch the Redskins games, he ended up doing so in his office. Not the worst thing, but not the most comfortable, either. This season, he was determined to change all that. By slightly shifting our Internet account — and with the added incentive of a new, larger TV in our place — he’s now watching the game in the comfort of his own home, at the same time that it’s on in the States. Tonight, that means 7 pm, Israel time.
This does mean that I’m now an actual football widow, but funnily enough, I’m okay with it. I can, of course, join him on the couch and receive a full education on football, if I so wish. Or I can just take this time to finish up some work, read a book, clean out a closet. Hey, the options are endless. Hail to the Redskins.
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