Giving Thanks

November 28, 2008 - 12:39 AM by DavidS · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General

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!

Share with others

Tags: football, immigrant, olim, shabbat, thankful, thanks, Thanksgiving, turkey, United States

Aliyah deals

June 13, 2008 - 4:04 PM by Jessica · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Travel

Just read this week that the Absorption Ministry and El Al are offering special benefits to Israelis living abroad who move back to Israel during this 60th anniversary year. The ‘yordim’ who become ‘olim’ will be charged a flat rate airfare by El Al from any destination, and will be allowed extra baggage, a discount on shipping their belongings, as well as tax breaks for ten years, help finding work and programs for returning doctors, scientists and other researchers.
El-Al logo2.jpg
Sweet deal. I didn’t even get a free ticket when I made aliyah. Granted, snafu of my own, but this could be the opportunity to fix things. Now, my husband has been angling for a flat screen TV, and was thinking of asking friends of friends of friends who are making aliyah this summer to leave some space on their lift for a TV for us, as well as some lawn furniture. Forget the Americans; we need to find ourselves some real, returning Israelis. So anyone out there, let us know! And we’ll be happy to have you for dinner once you get here.