The square shape of the bourekas tells us that they are filled with a potato filling One does not have to spend a long time in Israel to get your first introduction to a boureka. These savory stuffed pastries are everywhere You'll find them for breakfast in hotel dining halls, in countless bakeries and coffee shops, on picnics and even at restaurants that only serve bourekas. They are often eaten in Israeli homes as part of a 'light' or diary meal in the evenings. (Most households in Israel usually serve the large cooked meal at lunchtime.) More often than not, bourekas are also an integral part of the wonderful Friday or Shabbat brunch table. To be really honest however, you basically eat a boureka whenever you encounter one. They are that irresistible. If you stop to grab a quick coffee at a coffee shop, the comforting smell of the bourekas will convince you to upgrade to a 'café ve'ma afe' (coffee + pastry). Wandering through street markets, the sight of fres
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| We enjoy our bagels a lot here in Israel - the diet can wait until after the next holiday! |
Me and my fellow English-speaking Israelis belong to this secret Facebook group where we share crazy, awesome and weird stuff about life in Israel.
Some of the posts are really cool and heart-warming but other posts (especially from the newbie immigrants) just make me go from one face-palm to the next.
And no, I am not going to share the group's link with you because:
a. It is secret ..:)
b. There are a lot of insider-type-of-stories that will leave non-locals totally baffled.
Trust me on this, Israel is even baffling to people who were born here.
c. You can read weird and wonderful stories about life in Israel right here on
my blog..:)
However..., I got permission to share this lovely story from Stefan Boroda where he talks about all the trails and triumphs he went through to get his wife's cellphone back after she forgot it on a city bus.
Part of his trails came from the fact that his Hebrew is not very good yet. So this led to one of the Hebrew speakers in the group to make a list of Hebrew words that one should learn as soon as your plane touch the tarmac at Ben-Gurion airport.
And of course the rest of us started all started to give our own opinions and comments just as good Israelis are expected to do. By the way, I will totally share with you my own list of most-know Hebrew words, sayings and expressions in a later blog post.
The heavy importance of today's date however requires me to teach you the ONE most important Hebrew expression of them all:
אחרי החגים
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| Yom Kippur is a fast day |
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| At Rosh haShana Jews wish for a year filled with as many merits as a pomegranate has seeds. |
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| At Succot Jews sit in little huts and pray with the four species |
These holidays come along fast and furious one after another and the entire country comes basically to a standstill.
And wherever you go, you will hear the words 'after the holidays'.
Only after the after the holidays, will the plumber be able to come and fix the running toilet.
Only after the holidays will the school, kindergartens and after-school activities resume.
Only after the holidays will we start with the diet, the job search or the fitness regime.
You get the picture. It is like an Israeli-Jewish January the first. And with the fact that the holidays carry on for something like an entire month and a half, 'after the holidays' is sometimes code for "ain't not going to happen ever".
So why am I writing about after the holidays at this exact moment in time?
Because today is THE day!
Today, Sunday the 15th of October, 2017 is the first official day after the holidays! For this year. It will most probably be on another date next year. Remember that here in Israel our weekdays start on a Sunday and ends on a Thursday.
Last Thursday we celebrated Simchat haTorah, and then it was the weekend. And seriously who starts a new project over the weekend? So today, about a month after we celebrated the Jewish New Year, can we actually START the new year.
Happy 5778 everyone!
PS. Do you have any new year's resolutions? Let me know in the comments!
PSS. If you'd like to receive the "Letter from Israel" posts in your email box, subscribe to my mailing list at the top right corner.
I promise that I will never send you spam because I totally loathe it myself. I also won't send you emails every five minutes but one of my new year resolutions is to write a new blog post once a week..:) Since we ARE after all officially 'after the holidays' now..:)
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