A letter from Israel

Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash What happens in your country when a waiter drops a tray in a packed restaurant and everything on the tray shatters to pieces? Is there an awkward silence? Does everyone avert their eyes from the embarrassed waiter as he quickly sweeps up all the broken pieces? Maybe there are a few softly muttered curses from him or the floor manager..? Do you know what happens in Israel in such a situation?  The entire restaurant, including the manager and all the staff and the people passing by outside, and the person who sneaked in to use the toilet will gleefully shout out in unison: "MAZAL TOV!!" It means "Congratulations" in Hebrew and everyone is playfully 'congratulating' the waiter on his pending marriage.  The final act of a Jewish wedding is the symbolic breaking of something by stepping on a covered glass. It is done to remember the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Then it is time to congratulate the couple and

Ramat haNadiv is a small nature reserve nestling close to my town, Zichron Yaakov, in the northern-ish part of Israel. The reserve was established in 1965, and is actually a burial place for the Baron Edmund Rothschild and his wife Ada. The baron supported the early settlers in the area with money and advice from the leading scientists of the day.  That is also why the park is called Ramat haNadiv, it means more or less 'Benefactor Heights'. The tomb, that you can visit during the weekdays, is surrounded by a beautiful garden. And this garden is surrounded by a small reserve. Since we live in Israel, the reserve is not just about the local fauna and flora in their natural state. There are also several ancient archeological sites that you can visit. One of these archaeological  sites is the tumuli field at the southern end of the Ramat haNadiv reserve. The singular for tumuli is tumulus which means "a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves." 

In the attractive and characteristic neighbourhood of Rehavia in Jerusalem, not far from the president's residence, there is this a small museum called the Museum For Islamic Art .  It is a gorgeous museum filled with amazing artifacts. Personally though I think that the museum should be called the Museum of Eastern Art. Most of the artifacts pre-date Islam and/or originate from non-Arab speaking countries such as Turkey, India and Iran.  It is very likely that this watch was part of the loot of one of the greatest robberies in the art world

This is NOT queue in Israel, it is waay to calm and orderly If you visit Israel as a tourist, or are a new immigrant you may get the conclusion that Israelis do not have the queue-standing gene. They just seem to stand around in a bunch and then use their elbows to move forward when the train or bus arrives or when going through a building's security entrance. This is one part of life in Israel that can be difficult for new immigrants that I do not have an issue with at all. I mean, WHY do we have elbows? 😁 Just watch out for small old ladies though, they have a really mean shove in those tiny bodies of theirs. The REAL art of queue standing, or rather let me rephrase, the real art of queue moving is more like a contact sport here in Israel. And this is where all those newbies are mistaken. They may think that Israelis do not have the queue standing gene but they just have not yet been exposed to an extreme level of standing in a line.  Here in Israel queu

As a South African living in Israel, I cannot help but constantly compare the two countries. Of course there are many differences but one of the major similarities is our dependence on rain water.  And since most of South Africa (though not the Cape area) gets its rain during the summer months and Israel gets its rain during the winter months, we are waiting for the rainy season at the same time. More or less during the month of October. It is then autumn in Israel and springtime in South Africa.

The word 'situation' has a special meaning in Israel. It is usually used when talking about the security situation in Israel but actually compass quite a wide range of things. Such as the situation that Israel is surrounded by not too friendly neighbours. Or the situation that there are a network of sirens throughout the country to warn us about incoming missiles. Two weeks ago another type of situation unfolded in Israel and this blogpost describes my own personal experience.

For some odd reason, the Rockefeller Archaeological museum is NOT on the list of must-see museums in Israel. And it definitely should be.