Blog/September 2007/September 28th

September 28th 2007

Yom Kippur was this past shabbat, and it went well. The fast was not hard, even though it was hot outside (we were in the shul most of the time anyway, where it was air-conditioned).

One thing struck us as being unique to the Israeli experience: even here in a "mixed" community (e.g. both religious and non-religious people), not a single car was driving on Yom Kippur. The streets were filled with people walking around, with children on skates and bikes or just playing in the street. Even our street, which seems to have a larger proportion of non-religous people, was quiet. It was very enjoyable to see everyone "rest", even people who miss out on shabbat rest.

Of course, Sukkot started just a few days later - and in the meantime, everyone seemed to be building a sukkah. There were bands of people furtively cutting limbs off trees to serve as schach for their sukkot. Meat disappeared from the stores, as people horded it for holiday barbecues. Sadly, the holiday does not command the same level of respect among the 'secular' as Yom Kippur does; even less than Shabbat, since it fell during a weekday. Nevertheless, it was pretty exciting to be only one of many people with a strange hut in their yard. Walking home from shul on Sukkot night was an olfactory sensation as well, since everyone was eating outdoors.

Our sukkah (Sukkah Depot (tm)) which we brought with us from the States, is slightly too big for our patio, but we made it fit anyway. We really do have the biggest sukkah in the neighborhood, I think, but at least it's come to good use.

Odd experience #1: in what surely ranks as one of the more bizarre experiences we've had here to date, our next-door neighbor had a "hachnasat sefer torah"* (that in and of itself was not unusual...). They had a lot of people over, including the "chief rabbis" of the town (there are two: Ashkenazic and Sephardic. The Temanim don't need a chief rabbi, apparently.). We knew there was supposed to be a celebration, but we were not expecting the large van which showed up - neon and flashing lights all over, disco smoke emanating from its flanks and large PA speakers on the top blaring klezmer music. For a moment I thought it was a "mitsvah tank", but it turned out to be a very cheesy party van.

ALERT: The "four species" are only "three species", here in the Land. That's right, when you order "arba minim" you only actually get three of the four. The fourth (aravot - brook willows) dry up too quickly, so everyone buys them separately, at the grocery store or wherever, the day before yom-tov.

ALERT: Purchasing of the "four species" is a contact sport. Normally "haredim" eschew physical contact, but during the pre-sukkot buying season, you better watch out for that lean, bespectacled yeshiva-bocher. He may very well stab you with a lulav (palm branch) in his rush to get the perfect "etrog" (citron).

Before yom-tov we went to the shuq to get food and other supplies. When we got there, we noticed across the street from it a parallel shuq, specifically and only for the "four species". It was jam-packed with "men in black", all vying for the perfect set of lulav/etrog.

Odd experience #2 and #3: as you will doubtless recall, the synagogue I attend is "Temani" - that is, generally speaking, the people who go there are originally from Yemen (or their parents or grandparents are from there). Their skin tones tend to be of variety of shades of brown, often quite richly so. Besides the nutty-brown coloration, Temanim are also marked by being rather shy and taking their time to get to know newcomers. This week, the questions started. One guy asked me if I was also Temani, to which I replied that I was indeed, a "light" Temani. Another guy asked me if I was from Afula, which is a city in the north of Israel, best known for its large sunflower-seed factory. I don't know why he asked me that, unless I have a double living in Afula.

In job-search news, I went on another set of interviews at the bigger company this week. They said I would get an offer "after the holidays". The other, small company I interviewed at also promised me an offer "after the holidays". So, B"H I should be hearing something good sometime soon.

We had the merit to host two people we had not met before, so far this holiday. The first was actually a couple and their children, who are friends of Yamit (Olga) - who moved here not too long ago, about the same time we did. The second was a single guy who also moved here around the time we did, who has the opposite problem I do: his skin tone is darker than the Temanim (he also attends a Temani shul, the other one in Maale Adummim). Very nice guy. We were happy to make new friends, and hope Hashem gives us the ability to continue to have guests and help people out.

Odd experience #4: I just mentioned we hosted friends of Yamit's. The odd thing is that the Bellevue community we came from is tiny, and yet so far we have met two different people who are friends of people from Bellevue! The other are the nice couple we mentioned in one of our early letters, who are friends of the Robsmans. Incredible to me how small the Jewish world is, when we can travel half-way around the world and meet people who know friends of ours first-hand!

Odd experience #5: We are now real Israelis, having bought a "mangal" (a kind of Israeli hibachi-grill). As I was walking out of the hardware store with my prize, a man walking the other direction was staring at my (admittedly oversized) mangal. I guess he had mangal-envy...

"hachnasat sefer torah"

is when a new Torah scroll is acquired, and there is a celebration to mark the occasion.

Time to get ready for shabbat chol hamo`ed.