Blog/November 2009/Nov 20th

Nov 20th (See this week's devar torah)
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Hi again!

Another wonderful week in the Holy Land! It rained several times (even in our desert of a home-town). I had a lot of success at work. Sarah is recovered from her head-trauma. Daniela and Esther are fine. The weather is fantastic right now, and in a short while shabbat will be here. What more can one ask for?

First things first: congratulations to those friends and acquaintances of ours who are making aliyah in the near term -- you know who you are! Here are a few points of advice for you as you plan your homecoming:

• Try to improve your Hebrew to the point where you can ask for and understand directions, before you get here. The better your Hebrew is, the easier you will find adapting.
• Don't try to compare everything to "the way it was back home". That's a pointless exercise, as Israel is a completely different country, in a different part of the world.
• Talk to people. On the bus, at the store, anywhere. You never know who will have a job that's just perfect for you. Or at the least, be able to get you a 'starter' job so you've got an Israeli salary.
• Do make the effort to live within an Israeli salary. Otherwise, unless you have a lot of money to waste, you will find yourself in trouble sooner or later.
• Don't worry about getting a job before you're on the ground here. It is highly unlikely anyone will hire you unless they know you are here first. There are exceptions, but they are exceptions.
• Paypal now lets you access Israeli bank accounts. However, you cannot upgrade or add on to your US account and access an Israeli bank. But Israeli accounts can access US bank accounts. Let's say you want to pay me for my precious advice … it's easy!
• Don't worry about bringing all sorts of computer equipment. The prices here are about 20% higher than in the US, but if you buy here you won't have to worry about using transformers, and you will have local service. That can be worth much more than the 20% premium.

I have several relatives who suffered broken bones in the past year. Now an Israeli medical breakthrough repairs broken bones in a fraction of the time it used to take.

Bizarre Israeli news: the bungling Bamba burglar. I actually find Bamba nauseating, but I'm not a kid anymore.

Less bizarre, but still Israeli news: Intel vs. shabbat in Jerusalem. Besides all the huffing and posturing around the discussion, there are a few salient points. First of all, there is a "Sabbath work law" in Israel, which prohibits requiring Jews to work on shabbat except in a very few cases (security, medical, critical national infrastructure). This is the secular law, quite apart from any religious concerns. Intel apparently received an exemption from this law from Olmert (שם רשעים ירקב) for its plant in the south of Israel; but they did not get one for their Jerusalem plant (or so I understand). Secondly, the Torah prohibits (as do all relevant subsequent halachic codes) Jews performing certain kinds of work on shabbat except in the case of a life-and-death matter. Finally, even disregarding the above -- the area all around the Intel plant in Jerusalem is entirely populated with Torah-observing Jews, for whom the plant's operation on shabbat is an incitement.

I understand that Intel is loathe to suspend operations in the plant during shabbat. I also understand that the Israeli government doesn't want to lose the revenue Intel brings in, as well as the prestige of having some of their products "made in Israel". However, in my not-so-humble opinion, they miss entirely the point of their own (secular) Sabbath work law -- which is to preserve the Jewish character of the only Jewish state in the world. Having Gentiles man the plant on shabbat (as has been proposed), is problematic for a number of reasons I won't go into now. But our government, it seems, is only interested in keeping Intel happy so they can continue to rake in the benefits; and to hell with the "Jewish character of the State"!

The commemoration ceremonies for the late Yitzhak Rabin were held recently. And as usual, the Left took the opportunity for the Two Minutes Hate against anyone to the right of Lenin. I was somewhat surprised, however, to hear Bill Clinton opine that were it not for Rabin's assassination, we would have had peace within three years. I guess he did inhale, after all. Follow-up to my rant last week about the jihadi attack in America: here is how it was perceived by Israeli comics.

We're having a "new immigrant" family over this shabbat. Besides the usual salads, chicken, roast etc, we are having Red Lentil Soup in honor of this week's torah portion. I also made Hummus, and something new: kumquat-pepper relish, from our home-grown kumquats.

Until next week,
Shabbat shalom!

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