The end of shmitah

This Rosh Hashanah marks the end of the shmittah year in Israel. During the sabbatical year the land is supposed to be left fallow, and whatever grows by itself in the field and on the trees is "hefker," or free for the taking. At the end of the sabbatical year, the Torah requires lenders to forgive debts. (In practice, methods have been developed to circumvent many of these laws, with varying levels of support in the religious community.) Relinquishing ownership of produce and cancellation of debts are ways of mitigating societal inequalities. At the end of 5768, events in the financial world illustrated how economic certainties can change in an instant.

May we all be inscribed in the Book of Life and blessed with a year of peace, prosperity, and happiness. As we look forward to a peaceful and stable 5769, I want to thank all of you who participate in this blog community. I especially thank Leora for the beautiful blog design. Thanks also to Robin, Rafi, Melissa, RivkA, Baila, Lion of Zion, Jameel, Abbi, Regular Anon, Anon Reader, Orthonomics, Tamiri, Trilcat, TherapyDoc, ALN, Liza, Juggling Frogs, Raanana Ramblings, Mimi, Klara, Annie, Miriam, Frum Satire, Ariella, Raggedy Mom, BB, Ilana-Davita, Super Raizy, Sylvia-Rachel, Batya, "Zippo," my brother and sister, and the many others who read, comment, link, send news, and provide corrections and constructive criticism.

Bli neder, we'll meet again next year.

Menu and cooking plan for Rosh Hashanah, meatball recipe

On Rosh Hashanah we eat four festive meals. Since this is my blog, I'm going to share how I organized the cooking.

I prefer not to cook in advance, as I like meat to be freshly cooked. Also, food that has been cooked and defrosted shouldn't be refrozen, so pre-freezing causes a problem with leftovers.

Last week I baked and froze the honey cake and challah. I found that wrapping frozen challah in foil ensures that it stays crisp during defrosting. Naturally, I reuse the foil. We also shopped. I used up the honey in the baking, and my friend offered me the extra jar she got as a gift from work.

Last night I asked my kids to peel a large quantity of carrots and onions -- I had already washed and dried parsley and celery. This morning I made meatballs (recipe below), matzah balls (we don't eat them on Pesach, but like them for Rosh Hashanah because of their shape), beet salad, and rice. This afternoon we'll polish the silver and make apple cake because my kids like those jobs, especially coring the apples. I'll make pancakes for supper, with some cooked nectarines that needed to be used up.

Tomorrow on erev Rosh Hashanah I plan to make fish, chicken, potatoes, chicken soup, carrot salad, coleslaw, and sweet potatoes. It sounds like a lot, but they are all simple recipes. If I get ambitious, I'll make a potato kugel. I decided to do the soup tomorrow afternoon so I won't have to worry about storing it until I have more room in the refrigerator. Since it's yom tov and not Shabbat, I have a later deadline. In the meantime the repairman says he'll come "batzaharayim," which means between 12 and 4 PM. Update #1: He arrived at 3PM.

My tentative menu is below. At each meal we also have wine, challah with honey, and cake.

We have guests on Monday evening, so I'll serve more items than usual:

• Apple dipped in honey
  
• Fish--whole fish baked in foil with rosemary and olive oil
• Soup with matzah balls
• Meat dishes, side dishes, and salads

Tuesday lunch:

• Melon as appetizer
  
• Meatballs
• Selection of salads and side dishes
  

Tuesday evening I would prefer to serve a dairy meal, but that means extra work and planning. Here is my compromise:

• New fruit: Pomegranates, oranges
  
• Apple with honey
• Salmon and salads. I'll take the salmon out of the freezer on Monday afternoon, and put it up to cook Tuesday night before washing the lunch dishes. We don't prepare for Tuesday evening until the first day of the holiday is officially over.
  
• Chicken soup
  
• For anyone who is still hungry (i.e. teenage boys), I put out chicken and potatoes.

Wednesday lunch:
If I still have soup and matzah balls, I'll serve it. If I see on Tuesday evening that the meat is dwindling, I can pull something out of the freezer to cook in the morning. This has never happened. I also serve out the foods that are running low in order to make room in the refrigerator.

My meatball recipe follows. It's flexible so feel free to experiment.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. fresh parsley
1 kg ground beef or turkey, or a combination
2 eggs
1/4 cup bread crumbs or matza meal (I have a large quantity of failed challah for this purpose)
1 tbsp. prepared mustard
2 onions
1-2 carrots
Half a can tomato paste

Batter:
In a dry food processor, chop parsley using steel knife, add carrot and chop finely. Add ground meat, eggs, crumbs, and mustard. Mix well.

Sauce:
Chop onions in food processor. I made the batter in a separate bowl because my processor is pareve, so I didn't need to wash the processor bowl in between. Saute the onions for about five minutes, then add the tomato paste and whatever seasoning you like. I added some beet juice from the cooked beets--don't tell my kids. You will probably want to dilute the sauce some; it shouldn't be thick or sticky, nor should it be watery. I also added some cumin seeds and oregano.

When the sauce is boiling, form meatballs from the batter and drop them into the sauce. Don't worry if some balls are above the level of the sauce, as the sauce increases during cooking, and the meatballs will cook either way. Lower the flame and cook for 30-40 minutes. To check for doneness, cut a meatball in half and check that the juices run clear.

Update #2: The repairman said the motor needed to cool off, so he will return later. He left his gauge as an eravon (guarantee).

Drip, drip, drip

That's the only sound heard from my stand-alone freezer, which decided to stop working yesterday, on Shabbat. The problem with living in a Jewish country is that repairmen also observe the holiday, but I left a desperate message for the one who replaced the motor only six weeks ago.

I've managed to stick most things in my refrigerator/freezer, but am running out of room fast. If he doesn't come I'll manage somehow--I love a challenge, remember? At least it didn't happen tomorrow, or on Rosh Hashanah itself.

My friend says that it's no coincidence when things break so close to the new year. On Rosh Hashanah, God determines how much each person will earn. So if a person didn't give enough charity during the year, He makes sure things even out before the following Rosh Hashanah . . . whether through buying new appliances or paying for repairs. Israeli repairmen must give a lot of tzedakah during the year.

And if you are trying to get organized, check out my Rosh Hashanah Survival Guide. Last year Rosh Hashanah was followed by Shabbat, but most suggestions still apply.

Calling Americans in Israel: Make Your Voice Heard

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The United States presidential election is taking place this Novemeber. All Americans living in Israel have the right to vote, and should make their voices heard on issues that affect us such as Middle-Eastern diplomacy, US-Israel relations, the economy, tax law, and more.

Vote from Israel is a non-partisan, non-profit organization whose goal is to register Americans in Israel to vote. The registration deadline is Monday, October 6, ten days from today.

Vote from Israel has made the process as easy as possible. Just follow these instructions:

1. Go to the Vote from Israel website.
2. Enter your name.
3. Download and print the PDF form.
4. Fill it in and sign it.
5. Drop it off at one of the many drop-off locations around Israel by October 6, 2008.

Maybe you aren't sure who you want to vote for yet. But if you haven't registered by next week, you won't have a chance at all. Do it today.

Who shall live, and who shall die

Mike Cohen of Galilean Word is asking for help to save the life of baby Gili.

Check Mike's blog for updates. Donations are tax-deductible both in Israel and the US.

Four cooking days until Rosh Hashanah. . .

Israeli Kitchen has suggestions for Honey Challah and Honey Cake.

Synagogues in mixed communities

Trilcat vents about people who object to government allocations for synagogues, yet visit on holidays or when they want an aliyah for their son's bar mitzvah. I am not sure that the people complaining about municipal allocations for religious purposes are the same as those stopping by for Ne'ilah on Yom Kippur.  Large numbers of Israelis feel close to Judaism, even if it isn't obvious, and want the government to support religious infrastructure. 

In the few mixed religious/secular neighborhoods left in Israel, synagogues operate with a certain level of tension. The municipality donates land and funds to begin building, but the members raise the rest. Each family contributes several thousand dollars or more, not including maintenance costs. So while in theory the synagogue is a public building, members consider it their private domain. Shuls in my neighborhood offer membership only when they can provide a fixed seat for each male family member. So membership is closed, there is little room for visitors, and a shul can get "cliquey' fast. And young couples and others without means have to hop around.

Our synagogue tries to strike a balance between accommodating the outside community and keeping maintenance costs reasonable. We host neighborhood bar mitzvahs, although they cause (preventable) disruption. The synagogue is wheelchair-accessible, including the bathrooms. The "gabbaim" direct visitors to available seats, so they won't get kicked out by a regular. But unless they need a wheelchair, non-members can't hold functions in the shul to minimize noise and traffic on the residential street. 

For the last several years the shul has tried to attract neighbors to High Holiday prayers, and just gave everyone flyers to place in mailboxes. There is no charge for those who don't want a reserved seat.

Revised Jerusalem Video is Up at Youtube

Today we received a new comment from Michal:

Hi,

Following remarks from this blog - The israel ministry of tourism have produced a new version to the clip - one that is not offensive in any manner to any crowd.

you may view the new clip here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n...h? v=nD1gzmzINOA

Shana tova,

And - sorry for the hassle, I guess you can call it "cultural differences" between Israelis and... the rest of the world

Michal
Michal | Homepage | 09.23.08 - 12:50 pm | #

The Tourism Ministry awaits our critique. I think sweaty people will be offended. . . .

What's My Line? Another Visit to the Shmitah Store

Original post:

A Trip to the Shmitah Store

Zemira is a cashier at "Shefa me-ha-Teva" (Nature's Bounty). We call it the shmita store because it markets the produce of the organization Otzar Haaretz. Otzar Haaretz provides produce acceptable during the sabbatical year, while striving to protect local Jewish agriculture.

Whenever I visit I look for Zemira. She'll get my kids a drink of water, but my four-year-old will never use that store's bathroom again. Zemira knows that the cheaper melons outside the store are not heter mechira but are grown in the arava, just like the Otzar Haaretz melons. More on that in a separate post, bli neder.

Zemira noticed me photographing the produce. When I told her about my post last October, she brought me to the office to pull it up on the computer. Roni, the owner, was disappointed that I don't write in Hebrew. He made sure I photographed Zemira, but refused his own chance at immortality because he hadn't shaved recently.

Roni introduced me to two farmers visiting the store. I wasn't able to confirm the information they gave me.

Rami, pictured above, was a farmer in Gush Katif. He grew tomatoes, sherry (cherry tomatoes), and lettuce. He lived in Kerem Shalom, which is a kilometer from the Egyptian border and two kilometers from the Rafiah crossing to Gaza.

Rami recently moved to Petach Tikva to pursue an artisitic career. Next month his sculpture of the town's founder, Yoel Moshe Salomon, will be exhibited on a main street. In the famous song, The Ballad of Yoel Moshe Salomon [lyrics], Salomon sets out from Jaffa along the Yarkon river on his horse until he reaches the site where Petach Tikva now sits. After a false start, Petach Tikva became the first Jewish city founded in modern times, and recently chose the horse as its municipal symbol. But Rami depicts Salomon riding a motorcycle.

I offered to post a picture of his sculpture, but Rami demurred because "haredim don't buy art." A lot of secular Israelis confuse haredim and religious Zionists and Roni tried to set him straight. I asked Rami to call me when the sculpture goes up; he said he would.

Next I met David, an agronomist who came to assist Roni with a tripsim problem. Roni asked if I knew what tripsim were and I said they were tiny insects. He said they were not insects, but mosquitoes, or lice. I said that lice are insects and they agreed that tripsim (thrips) are also insects. I guess these guys are entomologically challenged, like my son's former ganenet. David diagnosed the problem as high temperature during transport.

I didn't ask how thrips got into bug-free lettuce in the first place (it has nothing to do with spontaneous generation). The kashrut supervisor takes a number of lettuce samples and if they are clean, the lettuce gets an okay. Lettuce doesn't have to be 100% bug-free, kind of like my challah. So tripsim, once there, can multiply in the right conditions.

Like Rami, David has artistic inclinations and sings for the Oyf Simches band. I suspect Roni may have been pulling my leg about this and David's agronomic expertise, although I wouldn't have guessed by Roni's demeanour. My husband recognized David as the former owner of the makolet across the street. It's a strange country.

A visit with Abbi, and the bug in the challah dough

What I've been up to this week:

1. Met Commenter Abbi in the park. Her children are so sweet! (Sorry about the photo quality--I can't get through to Canon about repairing the camera.) I was glad for an excuse to get out of the house and socialize. On a related note, I don't understand how Israeli mothers manage to spend every afternoon in the park and still get their kids into bed at a reasonable hour.
2. Got a new closet installed, leading to a major reorganization of stuff. Anybody want lighting equipment the electrician had me buy when we moved in four years ago? The contractor had already bought the identical items. Thinking about that electrician still gives me palpitations. I once heard that Jews should never become politicians or electricians.
3. Baked challah with Mimi--I hope one of us will post more on this. While kneading the dough later in the afternoon my daughter (14) saw a bug jumping in, but we could not locate it. Whole bugs can't be nullified by 60 times the amount of kosher food, but since it's possible that the bug jumped out the rabbi said to go ahead and bake it.  Don't tell my Shabbat guests.
   
4. Held the first meeting of our new writing group, also with Mimi. Prepared the second.
   
5. Went chug-hopping with Y., my 7-year-old. (chugim = afterschool activities.) The pretentious science chug involved too much arts and crafts. I thought ju-jitsu would be the winner because of the climbing, crawling, and somersaulting, but Y pronounced it boring. Y chose basketball, the last chug we tried, and the cheapest. It's run by Elitzur, an organization that promotes sports in the religious community in Israel.
6. Took pictures at the shmitah store for an update. Fortunately, my camera decided to cooperate.I spoke to two farmers who happened to be visiting. Look for those post(s) next week.
7. Prepared a shiur on Ki Tavo, this week's Torah portion. I decided to examine previous mentions of maaser, tithing, in the Torah. There are three types of tithes: one for the Levites who guard the Temple, even though they are more famous for singing; one that the owners may consume but only in Jerusalem (they can also redeem it for cash to be spent on food in Jerusalem), and one for the poor including the stranger, widow and orphan.
8. Thought a lot about Rosh Hashana preparations. We don't go for pineapple kugel and honey chicken; spicy chicken and potatoes make my family happiest. We will also have sweet challah, honeycake, fish and matzah balls (because they are round).

Shabbat shalom.

Apology from the Israel Tourism Ministry

I just received this comment about the Jerusalem tourism clip:

hi,
My name is Michal, and I promote the video clip on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of tourism.
I was the one who contacted mominisrael and asked her to embed the clip here.
I have brought your remarks, and others like yours to the attention of the ministry, and they decided to change the clip to have a more appropriate end.
A new version will be ready later on this week, and I will keep you posted when it goes on youtube.
Thank you for your time and attention,
and whoever found this to be insulting - please accept our apology. that was not the meaning of the clip.
Michal | Homepage | 09.16.08 - 9:13 am | #

And who says bloggers don't have influence?

More comments on the video, by Chayyei Sarah and friends.

A High School in Israel

[Haveil Havalim is up at Shiloh Musings.]

My daughter entered ninth grade this year. This year she has "the best teacher and the best class." She was able to request a number of friends, and they'll be together for the next four years.

Her school has six grades, each with about eight classes of thirty girls. The six grades are divided into three batim (lit. houses), each with its own building, vice-principal, secretary, advisor, and two teachers who serve as grade-level coordinators.

The school operates several large volunteer projects:

1. All ninth graders volunteer in a public gan (kindergarten) once a week. My daughter catches a van from school at 7:30 to take her across town, where she assists the teacher for two hours. Girls coming from out of town, like the ones in my younger daughter's gan, volunteer close to the school so they don't have to commute twice. They gave the girls (unfortunately bright green) t-shirts so they will be recognized. Good marketing, so long as I don't have to wear that color.
   
2. The school runs a country-wide organization to collect used appliances and furniture and redistribute them to the needy. Seventh-graders work in the warehouse; during the summer my daughter took a few shifts answering the phone to schedule pickups.
3. Students volunteer in the special-education gan right on school premises. My daughter hasn't worked there yet, but girls in her class have.
   

The school is handicapped accessible, has an ethnically heterogeneous population (Jewishly speaking), and boasts the third highest bagrut (matriculation exam) scores in the country, after two secular schools in Haifa. It discourages graduates from enlisting in the army but many still do (my daughter isn't interested).

When my kids were younger someone told me that I would be happier with the girls' schools in Israel than the boys'. The girls don't have the pressure of gemara (Talmud), leaving little time for anything except the bagrut requirements.

[I tried to stay positive all the way through.]

More on schools and mixed dancing

When I told a friend about this (be sure to click on the comments), she argued that it was "chutzpah" for parents to send their children to yeshiva tichonit and then host a bar mitzvah with mixed dancing. She maintained that mixed dancing is on the fringe of Orthodox social behavior. I don't know that she's correct, especially regarding sephardi circles. But I do believe that sending to a school with significantly different religious standards than the home can cause conflict in the children, and this choice can ultimately backfire. This is true whether the school's standards are higher or lower than the home's, but parents only seem interested in schools that are "frummer." It's like they want to make up for what they are lacking.

Anyway, let's say such parents do want a school with a strict religious standard or a high level of Jewish studies. Does the school try to accommodate them? They could set guidelines for the parents upon admission (i.e. cover hair at school pickup, no mixed dancing at the bar mitzvah) or accept them without qualification. Or do they send parents away, in order to keep the student population homogeneous? Schools choosing the latter option seem to get a higher level of applicants, at least outside of Jerusalem.

Tolerance in the Religious Zionist Community

On Ynet, Yael Mishali writes about meeting with the parents and teachers of her son's seventh-grade class at the yeshiva high school Nechalim. One mother asked that the yeshiva officially oppose mixed dancing at bar mitzvah celebrations, so that the boys can avoid temptation. The mother asserted that mixed dancing is not in the "spirit of the yeshiva." 

Mishali dislikes the mother's superior tone. She goes on to describe the various ways she has seen parents send the message that families less stringent in some areas are inferior and should not be associated with. This could be because the mother doesn't cover her hair, they watch Power Rangers, or even that the family waits "only" three hours between meat and dairy. She has watched as parents set up "torani" ganim (kindergartens) and schools, requiring strict levels of kashrut certification and more religious studies (she mentions requiring learning parshat shavua (weekly Torah portion) with Rashi's commentary -- in gan). 

She ends by saying that she chose this yeshiva because it did not require a stringent dress code for parents. She suggests that the mother in question teach her child to avoid temptation instead of expecting others to accommodate him. He'll be meeting these challenges in the real world, and temptations of all types abound even in the most stringent yeshiva environment. 

It's distressing to see our community focus on subtle differences and use them to exclude others. In one elementary school interview, a neighbor's suitability was questioned because the husband studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion (considered the left of the political/religious spectrum). Do we need different (elementary!) schools for children of parents who want their children to attend Har Etzion, and those who aspire toward Merkaz Harav?

Thanks to Jameel and Rafi, who each sent me the link.

The eruv came too late for me. . .

If the level of observance was low in New York before the war (see previous post and comments), imagine the state of Jewish life in Sacramento, California. My mother's family settled there in the late 30's,  where my grandfather and my grandmother's brothers had established a business. My grandmother told me that she refused to travel to shul in the car, so my grandfather attended alone for a few months until she gave in. 

According to my mother, her uncles hesitated to bring their parents over from Germany. They realized the parents would be disappointed in the brothers' lack of observance and shocked at the absence of religious amenities. My great-grandparents did manage to get out in 1939 and lived with my grandmother, who, despite the Sabbath driving, remained the most religiously observant.

I did not look forward to my frequent trips to Sacramento. It was dull, and my grandmother kept a close eye on me. When the Orthodox synagogue first opened, I wanted to attend. Grandma tried to exert control over the situation by insisting that I take a sweater. Ordinarily I would have accommodated her requests, but this was Sacramento. In July. I would have had to wear it, as carrying without an eruv is forbidden on Shabbat. I left the sweater at home.

An article about the new Sacramento eruv inspired this post. I see that my grandparents' shul, the Conservative Temple of Mosaic Law, still exists.

Israel's Most Wanted

The Israeli Rabbinate is going after men who refuse to give their wives a get. Check out Jameel's blog and see if you recognize anyone. 

Who are you waiting for, Miss America? Guess not.

Last night we went to the shiva for the mother of an old friend. The friend told how her mother's mother studied piano with Bess Myerson, the first (and only?) Jewish Miss America. My friend's great-grandmother tried to fix up one of her sons with Bess, but they weren't interested. 

If I have it right, this great-grandmother was American-born, and attended Hunter College in the 1890's. When her future husband, a Polish immigrant, was looking for a shidduch, he asked for a "religious, American-born girl." The great-grandmother agreed to marry him on condition that he close his factory on Shabbat. Apparently, being "religious" in those days did not include strict Sabbath observance. 

Israeli Tourism Ministry video about Jerusalem

The Israeli Tourism Ministry produced the video below to promote Jerusalem. I wrote to the PR person to ask what the man is shouting at the sky.  What do you think? 

I will share her answer tomorrow, bli neder.

Michael Chabon and Yiddish

Michael Chabon got the idea for his book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, after discovering a Yiddish phrase-book called "Say it in Yiddish" from the 1950's. He embarrassed himself by writing an essay treating the book as an anachronism and making fun of people who wanted to learn to say "I need a tourniquet" in Yiddish. He lateer laerned that the book had been commissioned by a publisher for the benefit of tourists to Israel, where Yiddish was still widely spoken. Chabon might find it interesting that Yiddish is still spoken in Ramat Gan today (and, of course, in many charedi communities). You can find more in the afterword of his book.

Young and old in Ramat Gan

Haveil Havalim #181  is hosted at Tzipiyah. 

Now that my little one entered gan we are free on Fridays, the first day of the Israeli weekend. We decided to go out for breakfast, using the coupon my husband received as a birthday present from work. It's not easy to get out of the house for a morning alone; his birthday is in May, and we used the coupon from 2007.

The list of participating restaurants included two in Ramat Gan. The first one, in the lobby of a mall, featured deafening music.  I snapped a few shots as we walked to the second one. 

The sign below reads that King David Park is named after David, King of Israel, father of the House of David dynasty, 1004-964 B.C.E. You can read the English graffiti yourself; I don't sanitize this blog (much).

Ramat Gan has many elderly residents, but a complex of kindergartens neighbors the King David park. These ads were posted everywhere:

The formula companies have gotten creative, because they are not supposed to market formula to new mothers. So instead they sponsor "educational" events directed at parents of young children. This ad promotes a "babycollege" seminar at Tel Aviv University (!) about "aktiviut" (activeness? activity? exercise?) among young children, aged 0-3. If you want to learn how to raise a healthy child, don't go to a formula company. 

We ate at "Hablintzes shel Shoshana." (For those who care, it was a standard Israeli breakfast of rolls, eggs, cheese and salad.) According to the sign Uri, not Shoshana, manages the restaurant, which advertises itself as heimish (traditional Jewish). It was also quiet. We had a choice of tables on arrival but the restaurant quickly filled with secular, elderly customers. The couple nearest us spoke in Yiddish.

A sign in the restaurant informed customers that fish and dairy products are not cooked together. This is a chumrah (stringency) apparently based on an error--a mixup between the words "fat" and "milk" which are similar in Hebrew. Another sign at the kosher McDonald's, located in the same complex, notes that the ice cream served at this counter is dairy. You have to order the ice-cream from the main counter, though. 

Our usual view of Ramat Gan comes from busy Jabotinsky Street, but this section was lovely. The shaded walks are set so far back from the street, we wondered where the residents parked.

Sderot Hayeled

Continuation of Elimelech St. (?)

I'm having trouble coming up with pithy post endings. That's it.

Interview: A Christian Mother in Israel

Melissa, originally from England, lives in Nazareth with her Christian-Arab husband and their six children. She graciously answered my questions by email.

Melissa, where were you born? I grew up in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, a small city about 40 minutes drive north of London. 

What did you know about Israel when you were growing up? I really knew very little. I knew that there were kibbutzim in Israel and was always fascinated by them. I vaguely remember hearing about unrest in the Middle East on the news but like most people in England, I knew little about the political situation.

How did you meet your husband? My first experience of Israel was as a volunteer on a kibbutz. I loved it. I really enjoyed the whole kibbutz way of life and had loads of fun. I went back to England to complete my RN training and decided to come back to the kibbutz when I finished and stayed there another six months. I discovered the Nazareth Hospital (locally known as the English Hospital) and worked as a staff nurse on the surgical ward. I thought it would be a great experience to work in such a different culture, and it was. Three months later I met my husband when his father was a patient on my ward. We went out on a date and I remember thinking, "I'm gonna marry this guy!"

How has your family adjusted to your move? My parents were up in arms when I told them I was marrying an Arab. I think they imagined that I would end up like Sally Field in that movie (forgotten the name of it!) fleeing across the borders in a burka. . . . But after they came here, met my husband and experienced the culture they realized that their fears were unfounded. It's amazing how ignorant Europeans and Americans are about this culture; I was myself. I didn't even know that there were Arab Christians until I came here.

Can you tell my readers about the Christian Arab community? The Christian Arab community is smaller than the Muslim Arab community. We really need to have more babies . . . I'm trying to start a trend (that was a joke!!). Most Christians (although NOT ALL) are affluent and well-educated. Society is pretty much segregated into Christian and Muslim areas, although mixed neighbourhoods are on the increase now due to new housing projects.

Are you affected by conflict between Muslim and Christian Arabs?  There is conflict.Violent incidences do occur, not every day, but it does happen. Personally, I feel very safe in Nazareth. I look European so I do get stared at, and get mistaken for being Russian or Romanian. But you know . . . Arabs are genuinely warm people and always willing to help in any way, especially if you are foreign.

Can you tell us a bit about the position of women in the Christian Arab community? One American lady who came here in the mid-seventies told me that women didn't even drive. Most people imagine that if you are married to an Arab you are probably locked away with his twenty other wives. Of course for most women (not all) the opposite is true.  Education is very important in this society, perhaps even more so for girls nowadays. Most girls are expected to go to university or at least have a qualification in something, it's almost embarrassing not to. Many women in the Christian Arab community are highly educated with masters and Ph.D's. Having said that, regardless of education women are still expected to fulfill the traditional role of housewife and mother. There are exceptions; my husband lived in LA for 12 years so he has changed a few nappies in his time (although not THAT many!) but generally speaking you won't find many men pushing buggies down the Highstreet in Nazareth.

How old are your children? What kind of school do they attend? I have six children, 2 boys and 4 girls. Fadi (10), Sam (9), Lily (7), Lizzy (5), Isabel (2) and Alice (8 months). The four older ones attend a private, mainly Christian school. Everything is taught in Arabic. They start learning English in second grade and Hebrew in third. It's difficult to get your children into a private school, they can be picky. Also the kids are under quite a bit of pressure to get good grades. As I mentioned before, education is very important in this society. 

Have you picked up Hebrew or Arabic? I do speak Arabic although not very well, and some Hebrew.

What has been the biggest culture shock for you? The biggest culture shock is how close-knit everyone is. Most families build their houses on top of one another so you end up with all your in-laws in one block, which results in everyone being in everyone else's business. Lack of privacy can be a bit annoying for a reserved Brit. When we first got married, I considered it outrageous that my parents-in-law would ask me where I was going whenever I went out alone. You have to be assertive and set boundaries if you want any privacy. With regard to Israeli society in general, I think the lack of order is the biggest culture shock, and the lack of manners. My husband used to laugh at me whenever he saw me waiting patiently for my turn while people just stepped in front of me. I think I've learned to be a bit ruder now!

In your blog, you mention an expatriate community. There are many expats in Nazareth including Americans, Swiss, British, and South African, mostly married to Christian Arabs. We all come from different backgrounds with different stories. It's funny how we have all come together in this particular place and have similar experiences with the culture here.  It hasn't been easy living here over the past 11 years. Some things do still drive me mad, but I really consider it a privilege to be part of such a rich culture. Whenever I go back to England now it's like another huge culture shock over there!!! 

Melissa, I enjoyed your perspective on life here. Thank you for sharing.

Private vs. Public Transportation Costs

Commenter Tamiri from Elkana wrote about her school-bus situation in the Israel section of the forum Imamother.com. She gave me permission to post an edited version.

We have a son going into 8th grade. With no boys' school here, boys must attend school outside the yishuv (settlement) beginning in 7th grade. The moetza (local council) covers busing for boys who go to school in Nechalim or Petach Tikva. Otherwise, parents are on their own. Our son's school is in Ramat Gan. 
Bussing costs NIS 720/month, or about NIS 35/day. Last year we paid NIS 625. This sum is over and above the tuition we pay, ~NIS 700/month plus books etc. [MiI: NIS 700 is a bargain for boys these days. 900-1500 is common.]

Last year we paid for this luxury busing. This year, we are reluctant.  This seems to be an inordinate amount of money to be spending on one child. 

Tamiri goes on to explain that she can find a slightly less convenient arrangement where he can take the public bus for NIS 6/day. In the end, she found a teacher from the school willing to drive the boys in exchange for sharing the cost of gas. (The driver could not charge more without having liability insurance.)

We have a similar situation regarding hasa'ah (private bussing) for my 7th-grader costing NIS 370/month, or double what the local bus costs. (We live much closer to school than Tamiri.) When my oldest son attended there had been several recent bus bombings, and we sent him on the private hasa'ah (transportation). If he missed the hasa'ah, he had to pay for the local bus anyway (we don't drive them). So he took the public bus beginning in 8th grade. This meant that he needed to walk 10-15 minutes from the bus stop to school, with the option of catching a second bus to school in a downpour (I doubt he ever did). When the school had a program late at night (popular in Israel) when we would not want him taking the bus, the hasa'ah made a special trip. So we would have to drive him or arrange a carpool.

Fortunately my 7th-grader loves public busses and readily agreed to use the public bus; he already found an eighth-grade neighbor to travel with.

Using cloth diapers in Israel

This post can now be found at AMotherinIsrael.com

From your education correspondent in Tel Aviv

"I'm a blogger," I told the young woman who asked for my name and ID at the press conference Sunday morning at the Likud Party Headquarters.
The woman smiled.(
I guess she knew that already. . .

There I was, with Rafi, Carl, RivkA and her husband Moshe. [Lurker must have been lurking too much; I didn't see him.] Scouting the room for Hebrew bloggers I found Anat and Dalia, who cover education for the site Avodah Shechorah. "Avodah Shechorah" means black labor, or getting down to the nitty gritty. The site advocates for Israel to become a welfare state, which is not exactly in line with Bibi's economic goals. But the topic today was education.

Bibi made a special point of greeting the bloggers. I had a better view than at NBN. About twenty journalists attended but more were clearly expected.

Bibi is running for prime minister as head of the Likud, and in honor of the new school year he presented the Likud party's education plan.

His main points:

• As prime minister he would make education a priority, equal in weight to security and the economy. He would head an "education cabinet" and give full authority to the education minister, just as Sharon gave Bibi as economic minister.
  
• Only education can close the vast socio-economic gaps in Israel. Wealthy parents can hire tutors to overcome a weak system, while the poor are left behind. The number of years spent in school affect income and employment more than the parents' education or socio-economic status.
• The level of Israeli students has declined by all measures, despite additional sums invested in education. Israel spends an average amount of money per student, yet our international test scores scrape bottom.
• He studied the successes and failures of other countries, claiming that this method worked when he [supposedly] brought the Israeli economy back from the verge of collapse in the early part of the decade.
  
• His plan focuses on teacher quality, the most important factor in a child's success.
  

How does Netanyahu plan attract good teachers to the educational system?

1. Carefully screen candidates and raise the standards of acceptance. He pointed out that doctors and psychologists require years of training and are not well compensated (in Israel), yet because of prestige spots are still in demand.
   
2. Invest in these high-quality teacher students by providing a high level of pedagogical and academic skills and knowledge.
3. Continue to train new teachers on the job, pairing them with more experienced mentors. Build support for new teachers within the system.
   
4. Raise salaries, but don't count on that alone. France and Australia, respectively, doubled and tripled teacher salaries with no visible improvement in performance.
   

Teachers, what do you think? Is it possible, in theory and in practice, to raise the level of prestige and professional satisfaction within the teaching profession?

Netanyahu presented the five main points of his plan:

1. Tovim lehoraah--the best students go to education (as outlined above). Increase salary and professional training.
2. Give administrators independence and authority, train them in management, and make them accountable for the results.
3. Intervene quickly to assist weak students, especially in the early years. Keep track of progress and address problems the day they are discovered; the next school year is probably too late.
   
4. Return to core subjects. Israeli students spend 56% of their classtime, as opposed to 93% in OECD countries, on reading, writing, literature, math, science, foreign language, history and citizenship.
5. Return values to education: Citizenship, democracy, respect for teachers and principals, zionism and moreshet yisrael (Jewish tradition), and discipline. He spoke about the danger of anti-Israel sentiments in our schools.
   

RivkA asked about cheating. [I was also wondering how Bibi planned to bring discipline back to informal Israeli "zeh lo fair" classrooms.] Bibi said that you need to develop a framework of personal responsibility and accountability. He didn't specify how he would accomplish this.

A reporter asked about the charedim, who recently won the right for their schools to be exempt from core subjects. Bibi replied that we must work within the political reality, and added that even now more charedim and Arabs, including Arab women, are entering the workforce.

I asked about the wisdom of implementing new reforms so soon after the recent Dovrat reforms (now known as Ofek), which aroused strong objections from teachers. He replied that the teachers' union asked him the same question. He plans to uphold with the positive elements of those reforms, and not make change for its own sake. I was hoping he would be more specific, but he only mentioned the renewed emphasis on Zionist education as lacking in Ofek.

Carl and Rafi have included more detail in their posts. RifkA has so far posted only about the logistics of her morning.

AddeRabbi posted his take on the plan, pointing out that Bibi did not bring up the issue of private schools. This concerns me too and I wish I had asked about it. I have read some of AddeRabbi's posts on the private school system in Israel. As I understand it, he believes that parents choose private schools because of supposedly higher educational standards. But Israeli parents, at least in the religious sector, will choose exclusivity over education every time. This holds true from the most modern Orthodox to the most haredi. (According to my husband, parents see schools as a club for parents.)

Bibi mentioned drawing good teachers to development towns and other poorer areas, but if he said how he plans to do this, I missed it. Funneling more educational resources to the lower socioeconomic sectors is a good idea. Because from where I sit, "protekzia" and exclusivity are the name of the educational game.