5 Pieces of Information that New Olim Should Know

I'm playing around with a new tool called Sleeqo which automates the whole meme process. This is my first meme creation using Sleeqo. Be sure to try it out yourself!

5 Pieces of Information that New Olim Should Know

by triLcat
Rules: Post 5 things that a new immigrant to Israel needs to know. No politics!

1. Israeli doctors don't have thermometers. You're expected to have taken your temperature (or your child's) at home.
2. If you want to make a graham cracker crust in Israel, you use tea biscuits.
3. The best time of year to buy new dishes, pots, and pans (in terms of deals) is right before Pesach.
4. We don't have kool-aid here, we have syrup, called petel, which means raspberry. It's called petel even if it's grape flavored.
5. Almost every supermarket has delivery for about 15 shekels. If you buy enough, it may be free. You can also order groceries online or by phone.

Click here to fill in this meme

If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem!

These are the movies (this was before video camcorders...) and the radio broadcasts from 1967 when the city of Jerusalem was reunited!

If I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning, let my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my greatest joy.

Today we celebrate the reuniting of Jerusalem. May it never be torn apart again.

Being Helpful

Today, someone pointed out on the Modiin e-mail list that Terem, our emergency first aid center is open only 1pm to midnight. They asked what to do in an emergency at any other time of day. Since apparently, this is not a directly Modiin related issue, the moderators of the list rejected my answer.

Since I'd spent a while translating & researching, I'm going to post the information here. If you don't live in Israel, this will probably not help you.

The list included below is translated from: http://www.maccabi-health.co.il/site/HE/macabi.asp?pi=417&doc_id=854

Terem is an emergency medical care facility which charges around 70 shekels for a visit. In certain cases, you may be referred to Terem by a doctor, in which case the health fund (kuppa) will pay the 70 shekel deductible. In some cases, the Terem doctor may send you to the emergency room (ER).

If you have an emergency at a time that Terem is not open/available, you call your kuppa's moked (maccabi is *3555) and ask to speak to the nurse. If it is an ER situation, they will fax the ER a "hithayvut" and you will not have to pay for it.

If you go to the ER between 1am and 6am without a "hithayvut," you are charged 139 shekels
Between 6am and 1am, you are charged full price (566 shekels) if you don't have hithayvut or a referral from a doctor.

*There are a whole bunch of situations in which you don't have to pay for ER treatment:
1. a new broken bone
2. a serious dislocation of shoulder or elbow
3. a wound which requires stitches or similar "sealing"
4. inhalation of a foreign object
5. objects in the eye
6. Cancer patients
7. Hemophilia patients
8. CF patients
9. A pregnant woman in labor
10. Anyone who is brought in by ambulance from a public place
11. Babies under 2 months of age with a fever of 38.5 or higher
12. Dialasys patients
13. Rape victims
14. Victims of domestic violence
15. Terror victims

Psalm for Today

In memory of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

א אל-נקמות יהוה; אל נקמות הופיע.
ב הינשא, שופט הארץ; השב גמול, על-גאים.
ג עד-מתיי רשעים יהוה: עד-מתיי, רשעים יעלוזו.
ד יביעו ידברו עתק; יתאמרו, כל-פועלי אוון.
ה עמך יהוה ידכאו; ונחלתך יענו.
ו אלמנה וגר יהרוגו; ויתומים ירצחו.
ז ויאמרו, לא יראה-יה; ולא-יבין, אלוהי יעקוב.
ח בינו, בוערים בעם; וכסילים, מתיי תשכילו.
ט הנוטע אוזן, הלוא ישמע; אם-יוצר עין, הלוא יביט.
י היוסר גויים, הלוא יוכיח: המלמד אדם דעת.
יא יהוה--יודע, מחשבות אדם: כי-המה הבל.
יב אשרי, הגבר אשר-תייסרנו יה; ומתורתך תלמדנו.
יג להשקיט לו, מימי רע-- עד ייכרה לרשע שחת.
יד כי, לא-ייטוש יהוה עמו; ונחלתו, לא יעזוב.
טו כי-עד-צדק, ישוב משפט; ואחריו, כל-ישרי-לב.
טז מי-יקום לי, עם-מרעים; מי-יתייצב לי, עם-פועלי אוון.
יז לולי יהוה, עזרתה לי-- כמעט, שכנה דומה נפשי.
יח אם-אמרתי, מטה רגלי; חסדך יהוה, יסעדני.
יט ברוב שרעפיי בקרבי-- תנחומיך, ישעשעו נפשי.
כ היחוברך, כיסא הוות; יוצר עמל עלי-חוק.
כא יגודו, על-נפש צדיק; ודם נקי ירשיעו.
כב ויהי יהוה לי למשגב; ואלוהיי, לצור מחסי.
כג וישב עליהם, את אונם-- וברעתם יצמיתם;
יצמיתם, יהוה אלוהינו

Psalm 94

1 O LORD, the God who avenges,
O God who avenges, shine forth.

2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
pay back to the proud what they deserve.

3 How long will the wicked, O LORD,
how long will the wicked be jubilant?

4 They pour out arrogant words;
all the evildoers are full of boasting.

5 They crush your people, O LORD;
they oppress your inheritance.

6 They slay the widow and the alien;
they murder the fatherless.

7 They say, "The LORD does not see;
the God of Jacob pays no heed."

8 Take heed, you senseless ones among the people;
you fools, when will you become wise?

9 Does he who implanted the ear not hear?
Does he who formed the eye not see?

10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish?
Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?

11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man;
he knows that they are futile.

12 Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD,
the man you teach from your law;

13 you grant him relief from days of trouble,
till a pit is dug for the wicked.

14 For the LORD will not reject his people;
he will never forsake his inheritance.

15 Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,
and all the upright in heart will follow it.

16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?

17 Unless the LORD had given me help,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.

18 When I said, "My foot is slipping,"
your love, O LORD, supported me.

19 When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul.

20 Can a corrupt throne be allied with you—
one that brings on misery by its decrees?

21 They band together against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.

22 But the LORD has become my fortress,
and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.

23 He will repay them for their sins
and destroy them for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will destroy them.

An Israeli War Song

This is a song written years and years ago. It was remade this year, and it still rings true.

After the attack on Ashkelon yesterday, it seems very much like we're at war, whether the government says so or not. The translation follows the Hebrew.

האם את בוכה או צוחקת?

פגז אחרון התפוצץ ושתק,
עטפה הדממה את העמק.
ילדה בגדות יצאה ממקלט,
ואין בתים עוד במשק.
אמא, היה לנו בית ירוק
עם אבא ובובה ושסק.
הבית איננו, ואבא רחוק,
אימי את בוכה או צוחקת?

הביטי למעלה, בתי, אל ההר,
ההר שהיה כמפלצת.
עוד יש תותחים, ילדתי, על ההר,
אך הם מאיימים על דמשק.

הביטי למעלה, בתי, לגולן,
שם יש חיילים, אך להבא -
דגלם בצבעים של כחול ולבן,
בוכה וצוחק שם גם אבא.
יהיה לנו בית ירוק, ילדתי,
עם אבא ובובה ושסק,
ולא עוד אימה, ילדתי, ילדתי,
בתי, את בוכה או צוחקת?

שקיעות באדום וזריחות בזהב
פוגשות בירוק ובמים.
ובלי תותחים של אויב על ההר
יוריק עוד העמק כפליים.

זורם הירדן, מתפתל כשיכור,
פריחה את העמק נושקת.
ואיש לא יסב את מימיו לאחור,
בתי, את בוכה או צוחקת.
זורם הירדן, בין גדות יעבור,
פריחה את העמק נושקת,
ואיש לא יסב את מימיו לאחור,
בתי, את בוכה או צוחקת.
בתי, את בוכה או צוחקת.


Are You Crying or Laughing?

The last shell exploded and was quiet
The valley was wrapped in silence
A girl in [Kibbutz]Gadot left the shelter
And there are no more houses in the farm

"Mom, we had a green house
with Dad and a doll and a loquat [tree]
The house is gone and Daddy is far
Mom are you crying or laughing?"

"Look up, my daughter, at the mountain
The mountain that was like a monster
There are still cannons, my child, on the mountain,
But they threaten Damascus

"Look up, my daughter, to the Golan,
There are soldiers there, but from now on -
Their flag is colored blue and white,
Up there, Dad is crying and laughing too
We'll have a green house, my little girl,
With Daddy and a doll and a loquat
And no more fear, my girl, my girl
My daughter are you crying or laughing?

"Sunsets in red and sunrises in gold
Meet in the green and the water.
And without enemy cannons on the mountain
The valley will be twice as green.

"The Jordan flows, turning like a drunkard
The flowers of the valley it kisses
And no one will turn its waters back
My daughter, are you crying or laughing?
The Jordan flows, through [Kibbutz] Gadot it passes
The flowers of the valley it kisses
And no one will turn its waters back
My daughter, are you crying or laughing?
My daughter, are you crying or laughing?"

Random Thing I Love About Israel

That it's considered normal to play a song on the radio about the elf who goes and bends the bananas...

And that the video I found when I went to look for the song is sooooo cute and SO Israeli...

(warning, it contains a woman dancing and wearing pants at the same time...)

* Just realized that many of my readers will be horrified that I listen to music during Sfira. I actually did a whole lot of soul-searching and heard a shiur from a Rav at Bar Ilan which claimed that listening to music in private is not a problem during sfira. Since I am prone to depression and music helps, I'll take just about any heter I can get on this...

Independence!

I'm feeling a little bit of writer's block about Yom Haatzmaut this year.

Part of it is because I'm pregnant and there's this little person kicking at my insides distracting me from pretty much everything. Part of it is the weather. We're having what's called a Sharav. A Sharav occurs when a hot wind sweeps across the desert, carrying dust and pollen everywhere. As a result, those of us who have allergies and asthma are suffering pretty badly. As a new asthma sufferer, I haven't quite worked out the regimen for a sharav, so mostly I'm sitting with a mask on my face, inhaling vapors of saline solution because I'm afraid to have more bronchodilators and i can't take breathing the dry, dusty stuff that's passing for air.

Over at the Dry Bones Blog, there are some nice comments on Yom Haatzmaut. He appears not to be pregnant... :)

At SerandEz, Jameel is all ready for the chag.

Hopefully tomorrow, I'll be up for telling you about our barbecue/party in Moshav Tarum.
(if we manage to get there...)

t.c.

Beautiful Music

My husband doesn't like Israeli music, but I do. For me, being Jewish is so intertwined with being an Israeli that I can't help but love the music. Two days each year, the radio stations play the most beautiful songs all day. The first is Holocaust Remembrance Day, which was last week. The second, which is today, is Yom Hazikaron. Yom Hazikaron is not Memorial Day - at least not in the American sense of the term. Yom Hazikaron is a full-fledged day of mourning.

Today, the radio plays sad songs, songs written to those who are no longer with us, songs written by those who are no longer with us. A few years ago, several Israeli artists began a project called "Soon We will Become a Song." The project takes poems written by soldiers who were killed in battle and sets them to music. The artists then perform them so that their poetry lives on, their song lives on.

In Israel, there is one more time when we hear beautiful music. We hear the beautiful music when there is a terror attack, when someone is killed. Someday, we won't have to hear such beautiful music. Someday, we won't have to hear the beautiful songs written by our best and brightest who are no longer with us.

Yehi Zichram Baruch.

A Little Schizophrenia

It's almost Independence Day. But before we get there, we need to get through Yom Hazikaron, the day when we remember all the soldiers we've lost trying to keep our country.

I didn't realize how they did this so close together until my first year in Israel. Suffering from then undiagnosed pneumonia, I sat on my sister's couch, simply reading names off of the television screen. Channel one carries the names of soldiers killed in Israel's battles. The whole day, you just keep reading names. They keep going and going. If you move to channel two, you can find out who these names were. You can hear the songs they wrote, the poetry. You can meet the girlfriends, brothers, sisters, and parents they left behind. You can hear their last letters home, and you can almost get to know these mostly young boys who died so so early.

If you turn on the radio, you can hear every sad song ever written by an Israeli. You can hear about the children conceived after the Yom Kippur war. They say "you promised a dove with an olive branch." and they remind their parents "We've grown, we're now in the army...now we are men and women, now we dream babies. and that is why we aren't angry and we don't demand... you promised to keep your promises."

You'll hear Ehud Manor's song to his younger brother Yehuda. He remembers Yehuda's shining eyes solving a riddle, and he tells his brother, that his new son is beautiful as him, and he will be called Yehuda. Maybe you'll hear Shlomo Artzi talk about comforting a friend's wife. What I can tell you is that if you listen, you'll hear a plethora of songs of people crying for their friends.

For one day, you will be transported to a country where almost everyone has lost someone close to them in the battle for survival. And just as you sink into despair, you will remember why.

Because all at once, you'll hear the news, you'll hear that the Yom Haatzmaut ceremonies have begun, and then the news will end, and if you're watching television, you'll see Jewish children dancing. If you're listening to the radio, they'll suddenly play something happy, telling you that this is the holiday we've all waited for.

So how do we live with this schizophrenia? We have to. If we don't remember every soldier who died trying to give us safety, then what is this beautiful country worth?

This year, though, we commemorate another tragedy, one in which our own soldiers were used as tools to destroy what our brave citizens have built. This year, I understand why some Jews don't see the State of Israel as a miracle. This year, I see reason to mourn even on Yom Haatzmaut. This year, we commemorate the loss of homes and communities of Israeli Jews. And this year, even with all that's been lost, I still see the beauty of what is. I cry for those who lost their lives defending us. I cry for those who lost their homes from the governments stupidity and evil. Yet, still, in all the sadness, I see the children dancing, and they were born in Eretz Yisrael, and they've grown up in a Jewish country.

And I'm just a tiny bit envious of them.

Zionism.

For the first time since I moved to Israel, I will not be hanging a flag for Independence Day. It makes me very sad, but my husband feels very strongly about it, and his happiness is more important to me than a piece of cloth, no matter what it symbolizes to me.

He didn't, however, mention anything about blogging about it. (ah the beauty of loopholes).

Y's claim against Zionism is that the country of Israel was created for a specific kind of Jew. I'll buy that. There are a lot of dirty little secrets in the history of the country. There are stories of stolen Yemenite children, systematic removal of religion from newcomers, and more.

It's true that religious Jews were placed in non-religious kibbutzim to help them "get over all that backwards religion stuff." Last year, after our seder, one of our guests, an older man, said that he hadn't been at such a nice seder since he left Europe. He meant that he hadn't been at a religious seder since then, since he'd been placed on a kibbutz here in Israel.

So why am I still a Zionist? It's complicated. First, I have difficulty separating between the land and the country, because I know that the land I live on was fought for by secular Zionists and religious Jews alike. I know that the Zionists formed this country for some of the wrong reasons, but also for a lot of the right reasons. Since the country of Israel came into existence, any Jew can live in the land of Israel, for the first time in 2000 years.

Yesterday, I was at my niece's school for a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony. My niece was one of the soloist singers, and she was excellent, but what really bowled me over was hearing a hundred or more children singing "Hatikva" - the hope.

"Hatikva bat shnot alpayim" - The hope is two thousand years old
"L'hiyot am hofshi b'artzenu" - to be a free nation in our land
"Eretz Zion V'Yerushalayim" - the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

These children are growing up in the land of Israel, they have never experienced this hope, yet they are learning about it. They are learning that we waited two thousand years to live here.

And they live here.

If that's not a miracle, I can't imagine what would be.



*This post was sponsored by DrSavta.com, who provided the ride to the ceremony, as well as some of the raw material which created the aforementioned niece.