Early days in Haifa. Trips to the mall. Making friends - as someone chatty like I can - with the clerks at the record store.
After discussions about DVD/TV technology - multi-system, multi-region, DVD, PAL, NTSC etc. etc. - the inevitable (I guess) came out. Yup, I was a rabbi from the States. Discussion - brief - ensued.
Well, he was in his late 20's or early 30's. He had a solution for ha-matzav - the situation - in Israel. After all, he says, I'm not religious. Why be wedded to this piece of real estate? Why not let the United States just give us a state, let us move in and give Israel back to the Arabs? Probably cheaper than U.S. foreign aid anyway. Right? Certainly a novel solution to my ears.
By the time I got on the phone that evening with a friend, the perfect plan emerged in my conversation. The riff on his idea - the variations on his theme - just sprang full-blown from who knows where.
Not a state in the United States. No, there are Mexicans leaving lots of empty space down South of the Border - right? Matter of fact - a state in Mexico makes more sense. We could find one that has a climate not unlike Israel and - there you have it - a great transfer. A three-way swap - Mexicans to the States and Israelis to Mexico.
Besides, most Israelis already speak English. They could learn a third language just as easily. Besides, Spanish is "so difficult" for those of us Americans who think everyone should speak English and just not give us any more problems. Right?
Matter of fact, I continued, there are temples in Mexico. And, there are scholars who think they have proved that North American Indians are part of the lost tribes.
I think there's a real case here. Maybe he's struck on the solution. Yes, yes, the original two temples are in the Land of Canaan - but with a little creativity - we could do like the pilgrims and create a New Canaan in Mexico. Right?
Well - it was worth a try. The riff was a fun way to blow off steam and nerves the first week I was in Israel. The clerk's bright idea holds much more interest, though, bespeaking someone tired of the tension - a tiredness about which we - for the most part - know nothing.
Riff away this summer - you never know where your might end up!!
Rabbi Heath
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Heading for Parts Unknown - Well, Almost
My Alitalia itinerary included a plane change in Milan. As I left Milan on my way home to Boston, the boarding gates in the area to which I was directed by the electronic Departures board gave four choices to the intrepid traveler:
Boston, Casablanca, Minsk and Caracas
Boston certainly seemed like the "safe" choice - the others, places of story and somehow unreal.
You know what it's like when you hear someone you consider very ladylike - say Julie Andrews - swear like a sailor? Well, that's the same kind of disjuncture I experienced.
Casablanca? On a digital display board gate sign over a crowd of warm folks waiting with as much patience as they could muster? No. Of course, not. Where was Bogart? Where was the black and white? Why was this in color? And, so modern?
I must admit that if I were to have wandered off to parts unknown rather than coming home, it would have been to Minsk - on the hopes that it was a little cooler than the other locations. But, I really don't know where Minsk is (Poland? Russia? Pale of Settlement? Some country swallowed by the Soviet Union and then ejected into its own state 90 years later?) except in Jewish jokes and stories. Maybe it was part of the southeastern Europe heat wave where the temperatures soared over 100 for days on end and fires broke out in the countryside. It sounded cold. I imagined fur coats, fur hats and sleighs through snow - heading for homes warmed by roaring fires.
I had my choices. The road diverged in the wood with four paths.
I didn't choose the path less taken. Nope. I didn't head for parts unknown. I headed home.
Rabbi Heath
Boston, Casablanca, Minsk and Caracas
Boston certainly seemed like the "safe" choice - the others, places of story and somehow unreal.
You know what it's like when you hear someone you consider very ladylike - say Julie Andrews - swear like a sailor? Well, that's the same kind of disjuncture I experienced.
Casablanca? On a digital display board gate sign over a crowd of warm folks waiting with as much patience as they could muster? No. Of course, not. Where was Bogart? Where was the black and white? Why was this in color? And, so modern?
I must admit that if I were to have wandered off to parts unknown rather than coming home, it would have been to Minsk - on the hopes that it was a little cooler than the other locations. But, I really don't know where Minsk is (Poland? Russia? Pale of Settlement? Some country swallowed by the Soviet Union and then ejected into its own state 90 years later?) except in Jewish jokes and stories. Maybe it was part of the southeastern Europe heat wave where the temperatures soared over 100 for days on end and fires broke out in the countryside. It sounded cold. I imagined fur coats, fur hats and sleighs through snow - heading for homes warmed by roaring fires.
I had my choices. The road diverged in the wood with four paths.
I didn't choose the path less taken. Nope. I didn't head for parts unknown. I headed home.
Rabbi Heath
Friday, August 3, 2007
Roaming in Italy / Roaming in Israel
I can truthfully tell you that in the past 13 months I've been to Italy 4 times -- for a grand total of no more than 8 hours. My feet have touched terra firma - well, at least the tarmac - during plane changes to/from Israel.
I actually have Israeli dust in/on my Crocs - so the "roaming" is more apt than for Italy.
Wait - wait - not that kind of roaming - the other kind. Roaming - sure - that's the cell-phone lingo for "you didn't use our network so you're going to really pay for the phone call!"
Here's the Cingular/AT&T "damage" for my roaming in Italy and Israel. How close did you come when I challenged you to guess in one of my earliest blogs?
Italy - 6 minutes for ONLY $14.94 plus $1.87 International Tax. Now, you tell me, exactly who gets the International Tax? It's probably divided down to the last half cent between heaven only knows whom. I wonder how many days of negotiations it took to get it figured out??
Israel - 5 minutes for ONLY $6.45 plus $0.45 International Tax. A slightly better deal - possibly a different time of day. Who knows?!?
That's a total of 11 minutes (hold on to that number 11, it will be important in just a paragraph) for $21.39 plus $2.42 International Tax.
All my Cingular/AT&T "roaming" in Italy and Israel comes to a grand total of $23.81.
Eleven - 11 - the important number - - - yes, that's the price per minute I incurred when calling the States from Israel on my Israeli cell phone - 11 cents per minute.
Now, the bill came in increments of seconds rather than minutes. It was interesting to see a call for 1689 and realize - whew - I didn't shoot the whole wad - that's just seconds, not minutes.
Well, let's round up for some easy math (I was a music major, not a math major!). We can make it 1800 seconds and then easily divide by 60 seconds per minute and come up with a 30 minute phone call. More math! At 11 cents per minute, that's a grand total of $3.30.
Hmmmm. 30 minutes for $3.30 versus 11 minutes for $23.61.
Some one is laughing all the way to the bank with my pocketbook in hand!!
Here's to roaming -- roaming without highway banditry!!
Rabbi Heath
P.S. Despite the charges - it was vastly reassuring that I could flip my Cingular/AT&T phone open, wait for it to figure out it "wasn't in Kansas" anymore and adjust accordingly. Expensive, yet, for those times I wanted it - definitely worth it. As I learned at the phone company in quality training in the 1980's -- "quality" is conformance to requirements. The Cingular/At&T experience roaming overseas was "quality."
I actually have Israeli dust in/on my Crocs - so the "roaming" is more apt than for Italy.
Wait - wait - not that kind of roaming - the other kind. Roaming - sure - that's the cell-phone lingo for "you didn't use our network so you're going to really pay for the phone call!"
Here's the Cingular/AT&T "damage" for my roaming in Italy and Israel. How close did you come when I challenged you to guess in one of my earliest blogs?
Italy - 6 minutes for ONLY $14.94 plus $1.87 International Tax. Now, you tell me, exactly who gets the International Tax? It's probably divided down to the last half cent between heaven only knows whom. I wonder how many days of negotiations it took to get it figured out??
Israel - 5 minutes for ONLY $6.45 plus $0.45 International Tax. A slightly better deal - possibly a different time of day. Who knows?!?
That's a total of 11 minutes (hold on to that number 11, it will be important in just a paragraph) for $21.39 plus $2.42 International Tax.
All my Cingular/AT&T "roaming" in Italy and Israel comes to a grand total of $23.81.
Eleven - 11 - the important number - - - yes, that's the price per minute I incurred when calling the States from Israel on my Israeli cell phone - 11 cents per minute.
Now, the bill came in increments of seconds rather than minutes. It was interesting to see a call for 1689 and realize - whew - I didn't shoot the whole wad - that's just seconds, not minutes.
Well, let's round up for some easy math (I was a music major, not a math major!). We can make it 1800 seconds and then easily divide by 60 seconds per minute and come up with a 30 minute phone call. More math! At 11 cents per minute, that's a grand total of $3.30.
Hmmmm. 30 minutes for $3.30 versus 11 minutes for $23.61.
Some one is laughing all the way to the bank with my pocketbook in hand!!
Here's to roaming -- roaming without highway banditry!!
Rabbi Heath
P.S. Despite the charges - it was vastly reassuring that I could flip my Cingular/AT&T phone open, wait for it to figure out it "wasn't in Kansas" anymore and adjust accordingly. Expensive, yet, for those times I wanted it - definitely worth it. As I learned at the phone company in quality training in the 1980's -- "quality" is conformance to requirements. The Cingular/At&T experience roaming overseas was "quality."
Thursday, August 2, 2007
The End is Near!
Well, the trip is over. I might have a few more blog entries as I come across things when I unpack but - "the end is near" for this blog.
I really enjoyed having a way to share my experience in Israel. I know that many people didn't comment because it meant having to create an account and that all just seemed too complicated.
It will be more fun to have your comments in person and to chat about Israel with you.
Until then - be well and may your life be full of blessings.
Rabbi Heath
I really enjoyed having a way to share my experience in Israel. I know that many people didn't comment because it meant having to create an account and that all just seemed too complicated.
It will be more fun to have your comments in person and to chat about Israel with you.
Until then - be well and may your life be full of blessings.
Rabbi Heath
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Cards and Letters
If not already, then shortly, every one who
(1) lives in MA and made a contribution towards consecration, this trip and the rabbi's discretionary fund; and/or
(2) made a square for my beautiful quilt; and/or
(3) is from the congregation and had a birthday/anniversary in July; and/or
(4) was enrolled in 1st through 7th grade last year in our Religious School
should receive a notecard or postcard from Israel.
If I've forgotten anyone or something got lost in the mail, I do apologize.
The clerk at the post office on the U of Haifa campus chuckled each day as I brought in another stack of notecards/postcards to mail. As I slid notecards/postcards one-by-one into the post box, one of the young students was duly impressed that I was sending so many back to the States.
The post box itself has a slot that accommodates just one notecard/postcard at a time. An obvious security measure. It certainly does take longer than the traditional American "dump a bunch into the mailbox at one time" approach. You have to be sure everything's sealed and the stamps are affixed or they might come off as the notecard/postcard slides into the post box.
If you received a card that opened rather than being flat - I'm sure you've figured out by now that it doesn't "open the wrong way" - it opens "the Hebrew way."!!
If you think reading right to left is fun - then consider calendars where the week goes from right to left. That's quite another orientation to handle. But "they" do "drive on the right side of the road!!" At least that's one thing in our favor. Either the British weren't there long enough to have an impact in this regard or they weren't there at the crucial time when the automobile took over the roads.
May all your "wrong ways" really be "right ways."
Cheers, Rabbi Heath
(1) lives in MA and made a contribution towards consecration, this trip and the rabbi's discretionary fund; and/or
(2) made a square for my beautiful quilt; and/or
(3) is from the congregation and had a birthday/anniversary in July; and/or
(4) was enrolled in 1st through 7th grade last year in our Religious School
should receive a notecard or postcard from Israel.
If I've forgotten anyone or something got lost in the mail, I do apologize.
The clerk at the post office on the U of Haifa campus chuckled each day as I brought in another stack of notecards/postcards to mail. As I slid notecards/postcards one-by-one into the post box, one of the young students was duly impressed that I was sending so many back to the States.
The post box itself has a slot that accommodates just one notecard/postcard at a time. An obvious security measure. It certainly does take longer than the traditional American "dump a bunch into the mailbox at one time" approach. You have to be sure everything's sealed and the stamps are affixed or they might come off as the notecard/postcard slides into the post box.
If you received a card that opened rather than being flat - I'm sure you've figured out by now that it doesn't "open the wrong way" - it opens "the Hebrew way."!!
If you think reading right to left is fun - then consider calendars where the week goes from right to left. That's quite another orientation to handle. But "they" do "drive on the right side of the road!!" At least that's one thing in our favor. Either the British weren't there long enough to have an impact in this regard or they weren't there at the crucial time when the automobile took over the roads.
May all your "wrong ways" really be "right ways."
Cheers, Rabbi Heath
East or West, Home is Best
Well, I arrived safely and managed a good night's sleep on MA time. The Diet Coke helped some as did phone calls to family.
Today - errands - banks, mail, grocery store, gas. Haven't tackled the laundry yet, nor even really unpacked - except for my backpack.
It seemed funny to receive change in American coins and not in some variation of shekels.
The city buses here aren't green with a big Alef on them. Even if the city buses aren't green, nature is abundantly so. Not that there's not plenty of green in Haifa -just a different kind. It's as if it struggles to be green rather than exuding moist green.
I walked through the Logan airport walkways heading for passport control and saw two women airport employees. Thought to myself. Well, at least I'm back where they speak English in case I need help beyond my Hebrew skills. A few feet later I hear them conversing. Probably Portuguese. Stereotypes die hard.
It's good to be home. It's good to have my own wheels again.
See you soon, Rabbi Heath
Today - errands - banks, mail, grocery store, gas. Haven't tackled the laundry yet, nor even really unpacked - except for my backpack.
It seemed funny to receive change in American coins and not in some variation of shekels.
The city buses here aren't green with a big Alef on them. Even if the city buses aren't green, nature is abundantly so. Not that there's not plenty of green in Haifa -just a different kind. It's as if it struggles to be green rather than exuding moist green.
I walked through the Logan airport walkways heading for passport control and saw two women airport employees. Thought to myself. Well, at least I'm back where they speak English in case I need help beyond my Hebrew skills. A few feet later I hear them conversing. Probably Portuguese. Stereotypes die hard.
It's good to be home. It's good to have my own wheels again.
See you soon, Rabbi Heath
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