"I think we are going to be friends."

Last night, candle lighting for Shabbat in Jerusalem was at 6:20 pm. At around 4:15, I was on the phone with a close friend in Cambridge. This friend is one whom we can (and often do) call last minute for Shabbat meals or other plans. It goes both ways - they can (and do) call us last minute as well. While I was on the phone, "the Israel phone" (the phone we use to make and receive calls within Israel) rang. Pentheus answered the Israel phone, and all I heard him say was that he would have me call back shortly. The Israel call was from the mother of the Australian-Canadian-American-Israeli boy (Gideon) whom the WK met at the Moshava Park. Apparently, Gideon had told his mother (Olamit) about our family, and Olamit was calling to invite us to Shabbat lunch the following day. Olamit apologized repeatedly for calling so late, but admitted that she's kind of always like that - doing things at the last minute. I told her how I had just been on the phone with a friend with whom we could make last minute plans, and not to worry about it. I accepted the invitation and asked what we could bring. Olamit said we needn't bring anything, so I said we would bring a couple of bottles of wine. After I hung up with Olamit around 4;45, Pentheus and I talked about how kind it was for Olamit to invite us; after all, she knows nothing about us except that her 12 year-old son met some American kids at the park. We talked about how although certainly it was very kind, it is a bit unusual to invite strangers over last minute. At around 4:55, the Israel phone rang again. It was Olamit calling to ask if we had any challah to bring to lunch, as she didn't have any and now all of the stores were closed. (At around 2 or 2:30 pm on Fridays, almost all of the stores in Jerusalem close to prepare for the Sabbath. I laughed and said that we could. When Olamit asked why I laughed, I reminded her about my earlier conversation with my friend in Cambridge. Olamit commented, "I think we are going to be friends."

So, this afternoon we went to Gideon's house to Shabbat lunch. The family was lovely and very interesting. Olamit is originally from Melbourne, Australia where her father is a prominent rabbi (http://www.laiblwolf.com/press/bio.php). Olamit made aliyah to Israel 6 years ago after stints in Canada and Teaneck, NJ. The Australian community in Jerusalem is quite close, and Olamit had invited 2-3 other Australian families to lunch as well. You can't believe the amount of food that Olamit had made for a "last minute" meal for 13 people: gefilte fish, Israeli salad, quinoa salad, egg salad, and tahini with challah as first course; followed by schnitzel (sort of a flattened breaded chicken), tongue, chicken and vegetable kabobs, and corned beef as main courses; plus wine, soft drinks and scotch. Add to that the fact that Olamit and her family had just moved to this dira from Northern Israel 10 days ago!

Lunch was very nice, and we enjoyed meeting and talking with Gideon's family and the company. After dessert was served, Gideon's older brother (in 11th grade now) asked when the U.S. elections were. We told him early November, and his next question was, "Who are you voting for?" It's very different in Israel in terms of asking people questions like that (and other questions like "How much money do you make?" "How much did you pay for your house?", etc.). Few things in Israel are private. Before we had a chance to answer the voting question, there was a long, heated discussion about Obama and his position on Israel. They felt very strongly that Obama has been and, if elected, will continue to be terrible for Israel. They were upset that Obama would not formally state that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, that Obama had only visited Israel once before he was elected in 2008, that Obama was not strong enough on Iran, etc. Everyone who spoke argued from facts, not rhetoric, and I learned a lot about every action any recent U.S. president has ever taken with respect to Israel.

They repeatedly said that it's easy to be in the United States and to be idealistic about Israel and peace in the region, but that the vision American Jews have about Israel is "a pipe dream" that will never be. According to them, the reality is that there will never be peace between Israel and her neighbors, and that if Israel wants to exist, it has to do what it needs to do to protect itself, including bombing Iranian nuclear facilties. One of the men kept saying, "You really believe that there can be peace, mate? You really think Israel doesn't have to act like this to survive?" Olamit leaned over to me at one point and said that her parents (and the parents of one of the other families) were children of Holocaust survivors, and that fact totally informed their political opinions: "the issues are black and white. If you are a Jew, you're a Jew and you do everything you can to support the Jewish state and nothing less."

The conversation was fascinating to me, and for once, I just listened as everyone yelled back and forth. What was funny was that as soon as the political discussion stopped, everyone went right back to the other conversations about weather, school, upcoming Jewish holidays, etc. The group kept telling us that it's the Australian way to argue like that, and that it's good to hear and voice different opinions.

On a totally unrelated note, remember the car that had the English graffiti "Israel loves Iran" on it? Yesterday, I walked by that same car. The "Israel loves Iran" is still there, but now "N'kee ohtee!" ("Clean me!") in Hebrew is written right next to it.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Israeli drivers and how terrible they are. We've made a few other observations related to driving in Israel. First, there seem to be an unbelievable amount of student drivers on the Jerusalem roads. The student drivers have the Hebrew letter "lamed" (for the Hebrew word "lohmehd" which means "learner" or "student") in a highlighted box atop the car, similar to what a taxicab might have. We see the "lamed" cars all the time, at all hours of the day. Frequently, we see the "lamed" cars on Shabbat; the student driver is a female Arab woman, wearing her hijab.

I think Israelis know how unsafely they drive. By far, the most common bumper sticker we see is this:

which means, "Watch your distance." Tailgating is a huge problem, especially because everyone drives so fast!

I believe I have also written about the "agallah" (sort of a backpack on wheels) that many pull to and from the grocery stores.

The WK has mentioned on numerous occasions how embarrassed he is when I'm with him and have the agallah. The WK always asks if he can walk ahead of me, or whether I can leave it outside the school building if I have it when I go to his classroom. Yesterday, when I walked the boys to school, I had the agallah so that I could go shopping for food to eat on Shabbat. Per usual, the WK requested I not walk too close to him, so that no-one would think he was associated with the woman pulling the agallah. However, the CK requested to pull the agallah, The request surprised me, considering the CK typically does whatever his older brother does. As the CK pulled the agallah, he volunteered that he wanted to pull it because it reminded him "of the suitcases we have with wheels, the ones we'll be taking back to Cambridge when we leave Israel." Hmm, I fear that doesn't bode well for school tomorrow morning. We'll see.