Where Do I Start?

I'm tempted to say at the Beginning, but that would be too simple!  Life doesn't often work like that anyway.

First off, you MUST make a pilot trip to Israel.  You need to know what you are getting yourself into.  You can dream all you want about a life in the Holy Land.  Reality can be a very different thing.  It's not a place of rainbows and roses.  Although every cloud does have a silver lining, roses still have thorns.  Israel can be a very thorny place.

I am not being a hater.  But if you come to Israel expecting the American, Canadian, or Western European lifestyle you are leaving behind, you may well be sadly disappointed.

It's a hard life in Israel.  The cost of living is higher with salaries generally lower. Patience and manners are often lacking. 

The homes/apartments are smaller.  Newer construction will have "open concept" in its design.....but there's a price tag attached.  The walls are cinder block, covered with plaster.  Wood is expensive to import, and I've been told they don't harvest from their own forests....that is not allowed.  So the very style of architecture that you may be accustomed to does not exist. 

It's very crowded, especially in the bigger cities.  I am a country girl, so I tend to shy away from the hustle and bustle.  If you choose to visit the metropolitan areas, I suggest using mass transit whenever possible.  It's quite affordable and very predictable.  If you choose to drive your own vehicle, the driving is one issue, but the parking is quite another!  Trust me, you will spend more time circling around looking for a parking spot than the quantity of time on the "autobus". 

Let me mention something about driving.  Gasoline is quite expensive.  My friend filled up his SUV and it cost $127.00 at the exchange rate at the time....and he was not running on empty.  It's normal for them, but shocking for an American when gas at the time was about $1.85 a gallon.  To fill up my little car was then a whopping $20 in the US!! Of course, it is sold in Litres over there, but the end result is still the same. 

Driving is a cross between the game called "chicken" and Nascar.  Yes, there are rules of the road, but most don't obey them.  Red and white striped curbs mean NO PARKING.  But I have a picture I need to find and post showing about 8 cars in a red and white no parking zone in front of a bank, with one car actually up on the sidewalk!!  I asked my friends, "Why do they do this?  Isn't this a towing zone?"  Their reply?  "Yes, but they're only going to be inside for a few minutes!"  Seriously?  (Found the photos--here ya go!)

Then there was the day we were driving to Tel Aviv.  It was a Highway, with 3 lanes in each direction.  The curb along this residential stretch was blue and white, permit parking only.   We round a bend in the road, and there is a car PARKED in the far right traffic lane, double parked next to the cars parked legally with their permits.  IN THE LANE OF TRAFFIC!  No hazard lights.  Our driver just calmly swerves into the middle lane to avert a collision, and continues on as if that were normal.  "That car back there was PARKED in a traffic lane!" I remark, incredulously.  Reply?  "Yeah, he probably forgot something in his apartment....he'll be back in a minute". 

Maybe where you come from this is normal to you.  It's NOT normal for the Western half of these United States!  Just sayin'.  These are some of the things that you will have to get used to.

There's no such things as a line.  You may even go to a place where you must take a number and wait.  But be warned, it doesn't help much.  Everyone considers their time and their problem more important than yours.  The post office is the leader in this arena. 

Every country I have visited so far has an orderly way to accomplish meeting your buying needs.  It's an unwritten rule of common courtesy to wait your turn in line.  Newsflash:  It doesn't exist in Israel.  Whether you go to buy fast food, check into a hotel, check out of a supermarket, or bring your purchases to the cashier at a clothing store or pharmacy, there will be people literally trampling over you (as if you were invisible) to get to the head of the line.  I do not know why this is.  It's what I have labeled the "me first" mentality.  It was so disheartening to witness.  Where is Love Your Neighbor?  It does exist, but it's in the minority, unfortunately.  So sad.

If you were to smile at a stranger as you passed by, more often than not you will get a suspicious scowl instead of a smile in return.  Suspicion abounds if they consider you too friendly. Manners betray that you are a foreigner.  Don't be expecting an "excuse me, I'm so sorry!" if someone bumps into you by accident.  They just keep right on walking.  Doors will not be held open by the men for women, or even for mothers who might be pushing a stroller.  And getting in or out of an elevator should be considered Olympic sport!  Again, there is no courtesy..... Before you get ON an elevator, the people inside need to exit. Isn't this common sense?  Good luck.  The people will POUR in and block the path before you have a chance to get out.  It's the same situation trying to get in. The doors open and there is no order to the loading and unloading. 

Yes, these stories and many more were part of my reality check when I spent time in Israel.  My US friends can't imagine why I would go back for more.  At first, I wasn't sure I could handle my frustration and disappointment.  But I did a little Torah study that changed my mind.  We are taught to be kind to strangers.  As a new immigrant, I will be a stranger among my own people.  It is my goal to shine my light wherever I go.  All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the flame of one little candle.  It may be the hardest thing God has ever asked of me, but I will greet those I meet with a smile, and hopefully a kind word.  I will open doors.  I will say 'excuse me', and I will STILL say please and thank you.  I will live my life as if kindness depended on me.  Because it does.