Post Script to Where Do I Start?

I need to qualify my previous comments.

When you go on your pilot trip, if you are on an organized tour, it will be quite pleasant for the most part.  The red carpet is rolled out for tourists.  Tourism is a (if not the) mainstay of the economy. 

The only negative experience that sticks out in my mind from my first visit (a 10 day whirlwind tour) was the disorganization and chaos at the Buffet in the larger hotels.  This wasn't due to the staff, who were generally kind, courteous, and attentive for the most part.  The problem was that "me first" mentality that I guess persists in some other countries as well, since the room was mainly filled with tourists from around the world.  Every meal served in this dining room was a shove-fest, as though the food would be taken away without a moment's notice.  I'm not kidding you, the majority of the people acted as if it was their last meal on earth.  I don't push or shove others, and I don't like it when it is done to me. We all should have more consideration for one another, human to human, in our interactions.   

Let me elaborate on a different point. When you become friends with Israelis, the whole scene changes. Friends become family.  They will literally take the shirt off of their back and give it to you if you need it.  Once accepted, there is no end to the hospitality.  It just sometimes takes a little time to get to that point. My observations in the previous post were not of friends.  But my question remains:  If we as Jews are to be kind to strangers...foreigners... widows and orphans....why was this not the rule instead of the exception in Israel, of all places?  I would say random acts of kindness/courtesy only occurred about 10% of the time during my extended visits in Israel over the last four years.  Pity.

My 'bad' experiences were mostly (but not solely) with Secular Israelis in a quasi-observant town. I am more in the Torah observant category, and maybe that's the basis for my perception.  Your experience might be totally different....I can only speak for myself.  Perhaps in a more 'religious' environment, kindness would prevail.  But that shouldn't be the criterion. We must live the Torah wherever life takes us and in whatever situations arise.  Regardless of observance level or religion (or not) of those whose paths we cross. 

And even a non-observant Jew can still be kind.  :) 

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