A Contented Moment

It’s the final few weeks of the summer break; the end is in sight. The kids are a little restless.

After a hot, humid day when no-one felt like going out, we ventured out for pizza. The older kids each bought a friend with and we ordered our food then looked for a table. There were many to choose from but all those free were covered in bits of pizza, spilled drink and, predictably, a selection of ants, wasps and flies. I asked if a table could be cleaned for us and the response was typical customer service, Israeli style; I was given a handful of paper towel to wipe down a table myself!

This week my husband returned from the UK. He came with treats for each of us; chocolate, magazines, teabags. It is lovely to have him back home. I asked him to bring me some colored grout from the UK as I prefer it to the grout I can buy locally here. Unfortunately for him, the grout caused a security alert at Heathrow as El Al could not understand why anyone would want to take home such an item. After much discussion his luggage was finally accepted.

Later in the week I sat outside in the shade of the garden, finishing off a mosaic table. As I used the newly delivered grout and watched the table transform itself as the grout accentuated the design, I had a moment of quiet satisfaction. It occurred to me that this new life of ours really is different to the life we left behind and I felt truly blessed. I am out of the ‘rat race’; I have no rush hour stress, I breathe in clean, hillside air, I am able to work from home around the needs of my kids and I live in a friendly community with good facilities. I sat there, thankful to be in Israel and doing something that gives me a lot of satisfaction.

Sometimes it is important to remind ourselves of the things we are doing right. It goes a long way to counteract our experiences at the other end of the scale. Living in Israel we can have days when people are rude to us, bureaucracy weighs us down and seemingly simple tasks take a ridiculous amount of time and effort. It was nice to have my moment of contentment and I shall hold on to that feeling as I go through a week full of frantic pre school preparations, liaisons with the tax office to get my paperwork ready for some new work I am undertaking in September and continued (and so far unsuccessful) sleep training with the baby.

Sharona B

www.judaicamosaica.com

A Strange Place To Learn

It seems we are part of a growing phenomenon. I was reading an article today in the Jerusalem Report about growing trends in aliyah. More olim are either retaining their previous jobs from their original countries or getting jobs which involve travel. They commute between countries, sometimes for regular short periods or else for longer stints with breaks in between. My husband has recently begun traveling to the UK. He has been selling our Judaica there and is also in the process of setting up another business.

The salaries here are low compared with the UK/US, even for skilled jobs. Many are deciding that earning sterling/dollars is a better way to guarantee an income which has some hope of supporting their families. Our businesses are both new and time will tell if this way of working will prove successful for us.

Today I had a strange experience. I went to the dentist. Nothing unusual in that. However, some dentists aim to relax their patients with pleasant chatter or background music. This one put on a shiur for me to listen to. In the past I have learned Torah at home, in synagogue, in the houses of others, but never in the dentists chair whilst having my tooth drilled! I think, on balance, I prefer more traditional options!

However, my willingness to develop my religious knowledge appeared to have an immediate pay-off. Feeling a little numb, both in the mouth and from the 300 shekel dentist bill, I went to the supermarket to buy some groceries. When I walked in the cashier waved me over and told me that she had a 200 shekel voucher from my store loyalty card which she could take off my shopping bill. How’s that for timing? Any connection…?!

By the way…. no sign of the tortoise all day today. I searched around the garden and also peered over the borders, in case he had fallen down and needed rescuing. No sign at all. Is he still in our garden, buried and out of sight? Has he escaped and is jubilantly strutting his stuff in the wild? Has he taken a tumble and fallen somewhere out of sight? I actually feel a little worried about him and will have another root around for him tomorrow.