Is life difficult in Israel

My youngest child goes to pre-school, called “gan” in Israel, six days a week. I have to pick him up from gan every day in the middle of the afternoon. I also have to bring him a snack. Near every gan is a playground, what he calls a park.

So every day after I pick him up, he wants to go to the park. He is very insistent, even though it is not as if he doesn’t actually play all day at his pre-school. Therefore every day I have to spend an extra 30 minutes to an hour sitting with him while he eats his snack and enjoying watching him playing in the park before we can go home and I can get back to my work and chores.

It’s about 2 in the morning, Sunday morning, Israeli time. I just returned home from the first night of selichos. Our synagogue has started a tradition of a musical first night of selichos. Saying the familiar liturgy combined with the niggunim from Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and others turned out to be more moving than I anticipated. We usually think of selichos like tachanun and I wanted to be serious, but needing to sing and hum along with everyone else in the synagogue – well, it was hard not to get into a good and happy mood. Looking around at everyone singing together as a community, it was hard not to be filled with joy realizing that we are preparing for our annual accounting to the Creator of all. To realize that the awesome power that created a universe (and more) far beyond our comprehension gave us His guidebook – the Torah – and each year, like a caring parent, expectantly awaits our return to His ways so He can grant us His blessings, how can one not be overwhelmed by joy. As children are always seeking to know that their parents are constantly watching and aware of them, so too, deep inside, we are giddy with joy knowing that we too are always being watched over.

Last week was election day in Israel and it is a national holiday of sorts. That meant that I had to take off work (and of course do today’s work and tomorrow’s work tomorrow). The kids were out of school so I was required to spend the day playing and having fun with them. The polling places are all within walking distance, so we went there as a family and had to see all of our neighbors going and coming from the polls. Voting is strictly regulated and we needed to show our voter registration card and formal ID to be able to vote. There is no chance of being able to vote multiple times in various locations to make sure the candidate I want has a better chance of winning. The voting is done with a paper slip that is pre-printed with the party name – you select one and put it in an envelope, seal the envelope, and put it in the ballot box. No chance of having some sort of electronic ballot issue or hanging chads changing the fate of the election in your favor. There are no initiatives or other issues on the ballot, no myriad of other positions (commissioner for some unknown government entity, no local judges who claim impartiality, etc.) – voting is just way too simple and easy and fast – does it lose its importance when it only takes 45 seconds to vote. The voting is often taking place at schools and political parties are outside the school gates handing you literature and stickers for the kids – all manner of paraphernalia to get you vote their way, but there is no pressure from any of them. What happened to the good ol’ days of having the black panthers terrorizing you into voting for their candidate. I guess since a large portion of the population in the town I live in is armed and open carry, perhaps it is not easy to intimidate anyone.