Shiputzim

"NMF #7, [insert heavy Israeli accent here], don't wo-orry, y'hiyeh b'seder, okey? Will be done, no problem."

Yeah, that's what they all say. Doing work here in Israel is a bit of three things: patience, exhaustion, and endless repetitions of y'hiyeh b'seder (it'll be okay). This happens even if you are doing minimal work, which I am. Minimal as in approximately 64 small things, which is better than two or three large things.

Be prepared if you are doing work here in Israel for the work to take approximately 2 months longer than expected. Be prepared for endless phone conversations that take approximately two minutes, and leave you with the feeling of desperation that the work you contracted for is never going to get done.

Be prepared for times to suddenly switch on you; that is, if they give you a time at all. (Make sure to ask for one- it pins them down to some number at least.) Be prepared for unexpected costs, unexpected visits, and expected things that never seem to occur.

But despite it all, you've got a Jewish workman looking at you and telling you, Hashem Yaazor (G-d will help). They sit down and toast you a l'chaim on your new apartment. They tell you about their family, about their lives, and they inquire tactfully after you and yours.

So, I'll forgive them everything, because when it comes down to it- they are so nice and kind while doing it all, that you just can't help but murmur "Y'hiyeh B'seder" along with them.

Favors and Neighbors

Yesterday, as I stood unpacking boxes with my door open, I was invited to, or more accurately, stuck in the middle of, meeting and greeting the new neighbors. Again, more accurately, I'm the new neighbor, and they all came to check me out.

All were, sweet, charming, and extremely nice and generous- inviting us for Shabbos meals, finding out if we needed anything, and so on. NBD charmed them as well- everyone loves a cute baby. (I'm biased, but she is cute.)

Our neighbors have also been generous about lending things: 'scotch' (that's scotch brite cleaning items for the Americans out there), a step stool to reach high cabinets, and a Gemara for poor Mr. NMF, who's Gemaros are somewhere in the endless array of boxes labeled 'sefarim'.

But, as we are neighbors, some of the Israeli's feel almost instantly comfortable. They asked us for our extra boxes, as they would be moving soon. They asked us if we had extra beds for guests to sleep in, since we wouldn't be there for Shabbos. And, you know- if I was in the US, I might almost find the fact that we, and them, started asking for favors almost as soon as we walked in the door, some what laughable.

After all, in the US, I lived out-of-town, and knew my neighbors quite well, but I wouldn't have asked them for things as soon as I moved in, and neither would they. When I sojourned on the East Coast, I didn't know my neighbors at all- and so neither one of us could ask each other for favors.

But it's one of those things you either love or hate in Israel- the instant comfort and congeniality among neighbors. I happen to love it- you feel comfortable with each other immediately, solving many problems of the 'getting-to-know' you stage. But maybe some would prefer a little distance, at least until they themselves start to feel more settled.

In a way, it helps to feel comfortable immediately, in that it helps you acclimate immediately as well. They can tell you the best places for shopping, for clothing, for shiurim, and so on- things you wouldn't know on your own.

In any case, I'm grateful to have neighbors with whom the largest distance we have to cross is the hallway between our apartments.

Seven Things I Love

I've been tagged by Jewish Side of Babysitter for the 7 things I love meme. Thanks, Jewish Side.
So, 7 things...

1. G-d- Okay, this may sound corny, but I love G-d. I hear the echoes of "Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Anachnu Ohavim Otcha" in my head, and it rings true.
2. My family- I love my family, and all that it represents. My home, my place in the world- it means so much to me to have people that care about you, and that you're able to care back.
3. Israel- Israel is a very special place to me. There is a Kuzari that states that there are some people that just have a special love of Israel, that they are drawn to it like a magnet to a lodestone. My mother has that kind of special love of Israel. I was drawn to it after her, and I believe it's a truly amazing place. Yerushalayim in particular, pulls me in with her blue skies, white stone, and phenomenal people.
4. Of things to do, I love to read. Reading opens my mind, my eyes, and my heart to things I've never experienced before, except through the pages of a book. If you would give me a room full of endless amounts of books, I think I'd be happy to stay there forever.
5. Another of my favorites- cooking. I'll happily try new recipes, bake my old favorites, and generally putter around the kitchen.
6. I love the feeling of accomplishment. That feeling when you've worked hard, tried your best, and have something to show for it. It's a Yagati O'Matasi (I worked and I found) type of feeling, one that stays with you forever.
7. The Jewish nation. Come on, it rocks. The people in it are special, genuine, and truly amazing. Whether they are religious or not, Litvish, Chassidish, Yeshivish, MO, Stick what ever label on you want- Jewish people are the coolest.

That's it for me. I'll tag Chana, but most of the 7 people I would have tagged are tagged already.

OII #16- Moving In

So, we moved in. Which was wonderful. But, here comes a series of unfortunate events.

Firstly, unfortunately, that means we also had to move out again, as our new apartment desperately needs a coat of paint. But, we did move in for a couple of days and started to set up.

The second unfortunate event was that we did not have any appliances. Yep. Besides for a microwave and a hot pot, all our appliances were ordered before Tisha B'Av, but weren't allowed to be delivered until after such day. So, we were stuck.

I decided to go shopping, and pick up some items that we could eat even without an oven or a stove top. Examples might be peanut butter, tuna, crackers, drinks, and those ever present 'Mana Rishona', the little Tradition Soup like instant soups that are so popular here. Except, they also have instant pasta, potatoes, and ravioli. Yum.

So, we prepared to heat up our instant supper, when the third unfortunate event occurred. Our hot pot didn't work. So, we had no hot water for anything.

I went up to my upstairs neighbor, who I had briefly met. (She is also a ganenet, and she also has 7 kids. Remember my old neighbor with the same situation!) I asked if I could have some hot water. She looked me up and down, and proceeded to serve me a delicious supper to bring down to Mr. NMF. As I protested the generosity, she had her daughters carry it down for me, complete with plates and silverware. And, I had only met this woman that day!

When I arrived home, another sight greeted me! Mr. NMF was holding another tray of food, also complete with silverware. Another generous neighbor had dropped off a plate, thinking we would be starving.

And so it continued. A welcoming committee brought us more meals, a neighbor invited us over to eat before the fast, and my wonderful upstairs neighbor brought us delicious waffles after the fast.

Moving into a new neighborhood may bring a series of unfortunate events. But, thank G-d we have wonderful neighbors to help us weather it! \

Kudos to all those who do the same in communities everywhere!

Slight Hiatus

I'll be away for a bit- we're in the process of finally moving in, and as such, my internet access will be sporadic. But, I'm not gone for good, so keep checking!

Have an easy rest of the 9 days, and a meaningful fast! Hopefully, Mashiach will come, and then all the world can join me in Yerushlayim!

Feel free to check out my archives- I do think that my earlier posts were some of my best, even though I barely had anyone ever reading my blog at that point!

Judging the News

If you haven't noticed, the news has been rather bad lately. Super Raizy gives a short round up.

The two most horrible things I heard of lately were the case about the mother in Meah Shearim who was arrested for 'starving' her child, thrown into prison for a week without having a psychological evaluation, and then finally released on house arrest, still without an evaluation and not given the chance to see her other children. Finally, the evaluation came back normal, but she is still under scrutiny.

Side 1 in this case: She's a horrible mother who starves her sick child in the oncology unit in Haddassah, and deserves to be thrown into prison. She mistreated him, may have Munchausen syndrome, and won't let the doctors do their job.

Side 2 in this case: She's a mother with a terribly sick child who throws up everything he eats, and is being used as an experimental case in Haddassah's research program, who got thrown into prison without any hearing, trial, or evaluation, and even once she had a psychological evaluation, she couldn't see her other children at all.

So, trying to be unbiased...which side do you think is right? It's hard to tell. The rioting? Not the best response, but it did get her out of prison and into house arrest. I don't know the full story, but I've heard enough about it to show that it might be biased at the highest level. I'm not taking her side, or the other side, but I do think that everyone should know all the facts.

Second piece of bad news? Well, important and prestigious rabbis were caught money laundering and organ selling, and were turned into the FBI. The NY Times Article can explain it in more detail. Personally? There are two sides to this one also.

Side 1: The Rabbis were wrong to do it, (i.e. , someone donates money to 'charity', they deduct a percentage to charity and give the rest back, making it tax deductible.), but it's not so shocking. It happens all the time. When polled among my friends and neighbors, most have said that they have taken a discount in return for paying in cash, or that they know of kollelim who do this routinely. Depressing. It may not be halachically assur, but it isn't the yashar way to do things.

Side 2: They were stealing, they were wrong, and they deserve to be prosecuted.

Not to mention the other side of this story- Shlomo/Solomon Dwek, who acted as an informant and turned them all in. Why? Why would a frum Jew turn others over to the authorities? Isn't that halachically and morally wrong also?

There are always two sides to every news story. Be careful how you read, and how you judge.

A Small Frugal Measure

Since we're about to move into a new apartment, all sorts of new expenses have popped up. Appliances still hit the top of the list, costing us the most money, but furniture, paint jobs, and random fixing aren't much further down. At every step of the way, Mr. NMF and I double check, triple check, and keep checking on ways to try to keep our expenses down, without totally living out of apple crates.

(Actually, when we got married, Mr. NMF told me that the key to a happy marriage would be to marry someone who wouldn't mind having one apple crate for him/herself, one apple crate for the spouse, and one apple crate for the table. Then, one could be assured that both sides would be okay with anything.)

One expense we chose to do without would be air conditioning. Our future apartment has large windows, a good cross breeze, and isn't directly in the sun, so we think we can get by. We've also lived in an apartment for the past year without A/C, and it wasn't so bad. We invested in two fans for 80 shekel a piece, and blasted them anytime we felt the need.

So, when I saw this article in the NY Times about living with out A/C, it resonated with me. Mostly, the reason why people live without A/C would be financial. The installation itself, at least here in Israel is costly, as well as the aesthetic problems- it lowers your ceilings as well as having to remodel the concrete around it when you install it, and it has to be done professionally, otherwise you risk ruining your apartment. Plus, sometimes the electricity in your apartment has to be upgraded to a different level in order to install A/C in the first place.

And, it is possible to live without it. I've dehydrated in Israel several times (especially when I was pregnant with NBD), but if you drink plenty and make sure to eat salty food sometime during the day, the risk is much less. There are those who need A/C- like as the article mentions, the old, infirm, or very young run higher risks, but most average people could be fine without it.

Yet, I wonder. Is there sometimes such a thing as being too frugal? Living without A/C isn't frugality, it's more practicality, but there are other examples of giving up on something for financial reasons that eventually turns out to be necessary.

For example, someone who doesn't have the extra form of health insurance here in Israel runs the risk of needing some of those services one day and that they won't be able to obtain when they need it. Wearing uncomfortable shoes may be cheaper, but may hurt your feet in the long run. Buying shoddy furniture runs the risk of having to buy new ones all over again. Doing a cheap paint job, but inhaling the poisonous fumes, isn't such a good bargain.

So one has to strike a compromise. Frugality, along with common sense. To look for a used appliance is one thing, to take risks with your health, another. Many would give up on A/C if they could, but some need it for health reasons. So, if you go into someone's house and judge them on their frugality by the fact that they have their A/C blasting, think twice. Frugal isn't always the answer.

Writing

I picked up a book from my local Feldheim store, with a rather interesting title: The Cliff Line. Now, I've never heard of a cliff line- sounding like a row of cliffs, but the back cover sounded interesting, and so I bought it. It's by someone known as M. Wiseman.

It was written in present tense- making it a tough read, since I'm very much used to past tense, but it was interesting, and fairly well written. Then I turned to the back, about the author, and learnt that this author was in seminary this past year.

That makes her younger than me. Younger, and she's already a published author. It seems she wrote the book in 11th grade, making her someone who's written a full fledged novel at a very young age.

There are other authors I know of who are like that- Christopher Paolini, that Eragon sensation writer, is a young guy. But this is one of the first that I've read from a young frum girl.

In one way, I'm so pleased that someone took the step like this. To go out, show their talent, and prove that we young people, young frum people, can head out and write novels, and do things, wherever our talent takes us.

On the other hand, the green monster of jealousy pops up. I write, I enjoy writing, but I've never attempted to publish a novel. Maybe I could, maybe I couldn't. But this girl went out and did it.

Sometimes we have to follow our dreams. R' Paysach Krohn, in one of his books, mentions that he wrote the famous book on Bris Milah. A well known Mohel came up to him and said, "I could have written that book." R' Krohn remarked to himself that that Mohel could have written that book, but didn't. If we don't take advantage of the times, to follow our dreams and goals, then they will slip past us. It's not the could have, should have, would have that counts, but rather the actualization.

So go out and achieve! Who knows, I may write a book someday too!

To Iron or Not To Iron

I may have made myself into a domesticate, at least in the fact that I can run a home, but there is one chore that I refuse to do. Ironing.

I detest it. It's one of those things that truly makes me feel like a homebody, who never did anything with her whole life, barefoot, and ironing in the kitchen. Talk about a stereotype.

Israelis are obsessive about their ironing. One of my friends has 5 irons, as each of her 13 children insist on having a perfectly starched and pressed shirt/skirt/pants every day, and she detests ironing almost as much as I do. She's of the opinion that if they want it badly enough, they'll do it themselves.

I've tried. I buy Mr. NMF no-iron-needed shirts, I try to hand wash and hang to dry, but the inevitable task of ironing sometimes comes up. If I was spoiled rotten, I would just send it to the cleaners to be pressed, but I don't have the money to spend so heedlessly.

When one gets married, sometimes household chores don't come easily. Cooking for a family, ironing, laundry for a family, dishes; they all fall into my hands. I don't mind, I was single enough that I did it all for myself for a long time. Just, there were chores then that I hated, and I still detest now.

I don't know how to get over my bad opinion of ironing. But, at least I'm not alone. Most of the women I know don't iron, or iron only when forced, and then in large bunches of 20 shirts at a time. It seems that if the shirts just keep on collecting, our guilty consciences will eventually encourage us to pick up that tool and start the torture.

Anyone else have chores they hate doing? How do you deal with it?

Moving Week

Talking about busy times is never the same as actually being in the midst of one.

This week is the week that all my family's stuff arrives from it's long journey across the Atlantic, and we actually get to place it in our new apartment. This tends to make my week rather busy.

Not to mention that in Israel, the buyer of an apartment has to take it as is, usually because the real estate market in Israel continues to escalate. This means we have quite a bit of fixing to do before the apartment is livable.

And, the neighbor with 7 kids who I've mentioned before? Well, her oldest son is having his bar mitzva. My freezer has been doing double duty for my stuff and her bar mitzva for about three months now, so this day is rather busy as well.

I have been indulging in one of my favorite activities- cake decorating. For those of you who think the domestic arts are boring, and anyone with half a brain could do it, well, try cake decorating. It is fun, challenging, and looks deceivingly simple. So, for the bar mitzva tonight, I created the centerpiece cake for her.

Here's some pictures:

So, this week is rather busy. But, I have to step back and realize that this is all for simchos! We're moving into a new place- a cause for joy and happiness! My neighbor's simcha is happening, something she's dreamed about for 13 years. And, well, there is nothing better than being busy with simchos!

Now, for some selfish self promotion: If you'd like a specialty cake in Yerushalayim, feel free to email me, at the Kollel Baking Company, through the email address listed on the right. Thanks!