First Impressions of Israel after 14 Days and 25 years

Tirat Hacarmel, - It's two weeks since we landed in Israel...after 25 years of living in the U.S.

 

The last few months in Dallas were a whirlwind of:

1. Preparation activity:
   • Selling the house and most of our two and a half decades of accumulated "stuff".
   • Buying a whole bunch of new "stuff".
   • Loading and shipping a container.
2. Personal activity:
   • Catching up on a whole bunch of medical check-ups and follow-ups.
   • Getting copies of all our medical records.
   • Saying goodbye to a lot of friends family and contacts around the country.
3. SWJC activity: Working with Susan and our Board to modify the structure of SWJC, so that despite my move to Israel the organization will continue to grow and thrive, while expanding our important educational, programming and fundraising activities.

 And all this while dealing with some serious mixed emotions:

 

On the one hand leaving a sort of nomadic, upwardly mobile, highly satisfying, successful and enjoyable life and career, built position by position with no real planning. On the other hand, going home to the country I love and have served and defended, with weapons and words, my whole life.

 

Or creating a large distance between us and our son, daughter-in-law and three amazing grandchildren who live in Florida, vs. living in Israel just five minutes away from our daughter, son-in-law and four amazing grandchildren who live a short walking distance from the warm, sandy Mediterranean seashore.

 

However any mixed emotions, doubts, regrets or second thoughts evaporated as soon as we stepped off the plane at Ben Gurion airport. The light warm breeze that hit me through the space between the door and the jet-way carried the unmistakable fragrance familiar to every Israeli, whether from their military service, numerous hikes and school trips, youth movement camps or family outings - It's the unique, intoxicating smell of Israel's post-harvest agricultural heartland in July. A varying combination of decomposing cut wheat and rye, wild flowers, organic fertilizer, a hint of pine forests and plowed earth.

 

We were home. No doubts, regrets or mixed emotions. We were HOME!

 

Here is a brief report of my initial impressions to date:

1. News coverage. Not surprisingly, the US elections are hardly given prominence in the Israeli broadcast and print media. Sure they'll mention the two candidates' bad jokes, legal problems, accuracy of statements, latest polling, or new (real or perceived) potential legal, trust or health problems...but it's just not a big headline or lead item in the news here. This will no doubt change as we get nearer to the elections. But for the moment the headlines, front pages and lead stories in the print and broadcast media are almost exclusively about the Summer Olympics in Rio. The fact that Israel has already started to win medals just adds to the excitement. It's interesting that the Olympics have not only bumped the US elections from the top of the news food chain, but also the usual Israeli signature national concerns: security and that perennial crowd-pleaser - Israeli politics.
2. Bureaucracy: Bad news and good news. The bad news - after 25 years the bureaucratic system is still alive and well. In the course of two weeks we had to run around to deal with officials at the:
   1. Ministry of Interior (to confirm that we are citizens and get new ID cards)
   2. Ministry of Absorption (to confirm our status as "returning residents")
   3. Ministry of Finance (to get our tax exemptions as "returning residents")
   4. Office of Customs and Excise tax (forms to get our container released from the port)
   5. National Insurance Administration (forms for National Social Security and Health Care insurance)
   6. Maccabi HMO to sign up for health care + supplemental health insurance + long term care insurance.

The good news - while in every office you still have to take a number (literally!), the system is so well run and efficient that we never had to wait more than three to five minutes for our turn. All the offices were air- conditioned and the officials smiled (never saw that before), were friendly, and went out of their way to help and expedite things. On this score things have certainly changed for the better in twenty-five years.

 

A few more observations:

1. Because Haifa is the largest mixed city in Israel (Tirat Hacarmel is a suburb of Haifa) , about half of the officials we saw were Israeli Arabs, both Christians and Moslems. The same ratio holds true in the streets, stores, the big mall we go to almost daily, restaurants, etc.
2. In no government office did I see the once ubiquitous and omnipresent glass-of-tea-with-two-sugar-cubes. I guess that Israeli officialdom has finally moved on from its "Bolshevik style" origins. No tea in a glass - but a Starbucks style cup of coffee on almost every desk.
3. In case your wondering most Israelis are still, loud, many smoke (mostly outside, though), many still drive like absolute maniacs, and all will offer their sage opinions and well meaning advice whether they know you or not (stranger to me yesterday at a falafel stand: "if you touch that sauce you'll end up in the ER"). 
4. Israel is hot and humid. But every building, shop or mall you enter is air-conditioned, extremely hi-tech and everyone is friendly and will go out of their way to help and point you in the right direction, even if they have no idea where that is.
5. The beaches are clean , the Mediterranean is warm and the boardwalks in Haifa carry the best ice-cream in the world.

These are just my initial, jet-lagged impressions. More observations and, of course, current analysis on Israel and the the Middle East in future updates.

I look forward to talking with you at our upcoming SWJC LIVE briefings from Israel. See dates listed above. Contact  Susan at the office (214-361-0018) to confirm your participation.

 

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed above are the writer's, and do not represent SWJC directors, officers or members.