(no subject)
Tonight I ate free Chinese food at the Harvard Chabad House. Chabad is an organization of very religiously observant Jews who establish bases all around the world offering free kosher food and Jewish activities to people, mostly Israelis and students, who want the occasional Passover seder or (more often) free meal. They're a sneaky kind of missionary group: very pleasant and not pushy and totally open to anyone who wants to show up, and frankly, I have some real problems with their ideology.
But I also like free food.
So tonight I went with an Israeli friend from work, who was meeting her husband there with one of his Israeli friends from law school. The food was so-so tonight. It was kind of cold, and, well, kosher Chinese doesn't congeal quite the same way the real stuff does...
Let me get to the point.
Turns out, my friend's husband's friend lives pretty close to me, so I said I'd drop him off on my way home. In the car, he asked how living in the US compares with Israel. That's not an easy question for me to answer. But I was honest and said that I like the US for now, but I do miss Israel a lot.
He said, "What do you miss? Give me three things you miss about Israel."
I miss the food. Specifically, I miss the fresh vegetables and fruit from the shuk, good and flavorful and cheap. That was thing one. It's a small thing.
It's harder to be Jewish in the US. I miss the prevalence of Judaism in Israel, how people leave work on Thursday and Friday saying, "Shabbat Shalom" (Sabbath Peace) and come back on Sunday saying, "Shavua Tov" (Have a good week). How keeping kosher is so easy. How everyone goes home on Friday night for Shabbat dinner. I do miss that. That was thing two.
I miss the way people say what they mean in Israel. How they don't invite you over just to be polite--they actually WANT you to come over and get upset when you don't. And how people bring small gifts or food to every gathering. I miss how everyone is involved with everyone else, doing favors, helping each other out. When I was living in Akko, one of the people I worked with asked if I would go and buy silverware for him from a shop that was having a sale in Akko. He wanted to buy new silverware for his parents, and he couldn't come to Akko himself. So he just called and asked if I'd do it for him. Americans don't ask that kind of favor from each other, because... who does that kind of favor? But that's just the kind of thing Israelis do. Americans are more polite, but Israelis are friendlier. That was thing three.
Those were the three things I said. At home now, I think I might add a fourth: I miss Hebrew. I speak Hebrew every day here, sort of. I mean, I TEACH Hebrew every day. But it's not all Hebrew all the time. Its slipping away from me, my Hebrew. The simplest words just don't come back some days. I miss Hebrew.
So that's all. Don't think I'm wallowing in self-pity here; I'm really not. It was just an interesting exercise, to think about the things I really miss. I think all the time about going back to Israel. It's not always clear to me why. Tonight it got a little clearer, and that was nice.
But I also like free food.
So tonight I went with an Israeli friend from work, who was meeting her husband there with one of his Israeli friends from law school. The food was so-so tonight. It was kind of cold, and, well, kosher Chinese doesn't congeal quite the same way the real stuff does...
Let me get to the point.
Turns out, my friend's husband's friend lives pretty close to me, so I said I'd drop him off on my way home. In the car, he asked how living in the US compares with Israel. That's not an easy question for me to answer. But I was honest and said that I like the US for now, but I do miss Israel a lot.
He said, "What do you miss? Give me three things you miss about Israel."
I miss the food. Specifically, I miss the fresh vegetables and fruit from the shuk, good and flavorful and cheap. That was thing one. It's a small thing.
It's harder to be Jewish in the US. I miss the prevalence of Judaism in Israel, how people leave work on Thursday and Friday saying, "Shabbat Shalom" (Sabbath Peace) and come back on Sunday saying, "Shavua Tov" (Have a good week). How keeping kosher is so easy. How everyone goes home on Friday night for Shabbat dinner. I do miss that. That was thing two.
I miss the way people say what they mean in Israel. How they don't invite you over just to be polite--they actually WANT you to come over and get upset when you don't. And how people bring small gifts or food to every gathering. I miss how everyone is involved with everyone else, doing favors, helping each other out. When I was living in Akko, one of the people I worked with asked if I would go and buy silverware for him from a shop that was having a sale in Akko. He wanted to buy new silverware for his parents, and he couldn't come to Akko himself. So he just called and asked if I'd do it for him. Americans don't ask that kind of favor from each other, because... who does that kind of favor? But that's just the kind of thing Israelis do. Americans are more polite, but Israelis are friendlier. That was thing three.
Those were the three things I said. At home now, I think I might add a fourth: I miss Hebrew. I speak Hebrew every day here, sort of. I mean, I TEACH Hebrew every day. But it's not all Hebrew all the time. Its slipping away from me, my Hebrew. The simplest words just don't come back some days. I miss Hebrew.
So that's all. Don't think I'm wallowing in self-pity here; I'm really not. It was just an interesting exercise, to think about the things I really miss. I think all the time about going back to Israel. It's not always clear to me why. Tonight it got a little clearer, and that was nice.