I didn’t sleep much last night. I waited for a drone and missile attack that didn’t happen in Pardes Hannah. Only from reading newspaper headlines I’ve discovered that the entire drone and missile fleet was destroyed by Israeli pilots. More on that in today’s Journal.
To begin my volunteerhood, I had to go to Or Akiva. So that was the first adventure. I had to learn which was the right bus to get on, and I had to learn how to use the Rav Kav card to pay.
I found out I could use Google Maps to find bus stops and busses. All I have to do is punch in my destination, and Google Maps will show me the closest bus stop, and the times and routes of the next few busses going in my direction. Easy, huh?
Yeah, it would be under normal circumstances. Israel is in a war, not normal circumstances at all. We are under a constant state of attack by neighbors who like to launch missiles from time to time.
So what does Israel do? It hacks the GPS system for the region and gets it all baffled. When I turn on my Google Maps application, it looks like I’m in Beirut, Lebanon. There is a way to get Google Maps to show you how to get to different places. It’s a bit time consuming but it works.
So Google Maps told me which bus to get on. The bus pulled up, the door opened, and the lady driving the bus had this big ol’ friendly smile as she showed me how to use the card to pay for the fare.
There is no way I could remember the bus route from Pardes Hannah to Or Akiva, there were so many twists and turns. When we got to Or Akiva, the lady driving the bus showed me where to get off and which way to walk to get to my destination. All with a big smile on her face, saying, “What a great job. I get to drive a bus, go places, and meet and help people.”
And that’s the point I wanted to make with this post. That since I got to Pardes Hannah three days ago, every single person I encountered was a good and decent person. A bit different from the impatient stereotype I usually encountered in the past.
My airbnb host told me that something happened to the people on October 7. Suddenly, everyone realized they were on the same side all along. We all had the same enemy, and we all wanted to see the same outcome of this war.
In the next post, I’ll tell you more about the volunteer work and the organization behind it. For now, thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Later, Jerry
Letter To Alexandria
I composed a letter in my head to Alexandria while I was walking along a busy highway – lost, of course – somewhere between Afula and Pardes Hannah. The ordeal of getting lost in the Israeli bus system was getting to my head. It all vanished when I met a soldier who was proud to show me pictures of a Passover Seder.
Sderot: A Town With PTSD Keeps Growing
I traveled to Sderot, on the Gaza border, where I once lived. For over 20 years Sderot has been terrorized by Gazans who have frequently launched rokets at Sderot. Nevertheless, only a few people have abandoned Sderot, while the city has grown.
Passover: A Hope For Freedom
I could not, with complete honesty and compassion, wish my friends and family a happy holiday this year. Not while Israel is at war, and so many soldiers are away from their families. Not while more than a hundred of our tribe are being held hostage
What A Way To Start An Adventure
What A Way To Start An Adventure: It’s only two days since I arrived in Israel, and I am stilling feeling jetlagged. It’s Saturday, Shabbat, the Sabbath. I managed to wake up early, and go to a synagogue that Shai (my airbnb host) and I found yesterday evening. There was a bar mitzvah. So the synagogue was not overly crowded, but a lot of people were there. Except for one segment, the bar mitzvah boy read the entire parashah. And he read it well.
