...but is it safe?

I wanted to wait a few days before writing this post, while I may be an insensitive jerk at times, I am not a complete ass.
Is it safe where you live?  Aren't you worried?  These are the questions that are asked to every settler, but I find that Olim are asked them more often. People make assumptions about the areas of Judea and Samaria based on third hand stories reported on CNN and their own over active imaginations.
The truth is that I find myself asking that question to my American friends as often as they ask me.  Here, we have armed guards and metal detectors at the malls, train stations, restaurants, and schools.  I carry a gun everywhere I go.  You see soldiers, both on and off duty, with rifles strapped to their backs in the streets.  Police have the right to stop and search you if you look suspicious.  Security and vigilance are visible everywhere you go.
In America, everything is open.  Mall security are not armed, and are there to prevent shoplifting and vandalism.  There are whole States that prevent me from carrying a firearm for self-defense.  Soldiers don't patrol the streets.  Schools that want metal detectors put in are subject to all sorts of criticism.  There is a generally relaxed attitude toward the security situation. 
It is an interesting dichotomy.  Here in Israel it may appear more like a police state than an open democracy, but the truth is, we are talking about perceptions rather than realities.  The fact that we have soldiers on the streets and bag searches at mall entrances allows us to breath easier and have a better appreciation for the freedoms that we have.
When we went on a picnic in Tel Aviv over the Pesach holiday the police suddenly came and evacuated the area.  It seemed that a unattended bag was seen in the area.  Very quickly, the area was sealed off, and the bomb squad showed up to check it out, and if they were not sure about it, destroy it.  Right before the bomb squad did their thing, the bag's owner came running in apologizing for forgetting his cooler bag.  The fact is that this whole situation happened because the average person here is vigilant Someone saw a bag sitting alone, and instead of ignoring it, decided that it's better to be safe than sorry, even at the cost of a minor inconvenience.   Sure, you could say that we have all those things because we need the extra security, but after recent events, can you honestly say that you don't need the same security.  It has become obvious that terrorists may call the Middle East home, but they are definitely willing to commute for work.  There is no longer such a thing as a place that is immune from attack or violent action, only protected from them. It is an unfortunate fact, that the average American needs to learn to be just as vigilant. 
I find this ironic in light of the violent crime rates.  The US far outranks Israel in both violent crime and firearm related crime rates.  Here in Israel, certainly in my hometown, I have very little concern letting my children run around the neighborhood.  MiniMe is spending his afternoons hunting down loose wood and fallen trees for his upcoming Lag Baomer bonfire.  Princess can go down the block to her friend's house unsupervised, and if she goes any farther, she just needs to call us.  Even Curly Sue and Little Red can play by themselves in the front yard.  When visiting my parents, who live in a nice quiet suburb in the US, we won't even let MiniMe play unsupervised in the back yard.  They certainly can't run ahead in the mall or stay with the shopping cart in line at the grocery store while I grab something I forgot from the refrigerator section.   Here the average gun-carrying citizen is not carrying because of fear of being mugged or raped, but I do believe that because the average person could be carrying, there is less of a chance that a criminal will attept to mug or rape someone.
I am not saying that it is all rainbows and unicorns here, but we here in Israel, and certainly in the communities of Judea and Samaria are aware of that and protect ourselves accordingly, thus allowing ourselves and children the freedom we enjoy.
We Settlers stand in solidarity with the victims of the bombing in Boston, but at the same time, I do need to ask, when will you come home?  Here instead of feeling safe and secure, you can be safe and secure.  Until then, stay safe.

Rememberance Day

Last night, at 8 pm, as I stood in the emergency room with Little Red (story for another time), the siren sounded, signaling the start of Rememberance Day for the fallen heroes that defended the Jewish Homeland. Everyone, young and old, religious and secular, stood silent for one minute, to commemorate those who no longer stand amongst us. I have had few religious experiences more touching and profound, than the minute or two a year, when we all stand together, paying our respects to all the soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice, so that people they never knew or would never know could live out our lives as full Jews in the Jewish homeland.
As an oleh who was not given the chance to serve, I am deeply moved by the somberness and unity of the day. It's a day of reflection and paying respect to our brothers and sisters who were killed in the line of duty. Television and radio stations forgo their usual drivel to tell the stories of each of these heroes. As someone who grew up with Memorial Day as a day of picnics and sales, it really puts things in perspective. We have a chance to see what is important, and it gives a little more insight into another unique feature of Israeli society, the central role of family life. Here, family is in all aspects put first. The day of the birth of your child is a paid vacation day. Women are given by law 3 months paid maternity leave, with the option of taking another 3 months unpaid. A Brit is a perfectly legitimate excuse for being late to work. Employers expect that you will use all of your vacation days. For most of the country, Friday night is family time. I could go on and on, but my point is, with so many families being incomplete, with so many who have lost someone in defense of our Home, everyone understands, accepts and expects that time spent with the family is to be cherished. This is one of the beautiful things about having Independence Day immediately following Memorial Day. First we pay our respects to those that gave their lives for ours, and acknowledge the sacrifice and loss of the family left behind, then we move on to family celebrations of the fact that their sacrifice was not in vain. Life here continues, families grow, and we continue to stand tall, as Light Unto the Nations, and the fulfillment of G-D's promise to our forefathers.
So tonight, as we cross the threshold of 65 years of independence, and the continuing of the fulfillment of G-D's promise to "return His sons to their borders," I will hug my children a little tighter, knowing that I owe thanks to G-D and and all the families of this wonderful country for the opportunity to be a part of the great family of the nation of Israel. I will silently pray, as we watch the flag rise and the fireworks explode above us, that in the coming year, our greater family of the nation of Israel from Eilat to Karzrin, and from Tel Aviv to Talmon are able to be just slightly less dysfunctional, and that we should be able to celebrate each other's successes, as well as our collective ones, together, as a family. May our national family know no new suffering, and may we see our greater family grow and expand, both through natural growth, and our long lost family overseas finding their way home.

Assisted Living

One of the many benefits of living in a small community like ours, is how everyone watches out for each other.
For example, this past Sunday, Erev chag, my wife woke up with an incapacitating headache which we later found out was caused by a bad sinus infection. While on a normal day, her being out of commission would be bad, on Erev chag, with her entire family over by us for 2 weeks, putting me in charge of parenting and cooking and cleaning for chag is 4 horsemen of the apacolypse level bad. To start with cooking is more my wife's realm of the kitchen, I generally just handle the eating. Plus, I find that normal humans are capable of either parenting or cleaning, but trying to mix the 2 is like saying "I like mentos, I like diet coke, I think I'll relax on the couch with a mentos-diet coke cocktail." All you end up with is a frustrating mess. My wife, being part Superwoman and part Jedi, is able to balance cooking, cleaning and childcare all at once. So even when she is feeling under the weather and needs some help, it's generally with just one of those things. This is how I knew she was really sick, when she actually thought that I could somehow actually fill in for her rather than the usual additional assistance that I provide.
This is one of those moments that separates the men from the boys, will I seize the moment, or crack under the pressure? Failure wasn't an option, So I did what any man would do, I panicked and let his friends and neighbors bail him out. Curly Sue went to a neighbor for the morning, another friend sent over a potato kugel so I wouldn't need to actually try to make a non-meat dish. Mini-Me took Princess and Little Red out to the front yard and somehow kept them out of the house long enough for me to put up chicken soup and corned beef and clean the kitchen. I am not sure how MiniMe kept them busy, although I know he didn't tie them to the tree, I can see it from the kitchen window. Thanks to friends and a very resourceful 8 year old, chag would go on in the Evillsettler home.
However that is not the end of neighborly help that we received that day. Later in the day, our neighbor, the nurse, took time out of her day to stop and and check on my wife. After seeing how she was doing, as chag was starting, she had our local doctor confirm that she was suffering from a sinus infection, who then prescribed an antibiotic that one of our neighbors had in their house, so she could start on it right away. Both the doctor and nurse came back the next day to check on her.
The most amazing part of the story is the fact that this story is not unique. That's the kind of place I live in. If you need help, your neighbor will be there lending a hand. If you're running late, of course your kids can come over until you get home. Doing yard work? Not only will your neighbor gladly lend you his yard tools, but he will be happy to lend a hand digging as well. I could go on and on, but the point is that I am blessed to be living in a place where helping each other is a way of life, not just through the many gmachim and organizations, but through every day actions and neighborly interactions. While I understand small settlement life is not for everyone, it's times like these that I feel a little bad for those who say it's not for them, they'll never be able to appreciate what they're missing. Thank you to my neighbors for helping me appreciate it.

The most wonderful time of the year

Happy Pesach. We had a great Seder here in the Settler home. As we had a couple of years ago, Mrs. Settler's family joined us from America, and was invited to see all of the benefits of living in Israel on Pesach, including soft matzot, rice on Pesach, and 1 Seder. I say see because, as visitors, they don't get to participate in any of those things while following the Rabbis of the diaspora, but they do get to see close up how Pesach was meant to be, and what they could have if they too move to the Promised Land. The little settlers were in rare form last night singing and asking questions, while we sat around on cushions on the floor, discussing the Exodus, and the origins of our Nation.
Tonight, we counted the first night of the Omer. This commemorates the new grain sacrifice that was given in the Temple, but since the destruction of it 2000 years ago, this time has been marked as a time of mourning over the 24,000 students/soldiers (depending on how you read history) of Rabbi Akiva. So you may ask how could I love a time like this more than any other time of year. The truth is that what happened to the students was a terrible tragedy, but today, this time period includes most of Pesach, spring, as well as the modern holidays of Independence Day, Lag Baomer, and Jerusalem Day. Living where I do, it's easy to see the modern day miracles that brought us as Israelis and Jews to the great place that we are in today. At this time of year, we celebrate our origin as a nation, and our origin as a modern nation. We celebrate the spring, a time of renewal, and we celebrate the renewal of our nationhood and our return to our entire land. It's a time of joy and gives us an opportunity to see how far we've come, and look towards our bright future.
I hope that you can all join us here to be a part of this historic time, as the times of mourning are turned to times of joy, and we follow with the uniting of the Jewish people under the flag of a truly free and prosperous nation, in it's homeland.

Hell Week

I am not referring to the testing week for the Navy SEALS or the pledge week in fraternities, I am referring to something much tougher and more dreaded. I of course am talking about the week before Pesach. Especially here in Israel, where in addition to the OCD approved cleaning, and the normally stocked fridges and pantries are as empty as Walmart during the Daytona 500, we have the added challenge of the schools being on vacation a full 10 days before Pesach. That's right, some sadistic individual in the education department decided that teachers are people too, and they also need to prepare for the holiday. Now imagine the challenge of cleaning a house with 4 little crumb magnets underfoot who need to be fed and entertained. Now before any of you Alpha-parents start with your "just have them help" silliness, I want to remind you that it is not your spouse who put the cookie in the playmobil container to save it for later, or who sticks their half eaten peanut butter chocolate sandwich in their pocket for later. Let's face it, children are the reason we need to bleach literally every surface in the house. Little Red hides Cheerios in her diaper so she can leave a trail of them as she wanders the house just so she won't get lost, there is no way the house will get cleaner with the kids around more.
This is why we have learned our lesson. We now send our kids to one of the half day backyard camps run by the very capable teenagers of the neighborhood. It's a win-win situation. The kids get to go out and play with friends for a few hours, the teenagers do something responsible and stay out of trouble, and the house gets clean and stays calm. I never thought i'd say this, but thank G-D for teenagers, our house may actually be ready for the family invasion later this week.
Please excuse me, I am hungry and there's nothing to eat, I wonder of that cookie is still with the playmobil...

Getting stoned

It happened again, terrorists throw rocks, and children get seriously injured. I say again, because rock throwing on many of our roads is a daily occurrence. The problem is that it is almost never reported, and even if it is reported it is brushed off as "just a rock." Well, before there were guns and bow and arrows, the weapon of choice to kill was a rock. The world's first murder, Cain killing Abel, was committed with a rock, and it's been in constant use ever since. The question I have is when did it stop being viewed as a deadly weapon. As far as I can tell, that only started when it was just the "settler" was targeted by rock throwing terrorists. As soon as it was just the settler that was targeted, the world removed rocks from their database of weapons and replaces it with settler homes. Our own government has it's share of the blame for rock attacks becoming the norm. The first time a Jew was arrested for returning fire on a rock thrower, rather than allowing himself to become another victim, the government legitimized rock throwing as something less than an act of deadly aggression.
This needs to change now. There is no way we will ever convince the world that killing Jews, even if they are nothing more than "settlers," is wrong, but if we could at least convince fellow Jews and Israelis that we bleed red too, maybe we would be able to properly defend ourselves. The Arab knows that there is no real consequence to throwing a rock right now. If he misses or just damages the vehicle without causing anyone bodily harm, it won't make the news, he won't be pursued by the authorities, and certainly his intended target would never dare return fire, out of fear of being jailed for years. That's right, here if you dare defend yourself for potential harm, our weak-willed justice system will pursue you, rather than the true aggressor, the terrorist attacking rock thrower, because you have a gun and he "just" has a rock. If the terrorist rock thrower does manage to cause bodily harm, he will most likely escape unharmed to the nearest Arab village, because our weak government took down nearly all the checkpoints as unrequited "goodwill" to our "peace partner" who will shelter this attacker. The news may or may not report as an afterthought a story of a settler being lightly injured, regardless of the extent of his injuries.
If G-D forbid someone is killed, then security services will probably pursue the murderer. However, even if he is caught, he gets a nice western style fair trial. Once convicted and sent to prison, he is given 3 square meals, regular exersize and prayer space. He has the option of pursuing a degree. And of course, our peace partner pays out a monthly stipend to the family of this courageous freedom fighter.
If we ever want this to change, we need to change a few things. First if all, we must be given the opportunity to properly defend ourselves. As we are taught in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 72a), "if one comes to kill you, rise and kill him." In other words we are not supposed to wait until they strike us to hit them back, by then it's usually too late. Rather the second danger becomes apparent, we are supposed to do what we need to do to protect ourselves.
Second, the government must make the price of any Jewish blood so unbelievably high, that no one will want to pay the price for assaulting any Jew, even a settler. Third, and most importantly, the government must stop differentiating between settlers and everyone else. If the government would enforce the same law equally over both sides of the green line, then the Jew from Tel Aviv and the Jew from Talmon would see each other and treat each other and defend each other as equals.
My prayer is that our leaders lead us into a future that we will all share together, as equals, that the children injured in tonight's mass terror attacks have a complete recovery, and that we don't have the need to pray for more children injured in terror attacks, because we have worked together to create a better safer and greater Israel for all Jews.

The Grass is Always Greener...

I was speaking with a repairman last week who said to me that he appreciates working with Anglo Olim more than native Israelis, and he's so Israeli, I think his grandparents were borne here.  He was talking about honesty and how he doesn't have the patience for all the negotiations that go on in this country over everything.  I responded to him that I prefer living in a more Israeli environment because there is less of an emphasis on materialism as opposed the the American consumerism that Olim tend to bring with them wherever they go.
I especially hear this from newer Anglo Olim.  Every time a group of relatively new olim get together, at some point the discussion goes to "I miss x from America," or "this thing is much harder here than it is back in America."  This is one of those things that I really love about living out here, because there are so few of us Olim, we can't sit off in our own clique and commisurate with each other, we need to integrate into the general society.  this has helped both our language skills as well as our general outlook on life in Israel.
i always tell people that we moved here so our kids can grow up in Israel, the truth the longer we are here, the more often I find myself saying that we moved here so our kids could be Israeli.  Sure we hope some of our American sensibilities stay with the kids, we hope they are able to add to the greater good of Israeli society, but we hope that we all learn from the people who beat us here as well.