Shavuot, Israeli Int. Program, Driving and Parking in Israel

I just arrived back in the states, but still have a few notes jotted down to mention about my final few weeks in Israel. I celebrated Shavuot with Beit Eliahu, and it was great, of course. Shavuot celebrates when God gave the Law to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. I cannot get over the parallels between Moses and Jesus, and between the meaning and traditions of Passover and Jesus’ death, and between the first Shavuot, when God gave the Law and the Shavuot after Jesus’s ascension, when the Holy Spirit came upon the new believers. This is a whole blog entry on its own, but if you want to hear it, email me or something. But basically, both Moses and Jesus narrowly escaped death as infants when the reigning king had all children under two-years-old killed, both spent a bunch of time in the desert before re-entering to call the Israelites to freedom (albeit for very different reasons), etc…the first Passover and exodus really solidified the Israelites as a people. Jesus’ death and resurrection created a new people, where one had not been before (Like how Paul explains in his letter to the Romans and all o’ that). At the first Shavuot, God declared how his people would conduct themselves, and at the one when the Holy Spirit fell, He wrote his law upon their hearts, and gave them power to live out the lives he calls each of us to.

Anyway, there’s a bunch more of course, but that’s where my thoughts were floating during Shavuot.

About two weeks before my family came, I got to visit the interpreter training program at Bar Ilan University. They have a two-year program in which students come once a week, all day on Sunday, to learn the ethics of interpreting, and some theory and process. I wish I had more time to learn more of their curriculum (and had more Hebrew), but it was great to meet everyone and get a taste for it. And I was shocked (again) to see that unlike in the states, even if everyone knows ISL, it is not an assumed norm that people will sign if a deaf person is in the room. I have talked with a few different deaf Israelis, and they have all expressed disappointment, but resignation to this norm. They’ve all visited the states, and know that the culture is in stark contrast there. They each said that it is desirable that if people know ISL/ASL, that they would sign if a deaf person is present, but also said when they were in the USA and people did it, it felt awkward and new to them. Like they had too much influence on the room’s dynamics. I experienced that feeling this year time and time again when I entered a room in which everyone was speaking Hebrew, and the moment I walked in, everyone switched to English for me. Of course the difference is that while it is new to me, Hebrew is accessible, and no one hesitated to help me when needed…it’s a situation to be considered, and my deaf Israeli friends and I talked about their desires, choices, and possible consequences of each choice. I am curious to see what they chose and what the culture will look like given another decade of development.

Finally, I had occasion several times recently to be in a car in Israel, and several things stood out to me. Both from my observations from the roadside, and while in cars, I’ve noticed: Israeli’s do not drive and talk on the phone at the same time. The guy who pulled over to answer his phone while giving me a ride home explained to me that if you get caught, you get two points on your driver’s license and a large fine. My limited Hebrew and his limited English prevented us from much more discussion on the difference between the countries.

I have heard they’re doing this now in the states, but I’ve never seen it. Apparently when there’s a speed trap here, where the officer is on the side of the highway pointing the speed gun at the cars, if one is caught speeding, the officer does not hop in the car and pull over the driver. The gun simply videotapes the license plate and a few weeks later a speeding ticket arrives in the mail. I’ve heard of this with running red lights, but I was surprised to hear about it with a speed gun.

Similarly, company cars have a chip or something in their gas tank, so when an employee fills up the tank, they do not need cash or a card or anything. They simply pump the gas and drive away. The gas pump recognizes the individual tank and charges the company directly for the gas.

Parking in Israel? If you’re registered, no need to find a parking meter/machine (like we had to with our rental car – not too easy to find!). There are three ways to do pay. Either at a machine nearby, where you get the receipt and put it in the window, like I’ve done at many places in the states. Second, you can have a machine that hangs inside your window that displays the date and time. Somehow you put in the machine where you are parked and how long you want, I guess, and get a bill for it, or have an account, or something. Thirdly, you can call or text in the location where you are parked and charge it to an account. The coolest part of this option is that when I was sitting having coffee with someone, she excused herself for a moment after looking at the time to make a quick phone call and add time to her parking “meter”…from her seat! I was astonished. Do we not do this because of the size of our country??

Finally, I’ve heard of cars that tell you when you’re too close to something in front of behind you, but I saw my first one about a week before my family arrived. The little machine on the dashboard beeped when it got within a certain proximity to an object before or behind the car, and then showed yellow, orange, and red on a little line of lights as the car grew closer. My friend driving said it’s not entirely accurate – the car is more paranoid about hitting something than he was, but still, it seemed like a great feature to me.