We got our first shmira (security) service notice in the mail. Of course, it’s not really we, it’s more he. I’m too woman to be standing alone at gate of the yishuv, I suppose.

Basically, you can either do volunteer shmira service and get called up for a shift every half a year or so, or you can pay 80 shekel a month and get out of it. Which means that everyone is drinking coffee at 10 pm and enduring a six-hour middle-of-the-night shift every once in a while.

It feels so wild, wild west.

"I wish my wife was this dirty"

Yeah, I’ll bet you do, Gan Hatechnologi start up geek.

Well, at least the Bezeq marketing plan includes social networking sites. Even if that means crazy alcoholic parrots.

Doesn’t he kind of look like Ehud Olmert from the neck up?

I didn’t write about the first tractor attack in Jerusalem in the beginning of the month, because in my head I dismissed it as a case of a mentally unstable drug addict who went haywire. Sometimes you have to do that here in Israel; make excuses for your peace of mind.

This just happened 20 minutes ago but already looks more like a terrorist attack than anything else.

As my secular friend would say, Hashem yishmor.

I know that on the whole, everything that anyone has done has been a drop in the green bucket. I’m not a green-nut myself, but I am a person who avoids wastefulness, values organization and enjoys a breath of fresh air.

Here’s a brief summary of what I’ve been exposed to/seen on the ground in Israel:

Solar energy

There are tons of companies in Israel that are working vigorously on solar energy developments and exporting their ideas and goods. You might recognize the name Solel, for one.

Solar panels for homes have been around for years; something like 80% of Israeli residents have these in their homes. Before I moved here, I had barely understood the concept; heard that out in California they used these. Here, it’s everything: electricity-saver, money-saver, power-saver. Called a dood-shemesh in Hebrew, it’s the type of thing you ask about before you rent a place. The sun automatically heats up the panel, and the heat absorbed is what makes your shower nice and comfy. Israel has won big marks for the popularity of the solar panels.

For more information regarding Israeli solar energy, here’s a detailed article. And here’s news on the latest developments in electricity versus solar billing.

Drinking water

I was passed this feature article in Haaretz about Israeli tap vs mineral water: Addicted to the bottle. Here’s a taste:

Families can spend as much as thousands of or tens of thousands of shekels a year on fancy water. Does their outlay pay?

One unbiased expert says, unequivocally, no. “The quality of tap water in Israel is among the best in the world, in terms of the Health Ministry’s standards,” says Prof. Avner Adin of the Faculty of Agriculture at Hebrew University. “My family and I drink tap water without a second thought.”

The article basically explains that many researchers claim Israeli tap water is not only safe and tasty, but preferable to mineral water, which is a waste of money and resources and not even as healthy as everyone thinks.

Of course, there’s also the little matter of the plastic bottles that the bottled water industry contributes… On Neviot’s website, they make a whole display of the different kinds of bottles you can carry around.

Plastic

The last time I was in New York, I noticed it was in vogue to carry around non-plastic bags in the supermarket and elsewhere. And, really, when I say in vogue, I mean fashionable to walk around with 100% all-natural fiber bags that say on them, “I’m not a plastic bag.”

In Israel, for months, I’ve seen the non-plastic bags in the supermarket, sold for a few shekel, to be replacements for the plastic bags that Israelis - like everyone else - are so eager to use and recycle by reusing them as garbage bags. Are Israelis buying it? I don’t know. I don’t see them being walked around very often.

The government, however, is making an attempt by formulating a bill to ban the production, importing and distribution of plastic bags. in fact, a small charge will be implemented for each plastic bag used. Good thing too, since apparently Israel’s population of 7 million use about 430 million plastic bags a month in 2005…

We personally have started to use those bags ourselves, with occasional picking up plastic bags to reuse as garbage bags at home.

And then, at my office a few months back, a couple of coworkers attempted a revolution in using ceramic mugs and bowls instead of the tons of wasteful plastic goods they order every week. I took up the cause myself and have been ok with it, at the very least.

Automobiles

I have read a lot about the work of Israeli researchers and advancements in hybrid cars, electric cars, water-power. Every so often I will read an article about the latest researcher or start up focusing on this. There is an Israeli start up dedicated start putting in ‘chargers’ for electric cars on city streets. Israel is one of the leading in the research for water-powered and vegetable-oil powered cars.

I have begun to consider what my next car would be and I definitely think out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new, because soon enough I won’t have a choice around here.

By the way:

• Hybrid Car Sales in Israel Increased by More Than 300% in 2007
• An Israeli start up is trying to build 500,000 electric car charging stations in the country
• Israel is considering making electric cars completely tax-free

Conclusion

I do think that Israelis get a bad rap from visiting Americans, who consider themselves green and eco-savvy to a fault. I do acknowledge that until recently, Israel was terrible in the eco arena. It’s hard to compare too because the United States is a bigger place with more people with more stores with more factories with more indulgences… with more bad habits. But these days, it’s unfair to judge Israelis harshly; its researchers are leading in areas of water desalination, electric and water-run cars, solar paneling, etc.

In fact, dare I say I am proud of what I’ve seen so far, as small as it may be. Of course, there is tons more to be done and what we have so far is so small, but it’s the national psychology that always has to be shifted before you can see real change. I can see that from the academic point of view as well in areas of the government, Israel is definitely moving its psychology in the eco-friendly direction.

So I’m going through my July edition of “בקיצור” (b’kitzur, in short)  which is a newsletter for yishuvim in the Matte Yehuda region. It’s packed with ads and superficial articles, but once in a while there is a gem - or two - that must be shared.

Take the following advertisement, for example. It’s a sale at Super Pharm, everyone’s favorite Walgreen’s attempt. It’s having a sale on its home brand products - three eyeliners for the price of one, various hair products for two shekel each… and then this:

‘Buy one get one free’ between first-aid gear and condoms. What kind of kinky sex do you think we’re having, Super Pharm?

Which leads to the second bizarre inappropriate ad in the bunch… Dancing is big in Israel, especially folk dancing. What a wonderful chug to send your kids to during the summer. You might want to consider this dance instructor:

On second thought, you might not. Her name is Pipi Nes. Go on, say that quickly. Drop one of the ‘p’s and say it again.

It was basically a review of the connections and implications of self-marking from sociological, psychological and halachic vantages. While I didn’t necessary learn that much news, I did get a trip off hearing these issues discussed in a somewhat-public forum. The small audience was made up of a pierced girl who was probably younger than me, a girl around my age who is a social worker, two concerned moms (religious) and a very concerned set of parents (religious, somewhat naive).

Halevi summed something up that was definitely news in the way that I’ve never heard it put so simply before. She said she once had a student who explained to her the difference between American teenagers and Israeli teenagers when it comes to self-marking, drugs, etc.

American teenagers want to להכנס (come in) while Israel i teenagers want to לצאת (go out). The Americans are coming from a life filled with numbness and materialism; it’s empty and they need to prick themselves in order to feel alive. The Israelis live in a land of denial; they are expected to buck up and move on when a fellow student is shot and killed on the highway or an older sibling loses a limb in the army. They don’t get a chance to wallow or escape, so they do anything to remove themselves from the situation.

It can go either way, of course, depending on your family and social status, but in a general sense it was interesting. Definitely food for thought for the anxious parents present, who by the way, were all Anglos living in Israel… Maybe that has something to do with it?

Conversation between my husband and his Israeli dad:

“I’m going to the hardware store, I need to buy one of those plastic buts you put in the wall, to put a screw in - you can call it a trivet or something?”

“Eh, you ken call eet a spaghetti eef you want.”

<Laughter on our end>

“No really. Eet’s the long thing.”

“Well, the hardware store guy is called Abu Shukri, so I don’t think he’ll know ’spaghetti’ necessarily.”

“So tell him… חומוס, אבל ארוך”

The recipe for aliyah success is a complicated set of characterstics; not because what is required but because I think attaining what is required is seeded way before making aliyah.

I’ve mentioned creativity, open-mindedness and flexibility before. One other major ingredient in this recipe, I’ve discovered, is direction.

Now, direction is an ingredient for many successes: making the move from high school to college, making the move from college to being employed, independent and stable. Transitioning to the next stage of life, whichever that is, is a lot smoother if you know where you’re going, why you’re doing it and that you’re equipped.

Which is why, I find it funny when Israeli-borns are so impressed that in three years, I moved here, started a masters, got a steady job, got married, settled in a suburb, etc. They say, “Wow, I know tons of Israelis who haven’t gone that far…” Right. Because direction matters whether you’ve lived here all your life, or just for a few years.

A lot of people make aliyah because they lack direction. Some work it out, some don’t. Some people don’t make aliyah because they have direction and know it’s not in Israel; that’s not being anti-Israel, it’s honesty.

I also wonder if Israeli-borns view us as wealthy Anglos who obviously got this far because we had money coming into it. It couldn’t be more false; we were/are opportunists who are liberal when there is a knock at the door. Anyone can do that too, whether new oleh or vatik.

Opportunism, creativity, open-mindedness, direction, flexibility and honesty. It all works in hand-in-hand when you make it work that way.