[img]96|left|Shachar||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem — A sky as clear and blue as the Mediterranean Sea is the canvas backdrop for the view from my fourth floor apartment window (actually the fifth floor because here in Israel the first floor is the ground floor and the second floor the first, etc.).
Red and orange blossoms on trees with leaves that look like ferns from the Fern Grotto in Hawaii populate the park next to my building. Several varieties of palm trees tower above me, and some have bunches of dates hanging in clusters. I have been told there are fruit bats that hide there, but I have yet to see them. The only wildlife I see are the pigeons perched on window air conditioners and cats roaming the streets, an occasional dog, and once I saw a weasel on a leash.
A winding brick pathway from the street leads to the colorful playground. Across the street is another park, but this one has benches occupied by senior citizens who sit in the shade under giant fir trees. Sometimes the parks fill with hundreds of people during wedding celebrations, the loudspeakers blaring into the night, and fireworks shooting into the sky.
Tuesday is the night of choice for most religious weddings. If the invitation says 6 p.m., one should arrive by 8 and perhaps the wait for the ceremony will not be long. Dinner will begin about 10, and dancing in the street under a starry black sky will go til the wee hours of the morning. Of course everyone has to be at work early the next day.
Their Patriotism Is Not Flagging
Israelis are patriotic. Even when it is not Independence Day, there are flags waving in the breeze from car windows. Large flags hang from apartment balconies as well as streamers of flags draped across windows ledges. A white background with a large blue Star of David between two thick blue stripes describes the Israeli flag. The view from my windows of the other apartment houses on my street includes flags flying from just about every building.
On almost every block there is a cage for plastic bottles and a large trash bin for newspapers. Trash pickup is every couple of days, but once a week the garbage trucks pick up furniture and appliances that people throw out. On the roofs of most apartments are solar energy panels and something called a “dude shemesh,” a solar water heater. Last week special washers for faucets were installed by the government without charge in order to save water. Toilets have two handles for flushing, regulating the amount of water needed. Most of the country is energy conscious. Water is scarce in Israel but Israelis have invented ways of turning salty sea water into fresh water, and using giant windmills for electricity, similar to those electric windmill turbines seen along the Antelope Valley Freeway, between Rosamond and Mojave in California.
Although there is a water shortage, Israelis have converted this desert into a flourishing nation of trees (Israel is the only nation in the world to have more trees now than at the beginning of the century), flowers (Israel supplies the majority of flowers bought by Europeans), and beautifully landscaped parks. The Joshua tree is native to only the Mojave Desert and Israel. And much of the flora is tropical, often reminding me of the garden island of French Martinique in the Caribbean. Some of the palm trees remind me of those lining the streets of Beverly Hills.
L'hitraot. Shachar