Three weeks in, and never a dull moment!
Our first wedding took place on a Thursday evening at Dor Beach, a beautifully romantic spot adjacent to a kibbutz, about 60 kilometres north of Tel Aviv. It is definitely too far to take a taxi, and public transit requires at least three buses plus a 40 minute walk along an unlit road. In other words, without a car, “you can’t get there from here”. Fortunately the couple had arranged a shuttle for their guests from Tel Aviv. It left at 3:00 in the afternoon in order to be sure we would arrive in time for the planned sunset wedding. Going north on a Thursday afternoon from Tel Aviv is a bit like to going from Toronto to cottage country on a summer Friday. You can’t leave too early.
It was an exuberant, joyful, Argentinian celebration and also an illustration of the possibilities inherent in starting a new life in Israel. The bride was a recent Olah and a classmate of mine in Ulpan (language school). She met her future husband (also an Argentinian Oleh) on a family visit to the north and — boom — that was it! I think it is safe to say that neither one of them was expecting to find a spouse at this stage in the game, and this made the festivities all the more jubilant.
The venue was rustic and simple, as befits a beach wedding, which was small by Israeli standards (only 90 people). This being an Argentinian event, there was meat, and more meat, and it was delicious. In fact, there was so much food, that at the end they were offering trays to take home. (I love this country.)The language in the room was Spanish which Mike and I can follow, but truly it did not matter what language was being spoken, since the booming dance music ensured that we couldn’t hear a thing. We did a lot of smiling and hugging.
It was a long day: we left the house at 2:00 and got home eleven hours later at 1:00 in the morning with full hearts — and some minor hearing loss. I resolved to bring ear plugs to the next wedding…
Four days later, we were en route again to a different venue, also some distance north of Tel Aviv, and apparently this wedding was also on the small side (only 250 people — hah!). But here the similarities ended. We were able to get there and back by taxi, and so were able to stay for a period more suitable to our advanced years. The language mix was mainly English, with some Hebrew; and I did not need the earplugs, for which I was grateful. Of course it did mean we had to make conversation…
The venue was named “Shade of the Forest” and indeed, once we drove through what looked like a military checkpoint and took a wrong turn or two, (puzzling both us and the taxi driver), we came to a lovely treed-in open air event space, specifically designed for weddings.
Though it is not a resort, for some reason it had a huge swimming pool in the middle, which proved endlessly fascinating to the kids in attendance. (Luckily it was glassed in.) In reading the promotional material for the venue, they touted the possibility of a pool party aspect to their events. This struck me as a rare kind of feature for weddings, but maybe on a very hot day…
Our connection here was with groom, who was one of Ben’s roommates at university here in Israel. He grew up in California and his lovely bride (whose parents are Israeli) grew up in Australia. However, in chatting with the groom’s father, Mike detected an unmistakable Canadian connection. After all, what says “Canadian” more than a hockey fan who supports the Habs. Sure enough, the family originally hails from Montreal.
Defying the usual stereotypes, this wedding, despite its more North American character, did not get underway until about an hour and a half after the time on the invitation. In contrast, the Argentinian event took place precisely at its designated time. Go figure.
Once the wedding ceremony got underway, you could feel the genuine joy of all their friends and family who were clearly delighted by the young couple’s happiness. As were we.
Two takeaways: 1) Except in the case of a sunset ceremony, there is no need to go “all Canadian” and arrive at the alleged starting time . 2) The traditional stomping on a wine glass, at the end of a ceremony, needs something much more stable than a sandy beach.
Then came the election…
In secular Tel Aviv there was great angst before the election, and great dismay afterwards, as the country returned a triumphant Netanyahu to power. His more or less secular Likud party is supported on the one hand by the ultra-orthodox bloc and on the other, by the religious Zionist extremist bloc, a matter of great concern to many, both domestically and internationally. Although the popular vote was almost dead even, the way the proportional representation thresholds played out led to a decisive victory for Bibi and his allies. The only good thing that can be said about the two detestable blocs that propelled him to power, is that they also loathe each other. It is possible that not even Netanyahu’s political genius will be able to keep the lid on this particular Pandora’s box of extreme ideologies, not to mention their drain on the national treasury.
For an excellent review of Netanyahu and the economic implications of all this, I highly recommend an article by Vivian Bercovici: https://www.stateoftelaviv.com/fat-man-thin-man-will-netanyahu-upend-his-economic-legacy/?ref=state-of-tel-aviv-newsletter
I am not going to delve into the campaign mistakes made by the former short-lived governing coalition, nor the deep-seated security fears successfully exploited by the Netanyahu bloc. Neither am I going to try and outline the various political agendas at play here. (You are welcome.) There is more than enough of this type of commentary available on-line, ranging from the “we are doomed” camp to the “don’t worry, Bibi is a pragmatist and it will somehow sort itself out” camp. I’m in the “wait and worry” camp.
What I do want to share is how different the actual voting day experience is here. First of all, it is a national holiday. No one has to work, and those who do, get paid double. Cafes and restaurants are packed and all the major retailers have sales. City buses are free. Despite all this, or perhaps because of it, voter turnout is very high at over 70%. Second, there can be quite a party atmosphere at the voting stations, or at least at the one across the street from us.
Overnight, our neighbourhood school was festooned with banners, tables were set up outside and piled high with campaign literature to hand out to anyone who would take it, people with bullhorns shouted competing slogans (mostly at each other), and a deafening drum band showed up a few times too many. Several politicians came by to press the flesh and/or vote including the leader of the Labour party, who lives around the corner from us, Lihi Lapid, wife of the Prime Minister, and Gideon Saar, Minister of Justice.
Having already been through this twice since we moved in here, we decided to host our own “pop up” election cafe from 11:00-3:00. Friends were invited for coffee, lunch, pastries and, of course, political discussion. They were all riveted by the show unfolding below us. (I hope this little video works — always a challenge on this platform.)
The polls closed at 10:00, and by the next morning you would never know anything had happened. Its the only time I have ever seen Israelis clean up so well and so quickly.
And so began our third season…