24 Reasons Why I Like Living Here...and Will You Be Dying Today or Won't You??

Ok. So here's the thing. I've been here 16 years (and counting) and have long since come down off my Zionism-induced high and am left with the prosaic realities of the ups and downs of this crazy place - that somehow works (go figure!).

As with most things/people, it's incredibly easy to find all the faults and stuff to moan about - all the "warts". I'm finding it MUCH harder as time goes by to hang on to the "gems". But I don't want to put people off from coming (which - thinking long-term - only goes to make my life easier if more people like me DO come) nor do I want to be like the Biblical spies who were sent by Moses to spy out the Land of Israel before the Israelites entered it and came back with a bad report for which they were punished by G-d.

So I have set myself a project. Let's see how many GOOD points for living here I can think of. This may be an ongoing work-in-process, but here's what I came up with off the top of my head:

1) We're NOT a minority any more.....YAY! That home-y feeling....
2) Being able to say to my daughter, "You see, right there is where David stood when he shot the giant" or "Those mountains right there are where Lot hid when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed."
3) Not having to scrounge for kosher food and restaurants.
4) The weather, the beaches and the spring!
5) The holidays and climate are compatible. When the kids are singing in school about Tu B'Shvat and about spring arriving, outside it isn't covered in snow and ice like in the US. And we don't sit outside in our sukkot huddled in coats and scarves and boots with heaters! If that's not an indication that you're in the WRONG country, I don't know what is!
6) Only ONE Passover Seder. How cool is THAT?
7) Being able to say "Shabbat Shalom" to EVERYONE - the doctor, the bank clerk, the bus driver, the cashier, the garbage man - and they all, religious or otherwise, 'get it'.
8) The powerful emotion I feel during the siren and minute of silence on Memorial Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day - AWESOME! The WHOLE country comes to a SCREECHING halt at the same instant for that minute and EVERYONE stands for it no matter where they are or what they're doing.
9) My husband doesn't have to cover his kippah with a baseball cap or any other kind of hat for fear of what people will say, do or think.
10) Jewish soldiers! They're beautiful boys (and girls) - every single one of them!
11) Jewish holidays are not considered vacation days from school or work and you don't have to explain to anyone why you need Friday off (or need to leave early if you happen to work on Friday).
12) The Hebrew language and the fact that my kids will be fluent in it.
13) We can go into the food court in the mall and eat ANYWHERE.
14) Jewish education is free until high school.
15) Health insurance is mandatory and subsidized by the government - costs almost nothing compared to the US.
16) Fruits and vegetables TASTE THE WAY THEY SHOULD! (Despite being watered by sewage water....go figure!)
17) From Rehovot, you can get to Eilat in 4 hours and to the Golan in 2 1/2 hours.
18) Modest clothing is readily available everywhere.
19) Kosher for Pesach (Passover) food is available ALL Pesach - always in stock. No need to shop for Pesach (or Purim!) a month before...
20) All different walks of people are here, especially Russian, French, South American, Ethiopian, Thai, Indian - and they all speak Hebrew and/or English!
21) Shuls (synagogues) are in abundance here... different kinds everywhere!
22) The social norm that allows us to double-dip in peace without neurotic fear of contracting the West Nile virus.
23) When it rains, people celebrate like we just won the gold medal in basketball.
24) Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) - which is apparently Hebrew for “go to the park and eat a cow.”
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On another train of thought....

DH and I both had nasty colds over the weekend. Thank G-d for DD14 who was home from school and helped with the little ones. Last night I was starting to feel a teeny bit better so DH of course saw that as a sign that the second I came in the door from work he could retire to the boudoir and crawl under the covers and "leave me to it". Fine with me. Sometimes I wish he would "leave me to it" more often but if he's going to "leave me to it" THEN I WISH HE'D "LEAVE ME TO IT" rather than lie there pretending to be dying while still finding the energy to yell at me about how DS2 isn't dressed warmly enough and how could I let DS2 run around without any pants trousers or how someone's knocked at the door which has been opened by DD6 and the said "someone" is now standing inside our house and WOULD I PLEASE GO SEE WHO IT IS AND WHAT THEY WANT - all this while I'm mid-diaper change with DS2 - and how he DAFKA isn't going to exert any effort to go see who it is and what they want because when HE is home alone with the kids, HE manages to juggle it all flawlessly so therefore he wants to see me do it NOW.

Which brings me back to the title of this post, "Will you be dying today, dear, or won't you? Please decide."

Grrrr. Men.