These two weeks since we got back have been, well, rough.
The day after we got back I went to the supermarket and a customer was arguing with the cashier over a coupon. They were both yelling and insulting each other. Like real, hurtful insults. She called him a liar, he called her a thief, and everybody else went about their business because there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary in this exchange. And I realized that for the past six months I had been in countries where people were nice to each other. The default was nice. Here, not so much.
After them there were similar everyday clashes, like when I called to pay an overdue bill + interests and the woman yelled that she wasn’t going to cancel my debt (before I had a chance to say anything), or when a dog peed on my friend’s backpack and the owner raised a fist at my friend after he complained.
I have been living in Israel for so many years and things I was fine with now stand out like a sore thumb. I find myself telling friends that it didn’t use to be like this, so aggressive, and while many agree, others say that it did, and that it is the flip-side of a huge part of this country’s appeal.
Apart from the yelling, we came back to a packed apartment that had to be unpacked in order to be livable and homey. Not there yet. I still have 3 huge piles of stuff-I-don’t-know-where-to-put and some boxes I have just put in the “later” corner. My good mood seems to also be stuck in the “later” corner.
I walk around my neighborhood and a lot is different. Shops closed, restaurants opened and the tree in our building grew. I walk around feeling in a parallel reality where everything is almost recognizable but not quite. Everything changed and yet nothing changed.
It’s a good thing that tomorrow is Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. A day to reset. Restart. Review. I will say goodbye and thank you to a year of unimaginable adventures and personal growth and I will start the new one with an open invitation to new challenges and opportunities and the promise that amazing things are out there and I am ready to grab them.
Shana Tova.