As we prepare for Rosh HaShanah I want to share this true story with you because I believe it depicts the way we should be treating each other all the time – not only during emergencies and disasters. If we could learn to behave like these Israelis did, perhaps the scales would remain tipped in our favor and Hashem wouldn’t have to send more wake-up-call trials and tribulations our way.
Shana Tova!
Tzvi Szajnbrum
A “Sabra” Friendship
Side by side with criticism we must remember that the Israeli society has plenty of positive aspects as well. One of the most amazing characteristics of Israeli society is the possibility of the kind of true and deep friendship we can hardly find anywhere else in the world.
I’ve seen innumerable cases involving difficulties new immigrants encounter in Israel. Some I could and did solve; others I couldn’t help and some others I didn’t have to help because good people, good Israelis had done it for me, better and faster.
This was the case of Hanna, a new immigrant of 25 who made Aliyah alone, leaving behind friends and family to become an Israeli.
After one year in an ulpan doing temporary work, Hanna was awarded a place in nursing school so she rented an apartment nearby in order to be close to where she would spend her next few years as a student and intern.
She found a small and inexpensive apartment and was therefore able to rent it without sharing with a roommate. She was happy to have her studio apartment on the ground floor. It was recently refurbished and had all the facilities she needed in spite the fact she didn’t have all the basic furniture
The neighbors were nice people, always smiling at her but somehow “keeping a distance”. Hanna was not sure about this behavior but decided not to pay much attention to this fact because everything else was fine.
The landlord was another story; the guy was kind of taciturn and very strict about the contract, especially the payment dates.
The last winter in Israel was very problematic and the storms in Tel Aviv caused serious problems including floods where the sewage wasn’t very effective. Tel Aviv has a very old sewage system and it is constantly getting clogged.
Hanna was worried about some bad odors around the house after the first rains. Consequently she called the landlord who calmed her down, claiming it was from the sewage nearby maintained by the municipality. Her landlord also informed her he had already called the municipality to fix the problem.
That same night, Hanna slept at a friend’s listening to the constant rain throughout the night. The next morning, Hanna went home and to her dismay found a dozen people around her building including firemen, neighbors, her landlord and the municipality working team as well.
During that night the sewage water flooded the entire area including Hanna’s apartment and every piece of her belongings. Hanna was left with nothing but broken furniture and a small mountain of wet and filthy clothing.
Hanna was aware she didn’t have insurance and she could not sue anyone for the damages. She was alone in Israel, had no financial reserve for emergencies and now she was left with nothing but the clothes on her back and a few other belongings.
She could not survive another day. In despair, Hanna tried to contact the social worker from the municipality but for her dismay the lady had her hands full taking care of other emergency cases regarding children’s urgent needs for shelter, clothes and food, all lost in the flooding.
Hanna was sobbing on a corner when she felt a hand on her shoulder; lifting her head, she saw her landlord. She knew the face but the expression? Something wasn’t the same. As Hanna told me later, her landlord smiled at her and excused himself – the guy disappeared for two hours after telling her that “everything was going to be fine”.
Israelis, you know them. Her landlord came back giving her a list, a long and detailed list in Hebrew. Hanna was to present this list to one of the neighbors on the top floor in one hour and from there she would be told what to do. The only sentence she remembered from that two-minute conversation was the famous and outrageous Israeli “trust me” and she did, mainly because she didn’t have any other option.
Hanna couldn’t believe these people asking herself again and again if they were for real. They were all telling her there was no reason to cry and be miserable, she was to remember she is in Israel now. Hanna could not understand their mentality and why they were talking to her as if the entire episode was already over when in fact she was in the beginning of a nightmare.
Hanna had many more crying moments – not from sadness but from happiness and disbelief. Hanna was now a neighborhood project from day one until she could stand on her own. She had a most enriching experience learning how the Israelis take a project so seriously.
Less than twelve hours after the flood, Hanna found a large package on her new bed at the neighbors’. In the package she found many of her lost clothes in addition to some brand new underwear, etc. As she learned later, they went back to look for her clothes and other belongings; they found many and then washed, dried and pressed them for her.
In the next two weeks Hanna spent every four days in one of the neighbors’ homes. She was fed three meals a day (at least), had all her clothes washed for her, she was given a small loan, a free pass for the buses (“Hofshi Hodshi”), someone else drove her to the social worker’s office and helped her complete some forms she didn’t even know what they were for. Hanna received many more packages from people she never met.
After two weeks, her apartment was completely refurbished with donated furniture including every piece of furniture she had and every other piece she needed and didn’t have before the flood. She was exempt from paying a month’s rent and the first time she had to cook for herself was after another two weeks. Her fridge was so packed she had to refuse what people were still bringing in.
Hanna succeeded in building a life here. She is now a nurse and she is dating one of the neighbor’s sons. Hanna has learned what a real “Sabra” is – full of thorns on the outside but sweet and tender on the inside.
