The Biggest Surprises About Israel

Moving to Israel has been fun, exciting and I came with an open mind and without a lot of preconceived ideas of how it would be here.  The differences between Israel and the United States seem quaint and old-fashioned, but not terribly surprising.  I try to keep in mind that Israel is only 60 years old and from its inception has been a wartime economy, thus buildings and goods are functional and luxury is for Americans.

That Israel is as modern as it is was a surprise to me.

Although there are plenty of trash cans along the street, litter is everywhere.  I guess there's no laws again litter-bugging.  You can see litter in the streets, on the sidewalk and even in people's yards.  I'm surprised there's not more national pride in keeping Israel litter-free.

Israel is a land of few resources and they must economize especially with water.  Thus it was no surprise that energy is very expensive and water is conserved.  What has surprised me is that people here don't drink water.  They drink imported drinks such as Coke, bottled tea, juice, and other sweet drinks, but not water.  In the US, you often see people taking their water bottle with them wherever they go -- not so in Israel.  People look at you funny if you are carrying a drink, especially if it's water.  People can't believe it when all you want to drink is water.  Israel does need to conserve water but not at the expense of people compromising their health.

For a land of few resources, I'm surprised Israel isn't doing more to be sustainable.    About 80% of Israel utilized solar-powered hot water heaters.  Almost every apartment -- most residential housing is a multi-plex -- has five or six hot water heaters on top of the roof with a solar panel attached.   This is a good start, but not enough.

We have been told that Israel uses the most expensive and dirty fuel possible -- coal -- which must be imported from the US and Europe.  No wonder utility bills are so high. Israel does have nuclear power plants, which come with their own problems.

Being energy independent for both Israel and the United States -- that is off the oil fix -- is paramount to national security.  Israel does have a national energy policy to be 25% off foreign oil by 2040.  That's too weak of a policy.  Israel cannot afford to lose a war, and energy independence could ascertain that during a crisis they would have the resources to fight their attackers and at the same time still feed their citizens:  which I guess now includes me.

So it has been a surprise that Israel has not been pursuing energy independence and other aspects of sustainability more aggressively.

Since being here for over a month, I have noticed that those people who speak English at a higher level also tend to have higher paying jobs and positions of more power.  It may be true that, "In Haifa people speak Russian and in Tel Aviv people speak English," but what I have noticed is English competency, even among those who speak English well, is very low.

I thoroughly believe it is my obligation as someone living here to become competent in Hebrew.  No problem.  

My issue is that English is the language of international business.  Other countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Russia, Mexico are bringing in native English speakers to teach their citizen the language because these countries understand the importance English plays in world trade.  Israel seems to be indifferent to this.  All you have to do is read the Jerusalem Post online and see how often a badly worded sentence is allowed into print.  It is disconcerting to realize that Israeli citizens are not learning English well enough to be competitive in the global market.  

Israel is allowing people who do not know enough English well enough themselves to teach the language -- and it shows.  It shows in the material written in English, the faltering way they speak the language, and with people who constantly say, "English doesn't have enough words."  English doesn't have enough words?  All one has to do is look at a Hebrew/English dictionary and see that English has over twice the words as Hebrew.  Laments over lack of words merely indicates students are not learning vocabulary.

The government could allow -- or even require -- native English speaking olim to teach for one year as part of their service to Israel.  Most olim would probably be thrilled to be able to help Israel in such a way. I know I would.