The Heat is On

September 7, 2009


Don’t tell anyone else this -- :) -- but, our sorry, pale-skinned, Ashkenazi bodies are not made for Israel’s heat. Maybe 2000 years ago. And probably another 2000 years before we’re used to it again. No wonder the sephardi/mizrachi population is now the majority of the country.

During the day, the heat’s your shadow. There’s no escaping. It batters, presses, roils and broils. It’s like going for a dunk in the NBA and meeting finger-waving, shot-blocking Dikembe Mutumbo at the basket saying, “no, no, no.”

The biggest difference in the heat here as opposed to the States, at least the Northeastern part of them, is the sun. Sounds a little odd, huh? The sun. It’s always there. No clouds to speak of – for four months. This Shabbat clouds miraculously appeared and sheltered us on our 25-minute walk home from lunch. We felt like the people of Israel strolling through the desert, cloud-cover overhead. It felt 20 degrees cooler than when the sun is out.

So the day goes like this. Take the kids to school or camp at 7:30 or 8:00. Try to get an errand or two in. Then head indoors before the sun begins the rapid extermination of everything stupidly remaining under it between 9 and 5. The sun’s heaviest working hours in Israel.

Then, as if escaping long incarceration, people burst out of their houses, offices, and other cells at 5:30 or so and flood the parks, streets, malls, and any other even quasi-inviting outdoor space that stares them in the face.

The sun goes slowly away, dying a long death, now so pretty, ferocity forgotten.

A day in the life of the Israeli heat and the people it oppresses.