Preparing for the Israeli Earthquake

In the wake of the Haiti earthquake the Israeli press has been writing about the possibility of a major earthquake along Israel’s faultlines. But experts don’t consider it a possibility. It’s a certainty, the only question is when.

During a discussion at the Internal Affairs Committee following the recent disaster in the Caribbean country, Shapira stated, “Granted one can’t predict them or their date, but we must accept that what will kill people is not an earthquake. What kills them is the building.”

In 1980, the Knesset passed laws requiring new buildings to be built according to standards that prevent the building’s collapse during an earthquake. But only a few dozen old buildings been reinforced, despite a plan meant to encourage this. I heard one expert say that he hopes the earthquake will occur between 7 and 8 am, when most people are on their way to school or work. If it happens during school hours, a generation of children could be lost.

As individuals we can’t do much about that except lobby for change.  All of us, though, can secure furniture, lock cabinets with heavy items, and have an emergency plan in place.

Recommendations for behavior during earthquakes have been updated during recent years. If the ground begins to shake, don’t try to move too far. If you are in bed, cover your head with your pillow. During the day move away from exterior walls and climb under the nearest desk or table, unless you are a few steps from a safe room or a stairwell.

Instructions in English from the Home Front Command.

An earthquake preparation game to play with your kids.

A Haitian man survives for 12 days under the rubble.

Related post:
Fleas Are Worse than Bombs

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How Much is Finding Your Beshert Worth? Paying the Shadchan

This is the seventh part of a series on dating and marriage in the religious Zionist community in Israel.

I: Dating Readiness, II: Meeting the One, III: Genetic Testing, IV: Dating Venues,  V: Shidduch Crisis?, VI: Internet Dating, VIII: Wedding Costs, IX: Planning Tips

Today we leave the topic of dating and move on to the engagement.

One of the first decisions an engaged couple and their parents will make is how to reward the shadchan (matchmaker).

In the haredi world, each side pays $1000 to the shadchan. But in the religious Zionist community, where  most matches are made through friends or teachers, money rarely changes hands. Few charge for their services.

Apparently, some years ago Rabbi Eliyahu recommended that every institution assign a shadchan to look out for its students. Isramom’s son’s yeshiva gave the job to one of the student’s wives. When Isramom’s son received NIS 1000 for suggesting a girl he had dated to a fellow student, the shadchanit joked, “All I ever get are sets of glasses and vases.”

In a community where marriage is valued so highly, yet with few opportunities for young people to meet, is it reasonable this yeshiva student’s wife to receive less than the value of an average wedding present for making a shidduch?

Shadchanim have to inquire about the young people and encourage them to date. They may be working with the parents, too. Just reaching everyone on the phone can take a dozen attempts. And young people are resistant to formal matchmaking, so it’s common for the shadchan to find a friend to make the suggestion.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner has written that each side should pay the shadchan, whether professional or not, NIS 5000. This may not be such a large sum, especially when put into the context of wedding costs. While people have been cutting extras in menus and decorations, 300-400 guests is still the norm. Everyone has to set priorities in their wedding budgets, but 300 guests is not a bare-bones affair. If people are still making such large weddings, perhaps the effort of the person who brought the couple together is worth more than the cost of a wedding meal or two.

Rabbi Aviner, who has been attacked for his position, argues that a shadchan is similar to a real estate agent who shows dozens of apartments for free, but earns a hefty commission when a sale is made. If we want singles to meet, we need to do more to encourage shadchanim. And the best encouragement is to pay them well.

There are down sides to paid shadchanut. Disreputable people are more likely to get involved, and put pressure on singles to go on unsuitable dates. Paid shadchanim would have more of an incentive to hide damaging information.

Dear readers, please weigh in. Should informal shadchanim get paid? Or is a set of glasses enough?

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26926514@N03/ / CC BY 2.0

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The Government Helps the Little Guy (Me)

I’ve been given the run-around for several months by the internet service provider (ISP) Netvision.

In Israel, you pay two fees for ADSL: one fee to the national phone company Bezeq or cable network service for the ADSL infrastructure, and a second fee to the ISP.

It started when I tried to upgrade my ADSL service from 2MB to 4MB. The representative at Netvision told me I could combine my payment to Bezeq with my payment to Netvision. He offered me a total that was less than what I was paying. It sounded too good to be true. It was.

I admit I didn’t pay much attention to the lack difference in the service. And because I assumed it hadn’t gone through with the first bill and the holidays intervened, I didn’t realize right away that Bezeq was continuing to charge for infrastructure along with my regular phone bill. But Netvision had increased its charge to the amount agreed upon for both services, ADSL infrastructure and ISP.

When I called Netvision, three months after the requested upgrade, the representative told me that the deal with Bezeq only applied to new internet customers. When she got Bezeq on the line to negotiate a newrate, it turned out that in my area, Bezeq only offers 2.5MB speed. I’m not sure why, as I live in an urban area and ads for 8MB are all over the place. The representative promised to call back and renegotiate a fee for both Netvision and Bezeq for 2.5 MB (0.5 more than I originally had). I said I would think about it.

In the meantime I mentioned on Twitter how a Netvision representative offered a deal that didn’t and couldn’t exist, and the company continued to take my money until (and after) I called attention to it. Within a few hours, a honey-voiced woman named Ilana called me at home. She worked for Netvision’s public relations department, had seen my tweets, and wanted to help resolve the problem. According to her records, someone had tried to let me know my service hadn’t been upgraded. She said it to mitigate the situation but actually made it worse.  Netvision had noticed, but continued to charge me anyway. They didn’t have to notify me in order to cancel charges for a service they weren’t providing.

Ilana called a couple more times to offer me a deal on the 2.5MB, and negotiated with Bezeq on my behalf for a “low” price for the upgrade. In the end I got lower prices by shopping around for an ISP and contacting Bezeq myself.

I then made several lengthy phone calls to Netvision to try to cancel my service and get a refund for the non-existent upgrade. They put me on hold for lengthy periods, gave me new departments to call along with referral numbers, and asked to hear my story again and again. A different Ilana called, who claimed to be calling on behalf of the first Ilana. She was a sympathetic English speaker and as appalled as I was, but in the end insisted that only the original Ilana could cancel my service. After a day or two that Ilana called once more and promised to refund the money and cancel my service. She said I hadn’t got a refund yet because it was too late to put it on the previous (monthly) bill. But Netvision sent yet another bill (which is paid directly from my bank account), this time for the original fee from before the supposed upgrade. And still no refund.

And Ilana stopped responding to tweets about Netvision. No point in being social-media savvy if you’re not going to resolve the issue.

One person faxed the communication ministry to solve a similar problem. It took a month, but yesterday I received a letter from Dooly Dadon along with a copy of Netvision’s response to my complaint. Netvision agreed with my version of events and said it would cancel my service and refund the extra fees. My email address has indeed been cancelled.

Dooly is in charge of public service of the Israeli government’s department for supervision and enforcement in the communication sector. Judging from the response to my issues on Twitter, this is a busy department. Netvision is not the only company to grab and hold on to your money in any way it can. One person wrote that it took her husband five months to cancel internet service, and they never received a refund.

I have not seen my refund yet but I do believe it will arrive soon. (UPDATE: I did get the refund.)

Here is the address for complaints to the department for oversight and enforcement of the communication sector, of the Ministry of Communications:

Ahad Haam 9, Tel Aviv 61290

Phone: 03-5198214

Fax 03-5198106

Related:

Israel Television Bureaucracy

Totalitarian Television Tax

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Interesting Posts #1: Support the Jewish Library in Vilnius

Wild Grasses

I am going to adopt the style of Life in Israel and Parshablog and number my lists of interesting posts. I’ll start with number one, even though it’s not the first.

1. A  Soldier’s Mother with a video on Israel’s unique role in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.
2. The OU’s marriage satisfaction survey claims that overall marriages are healthy, with 70% of respondents claiming they would remarry their partners. The most dissatisfaction appears around 20 to 30 years after marriage, but those who stick it for longer are happy.
3. Rabbi Joshua Waxman of Parshablog responded to my post on Genetic Testing. Lion of Zion pointed me to a post he wrote on the topic and which linked to Conversations in Klal. They give opposing views on Dor Yesharim, the organization that tests without giving direct results.
4. Not a link, but a comment received by email: “R Tendler’s words sound good but in fact the decision making by individuals based on “information” is not very good. Stigma is not the only issue. So I am willing to be paternalistic on this one. As long as the decision is made reasonably — a big if — at the time or just before the shidduch, this is a good solution in my book. I mean that the outcomes will be better overall. If there were a rebbe to add arbitrary reasons for saying No, the stigma would be less still.”
   This reader makes a good point. Even if we have the ability to choose wisely, that may not true for everyone. And we may not like it, but there is value in participating in a plan that works for the whole community.
5. Miriam Shaviv on Jewish life in Britain.
6. Things aren’t so great in the US either. Orthonomics on tough decisions about Jewish day school and family size.
7. Haveil Havalim #? is up at Jack’s.
8. On Twitter I met a man with a plan, Wyman Brent. He wants to build a Jewish library in Vilnius, Lithuania, once known as the “Jerusalem of Lithuania.” He is asking for physical letters in support of this project, to the address below.This is a great activity for your kids.
   Mission Statement: The purpose of the Vilnius Jewish Library is to help strengthen Jewish culture in the Jerusalem of Lithuania. There were more than 100 synagogues and prayerhouses in Vilnius before the war. There was also the YIVO Institute which did so much to promote knowledge and education. Now there is one functioning synagogue here and, YIVO has moved its operations to the USA. Since the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto, there has not been a proper center of Jewish culture.
   Another focus of the library is to promote tolerance and understanding. There remains lingering anti-Semitism which is visible in the national media and within the Lithuanian government. The idea is to create a center which puts the spotlight not just on Jewish religion and culture but also upon the amazing accomplishments of Jews throughout history.
   The question is how to accomplish these lofty goals.  To open a library in which all the books are in Hebrew and Yiddish is to guarantee failure. There is a small Jewish population in Vilnius.  The purpose is not to convince Jews of the special nature of Judaism and Jewish culture.  I am hopeful that they already know.  So what will be done to guarantee the success of a Jewish library where there are not many Jews?
   1. Have approximately 100,000 books in English written by any Jewish author on any topic, both fiction and non-fiction. This will guarantee that there is the widest possible range of books.  That means that everyone who will walk through the door will find something which appeals to them.
   2. Keep in mind that English is not the first language of Lithuanians. To help with reading comprehension, the library will be stocked with around 20,000 dictionaries and encyclopedias.  Any reader who has trouble understanding a word or concept found in a book will have access to dictionaries covering everything from archaeology to zoology.  In addition, there will be CDs and DVDs designed specifically to help students learn English.  With a large collection of everything from children’s books to the most scholarly, there will be something for every reading level.
   3. Include other media. Many believe that the time of libraries is past.  After all, there are satellite dishes for television and high speed internet for computers.  To draw people into the library, there will also be a big collection of CDs and DVDs.  The music CDs will cover everything from the Beastie Boys to KISS to Streisand to Gershwin, Mahler, and the Klezmatics.  This will be another way to highlight the significant contributions which Jews have made to popular culture.  As for the DVDs, every Jewish library should have a copy of Schindler’s List directed by Stephen Spielberg. However, since Spielberg is Jewish, I also will have Jurassic Park and Jaws. Harrison Ford is Jewish so there will be Star Wars included as well as any Ben Stiller film. Yes, there will be serious documentaries as well as thoughtful films made about the Shoah.  The incredible variety of books, CDs, and DVDs is to show to the world the incredible breadth and depth of Jewish life and culture. I believe this is something which has never been attempted beneath one roof.
   4. Attract visitors with different events each night. There will be poetry readings, concerts, lectures, art exhibtions, as well as film nights.  These events can be done by any person for any reason.  The creator need not be Jewish and what they are doing need not have any Jewish connection.  The idea behind this is that it will get people in the door who might not have otherwise considered visiting a Jewish library.  Once through the door, they will be able to see for themselves the incredible array of material available to them.  If everything mentioned so far seems still inadequate to bring them in, there will also be a cafe offering coffee, tea, and snacks.
   It is one thing to open a Jewish library in a city where there are large numbers of Jews.  This is not London or New York or Tel Aviv.  This is Vilna which was the Jerusalem of Lithuania.  Many will say that the time for Jewish culture in Lithuania is past.  They will argue that all the Jews still here should move to Israel.  I believe that the Jews here feel the same as I do.  First, this is their home which nobody can deprive them of.  Second, is that for Jewish culture to die in Lithuania is to provide a posthumous victory for the nazis.  I will do all in my power to promote Jewish culture in Lithuania for as long as I am able.
   Respectfully,
   Wyman Brent
   shammes
   Vilnius Jewish Library
   Send letters of support to: Wyman Brent
   Ausros Vartu 20-15A
   Vilnius LT-02100
   Lithuania
   http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/30/1004090/sale-of-jewish-property-in-lithuania-thwarted
   http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/38801

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Internet Dating in the Religious Zionist Community

This is the sixth part in a series on dating and marriage in the religious-Zionist world.

I: Dating Readiness, II: Meeting the One, III: Genetic Testing,  IV: Dating Venues, and V: Shidduch Crisis?, VII: Paying the Shadchan, or Not, VIII: Wedding Costs, IX: Planning Tips

I hear of more and more couples who met through the internet.  DossiDate seems to be the most popular site for religious Israelis, and has an English version too. It is open to all Sabbath-observant, Jewish singles.

I can think of a lot of advantages to meeting via the internet:

• Relatively cheap, compared to a professional matchmaker. (NIS 54 a month)
• Easier to make connections than with multitudes of phone calls.
• Open to anyone, even without “connections.”
• You get to know a person in a low-pressure situation (chat or email) before committing to meet.
• Shy people or those who don’t make a good first impression have an easier time.
• Internet prospects can be checked out just as easily as those recommended by friends. Assuming you have the name of the high school or yeshiva, someone will know someone who knew the person. It’s harder if someone is new to the community, but that is true regardless of how people meet.
• If you reject someone you don’t have to involve the matchmaker, your parents and the whole world.

Of course there are many advantages to a human matchmaker, who may have a broader perspective and helps ensure that the relationship doesn’t get derailed in the early stages.

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