How can six-year-olds can keep track of all this stuff? (Of course I know the answer.) For first-grade in Israel you need the discipline of a first-year recruit.School supply list:Ten 40-page notebooks "esser shurot" (10 lines), a math notebook, and ten plastic covers (not eleven?) If you can find the cheap ones with the brown covers, buy them. The plastic "atifot" help them last longer and the teachers provide decorative pages to slip under the transparent covers, making them easy to identify. Of course they don't need 40 pages. There are at least six different kinds of notebook paper, and I often come home with the wrong kind.An assignment book; for first grade you can buy a generic … [Read more...]
Haredim and Army Exemptions
April 16, 2007 by 13 Comments
Here's what Jill from Writes Like She Talks said about me: If you want to get an excellent idea of how this issue applies practically, A Mother in Israel is a fantastic blog - well-written, by a mom of five (is it five?! yes, not four, but not six I think) who made aliyah many years ago but actually grew up part of her life in the Midwest. I've exchanged numerous emails with her and other personal information and assure you that if you want a real flavor of life after moving permanently to Israel, as a modern Orthodox Jew (though I don't know if she actually would refer to herself that way but I think that's pretty much how we'd classify her here - feel free to comment on that Mother in … [Read more...]
My Son and the Army
February 8, 2007 by 49 Comments
My son had his first visit with the army for a day of tests. He didn't get his "profile," that magic number measuring the army's opinion of the recruit's battle-worthiness, because he has yet to send them the results of a vision exam. They nevertheless wasted no time in sending him a letter saying that he is fit to serve, with the date of enlistment and a list of supplies each soldier receives. Both sexes receive the same items with a few exceptions. Men get extra underwear and t-shirts, and boots. Women get tear-gas. My son will definitely defer the army for at least a year to learn in yeshiva; after all he won't turn 18 until next March. After that he may continue in hesder (yeshiva … [Read more...]
Post high-school decisions
November 19, 2006 by 7 Comments
In Israel the post-high school decisions take on a different flavor because of the obligation to serve in the army. There are essentially four options for observant boys. Hesder, a five-year program including 1.5 years of army service. Most yeshiva high schools aspire to send the majority of their graduates to hesder. Mechina Kedam-Tzvait, a one-year program specifically geared to those not inclined to do hesder. The mechinot prepare them for the army, and they have a reputation for instilling yiddishkeit in some of the less serious kids. Yeshiva gevoha, which involves learning in a haredi or hesder yeshiva for one year before being drafted. Straight to the army. My son said that a … [Read more...]
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