More Observations on the Religion of Secular Israelis

On Erev Yom Tov, a whole bunch of my chiloni neighbors were outside in the morning, feeding their kids sandwiches on the front yard. Their houses were already chametz-free.

I also saw something very jarring, and extremely interesting: I saw a guy vacuuming his car out on Shabbat afternoon.

Walking around Tel Aviv on Shabbat Chol Ha-Mo’ed, I saw a restaurant open, and a guy sitting in it eating matzah and cholent. There was a place across the street selling sandwiches with bread, which was somehow less striking.

I also witnessed a domestic argument between a dad who didn’t want his kids carrying things on the beach, and his kids, who pointed out that he shouldn’t answer his cellphone on Shabbat. But hypocrisy is everywhere. I was simply surprised that carrying in a ‘carmelis’ would be someone’s ‘line in the sand’ (sorry, bad pun) for observance.

A final, unrelated observation: it is incredibly ungratifying to be at a hotel where the ba'al koreh is Sephardic. I've gotta belt out a good "ka-a-a-aileh" before the end of Yom Tov!