Aliyah 116: TLV vs. JLM roads & locked gates

Artificial Intelligence Has Taken Over My Mind

I’ve been derelict – or just absent from – adding to my aliyah diary lately. I’ve been entranced by AI – it now turns my refrigerator Shabbos mode on and off for me at proper Shabbos and Yom Tov times, pulls down my patents from the U.S. Patent Office, categorizes them, and creates webpages with custom descriptions (for SEO), has full search capabilities and is helping me write a book based on my history teaching. Scheduled consultations on my website are based off my available time which calculates when Shabbos is coming in in Israel to make NY-based consultation times – and also adds to my Chromecast a Shabbos zmanim (calendar) with times calculated for my synagogue that it learned simply by sending it a screenshot of one day of the schedule. It also reads my docketing system, my invoice system, and my email system and generates letters to clients reminded them to renew their patents and trademarks.

The industrial revolution changed everything. The atomic age and information age came next. I truly believe we just entered another epoch in history.

It sounds great until after hours of this, I walk outside and think I should ask AI to plant the cactus for me.

“Girls my age are working this summer so they can pay for their driver’s license.”

That’s a funny thing to say. It’s thousands of dollars to get a driver’s license in Israel which includes taking a ‘theory’ test on things no one needs to know and includes memorizing signage that I’ve never seen in my life. Then it’s 21 paid lessons with an instructor.

Sounds terrible until you figure that it’s a 17 year old whose going to be denting your car.

Rambling away in Hebrew and then … “Are you crazy?”

… heard in the Israeli equivalent to a department store, said by a mother to her teenage son. English speakers hear Hebrew speakers as if they’re speaking one long slurred phrase like they’re always praying or something. Turns out Hebrew is only slightly more energy dense than English and fair less than French or Spanish. The lack of hearing breaks seems to have more to do with how conjunctions, prepositions, and connecting words are usually part of the word itself in Hebrew and we’re not trained to hear this as breaks from the word being modified.

“Excuse me, I noticed you were rambling away in Hebrew and then switched to English to ask him if he’s crazy. What gives?”, I asked in not those words.

Apparently, they like to practice English sometimes and I guess that’s a good phrase to use.

Later, at the checkout line, my conversation came in useful because the boy told me that the line we were on was only for the handicapped. “Funny, none of you look handicapped.” They all had IDs though. Reminds me of when I helped my friend park in high school by making a high-quality scan, edit to the ID number, and print of my parking permit for him. I find it hard to believe that there can be lines of handicapped people that have no problem standing and walking in line for 15 minutes until the self-checkout reopened.

Protests to Close the Gate

I live in a community with one entrance and exit road (and an emergency exit which remains locked). On Shabbos, the roads are closed … kind of. Emergency vehicles can drive in, otherwise the entrance is closed to cars coming in though you could drive around the neighborhood if you don’t mind me glaring at you. I walk in the middle of the road on Shabbos. Why? I can! I love it.

The gate out has been consistently open – seems okay, except what was happening is that people were coming and going who might be kids of homeowners / former homeowners that don’t keep Shabbos, renters that don’t keep Shabbos, or guests who leave after dinner on Friday. So – the protests began. Religious Jew type A danced in circles by the exit gate singing Shabbos songs to prevent cars from exiting. Religious Jew type B watched.

It’s apparently illegal to close the roads, says the Israeli Supreme Court, though no one listens to them. They have all sorts of rulings that they have no business ruling on and all come from the same law school and none are religious.

The exit gate is now locked – I bought a house here in part because that’s exactly what I wanted – a community with closed roads on Shabbos. I love it.

“No refills until you visit the doctor”

. . . says the online medical system. It’s been way too long since I’ve had a doctor’s appointment. Alright, good idea. Let’s visit the doctor. There’s no charge.

Doctor A only gives me refills one month at a time. She was away once and Doctor B filled in, giving me refills three months at a time. So – I went to Doctor B.

“What can I do for you?”
“You know, regular checkup …”
“What else?”
“Refills.”
“Okay, anything else?”
“I think I should get a blood test. Haven’t done that since I came to Israel and with this medication, I’m supposed to.”
“What should we test for?”
I tell him.
“Okay, anything else?”
“Yes, a checkup.”
“Oh! Let me take your blood pressure.”

That was it. On the upside, I didn’t want 45 minutes to see a doctor and fill out a ream of forms for him to have to run out to see the next patient 45 minutes late. You take a number. Sit for a minute. Go in.

Then I got the blood test – in and out in 15 minutes – no appointment necessary – and an email with the results that night.

I doubt I will ever stop praising Israeli healthcare after the American experience.

Specialist

I thought just maybe for something I felt that going to see a specialist was a decent idea … and I think I half wanted to see what it was like.

Book online … I chose a doctor available the next day. I went to the appointment … took a number and went right in. No wait (I was actually early). Spoke to him, got my consultation, etc, and left after about 10 minutes.

I went to the reception area – do I need to pay? No.

34 shekels. About $12 to see a specialist and I can go back as many times as I need for three months with that fee.

In America, I wouldn’t have even gone to the specialist. Not worth the hassle, ream of papers, being hung up on while trying to make an appointment with a secretary who can’t handle the volume and then getting a bill from a random number generator along with more papers from the insurance company. The American medical system stinks. Long live Israeli healthcare.

Tel Aviv Driving

Oy. I missed a hotel where I was dropping someone off (actually, went down a ramp under the hotel instead of straight across like no road sign would tell me) and it was a 20-minute drive to come back around. We parked in the next lot and walked back to the hotel.

Driving back was through a part of Tel Aviv I’d never seen – tiny roads, everything boarded up. This was maybe 1/2 mile from $600/night beachfront hotels.

Jerusalem Driving

Jerusalem is often not much better in terms of traffic – a major difference is that Jerusalem is all hills, up and down. Tel Aviv is flat. Whether it makes sense to drive in Jerusalem, in my opinion, very much depends on where you’re going. Jerusalem highways cut through the city. Tel Aviv has one highway that goes through it, the rest around it.

I also prefer Tel Aviv drivers to Jerusalem drivers by far. The two main cities in Israel are like two different countries.

Jerusalem also has “gotcha” speed cameras – and gives you no notice of anything. You have to periodically log into “.gov” to see what’s going on and if you have to renew your car registration (they won’t tell you) or pay a fine (they also won’t tell you). Apparently, I have one point on my license due to a ticket in Jerusalem from a year ago. I guess?

Trump Cardboard Cutout, Saudi Arabian Flag

There’s this weird non-American thing here – the World Cup is super popular.

My gym hung flags of the participating countries. One is missing and I’m honestly not sure which country they won’t hang there. Saudi Arabia is there as many countries without relations with Israel.

Another time, there was a nice full height cutout of Trump telling you to join the gym. Interesting.

Israeli Paint Job

Moldings are not a thing here. I don’t know why though I notice now I notice it all the time – where ceilings meet the wall are often not so nice, even when completely straight. Painters also seem to drip paint. The expectations seem to be lower / what people accept in this area seems to be more ‘generous’.

Polish People Enjoy Life Too

I had a funny reaction when talking to a client in Poland by video. Back when I lived in America-land, if it’s not one of the richest western countries in the world, the thought is that people can’t actually be so happy would prefer to live in one of the more well-off countries.

My views have shifted – making less money and being less rich is fine when you have a healthy society. I mean healthy in eating (demanding food be fresh, taste good, and not processed), knowing you can receive medical care when you need it, and doing things leisurely instead of always trying for the most efficient way. Efficiency is the metric of America, which, says Goodhart’s Law, once you optimize behavior for a specific goal, you became unbalanced and blind to overall value.

Poland is quite a happy place, says the stats.

Israel just has a lot of little things that make life more relaxed – roundabouts instead of stop signs and traffic lights wherever possible. They’re less expensive to maintain, you rarely have to come to a full stop, and it’s easier for pedestrians to cross. Stores are individualized – there are chain stores, though they are cookie cutter, mass market. I miss being able to find the water filter I want on Amazon and have it appear the next day at my door. Here, the punish you for a delivery with 20 updates every time someone opens a door and moves your order from a first truck to a second and then call you repeatedly before dropping it off – drop off points are a popular thing. At least they don’t expect you to give 20% tips on everything, which, is another annoyance any time you go to a restaurant in the US and have to write out your tip and waiters don’t get paid a fair wage.

Israel is also basically a cashless society. I barely know what Israeli currency looks like. I never use it. Tap your card anywhere. Done.

I have a lot more collected antidotes, though I’ll save those for another diary entry as this is getting long.