Today being Christmas, and my (temporary) home being only a 20 minute drive from Nazareth, it is only logical that I would go there. However, I am never logical (as the remainder of this post will prove) and I would hate to find a parking spot in Nazareth on Dec 25, so I will be heading in the opposite direction.

Some background: The family from Russia I am friends with consists of:

1. The father, who is a Christian atheist.
2. The mother, who is a Jewish atheist.
3. The 15-year-old daughter, who is Jewish (chiefly because she learned a bit about the religion in school).
4. The 7-year-old daughter, who has no idea about religion at all.

For about 6 years, I have given the family giant baskets full of unhealthy Christmas goodies (eg: chocolate Santas). However, three years ago, I announced that none of the goodies were for the older daughter. She looked stricken until I handed her a wallet with eight 100 shekel notes in it and told her that because she is more Jewish than anyone else in the family, she gets to celebrate Hanukkah instead, and each note represents one day of the holiday. She was thrilled and it established a tradition, which I have repeated each year.

Still, it seemed to me this year that it is a bit unfair to the younger daughter, whose view of religion is the tiny bit she has learned about Judaism and the greater amount she learned about Christmas from watching Russian-language television shows. (In fact, she still believes in Santa Claus but now suspects that Santa and I are the same person.) So today, I am taking the family to lunch but from there we are heading to a large toy shop where she can pick her own Christmas present while Santa uses his Visa card to pay for it.

As [MENTION=22696]Dovster[/MENTION] has shared, things are very quiet from a war standpoint in Central Isreal.

The Christmas Story (featuring Marina (the mother), Olga (the 7-year old), the salesman, and myself:

Marina: Olga wants a smartwatch for Christmas.
Me: Those are very expensive.
Marina: You said she could have anything she wants.
Me: I said whatever she wants from the toy store, and they don't sell smartwatches.
Marina: But that is what she wants and I want her to wear one so I can always find her.
Me: I bought her a cell phone last summer. You can track her through that. Besides, you cannot afford a SIM card subscription. I am paying for the cell phone subscription each month but won't pay for another one.
Salesman: She doesn't need a SIM card. The watch can be connected to her cellphone by Blue Tooth.
Me: But the cell phone has to be very close to her for a Blue Tooth connection.
Marina: She always carries the phone,
Salesman: If the watch is within 10 meters from the phone, there will be no problem.
Me: If the watch is so close to the phone, Marina can track her through that, without a watch.
Marina: What if she turns off her cell phone?
Me: Then there will be no Blue Tooth connection.
Salesman: Should we test it?
Marina: We can't. She doesn't have the cell phone with her.
Me: What happened to her always carrying the phone?
Olga: But I really want the watch.
Me: Okay, I will get it.
Olga: Why do you have to get it? Santa Claus will give it to me.
Me: Santa called me last night. He said he does not want to fly to Israel while there are rockets in the air. He is afraid the reindeer will get hurt. He asked me to buy the watch and said he will send me the money through my bank account.
Olga then gave me a big hug.
Me: Marina, do you also want a smart watch?
Marina: Not enough to give you that kind of hug!

🤣

Two words come to mind, chazer and sucker freier.

You are a good soul Dovster.

Happy new year!

Very sweet…

Myself, the missus and the Mini ahopkins767 went to Israel last summer and my son very much wants to go back.

He wants to do archeology - euphemistically characterized as sifting through garbage�just ancient garbage.

I imagine tourism though is rather sedated for now.

Another way of seeing this is that there aren't a lot of crowds and the tour guides and their families need to eat. I know a few friends who are struggling because just like during COVID, there is very little government support as they are self-employed.

That is certainly true for tour guides but not for those who have been evacuated from the southern and northern borders. They have the option of being put up in hotels (meals included) or else choosing 200 shekels per day (per adult) and 100 shekels per day for each child. Retirees also receive their normal Social Security payments.

Here are two examples:

I am single so I receive 6000 shekels per month, plus my Social Security (1600 per month), plus my normal income from the kibbutz (10,000 shekels per month), for a total of (roughly) US $4800 per month. I paid nothing for rent for the first month, as I stayed with my daughter's family and am now paying 3000 shekels per month for a rented apartment. What I earn from American investments and a pension is in addition to that.

The Russian family I have talked about consists of a husband, wife, and two children so they get 600 shekels per day plus unemployment insurance of 70% of their normal salaries. (Most northern companies "fired" all employees to let them get the unemployment insurance and will be re-hired when they are allowed to return.)

Most evacuees from the North are staying in the Haifa-Tiberius region, which means that local businesses are getting many more customers (the malls seem to be jammed) and the hotels are filled up.

I don't know the situation in the rest of the country, but in the middle WAZE has been unreliable for the past few weeks and, as of three days ago, it is practically useless. On my cellphone it generally tells me it cannot find the route that I want and, when it does not do that, it gives me directions which are completely wrong. Marina's WAZE insists that she is in Lebanon.

I have heard two different explanations for this. The first is that the IDF is purposely screwing up the GPS system in order to deny Hamas and Hezbollah missiles the ability to find their intended targets. The other is that one of those two organizations is trying to confuse Israeli fighter jets. No matter which is true, or if some hacker is doing this on his own, it is unwise right now to drive anywhere unless you know the route without relying on WAZE.

(Personally, I keep it on even when I know the route -- just out of curiosity as to where it is trying to send me.

Do other apps, e.g., Google Maps, accurately display your location?

Lots of reporting of GPS disruption around IL. Ocassional Internet issues mostly bypassed via VPN. Google Maps still seems to work for transit as well as Eifo Bus for determing actual bus ETA.

European Airlines are restarting service which is great for connectivity. Tarom kicked it off 2x per week right after New Years aka Sylvester. Lufthansa now has a daily departure. Aegean is scheduled to restart on Thursday. UK Airlines appear to be scheduled to return in February.

There is a huge increase in folks hanging around central Tel Aviv since this weekend. Many returning reservists are walking around with their rifles. Additionally, there has been a marked increase in uniformed police patrolling since the recent assassinations in Lebanon.

Let's hope all goes well. I am also eager for my next LY flight so I can check out all the new benefits of being a Delta elite.

not so for us. Waze is working just fine, regardless of our destination - usually in the center.

I’ve also seen lots of comments about Waze on my socials. I wonder if there is an Android/iOS aspect to those reporting it working and not working.

I have an Android phone and Marina has an Apple.