White Lies

People here are very excited by an inch or two of snow that fell in Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. This is truly a national event, placed before all other issues in media reports. Snow only comes to Jerusalem once every year or two, and with it comes both a blessing and a curse, or two blessings depending on your priorities.

Snow means that people are no longer able to drive like bats out of hell. They must control themselves – or, more accurately, their vehicles – in a rather uncharacteristic manner. About 400-500 Israelis are killed in road accidents each year – more than in even the worst years of terror attacks. These deaths are in no small part caused by the Israeli driver’s overload of aggression, and the need to not be considered a fryer (sucker, loosely translated) on the road.

Snow means people must slow down. This translates into the city bus company having to cease services very soon after any amount of snow falls. One inch is worse than a New England foot, because a New England foot of snow at least provides some wheel traction. People freak out when snow comes. I was unable to make cellular phone calls for several hours because of all the snow chatter. The only other time this happens is after a suicide bombing.

Which brings me to the flip-side of the historical one inch of snow that fell on the Holy City yesterday. My Hebrew teacher Rivka noted how the snow covers up the filth of Jerusalem. Compared to many major American (and European) cities, Jerusalem is strewn with litter and general soot. Snow covers this up and makes everything white. Another Jewish Israeli was heard to say, “The snow is so pretty! You can pretend there’s no Arabs down there in the village covered with snow.”

In general lots of people have taken photos of what in most countries is a regular winter/spring occurrence (my photo of Hebrew University is above). Something about snow in the Holy Land is out of place. Didn’t Moses cross an unforgiving desert before coming into Israel? What about all the camels and palm trees and year-round beaches? How can there be snow in a Mediterranean country that is 60% desert?

Thousands of Israelis have driven up the mountains to Jerusalem to see snow, something they can never see in sea-level Tel Aviv just half an hour west. Perhaps snow allows people to think they are in another, saner, portion of the globe, such as the Netherlands or Greenland or Vermont. Or maybe it’s the prospect of throwing snowballs at each other.