Bad apples and sour grapes

.
"And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination."

- Jeremiah 2:7

Whenever friends ask me what I miss about the U.S. while I am in Israel, I always answer the same thing:

"Dun' tawk to me, you stoopeed Amereekin! I am Issrellee now! Gimme money, but I resent you for it!"

I tell people that everything in Israel is more expensive than it is in America.
Especially my biggest vice... Twizzlers! (which are TWICE as expensive here)

Save the following-- bus fare, flowers, wine, and... produce!

You can buy 4 oranges for one dollar!
What a country... citrus, public transportation and perpetual religious strife... it all balances out!

I must admit, I tend to vilify Israelis... how loud they are, the way they recklessly drive and park on the sidewalk (yes, I wrote that correctly)-- every American I know who is living here as nearly been hit by at least one car in the last 6 months.
But people think of New Yorkers in exactly the same way.

So I should feel at home.

Another ironic frustration-- my pals and I refer to Ultra Orthodox (Haredi) Jews as "black hats" with the derision we might use for any minority back in America... casual bigotry, but bigotry nonetheless.
Y'know, they shirk their societal duty (in this case, mandatory army service), they have too many kids that they can't support because they don't work, they dress differently than I do, I feel them judging me and my wife... but mostly I feel insecure/self-conscious when I compare myself to them-- I see what I most resent about my religion (and pretty much any religion): fear of change and modernity, strict adherence to archaic ways of life, close-mindedness.

It's not easy, nor should it be, to see aspects of one's own religion in Red State terms.
There are Jews who oppose abortion, gay rights, gender equality, freedom of religion... basically, there are people who believe everyone should be exactly like them-- dress, talk, and think the way they do.

Bu then... aren't I saying a similar thing by pointing my finger at those people?

Woooo, it's a very sticky wicket.
After walking through the Church of the Holy Sepulcher yesterday in Jerusalem's Old City, which houses 5 different sects of Christianity in one small church, bustling priests of different denominations... it's tense, crowded, confusing... but at least they're making it work.

Easier said than done.
.