Back In Phoenix

I’m able to listen to my favorite Israeli radio station, galgalatz, in the car from here in Phoenix, AZ using their app.  I was listening this past friday morning as I was running a few errands. What was interesting about it was the fact that it was Friday evening in Israel. I would normally not be listening to the radio on Friday evening in Israel because Shabbat would just be starting, but being here gave me that opportunity. Galgalatz is a secular, pop, top-40 type radio station that plays a mix of Israeli, American, Arabic and European music. Every hour on the hour they do a brief two minute news recap, sometimes with the weather or traffic as well, (which I use to test my Hebrew.) This time, after the weather, I noticed that they ran through the times that Shabbat was starting for many of the different cities in Israel, starting out by saying something like, “shabbat has already started in Jerusalem, will be starting at 5:15 in Tel-Aviv, at 5:07 in Haifa, 5:17 in Be’er Sheva, etc. Shabbat will be ending tomorrow evening at such and such time, again for each city…” Then she said, in honor of shabbat here’s a song called “toward shabbat – לקראת שבת” by Yigal Bashan. She played the song, a nice modern-ish song about an ancient Jewish tradition. Then went on to playing normal pop songs. It was cool to see how even on secular radio stations shabbat is acknowledged. 

And yes, I did make it back to Phoenix in one piece, the flight was uneventful. The el al flight to JFK was full, and everyone on board had a negative COVID test within 72hrs prior to the flight. I am getting back to work with my same cardiology practice, and I will also keep a connection with the biotech company I was working with in Israel, doing some remote work for them. 

First impressions of America/Phoenix since I’ve been back? I guess I had gotten used to the small town feel of Ra’anana. Walking everywhere, the small shops, the local vegetable stands, the people all around. The city has an energy, a buzz, from all the people out and about, sort of like when I’ve been to Manhattan, but is much more suburban feeling, not such an urban jungle. The closeness of the shops and apartments and people; the nearness of everything you need: health clinics, shuls, pharmacies, supermarkets, vegetable stands, spice shops, friends apartments, adult education classes; everything being right there, makes it seem like the city is somehow enveloping you in a closeness. The uneven cobblestones seem to press upwards, contributing to the closeness and the familiarity, as does the constant “ding” of your phone from all the school, community, apartment, and workplace WhatsApp group chats constantly updating you on what’s going on locally or at school. I’m not saying its specific to Israel, maybe small-town America feels like that, too, I don’t know, it’s just how it was there. Here everything is far away and spread out. There’s a lot less people around. It feels like the city has been stretched, pulled so thin that its become an impersonal, flat spread of too-perfect asphalt roads and too-perfect desertscaped, person-less almost-identical houses. Its a totally different feel here in Phoenix. But that’s just the culture shock of switching between countries, and I’m thankful for the awareness I have of each. 

And if the city itself seems stretched, impersonal, and quiet compared to Ra’anana, being reunited with my family is definitely the opposite, in a good way! Going from an empty apartment in Israel for the past two months to a full house here with Val and all the kids is definitely enveloping and personal! 😄.