You Know You're In Israel When...

By: Jessica Hochstadt, MS

Growing up in the Diaspora, you are taught that Israel is the holiest place in the world. You come to create this mental image of a land brimming with Torah study and, yes…Israelites. You imagine women covered from head to toe, and not a word of ill-will spoken between neighbors. You picture every window bright with the candles from the chanukiah on Chanukah, and every person kissing the mezuzah upon entering a doorway.

This is not entirely the case in all parts of Israel. In fact, if you pick up any newspaper, you will see that Israel is actually quite a controversial homeland. No two Israelis have the same opinions as the next, especially regarding religion. Not everyone is religious in Israel.

There is one thing that almost everyone in Israel does though, regardless of religious status. On Fridays and Saturdays, everyone will wish you a “Shabbat Shalom.” They will tell you “Shabbat Shalom” when you pay for your groceries on Friday morning before the market closes. They will say “Shabbat Shalom” when they shove past you on the crowded streets. They will introduce you to their distant relatives, who will invite you to Shabbat dinner even though it is the first time you met, and then give you a hug and kiss after you decline the invitation, with a meaningful “Shabbat Shalom.” The cab drivers will wish you a “Shabbat Shalom” as you exit their cabs without giving them a sufficient tip (because tipping a cab driver is a foreign concept here).

I went to a spinning class on a Friday morning. My instructor was a female clad in tight leggings and a sports bra. Rather than sitting on the bike and spinning with the class, she danced in the middle of the room to the techno music playing, while barking orders at us. “Increase your resistance!” “Keep you backs straight!” About every third song, she would stop dancing and raise her hands and face to the ceiling with a huge smile. “SHABBAT SHALOM,” she yells. Even though my quads ache and I have sweat dripping from every part of my body, this always makes me smile.

Shabbat Shalom—this might be the one thing Israelis agree on. They don’t all celebrate or observe Shabbat. They don’t even all know the Shabbat prayers. But they will all, without a doubt, wish you a Shabbat Shalom wherever you are in the land. This is when you know you are in Israel. 

A Chinese Shabbat by Andrea Mann

For most Jews, Chinese food is a Christmas ritual. We look forward to Christmas 364 days a year. Not necessarily for the same reasons as those who observe the holiday, but rather, we are counting down the days until we can happily stuff ourselves with wonton soup, chop suey, chicken lo mein, and vegetable fried rice. Why do all jews (at least in America) flock to the local Chinese establishments on December 25? Finding a nice jewish husband might be part of it... but more likely it's to kvetch to other Jews about how every restaurant and every store in town is closed. There's not much else to do on Christmas day.


Well, this year I experienced my first christmas in Israel. There were no bright lights illuminating the Tel Aviv palm trees to forwarn me of the approaching holiday and the lack of snow definitely didn't help alert me either. Every store and every restaurant in Tel Aviv remained open. And it wasn't until a friend pointed out that it was, in fact, Christmas that I realized I actually missed the festive music blaring from the speakers of every store in town. So, since I wasn't limited to chinese cuisine on Christmas, I decided to break tradition. Instead, I instated a new Friday night ritual: Chinese Shabbat.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Every Friday evening as the sun starts to set, restaurants and shops quickly begin ushering out their last customers, sweeping up the remnants of the day, and locking up their storefronts. This past Friday as the city began to quiet down, my friends and I took it as our cue to head over to Long Sang for a Chinese feast. Apparently, we weren't the only ones with this idea. As we approached the entrance of the restaurant, located on Allenby near the intersection of Ben Yehuda, we noticed several other hungry patrons waiting to devour their own Chinese Shabbat dinner. When selecting a restaurant, I take a large crowd as a sign that the food must be worth the wait. Thus, we waited.

The restaurant is pretty small, without a proper entrance or waiting area. So, after standing outside on the sidewalk of Allenby for twenty minutes, staring through the large glass windows at everyone else's plates piled high with typical Chinese fare, we were finally called to our table. We immediately ordered some soups and appetizers to quell our hunger. I enjoyed the tangy Hot and Sour soup with chicken and mushrooms, which had just the right amount of kick to it. After wishing we could order every item on the menu, but knowing that we would never be able to evenly divide the leftovers among the five of us, we settled on a few Chinese classics like eggrolls, sweet and sour chicken, lo mein, vegetable fried rice and then added a chicken and cashew dish to even out our table of heavenly fried chinese deliciousness.

Vegetable Lo Mein

I'm not sure why I was surprised to find such authentic Chinese in Tel Aviv, nestled among the Falafal and Shwarma stands. Israel is, afterall, pretty damn close to Asia. Apparently, Long Sang offers two menus to it's customers. One for more "westernized" Chinese cuisine and one that contains more traditional Chinese items. 

My only disappointment? No fortune cookies came with our bill!

Well, and that there weren't any leftovers...