To Everything There is a Season

Just like the holiday season in America, as soon as the fall holidays end the Israeli marketing machine moves on to the winter festivities. That means that as soon as Sukkot ended sufganiyot (jelly donuts) began appearing in bakeries and supermarkets - tasty treats are affiliated with Chanukah. However, that isn't the only change that comes after Sukkot. Traditionally, Israel has two seasons, Summer and Winter. It's easy to tell the difference. In the winter it rains. In the summer it doesn't. Also the summer is hot. Yesterday formally marked the beginning of winter as we had the first rain of the year. In a country known for its "issues" with safe driving, the first rain is an especially dangerous occasion. That's because dust accumulates on the roads all Summer until the first rain turns it into a slick oil-like substance. As you can imagine, bad driving conditions combined with bad Israeli drivers leads to chaos of the highest degree. Sometimes it's nice not having a car.