kibbutz dog

Tonight I ran on kibbutz with Jacki, who is on the staff of Boneh with me. Early in our run we attracted the attention of a largish white dog. The dog not only kept pace with us for the next 25 minutes, but actually sprinted ahead and to the side so he ended up running much farther and faster.

"The kibbutz dog" is a well known concept in Israel, I think. A kibbutz dog is allowed free reign over a much greater area than dogs in suburbs or cities. Kibbutz dogs are similar to country dogs in that respect, but they are more socialized than country dogs because they interact with many more dogs and people. The dog we met was friendly but more interested in running with us than getting scratched behind the ears.

Some lawns we passed were being watered by the kind of sprinklers that sting a little bit because of the thin stream and the water pressure. Our friend plopped himself down on the stingy nozzles to cool himself down and drink.

rikuz - coordination

For the next three months I'll be coordinating "boneh," which is a part of Habonim Dror's gap year program for English speakers from the northern hemisphere (American, British, Canadian and Dutch) between high school and college. Boneh this fall is on Kibbutz Ein Dor, which is in northern Israel near the city of Afula.

As a rakaz (coordinator), I run the technical side of things, like organizing hikes and guest speakers, and I also implement some of the educational programming, including courses in Jewish history and leadership training. There are five people who have the same role as I do for approximately 80 program participants.

Today I drove to Afula three times to pick up several carloads of supplies. It turns out American drivers licenses are good in Israel for up to a year.

torah she'ba'al peh - the oral law

In Jewish history, "the oral law" refers to tradition that was passed orally from one generation to the next until it was codified in the Talmud. The meaning of "the oral law" in the modern state of Israel became clear to me today: All knowledge of transportation must be transmitted orally. It is apparently forbidden to make anything intuitive or explained clearly in written form.

Dear Israeli bus system, please create maps of all your routes and post them online, maybe on a website modeled after WMATA's. Warm regards, Ben.

israeli english

I finished ulpan on August 20, almost two weeks ago. Since then I have been staying with Keren and Arnon in Herzliya, reading about Jewish history, reading a children's book in Hebrew about a monkey named Kofiko and planning busily with Ruth, Nadav and Jacki in Ramat Gan. I'm now well acquainted with the 531, 524 and 525 Egged lines.

Israelis speaking in Hebrew occasionally use English phrases, even when they are speaking to other Israelis. I started keeping track about a week ago and these are some of the phrases I have overheard:

• "Not that it's such a big deal"
• "No offense...[Hebrew]"; Response: "None taken...[Hebrew]"
• "Next door house"
• "Full volume"
• "Take one for the team"
• "So smart"
• "On their way to heaven"
• "Once in a lifetime"

Some of them make more sense than others. "Take one for the team," for instance, is a concise cliche that conveys a lot of meaning. But I can't explain why others are used, like "next door house," which isn't even good English.