Waking up to a blanket of white snow outside is a magical occurrence that rarely takes place for Israelis who don’t live on the Golan.
Granted, we tend to overreact when even a trace of flurries graces our skies, but if the forecasters are right, it’s going to be a lot more than flurries that will greet those in high altitudes, including Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and the Galilee.
A major annoyance for some, it’s an ethereal delight for others – hearkening back to childhoods filled with sleds, hot chocolate and snowballs. We tend to suppress those other winter memories of shoveling and getting stranded in drifts.
And for good reason. Snow in Israel is not only rare, it’s very temporary. Give it a day or two and it will be melted.
So if tomorrow morning will indeed bring with it the centimeters of white that forecasters promised, treat it like the wonder of nature that it is.
That enables you to step out of time for a moment, appreciate the pristine covering of the ground, and recapture some of that innocent wonder of childhood.
For a brief time, both the trivialities and the monumental issues that dominate our day, from traffic jams to catching corona, can be replaced by tranquility and meditative grace – or good a snowball fight.
We have so few occurrences in this country of a level playing field where nobody has an advantage over another. When snow covers everything, we’re all in the same toboggan.
So don’t peek outside and close the shades. Embrace the gift that the skies granted us, and bundle up and head outside. Meet your neighbors you’ve never talked to, help push stuck cars, build a snowman. The image of seeing a child experience his or her first snow play is a delight that will warm up the coldest heart.
All the problems facing our lives and the country will still be here tomorrow. But the whitewashing of Israel won’t be.