November 26th, 2004

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that all is well.
Over the past couple of days, Israel has been experiencing huge amounts
of rain everywhere from the northernmost Golan Heights to parts of the
Negev Desert in the south.  Though we pray for rain every day in the
Amidah, the downpours have already flooded cities in the Kineret and
Golan Regions in the North, and threaten to deluge (flood) other cities
all over Israel as well.
The rain has brought cold weather with it as well and it has already
started to snow in Israel's ski-resort mountain, Har Hermon (the only
ski mountain in Israel).  Now let me tell you something: if there's
one thing Israelis go nuts about, it's snow!  Last February, my second
Shabbat in Israel, it snowed in Jerusalem.  The city is completetly
unequipped for snow and basically shut down.  And we're not talking
about a foot of snow, it was like 2 inches, max.  It was truly a scene
of slight chaos and hilarness as Jerusalemites played in joy.  The only
 annoying part was when I needed to take a taxi home and the cab
drivers, taking adavantage of the snow, jacked up the prices like 300
percent.  ok, that was a slight digression.  Anyways, the rain should
clear up by Sunday. Shabbat Shalom.

Jonah Liben
Israel Affairs Vice President
Natick USY