19 September 2018
No, this is not a test but nevertheless, once again, my new
home has passed. My first Yom Kippur, in Haifa’s Wadi Nisnas, I wake up to the
silence I was hoping for. Streets are empty except for an occassional car,
defying the unspoken ban on driving and the air is cleaner than it usually is
at this time of day, at this time of year. Take the dog for a morning walk,
businesses are closed except for the macolet down the street where passerbys
can still buy bottles of water, soft drinks, tabacco and I’ve been told, grass.
Even the German Colony restaurants are empty, silent and vacant. Children on
bicycles begin to appear in the streets. Every year on Yom Kippur I think, and
wish, that one day every week was like this.
