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A new week

You know, some weeks can be harder to start than others. Facing down that Monday morning, or in our case, Sunday morning, can be daunting. The pace of life in Israel is unrelenting in so many ways - not the least of it is based on the week. Our kids go to school Sunday through Friday, and while a standard work week is Sunday to Thursday, many people work on Friday and even those officially off often find there is work to be done, not to mention all the prep for Shabbat and getting to stores before they close at 2pm. And then, that one delicious day off is Shabbat. And for those of us who are Shomer Shabbat (Shabbat observant) that means one the one hand it's a quiet, at home kind of day. On the other hand it's a day that can lead to contemplating various household projects that should be done, but at the moment are not possible.

And then Sunday morning comes and the rush of the week starts again. It is a rush because Israelis work too hard, too many hours. Our kids are busy with so many important programs and activities and we want to support, or at least shuttle, them. If you work the whole week you cram in those in between minutes all the errands you need to do which makes you a bit nuts and harried - as if living in Israel wasn't enough to make you a bit nuts and harried!

For those of us who aren't rushing off to work and feeling that horrible squeeze between parenting work and paycheck work, the hustle and bustle and general stress of those being squeeze spills over on to us.

So for me, at the moment, looking into next week I hope to try and remember that there is no need to rush and that the rushing of others need not sour my mood for the week. Ideally my lack of rush perhaps can help others see that for the most part there is no urgency really in that rush so maybe they can also take a moment and slow down.

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