Duck Season

It's official. Along with the amazing weather, chag-free month and tenuous peace, Jerusalem's tourist season has officially begun.

Unfortunately, the title above does not refer to our being able to hunt wild-roaming American yeshiva bochurs (halavai!) or inspire hundreds of secular Israeli schoolchildren to actually respond to penitent pleas of "Sheket B'Vakasha...Hey!" (we knew Hebrew School would come in handy one day) as they scream upon seeing each other at the Kotel. The influx of half-a-million people per day between Memorial Day and Labor Day is a desperately-needed boon to Israel's struggling tourism trade, especially due to last summer's Lebanon War (not that it detracted me!)

So while the midos-master in me is reminded to flex my patience so that this amazing country can achieve financial stability, the cynic in me is tickled by opportunities to take ironic photos of tourists in such compromising positions as our Bedouin-wannabe above.

After all, it wasn't so long ago that I, too was just passing through. (We don't have to tell anyone that it's taken me 6 months to stop getting lost in the Old City though... In my defense, they built it to be like a maze on purpose!)

In preparation for the imminent arrival of Erin, Mom, Dad, Cousins, The Jewish Federation, Aish LA and others (phew!), this is a shout-out to my own tour groups visiting this month... Bruchim Habayim!