Radio Too (Article# 96) 11/13/08

As the US elections neared, the frenzy over absentee balloting among Americans reached a fever pitch. For months we had been seeing email postings from various people either looking for information or posting information on how to register for absentee ballots. It wasn’t really that difficult to do. There was one form to fill out and mail.

Goldie, being the more organized of the two of us, had signed us up for our NY ballots very early. However, when our ballots had not arrived by September we began to worry that we had made some error on the forms. Especially when we saw some people from other states getting their ballots in the mail. One of the local money changers (Cheerfully Changed) ran a campaign to file for absentee ballots, so we resubmitted our forms and hoped for the best.

Our ballots arrived less than a month before the election and we filled them out and mailed them in just after the chaggim. As we have in the past, Goldie and I voted independently from each other. I refused to disclose my vote and told anyone who asked that I had voted for Ralph Nader. Hey – why not?

Here in Israel, the interest in the American elections was very high. The voting systems are radically different and even the approach and attitudes of the electorate to the entire election process are different. Having not yet experienced a national election here, we can not really compare the two, but we have been able to glean bits and pieces of what to expect come this February.

On the morning of the USA elections I got a call from a PR firm working with Nefesh B’Nefesh. They had gotten a request from Galei Tzahal, one of the Army radio stations (news) for olim with a specific demographic. They wanted to interview new olim who had i) older kids, ii) had been living in America for the last USA Presidential election and iii) had voted by absentee ballot. We agreed to be interviewed and met a soldier/reporter (a very nice Russian immigrant who had emigrated with her family as a child) in our house that evening.

They had asked for the entire family to be available and we spent a very pleasant half hour discussing the USA election process, what Election Day is like in the USA (VERY different from Israel), why we had both voted for McCain (I mean NADER) and what we thought about the historical significance of an Obama presidency. Each kid was offered the chance to speak (when asked what he thought of the elections Mordechai responded, “I am voting for Shalom Lerner” – a candidate in the Bet Shemesh mayoral race) and we had a very nice time.

We were also apparently on the radio the next morning. I got an email from a friend telling me that she was listening to the radio the next morning when she heard “I am sitting with the Katz family from Bet Shemesh” and the next thing she knew, she was hearing our voices. I have not yet heard the report and am trying to get a recording from the station.

Batya (Age 9 – Grade 4) came home one night last week with a special request from her teacher. Her grade had learned the pesukim containing the words of Birchat Kohanim and the teacher wanted me to come speak to the grade about being a Kohain. That night, at a school ceremony we met the teacher and I accepted, assuming that I would come in for 15 minutes a say a few brief words to the girls.

I told her that I was only available on Fridays and she asked me to come in that week. We agreed upon a time and I asked her how long she wanted me to speak for. Her response? FORTY FIVE MINUTES!

I was in shock. A forty five minute speech in front of ninety fourth grade girls? In Hebrew? I began to panic as I wondered how I was going to possibly find enough things to say that had simple concepts so that I could translate them into Hebrew. I can speak Hebrew well enough to get by and be understood, but our kids regularly laugh at my Hebrew and I knew that a technical speech for that long would really be a stretch.

Thankfully I had a few days to prepare. I was able to jot down a few notes and then translate the more difficult words to Hebrew in advance (I use a terrific online Hebrew/English translation website: Milon Morphix). I also decided to ask the girls as many questions as I could along the way, forcing them to speak instead of me.

It was a long forty five minutes, but I got through it. Batya was thrilled to have me do something special for her and I was just as happy to make her proud. As a person who has worked in his sons’ schools over the years, I know that my daughters have always felt that I do not give them as much attention and I seized the opportunity to spend time with Batya in school at a time when the teachers were not giving her a grade.

By the time you read this, the Bet Shemesh municipal elections will be over and I will be packing my bags for a 10 day trip to your side of the ocean. I am usually in the USA earlier in the Fall but I will be representing the Yeshiva this year at several informational programs, including the Israel Night being hosted at Rambam Mesivta for High School Seniors and Parents on November 17th. If you happen to be there, feel free to come by and say hi.