From the time I first set foot in Israel in 1996, I have been mesmerized by the beauty and history of this place.
At the same time, however, I’ve been appalled at how people have chosen to maintain it. Coming to Israel is like going back in time in many ways, and unfortunately one of those ways is reflected in the amount of trash dumped everywhere and anywhere. (Remember the Keep Britain Tidy movement? And the fake Indian crying on American television to get Yanks to stop throwing their garbage out of the windows of moving cars? Where’s Israel’s weeping King David? Or Keep Israel Tidy?)
To illustrate what I’m talking about, I came up with a little photo essay.
Bill and I set out one morning last week to make a round of playgrounds, ironically one of the worst places to play or sit and converse with one’s adult peers. Here’s an overview of the playground. Pretty nice, no?
This is a particularly sought-after playground because of its zipline (something we never had at playgrounds in the US). Kids play ball here, swing, climb the structure. But what is that green stuff on the gravel in the foreground, at the base of the sandbox? Clover? Grass? *Gulp* Weeds? No, it’s…
Broken glass! (With some weeds mixed in.) The popularity of Crocs, which look like great gardening shoes but are very poor shoes for running and climbing, means that kids often kick them off on the swings, or shed them in an attempt to play barefoot. Fortunately, Efrat’s Emergency Medical Center is located down the road for stitching up tender little feet that get sliced and diced by all the broken glass here.
Parks and playgrounds are supposed to be fun for everyone, and families often choose to bring their dogs with them. Unfortunately, they don’t always remember to take all their dogs’ belongings with them when they leave…
Bill and I left that park and tooled on down the road to another playground. On the way, we passed by Efrat’s shopping center, which contains several eateries, among them Burgers Bar. Of course, one doesn’t actually have to see the Burgers Bar to know it’s in the vicinity; one has only to look in the rosemary shrubs lining the sidewalk for sufficient evidence:
If you look closely, you can see that this scrupulously kosher person also enjoyed a parve dessert after his or her dinner: a lollipop! B’teiavon.
Efrat is not all litter, I assure you. This time of year one can spot some hardy roses, blooming rosemary, and I saw the first blooming almond trees yesterday. (I haven’t yet gotten pictures of them.)
Even the empty lots in Efrat have a loveliness to them. While overgrown and rocky, one can often spy cyclamen growing out from between the stones. In the winter (i.e. now) the grass and weeds are green, and wildflowers bloom. Here’s an empty lot next to another playground:
And on closer inspection, we see the seamier side of this stony, grassy lot:
Trash, trash, and more trash…
When the Cap’n and I were on our program nearly 14 years ago, any tiyul we took was capped off at the end by our being asked to scurry around and pick up the hundred or so water bottles that had been scattered around whatever natural or man-made wonder we’d just visited. Tourist, immigrant, Sabra–there appears to be no difference between them when it comes to littering. Some places are much worse than others, but in a yishuv with the amount of civic pride that Efrat boasts, there is no excuse for the littering and vandalism which mar the streets, playgrounds, and open spaces here.
For nearly 2000 years, the Jews languished in exile, praying to return to our land. For all that time, we were subject to the laws (or lawlessness) that held sway wherever we were. We lived an existence fraught with denial: to own land, to join professional guilds, to attend universities. Anything we had could be (and sometimes was) taken from us at any time.
But here we are at last, in our own land, where everything is of, by, and about the Jews. It’s ours again. Some would argue that because it’s ours, we have the right to foul it up if we want to. But I don’t think that’s what people really want.
Like so many things, it’s a question of education. If parents and teachers were to instill in children’s minds the values of cleanliness, of safety, of beauty, Israel might look different. Parents should be aware that just because they live in a yishuv packed with religious Jews, many of them immigrants from the West, does not mean that their children will automatically absorb those values; they have to be taught explicitly.
I personally don’t fancy the idea of passing a filthy, garbage-strewn country on to the next generation. It’s for kids like Bill…
…that we need to teach our children good habits and civic pride. On our way home from our photo tour, we passed by a parked car with the following sticker in the rear window:
So do we.
Shimshonit 
Sad. I had a photo of litter in a playground in the Old City in Jerusalem, but I never posted it. I wonder if part of it is not wanting to pay for clean up, but if kids are getting hurt on the broken bottles, it makes no sense not to pay for clean up.
I remember a European friend (he grew up in Switzerland) remarking how Americans have no “education.” We were in a ski lodge, and I believe he was referring to people dropping wrappers on the floor. Americans just believe someone will clean up after them (which is generally true).
Thanks for showing us the beautiful wildflowers, too.
Perhaps you should forward your pics to the mayor’s office.
Leora: I find this a frustrating topic not only because Israelis (and immigrants) seem to lack the “education” (good word for it) but because the municipalities don’t really take an interest. There seems to be a lack of the pay-someone-else-to-clean-up-after-everyone’s-messes mentality that thrives in America, at least. In some ways that’s a good thing, I think, but at the same time, if no one takes responsibility, then the place looks like it does.
As to the park with the broken glass specifically (and they all have it, not just this one) there is a teenage population with little to do in Efrat, and they tend to hang around in parks, break glass, scatter litter, pour Coke over the benches (I stuck to the bottom and back of the bench I was sitting on last Shabbat) and vandalize (i.e. destroy city property). It’s a problem that has been aired, but so far nothing I know of has been done about it. To replace the gravel and sweep the park would last a week, if that, before new glass was broken everywhere and it was back to the way it was.
Many adults in Efrat are WAY too complacent and don’t involve themselves in their children’s (or dogs’) lives enough to discourage this sort of behavior. I’m not sure what the solution is.
Deena: Good idea. I suspect Oded knows what the yishuv looks like, but perhaps a reminder wouldn’t hurt.
What a pity!
I think you’re right a campaign might improve things, backed by heavy fines maybe.
@Shimshonit:
You write:
“…there is a teenage population with little to do in Efrat…”.
This is a phenomenon in many/most suburbs and remote villages. It’s not going to solve the litter problem, but organizing activities for the youth is an option if you have volunteers or a paid youth worker. They don’t just go out and ‘play’ anymore. So this can involve serious activities like reading books in the library or cleaning the parks or more lighthearted stuff like going to the pool(swimming lessons) learning about software & the PC, (learning about)dancing & music, movies/tv(but not too much, like limited gaming on the PC), theatre(putting on a play yourself), a little outing by bus, model trains, learning how to repair a small motorbike, making clothes on a sewing machine, cooking lessons etc. etc.
Kids have to learn how to amuse themselves too, a little discipline can go a long way. Unfortunately many Israeli kids are spoiled and not taught limits/bounderies. If you mix in boredom that can easily result in litter or nuisance/annoyance to others.
Not necessary, kids can be wonderful if given the right guidance.