I Got the Job

Yesterday I received the phone call informing me that I got the job I interviewed for this Sunday. I need to go in one day next week to learn a few things, and then I start officially on January first.

I am looking forward to this very much. The job is with a small but growing business in a nearby yishuv, and they need me to take care of their English speaking customers in America (and soon to be other countries). I'll be working three afternoons a week at first, and after Pesach I will probably get more hours because their busy season is from May to September.

The business is run by religious people, which makes a lot of things easier. At the interview my future boss looked at my resume, and very casually remarked at the long gaps in my employment history, that apparently I had stayed home to raise my family. You have no idea how wonderful it is not to have to defend that choice.

I have worked in the past with non-frum people in Israel, and it is certainly easier here than in America - you don't have to explain about the holidays (although Tisha B'Av is unheard of in many circles). At the same time, there are times when people can make nasty remarks without thinking. In one place that I worked, the only other religious person was an engineer. When the news came in to the office that his wife had given birth to their sixth child, my boss at the time made the remark that "they breed like rabbits". It was also a frequent and mind blowing occurence to hear both "Baruch Hashem" and the "F" word in the same sentence. (I guess this is an "only in Israel" experience too, huh?)

Tomorrow we will be going to Maaleh Adumim and then on to Jerusalem for family gatherings. I feel very lucky, especially during holiday times, that both sides of our families are in Israel, something that is somewhat unusual for olim.

Chanukah sameach!