3 November 2006 (12 Kheshvan 5767)
This Wednesday I was invited to the wedding ceremony of the eldest granddaughter of my ex-supervisor, Prof. Shelomo Morag z"l. I feel that my bond with his wife and the families of their two daughters has even become closer after he passed away. It was a great honor to participate in this joyful family event of theirs. I like Jewish weddings especially because I like to dance.
Unfortunately, this love of mine has caused me a problem this time. While dancing with other guests, I fell on the step separating the stage and the rest of the hall and sprained my left ankle. Probably I should have seen a doctor immediately afterwards on the same evening. I woke up on the following morning to find that it was swollen and I could not walk. I had to bother a good old friend of mine with a request to take me to an emergency medical center. Thank you, Y.F.!
Generally speaking, the level of medicine seems higher and definitely much cheaper, even considering the difference in the amount of an average salary, in Israel than in Japan, but what surprised me was that the emergency medical center - and probably other hospitals - did not have crutches, and I had to go to a voluntary organization to borrow them. I am full of respect for this organization called Yad Sarah, but I find it difficult to understand that the whole medical system of this country seems to depend on such voluntary organizations, whose amazing services should be part of every hospital.
Now I can walk with the help of crutches, but very slowly. What used to be a short walking distance seems like a full marathon course now. When I still lived in Kobe, I broke my right wrist while ice-skating. It was difficult intellectually as I could not write, but in terms of movility I was not limited. Now I find myself in an opposite situation. The world now seems totally different with this impaired mobility, especially because I live alone and I have no car.
I have to say a few words of praise for Israeli society. While I was waiting for about five minutes for my friend to park his car near the medical center we visited, two passers-by approached me and kindly offered me help. Someone even offered me a ride home when I waited in a line at a supermarket I went to to buy foods for shabes. I am not sure if such a thing can happen in Japan. When I broke my wrist in Japan, even the person who caused me this injury did not come to see me. I truly realize now that man cannot live alone. Though I am injured, I am very happy (and proud) that I am studying languages of a culture in which mutual help is such a deep-rooted and natural part of life. Now I can be much more sensitive to other people with physical and other needs. Once I have recovered, I would like to return to this society what I have received from it in a way I can.
10 November 2006 (19 Kheshvan 5767)
One thing I have been forced to get used to in Israel is the fact that the level of computer literacy here is much lower than, e.g., in Japan. At first this was a great surprise for me, as I expected a much higher level, considering the fact that there are/were a number of innovative software companies here. I would like to try to describe briefly the main reasons for and symptoms of low computer literacy in the "Holy Land". I have to emphasize that I am not writing these lines to kvetch about Israel and feel better. I really want my fellow Israelis to start benefitting from modern computing at its best instead of being stuck in the "middle ages".
Having witnessed for the past two years how inefficiently average Israelis, including university students and researchers, use computers and the Internet, I can think of several factors that seem to prevent them from attaining a higher level of computer literacy. The first factor, which is probably common to Japan, is the language barrier, whether actual or mental. Japanese and, to a lesser extent, Hebrew, can serve as full-fledged languages of modern technology, but it is not until you benefit from the wealth of information available in English that you start to fully understand the limitations of Japanese and Hebrew to keep updated about the state of the art in computing. Average speakers of Japanese and Hebrew are satisfied with what little information they can have in their respective languages, while they are only scratching the surface of information mine at best. The second, which is not common to Japan, is the size of the population of Hebrew speakers. It is often said that quantity guarantees quality. In Israel with such a small population it is not easy to have enough friends who are geeks around you. Actually, these friends can be the best sources of information, from whom you learn something new (and reliable) by word of mouth. And the third is probably the monopoly of Microsoft. So many people in this country are so busy trying to figure out from whom to get illegal copies of Microsoft products that they are left with no extra intellectual energy to "dig" further once they have got hold of them.
What are the main symptoms of this low computer literacy among average Israelis (who are lucky enough to have their own computers and an Internet connection at home). The main one, which really bothers me, is their blind faith in, or to be more precise, probably their inertia with, Microsoft applications. I (want to) believe that every thinking person aspires for something better, especially if it does not involve monetary compensation. I am not ashamed to say that I like Microsoft Windows 2000/XP (or later) as the best operating system in terms of multilingual support. But having used their applications (e.g., Internet Explorer, Outlook Express and Word, to name just a few), partly by spending hundreds or even thousands of bucks purchasing their applications, I have to say that their open source alternatives (e.g., Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice.org Writer) are far superior in almost every respect. I have even come to judge someone's computer literacy by the mailer he or she uses. I would not mention here specific mailers, but I do want to say that the worst is someone who uses a browser (even if it is Firefox) to check his or her email regularly. Unfortunately, this blind faith in or inertia with Microsoft applications leads to another symptom, which is their skepticism about anyone who dares to recommend them to switch from them to their much superior open source alternatives. Few people in Israel, even among my friends, have taken the trouble of trying my recommendations in spite of my detailed and nonpartial explanations.
Fighting computer illiteracy in Israel, and in some other countries in the world, including Japan, is probably a war lost in advance, but I cannot help fighting it because when I see others, especially my friends, colleagues and students in Israel, using what seem inferior tools in my eyes, I feel as if they were trying to swim with unfit swimsuits or even with unnecessary bags on their backs.
17 November 2006 (26 Kheshvan 5767)
[no update due to a computer problem]
24 November 2006 (3 Kislev 5767)
[no update due to a computer problem]