{"id":1443,"date":"2014-05-16T05:12:02","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T05:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/?p=1443"},"modified":"2014-05-16T05:52:41","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T05:52:41","slug":"the-wonder-of-an-israeli-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/the-wonder-of-an-israeli-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wonder of an Israeli Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nicole Sivan<\/p>\n

Friday in Israel marks the beginning of a weekend experience unlike any other to be had in the world.\u00a0 An Israeli Friday is a wonderous day. It is the first day of the Israeli weekend; Sunday is the first day of the work week. Friday mornings start off at a hectic and mind boggling pace.\u00a0 Time is limited before the country closes for Shabbat (the Sabbath). In every town and city across the country people venture out to do their shopping, meet friends, and run errands they have no time to do during the workweek.<\/p>\n

Malls are bustling with shoppers (its central air conditioning entices many) and crowds gather in front of cafes as patrons wait for an open table. This is a very popular day to meet friends for coffee.\u00a0 Open air markets (shuks) are so full you can hardly walk (visitation to such a place on a Friday is an experience not to missed), and the determination of the crowds in the supermarket will leave you wondering if people are frantically stocking up for the next great war, when in reality they only need enough food to make it to the following night before the store reopens.\u00a0 And in secular cities like Tel Aviv, there are plenty of markets that now remain open 24-hours, 7-days a week, but cultural habits die hard and Israelis still do the bulk of their weekly shopping on Fridays.<\/p>\n

\"Mahane<\/a>

Mahane Yehuda – Jerusalem Market – Photo by Ian Norton<\/p><\/div>\n

Friday is also the day for special events such as craft fairs, food festivals, musical shows, children\u2019s theater, parades and more.\u00a0 Every Friday in Israel is like carnival time in Brazil. This is definitely the day to go out and experience the culture of Israel. While walking along the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv you\u2019ll think there isn\u2019t a person in the country who chose to sit at home.\u00a0 And just as you feel yourself caught up in the Friday energy and allow yourself to be engulfed by the crowds and the spirit of a Friday afternoon, the country will suddenly go silent.<\/p>\n

At 2 pm shops begin to close.\u00a0 Supermarkets and corner markets shutter their gates.\u00a0 Buses stop running and traffic thins out.\u00a0 Sidewalks open up as the throngs of people who jostled and pushed you about all morning suddenly vanish.\u00a0 Israel becomes quiet.<\/p>\n

Israelis, secular and religious ones alike, go home on Friday afternoons.\u00a0 By 3 pm the country is closed.\u00a0 This is the time to rest and recover from the hectic morning of shopping and socializing.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to cook and prepare for a family meal.\u00a0 Friday night dinner is family time.\u00a0 Even the cafes in secular Tel Aviv call it a night, but they reopen bright and early on Saturday morning for the ever devout Tel Aviv brunch crowd.<\/p>\n

Much of the country will spring back to life again in the late evening as families finish their meals. By 8 pm people begin to head out for a night of fun at a club or a bar, to take a walk on the boardwalk, or to catch a flick at the movies.\u00a0 Most Israelis can\u2019t handle staying still for long and only Jerusalem and a few other religious strongholds will respect the sanctity of the Sabbath for its entire duration.<\/p>\n

Friday is a magical time in Israel, and it is a day to experience the true spirit of Israel.\u00a0 Friday is a day to see a country united in the culture of its routine and it is a day to see the pulse of Israel beating as one.\u00a0 This is a great day to take in the flavors and life of Israel and is a day not to be missed for anyone exploring Israel for the first or the millionth time.<\/p>\n

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By Nicole Sivan Friday in Israel marks the beginning of a weekend experience unlike any other to be had in the world.\u00a0 An Israeli Friday is a wonderous day. It is the first day of the Israeli weekend; Sunday is the first day of the work week. Friday mornings start off at a hectic and more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[75,625,631,181,125,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-1443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israeli-life","8":"tag-israel","9":"tag-israeli-news","10":"tag-israeli-life","11":"tag-jewish-calander","12":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","13":"tag-shabbat","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1446,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions\/1446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}