For the last 3½ weeks I have enjoyed seeing family and friends in Southern California. It amazes me how much Israel and California are alike. No wonder my adjustment to Israel was so easy. No wonder so many Israelis make their home in California. Yet the entire country of Israel fits into the state of California 19 times!
Weather, climate, topography, flora and fauna are similar between California and Israel. I always know what the weather forecast will be in my town in Israel because Southern California experiences the same temperatures and precipitation just a few days before. Date palm trees and Joshua trees that dot the California desert remind me of those that adorn Israel’s desert landscape. Joshua trees are native to only Israel and the Mojave Desert. The lowest point on earth is the Dead Sea, Yam Hamelach, which translates in Hebrew to Sea of Salt. It is in the southeastern part of Israel, 1300 feet below sea level. In the southeastern part of California is the Salton Sea, also a sea of salt, 200 feet below sea level.
I once traveled by train from Tel Aviv to Haifa via train. The scenery made me feel at home. To my right were mountains of unusual rocks reminding me of the Vasquez Rocks area adjacent to the Antelope Valley Freeway from the San Fernando Valley to Palmdale, where many western movies and tv shows were filmed. Even Star Trek was filmed in the Vasquez Rocks, named after the outlaw who hid in the rocks for years, escaping the law. On my left were coastline and beaches of the Mediterranean Sea that reminded me of traveling down Route 1 along California’s rocky coastline and beaches along the Pacific Ocean. The Northern California coastline, with its cliffs and caverns, is eerily similar to the underwater caves and cliffs along the Mediterranean.
People-watching while sitting at sidewalk tables under colorful awnings enjoying pastries, borekas, and coffee is a national pastime in Israel.
Israel is known for its inexpensive coffee shops. Starbucks can be found throughout the world but the chain never could get a foothold in Israel.
Yet its competitor, the ever popular kosher Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, is actually Israeli and is found throughout California. The Israeli Aroma Café as well as SuperSal market can be found in Encino.
Although several Israeli businesses prosper in California, more American businesses enjoy success in Israel. For example, McDonald’s hamburgers are throughout Israel. Not all are kosher. However those that are do not have cheeseburgers because keeping kosher also means no mixing of meat and milk products. Argentina is the only other country in the world besides Israel that has a kosher McDonald’s, in Buenos Aires. One of my favorite fast-food establishments that delivers to my home is the kosher Pizza Hut in my town. No pepperoni or sausage pizzas on the menu. There is a non-kosher Domino Pizza and a kosher version Pizza Domino.
Believe it or not, the kosher food markets in California, such as OC Kosher Market in Tustin and Pico Glatt in Los Angeles have such fantastic selections of glatt/mehadrin kosher meats and products that I wish they were in Israel. The hechshers (certifications) are all good. The variety is a kosher food shopper’s dream come true. Even the glatt kosher restaurants are outstanding, far better than most Israeli restaurants.
Since just about every other store in my town is a shoe store, the American Payless Shoes opened up in my local mall but closed not long after because it could not compete with the Israeli shoe stores. H&M department store is popular in Israel. We also have Ace Hardware and Home Center stores. I can even get Costco’s Kirkland brand products at Israel’s Osher Ad supermarkets. Ikea has a few stores in Israel, but compared to U.S. prices and prices in other countries, Ikea seems to double the cost of things for Israel. Although many phones, computers, and electronics are Israeli innovations, the costs to buy them in Israel are almost double of what they would be in the States. Even used American paperbacks cost more than new ones in the States.
Some Israeli and California cities are known as “sister cities.” They include San Bernardino and Beverly Hills with Herziliya, Sacramento with Ashkelon, Los Angeles with Eilat and also a partnership with Tel Aviv, San Francisco and Palm Desert with Haifa, Fresno with Afula, San Diego with Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council. Lancaster, Pa, is a sister city with Beit Shemesh. How about those of my friends in Lancaster taking a sister city with Rehovot or any other Israeli city?
L’hitraot. Shachar