Last week, we ran out of hot water. Well, we didn’t actually run out. But through a convergence of bad luck, all our hot water heating devices broke down simultaneously, leaving us hot waterless with Shabbat coming and five Blums needing to take their pre-sundown showers.

Now, I’m sure a “real” Israeli family would just suck it up and plunge feet first into the icy water. But we’re more weenies than sabras. Maybe if we’d served in the army we’d be tougher. But 16-year-old Amir’s still a year and a half away from that and his father was never called up.

We had to figure out a solution…and fast.

First some history. What happened is this: We generally use our gas heater which gives us instantaneous hot water for as long as we want.

The gas heater wasn’t broken but it was getting temperamental. So we called the gas heater repair people. A mild mannered repairperson named Alon arrived on Wednesday and began taking our unit apart. He quickly found the problem. The gas jets were old and needed to be replaced. He wanted to take the troublesome part with him.

But how will we take showers on Thursday? I asked. Don’t worry, Alon replied. I’ll have it back to you tomorrow morning.

Trusting immigrant that I am, I let him walk off with our ailing jets. On Thursday morning, a secretary from gas company called. The man who fixes the jets wasn’t in today. They could only have it back to us on Friday.

While inconvenient, we always had Plan B. Now, nearly every apartment in Israel has a dud shemesh – a solar water heater. In a country where unleaded gasoline was only mandated a few years ago, it’s one of the few environmentally friendly innovations Israel has implemented, and one that makes sense in a country which has sunny cloudless days 9 months out of the year.

The only problem was that it was winter and cloudy. The sun peeked through enough to give us one shower’s worth of warm, not hot, water.

Off we went to Plan C: we have an electric heater which boils the water on exactly these kinds of cloudy days. We flipped the switch and waited an hour. Nothing. We waited another hour. Still no hot water. We called the electrician. He came and said we needed to call a plumber. The plumber was booked.

The last time I took a cold shower was when I was traveling in Thailand 11 years ago. The days were 105 degrees with 200% humidity. This was not one of those times.

So to summarize our story so far: we had no gas, no solar and no electric heat. It was precisely at this moment of bleak realization that the gas people called back. The jet fixer wasn’t coming in today either. And since they don’t work on Shabbat, Sunday was the earliest they could repair our unit. And, the secretary added, it might not work at all in which case they’d be glad to sell us a brand new unit for the low price of $1500.

I started to scream into the phone. “This is unacceptable,” I wailed. “You’re leaving us without hot water for 4 days. What kind of customer service is this?”

For some reason I thought raising my voice was the proper Israeli response. After all, it works in the supermarket and at the falafel stand.

The secretary didn’t blink (well I don’t think she did, it was over the phone). “You have no choice,” she said in a calm monotone. “Sunday, that’s the best I can do.”

It was a long cold Shabbat, but when Sunday finally arrived, the gas guy came with the fixed part. We weren’t so lucky with the plumber. It took him a week to figure out that the wires weren’t connected properly on our dud.

I’d like to say that our frustrating experience was typically Israeli. But I’ve heard from friends overseas that dealing with plumbers and electricians and gas repairmen can be trying no matter where you are in the world.

In any case, hot water finally flows freely in our house. It may take a little longer to cool down from our heated tempers. Next time all the hot water heating options break down simultaneously, though…I’m flying to Thailand.

Several years ago in this column I bemoaned the paucity of sushi bars in holy city. In 10 Reasons I Still Love Jerusalem, I wrote that the only thing lacking in Israel’s capital was good sushi.

No more. Jerusalem has been overrun by sushi establishments in recent months. And unlike Tel Aviv (and the rest of the world), they’re nearly all kosher. There’s Gong, Domo, Yoja, the Sushi Bar on Rehov Aza,  the venerable  Sakura (which years ago used to be kosher but isn’t anymore),  Yakimonotoo at the David Citadel Hotel and the sushi take out at Soya.

And now to add to the plethora, here comes Tamago, a new minimalist kosher sushi restaurant set in a classic Templar building that was formerly an architectural firm on Emek Refaim Street.

I say minimalist because Tamago’s menu contains only two kinds of sushi: salmon and tuna. There are plenty of different combinations: rolls, maki, nigiri, inside out, but no yellowtail, halibut or snapper.

Tamago’s décor is similarly sparse – glossy red tables and black matte chairs with a few plain Japanese mats decorating the walls. It is not a space that encourages boisterous conversation though by the time we ordered our food, the place was filling up with sushi-loving families and contemplative young couples.  

My companion and I started with two bowls of soup – a miso and a bowl of ramen noodles with salmon. Both tasted pretty much the same which is to say fairly bland, though the chunks of salmon in the ramen soup were a surprising addition to a traditional Japanese staple. The miso was fairly standard with chunks of tofu and little scallions.

For the main course, we ordered a variety of sushi: salmon nigiri, inside out tuna teriyaki, and a caterpillar salmon roll which was the most interesting: alternating salmon and avocado wrapped around rice with more salmon and avocado inside.

Despite the spartan offerings, the sushi was quite tasty; the nigiri was particularly fresh and nearly melted in our mouths. There are two cooked fish dishes on the menu – yes, one salmon and one tuna. Vegetable tempura is also available.

Tamago is on the inexpensive side: with plates ranging between NIS 19 ($5.50) and NIS 42 ($12). Our meal for two (not including sake) came to NIS 127 ($37). While not fabulous, the restaurant is certainly convenient to southern Jerusalemites and is the best on the block (beating out Yoja’s sorry sushi and Soya’s straight-from-the-fridge take out).

One more point to note that gives Tamago its own uniqueness: the staff is entirely religious. That’s not so unusual in a city like Jerusalem, but sushi bars have generally been run by secular Israelis with imported Japanese chefs. At Tamago, everyone behind the counters – including the Japanese sushi chef – were wearing kippot.

Tamago Sushi is at 48 Emek Refaim Street. Open from noon until midnight except Fridays. 077-515-0140.

A new documentary titled Eyes Wide Open premiered last week at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. Directed by veteran filmmaker and Jerusalemite Paula Weiman-Kelman, the film explores the complex relationship of North American Jews with Israel by following several groups from the US as they visit Israel, many for the first time.

From the spiritual excitement of visiting the Old City of Safed, to participating in a Palestinian demonstration against the West Bank security barrier, Eyes Wide Open documents a wide variety of experiences.

The interviewees express their confusion at the complexities of life in Israel, where daily reality ping-pongs between extremes. At one point, a participant sighs, "I would love to be non-conflicted."

During the panel discussion that followed the screening, the film's screenwriter, Stuart Schoffman, addressed the issue of feeling conflicted.

"Israelis live with selective denial," he said. "In order to live with so many contradictions, some things get pushed to the background while other things get moved to the foreground. People who live here do that all the time. They learn how to juggle the contradictions."

That's not so easy for the casual or brief visitor to Israel, Schoffman went on. "These are people who went to Sunday school and learned all about the Jews wandering for 2,000 years and then they get here and suddenly realize there are complications," he said. "For some, even thinking about this is so overwhelming, they don't come at all. They change the channel."

The problem is that Israel exists on an adrenalin rush of conflicting narratives: We have a peace-loving narrative and a narrative that says we must be strong and protect ourselves at all costs; we have the people who brought about the flowering of the desert, who danced the hora every night while picking watermelons in the kibbutz field by day coexisting with fundamental questions of human rights and civil inequality.

What does Israel do, for example, with the some 7,000 illegal immigrants from Africa who have crossed the border in the last two years? Deport them? Give them shelter and citizenship? What about the trafficking of women? Pornography and sex crimes? How can the Zionist dream narrative and the one where Israel is portrayed as a blemished nation both be true?

Another panel member, Eliezer Yaari, executive director of the Israel office of the New Israel Fund, put it this way: "I feel a strong sense that there's no way for Israel to succeed in the eyes of America. For many US Jews, we're too leftist. For others we're too Right. We're too socialist and not socialist enough. Too religious or not Jewish enough. We can't win."

MK Colette Avital, a former ambassador to the US, repeated the oft-cited statistic that only 20 percent of American Jews have ever visited Israel.

Even if that number might be up in recent years with the tens of thousands who have taken part in birthright trips, Avital lamented that "after 60 years, Israel and the Diaspora haven't grown any closer. Americans don't understand Israelis, but Israelis don't understand America either."

What will help bridge the gap between the two largest Jewish communities in the world? The traditional Israeli hasbara pitch of "just make aliya" has clearly worn out its welcome. Instead, Israel has to export its culture, panel members agreed.

"We need to share what we're about through literature, movies and music," exhorted Avital. We have no choice but to move beyond the headlines and TV sound bytes that constitute the average American Jew's Israel experience.

Israelis need to pay more than lip service to the issues that engage Americans, added Yossi Klein Halevi, another panelist and a senior fellow at the Shalem Center. "That means more respect for minority rights, for Arabs, for women and Ethiopians. We need to show sensitivity to religious pluralism. We can't alienate liberal American Jews."

That may not be so easy. At one point in the film, a synagogue mission begins to pray at the Haas Promenade in Talpiot. The camera pans to two Israelis.

"They can't do that," says one. "They don't have 10 men."

"They count women too," the other explains.

"That's not right. It's not allowed," the first counters.

The scene elicited nervous laughter from the audience as they caught a glimpse of just how big the gap in understanding truly is.

Ultimately, Israel needs to be spun not just as a physical place but as the "ultimate Jewish text," explained Schoffman. "The real argument today is not over a page of Talmud, but over Israel the nation. This is the new beit midrash [Jewish study hall]."

Like the rabbinical arguments over nuances in the pages of a Jewish text, we need to "celebrate the conflicts, to make them a virtue," Schoffman said. "The complexities themselves are the source of engagement."

Eyes Wide Open is just over an hour long, but it can serve as a trigger point for salient, honest and open discussion in both Israeli and American Jewish communities. Watch for it at a theater near you.

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To book the film, contact Ruth Diskin the distributor. Her website is www.ruthfilms.com

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This article originally appeared in the In Jerusalem section of The Jerusalem Post.

Motorists in Jerusalem have for several months now been stuck in severe traffic jams while traveling near or through the city center. That’s unfortunate, though not entirely unintentional, explains Marc Render, partner and co-founder of AmAv, a transportation planning consultancy that has been actively involved in designing traffic pattern changes in the Jerusalem area.

The problem, says Render, is that the timing for modifications to the city’s traffic flow and the new mass transit system aren’t in synch. Traffic lanes once dedicated to cars are now reserved for buses and the light rail system, but the trolleys and high density buses aren’t running yet. When they are, it will still be difficult for cars to reach the center of town, but there will be attractive mass transit alternatives.

Why was the timing so poor? We asked Amnon Elian, Community Relations Officer for the Jerusalem Transport Master Plan Team, who basically shrugged his shoulders. “We have to start somewhere,” he told In Jerusalem. “Otherwise it’s just talking. We admit that it’s not ideal the way we’re doing it now. It’s frustrating for us as well. But there’s no way we can do it all in one go. We are initiating a transportation revolution. This is a mega project that will take years.”

When the new transit design eventually comes online, Jerusalem is set to see some major changes in its bus system, affecting nearly every line in the city. The current system, in place for decades now, of local bus lines feeding into Jaffa Road downtown and ultimately passing by the Central Bus Station will effectively end.

Jerusalemites will instead be required to transfer between feeder routes in the outlying neighborhoods and the main high speed trunk lines – the red line light rail system that travels from Pisgat Ze’ev to Kyriat HaYovel via the center of town, and the blue line “busway” which is already mostly in place and bisects the city, running from Gilo in the south to Ramot in the north by way of the Har Hotzvim industrial zone. North south running buses in the busway won’t turn onto Jaffa Road either. A major transfer point at the corner of King George and Jaffa will enable travelers to continue their journey.

This is the first time such a hierarchical system has been tried in Israel, though it’s commonplace in other parts of the world, Render says, particularly in Europe. And the results are faster travel times. Render gives Pisgat Ze’ev as an example. “Would you rather take a local bus that slowly winds in and out of neighborhoods on its way downtown, or transfer from a feeder route to a high speed line that has travels in its own lane and gets you to the city center 15-20 minutes quicker?”

Not all local buses will be transformed into feeder lines. In Talpiot, for example, the 7 line will travel through the neighborhood as it does now, then join the busway on Derech Hebron for the rest of its journey into town – though not turning to head towards the Central Bus Station as it does today.

Render says he already avoids taking his personal car downtown from his office in Talpiot. Instead, he drives to the free Liberty Bell Park parking lot and jumps on one of the frequent buses that travel via the busway, thus shaving off traffic time and parking costs.

The first of the changes to Jerusalem’s bus system were set to begin on February 24. A new 74 express line will travel from Har Homa up the busway to the center of town. Another new line, the 66, will act as a feeder in Pisgat Ze’ev. The old number 5 bus has been reestablished and will run from the Central Bus Station through the Talpiot Industrial Zone ending in Har Homa. The 21 line will now run from Ramat Sharett to Givat HaMatos by way of Emek Refaim, replacing the number 14 bus. Finally, the venerable 6 line has been rerouted to connect Pisgat Ze’ev and the Malcha shopping mall by way of the Begin highway.

In addition, buses will be rerouted downtown to give work crews room to lay tracks on Jaffa Road, currently scheduled to begin on April 27. Buses traveling from the Central Bus Station will now head east past the Mahane Yehuda marketplace, then turn left at Strauss and right on Nevi’im. Buses heading the other way, will turn right on Strauss and left on Nevi’im. Riders from the periphery – Ma’aleh Adumim, Givat Ze’ev, Bet Shemesh, Mevesseret Zion and Betar Illit – will now either end their trips in the center of town or at the Central Bus Station, requiring a transfer to continue on.

“It’s going to be a big mess,” Render says, “because almost every bus route in the city goes on Jaffa Road.”

Once in place, the new system will include a transfer ticket mechanism so that riders don’t have to pay twice. Currently 39 percent of all trips are made by Egged’s unlimited ride monthly pass. 40 percent use the multi trip punch card (“cartisia” in Hebrew) while only 12 percent pay cash. Daily tickets will also be offered when the new system is in place.

Jerusalem has been quite bold in its transportation planning policy, Render says. It wasn’t always this way. Render was involved in the original Jerusalem Area Master Plan. Back then, budgets were tight and vision was short. Render points out that the Begin Highway was originally conceived as one lane in each direction with traffic lights along the way, rather than how it turned out – a four-lane expressway with onramps and offramps and state of the art interchanges.

The light rail system is ultimately intended to comprise 8 different lines. Only one has been built so far with another two in the planning stages. “We have a planning budget but the routes have not been decided yet,” Community Relations Officer Elian told us.

But it’s the busway that’s gotten a lot of the flack. Lanes for cars have been redirected to buses only from Derech Hebron up through Keren Hayesod Street and King George, across Jaffa Road and through Geula and Mea Shearim to the Har Hotzvim industrial zone. Monumental traffic jams now exist along all these routes at peak times of the day.

High density buses will run in the busways. In practice this means the current articulated double buses, though some three part buses may be added in the future. Bus stops along the busway will also be hi-tech, indicating how long until the next bus arrives. Busway buses will be tracked by satellite GPS. The goal is to make public transit a viable alternative.

If taking your car downtown becomes less comfortable, where will riders park to take the new transit lines? Three “park and ride” lots are planned. The first, at Mount Herzl with 530 spaces, is ready to go. “In Israel, the fact that we have even one parking lot waiting for the public is a dream come true,” muses Elian. A second, intended for drivers coming from out of town, will be built by the new Road 9 near Ramat Shlomo. The third is planned for the Ramat Eshkol area.

The existing parking lot at Binyamei HaUma will also be doubled, providing drivers from Tel Aviv with a convenient transfer point to the light rail. All of these lots are intended to be open when the light rail is done in 2010.

Even when the new system is in place, though, some buses will still run direct from the neighborhoods to downtown. For example, the 31 and 32 routes from Gilo and Ramot will be rerouted to travel on Agrippas Street, affording better access to the shuk.

Was there any consideration given to the desirability of bus travel in an age of suicide bombers? Render turns philosophical for a moment. “Our whole existence in this country is not logical. My attitude is that you have to assume that life here could be normal and that problems will be temporary. The light rail will have all kinds of security systems including camera.”

Elian is less prosaic. “We are working actively with the police and the army to deal with security. A lot of thought has been invested. This is part of our work.”

Render points out that in the U.S., passengers also avoided public transportation for security reasons – in that case crime. Authorities responded and now “public transit use in the U.S. has been going up every year for the last five years.”

With bus fares steadily rising, is there a point when the price will simply be too high? Render says that studies show “the least sensitive factor affecting ridership is price. People are much more concerned with reliability, comfort and speed of travel. That’s important data, because if there’s more money coming into the system, it’s better to use that money to provide more frequent service than to reduce the price. Conversely, if you have a budget problem, it’s better to raise fares than cut back on frequency.”

Render’s firm AmAv was founded in 1992 and has worked on hundreds of projects in Israel from Haifa to Eilat as well as in Eastern Europe and Africa. Render has a master’s degree in urban planning and made aliyah from Chicago in 1978. Elian also has a background in urban planning and has been the official spokesperson for the Jerusalem Mass Transit system for 7 years.

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This article originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post's In Jerusalem section. The link is here.