Supermarkets abroad seem to flaunt an endless variety of styles, shapes, levels of quality, prices, and brand names. Those who have had the opportunity to see the Big World sometimes complain about Israel's relatively limited offerings. Ask for a different product and you may be told ain davar kazeh - it doesn't exist. No, it's not just that the store doesn't carry it. You must have been wrong to imagine that you ever saw it anyplace.
However, not everything is limited in variety. You already read about Israeli toilets. Have you ever tried to use Israeli toilets?
That's right, the toilet flusher comes in more shapes, styles, and locations than any product you would ever find back "home."
Yes, we do have the side flusher model. It comes with two handles. You select the one to use depending on how serious you are about flushing. You may have trouble finding that handle. Most toilet tanks have six sides, and the handle is likely to be on the side that you least expect.
There are other nifty models as well - such as the large button built into the wall (the plumber probably has to work a whole day to fix them!); a cute old-fashioned string weighed down by a wooden knob; a push button in the middle of the toilet cover, a hole in the floor that miraculously flushes itself, and much more.
The Israeli Society for the Preservation of Nature has green toilets with a motor-driven flusher that automatically recycles waste for the surrounding forest.
Sometimes you keep on looking but there is no flusher. All the toilets flush at preset intervals, or the toilet flushes when an electric eye (did anybody hear about privacy?) sees you leaving the stall.
This raises an important point about the things that are important to Israelis.
Granted, unimportant things like macaroni are limited. You may not get all the twists, curls, colors, and flavors as you will find in your supermarket abroad. That doesn't matter. After all, macaroni is macaroni; spinach is spinach; and barley is barley. You don't need much variety in canned peas.
But when you get to the basics, Israel has a variety that staggers the imagination.
That's right. We're downright proud of the range of options that we can offer in toilet flushers.
More articles about managing in Israel
A list of forums about Israel
A list of forums about Jewish and Hebrew issues
Are you required to read this webpage for a course? Do NOT print out the article. It is copyrighted.
Your exercise for this article is as follows:
Copyright © David Grossman. World rights reserved. This article may not be printed, forwarded, reproduced, or copied in any way or in any medium without written permission from David Grossman.
Keyword: Consumerism
/GrossmanIsrael/Articles/Managing/Variety