This page is still under construction.
Most Israeli security problems are created by our enemies.
However, we also do a good job of making this world a dangerous place in which to live.
Construction sites require those big holes in order to drop in big, new buildings LINK TO MOVING A BUILDING IN KATAMON. Those sites are often located in areas surrounded by other buildings, as well as children and traffic.
Those of us who survive those holes, since we live in a land of miracles, fit into several categories:
Let's use some true examples in order to reveal the hole story.
A construction hole was dug directly behind a bus stop without shoring it up. Nobody got upset when the structure partially collapsed backwards, into the hole. Workers set up another bus stop down the road and roped off the existing one. Passengers discovered the change of venue when they saw that their bus stopped in the middle of a different part of the road.
A parking lot was constructed at an angle, facing a busy sidewalk, with the lowest point the height of a person. Cars at the edge used hand brakes, parking gears, and prayers in order to avoid tragedies. One fine day, the edge of the parking lot crumbled, and the cars of several drivers who did not pray successfully slid down to the pavement. Several days later, some calm workers roped off the area, towed away the cars, and poured more asphalt on the part of the lot that had fallen off. They did not reinforce the substrate before replacing the paving. Sand is a tough material, right?
An area in a developed neighborhood was extended when workers dumped construction waste as landfill on the edge of a mountain. The trucks themselves drove over the add-on as it extended further into the valley.
One cloudy day several prefabricated building sections were delivered for a large primary school.
The next day the primary school was completed.
The following day it rained.
It is not clear why the school did not slide down the mountainside. It has remained there to this day.
Actually, I didn't check it this morning.
A Yeshiva in a fine neighborhood was built at the edge of a cliff. Yes, at the edge, not by or near the edge. The structure extended beyond the cliff, over a busy thoroughfare. Are you beginning to notice a pattern here?
Nobody got hurt when the building collapsed before it was completed. That's OK - we always expect miracles in Israel. Of course, it was subsequently rebuilt in the same location, and in the same way.
I personally believe that the Yeshiva was searching for a creative way to lower their municipal taxes, which are based on the real estate occupied by a building. Perhaps they hoped to limit their payments to the section that was located on terra firma.
Security-conscious builders now decorate their holes with delicate plastic ribbons so that people won't fall in. Sometimes the system works.
However, that's not because of those delicate little ribbons.
It's because we believe that our real security comes from Above. As Yeshiva boys say, "we holed from Him."
More about security 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.
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.
Keywords: Construction, Israel, Miracles, Roads, Security, Transportation/General, Yeshiva,
Case 1
Case study 2
Case Study 3
Case study 4
We've learned
Your exercise for this article is as follows:
/GrossmanIsrael/Articles/Security/Hole