It's Amazing What People Relate To

I don't always "guess it right" in predicting how people will react to my posts. Just today I wrote about my "Hebrew disability" on The Eye of the Storm.

I wrote it very quickly, aggravated, because I had all sorts of technical problems, the second time this week, and I had to call the A7 office for help.

I lamented my written Hebrew skills and phobia about reading the Holy Tongue. It was a lot more personal than I normally post there. Amazing, truly amazing, the letters people sent to my email, besides the comments to the blog.

Please don't get me wrong. I speak Hebrew perfectly fluently, though with an accent that one can't misidentify. My grammar isn't all that awful, and at times it's even good. The sincere shock I see on neighbors' faces when I confide that "I only write in English," reinforces the revelation that they consider me capable of writing Hebrew.

I wish I could join some sort of "support group" for writing in Hebrew. Or if someone would just edit my work, but not too heavily.

The most important skill an immigrant to Israel, oleh chadsh, must attain is Hebrew fluency in speech and also in writing. Sometimes I think of all the great immigrant writers in the states, who somehow trained themselves to write in English and other languages. Am I just dumber? OK, maybe not intellectually, but a screw of mine must have had been loose. I should have known that my lack of full Hebrew functioning would hold me back.

Sorry for the kvetch.