Saturday, December 10, 2011

Winter Green

Growing up in New York, seasonal colors were very different from what I see here in Israel, the HolyLand.  The summer was very green, decorated with flowers.  Then in the fall, some leaves changed color and fell.  Winter could be white and green and brown.

About twenty years ago I took a course to improve my Hebrew.  We were forced to read Hebrew, poems, literature and newspaper articles.  The teacher mocked the old Hebrew poems she gave us to read.  She pointed out that they were based on European climate and had nothing to do with the realities in our part of the world.

I think the poem mentioned summer's green and blooming flowers.  In the days that poem was written, Israelis didn't waste precious water on summer flowers and grass.  It's winter when we see green covering the ground, after it rains a few times.


The grass/weeds are getting longer.  Soon the bulbs will bloom.  The rain is a blessing, even though it can be annoying at times...

2 comments:

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
My husband commented that in Israel, songs about rain are usually happy, whereas in America, they are almost invariably sad. I still haven't gotten used to daffodils blooming in the winter. I remember them as the first flowers to push their buds through the snow.

Batya said...

B"H our songwriters recognize the miracle of rain and that it's a gift from G-d.
Hadassa, do you think there will be snow this year?