In the east, there are many countries that can be classified as very extraordinary. Their customs and national characteristics are so incomprehensible to a Russian that every visit there causes surprise and even some inconvenience. In this sense, the Promised Land may seem especially strange and unusual. The inhabitants themselves adhere to the traditions of Israel as strictly as they did many centuries ago, and therefore knowledge of at least the basic ones makes life much easier for tourists and travelers.
Shabbat shalom
This magic phrase begins to sound in Israel on Friday evening. It means that the time has begun when transport stops, shops close, restaurants do not wait for visitors, and even in hotels there comes a time of some calmness and absolute disregard for the problems of guests - Shabbat is coming to the Promised Land. The Jewish religious law, called the Torah, prescribes on the seventh day to refrain from any kind of creative work, which the Israelites do with great pleasure. The seventh day here is considered Saturday, which begins on Friday after sunset.
Creative activities in the Israeli tradition include lacing and building shoes, demolishing buildings and hunting, sewing and shearing sheep, planting and baking, lighting fires, and even tearing up toilet paper. Until Saturday evening - the end of the Sabbath - it is difficult to find a place to eat in the country, and it is almost impossible to use transport or someone else's services. So, tours to Israel should be planned taking into account this national peculiarity.
Mazal tov
It is precisely this exclamation that, according to the tradition of Israel, accompanies any important event in the life of its inhabitant, but most often these words can be heard at a Jewish wedding. Preparation for marriage, like the ceremony itself, is a special chain of rituals and manipulations, the meaning of which cannot be understood the first time by a person of another religion. One of the main features of an Israeli wedding is the chuppah or a special canopy. It is under him that the ceremony is performed, during which the young receive seven blessings. Often, the honor of congratulating a couple is also given to guests, and therefore, when you are at a wedding in Israel, be prepared to make a speech and do not forget to shout at the end "Mazal tov!"
Five thousand years from the universe
The tradition of Israel, associated with its own chronology, may seem no less strange to guests. The country has adopted a calendar in which the date of the beginning of the universe falls on 3761 BC. The peculiarities of the Jewish calendar system are in the lunisolar reckoning of dates, and therefore some important holidays are "floating" here.
