I woke up in a cold sweat at 6am. Have we bought the kids the right textbooks? Did I remember to buy rolls for their mid-morning snack? Quick, turn on the news to find out if they’re even going back to school, or is there a strike?
And then I remembered: my kids are all in their twenties and left school years ago. Clearly, my long acquaintance with the Israeli September 1 phenomenon has left its mark.
There was a palpable national sigh of relief this morning as the vast majority of Israel’s under-18s did indeed go back to school. The Education Ministry, the Petah Tikva municipality and the three private religious schools that refused to take in Ethiopian students managed to reach a last-minute agreement before the official start of the school year, so there were “only” a few unrelated strikes.
Now that the “chofesh hagadol” – the long school holidays - have finally come to an end, the local early morning car and foot traffic will increase as children make their way to school - at least it will for a whole two weeks, until the next break for Rosh Hashanah.
This morning’s sighs of relief are in reality slightly premature as the school year won’t get going properly until “acharay hachagim” – after the holidays - that other well known Israeli phenomenon.