Modi'in

As many of you know, Peri and I decided to try living in Modi'in for the year, rather than Jerusalem, where we had previously thought we would go. There were lots of different reasons for that decision that I won't go into. But Peri has a theory about Modi'in and I thought I would share it. Modi'in has been around for only 11 years, and is called "the city of the future". It bills itself as the first Israel city to have been planned thoughtfully, which is a) true, b) a brilliant marketing statement, and c) a rather damning indictment of the previous 100 or so years of Zionist settlement... Modi'in has lots of green space - many of its main roads have the two carriageways separated by lovely grassy areas with playgrounds every 100 yards, which make walking around the city with kids a real joy. In general there are lots of roundabouts (=traffic circles in the US), which calm traffic, and it has a certain American feel about it, right down to the huge shopping centre about 5 minutes outside of town, which feels like it could almost be a Florida strip mall. And because everything in the city is maximum 11 years old, it all feels new, clean, fresh.

So Peri's theory is that Modi'in is a social experiment on Israelis. We all know the standard stereotype of Israelis: loud, aggressive, rude, etc. Modi'in's social experiment says: what if we put all these loud, aggressive, rude people in a nice, calm, well-organised place. Would they begin to calm down and be more polite, cultured, pleasant?

(With my ex-professor-of-Jewish-education's hat on, I would restate this as follows: to what extent does the plausibility structure of Modi'in change the behaviour of those who are exposed to it on an ongoing basis?)

So far, our observation of this social experiment is that it might actually be working. In Modi'in, people seem to drive more calmly. There is not as much hooting/honking. Service in the cafes here is... well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, it's acceptable, but compared to many other corners of the country, that's a huge step forward!

Let me leave you with this vignette to prove the point. Yesterday, I got aggravated at a traffic light and started shouting at this woman in the street who had been having a conversation with the driver of the car in front of me, thus leaving me to get stuck at the red light. I, er, also nearly went through the red light, before Peri, who was in the passenger's seat, screamed blue murder and made me stop in the nick of time. Anyway, just my luck, a policemen was watching the whole thing: my shouting at the woman in the street, my nearly going through a red light, etc. He pulls me over and takes my license and registration. I fear the worst. Peri transitions from blue murder to the silent treatment.

The policeman comes back and says: "Look, you're in a calm place now [he used the Hebrew word "ragua" which I have never previously associated with the Israeli driving experience]. No-one else is hooting here. It's just you. Take this as a warning. In the future calm down". And with that he gave me back my stuff and left.

So now I am officially a calm Modi'in resident. Jerusalem may be more religiously exciting, a more Jewishly powerful environment, but if Modi'in keeps my blood pressure down at the traffic lights, it has a lot going for it.