Ever since I’ve lived here, December 15 is a holiday for me.  Why?  Because today is the day Ezi turns on the heat for the building.  When I first came to Israel the usual method of heating was a gasoline space heater.  you rolled it out to the balcony, closed the door, lit it, carefully, and then rolled it back to the living room.  Then we all sat around it to warm up.  After that gas heaters became popular, but I had an accident with one that scared me.  i was sitting by my little daughter’s bedside at night and because she was ill, I moved the gas heater close to the door of her room.  At some point I fell asleep and woke hours later to the strong smell of gas.  The pipe had come loose.   

Everything worked out in the end and I am probably the only one who remembers this incident.

But for 40 years I have been living in an apartment with heated floors, and I always rejoice on this day.  Heated floors are long out of fashion, and many apartments in our building have disconnected from it, but we stay with this old system because it is amazing.

This is a hot country, and most of our concerns are about keeping cool.  We don’t do it the inexpensive indigenous way, though, with thick walls and small windows, but with air conditioning.  But in the few months when it gets cold here, it’s very cold inside, and inevitably I get sick.

So forget about the miracle of Hanukah –  today is a holiday.  Definitely.