Tourists in December and January with shorts and sandals, prove that summer is actually present here all year round.
Despite this, there is no summer festival worthy of its name in Israel.
I mean, there are countless festivals that take place in the summer, but we don't have an official event, like many countries, that celebrates the appearance of summer "in full".
And maybe it's not a coincidence.
One of the things that makes the Israeli summer months unique is the absence of the Jewish holidays that fall upon us in the other months.
In their place, a host of disgusting days were scheduled, such as the fast of Ten in Tevet, the days between the straits, Tisha B'av, and lots and lots of forgiveness.
As they say - enjoy the atonements, but don't forget, Judaism is an egalitarian culture, therefore for every pleasure of a sea and a watermelon one atones with fasting or abstinence, and mourns with some lamentation.
Sort of small reminders about a random National Insurance debt that comes in the middle of the vacation.
But the people sitting in Zion did and we will be wise to him.
And between the straits and fasts, if you enter any city and sister in Israel right now, and drive down the main avenue - you will find that on hot summer nights everything happens and happens and happens.
There is no evening without events and happenings, a beer or wine festival in the streets and gardens - all in all a logical process for a hot country where the day strikes with its dazzle, and the night is pleasant and its lights are colorful in the distance.
The inflation of attractions is welcome.
Everyone dips their hand in the ice bucket and seeks to attract the general public with air-conditioned promises.
Even the malls pretend to be the saviors of our children from the zombie apocalypse in front of the screens, and promise meetings and sessions with... the stars of the screens.
Oh well, still, the worst is in the minority.
But it is worth paying attention to the phenomenon in the peripheral cities in recent years.
In the days of my youth, the summer festivals were like a traveling circus in which expired artists from the center of the country and the heart of culture "classified their legs" for handsome crowds from city to city and permission to the authority.
The attractions were branded as an event "like in Tel Aviv".
Because Tel Aviv was the yardstick by which Israeli culture was measured.
The traveling circus presented some kind of "Tel Aviv" taken from the wax museum.
From a distance it might look like the real thing, but up close, you noticed the superficiality and fatigue of the material.
The events felt like a forced, copy-paste-and-forget version, and as such they remained cheap entertainment that left a taste as bland as tofu.
In recent years, there has been a quiet transformation in the field of urban culture in the southern periphery.
In Dimona, Barucham, Sderot and Mitzpe Ramon there are festivals that openly boast of the products of the local cultural people.
And not out of necessity.
This week, Meir Hazan, head of the culture department in Dimona Municipality, published words that echo the change: "I love Caesarea and Yarkon Park, the Sultan's Pool and other locations."
But I also like the shows in Dimona.
Because it's different when you're with friends, family, neighbors and guests.
It develops the cultural life of the city.
"The show 'The Little Prince' by the Dimona Theater is quality and professionalism, the beautiful face of Dimona. Share with friends in the center of Eretz, who won't miss an amazing production. Talk with pride about a theater that is fully connected to the city and represents us with a lot of respect. A theater that the team that manages and admires is Dimona, most of its productions They are imaginary and tell the story of the city, not from a whiny angle but with pride.'
Cantor is not the only one.
Soli Ravid-Suvisa, director of the culture department in Yeruham, also clarifies that the change is fundamental: "We keep bringing great artists.
But alongside them it is very important for us to have the local creators present, there are so many talented creators here, from the conservatory, from Warehouse 52, the music center for young people and 'all of us'.
The goal is for them to get to know these creators in their Yorham as well.
"It is important to us to respect and reward them as artists even if they are local. It is important to us that the cultural events in Yerucham take place in cooperation and based on local businesses and forces, it is important to us that the culture here be connected from below and not parachuted from above. This connects the communities of Yerucham, it speaks to us, the culture The local actually defines us.'
The model for the change in festival celebrations is, in my understanding, the result of a deep process that took place in the capital of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, in the last two decades.
It started with independent entrepreneurs (full disclosure, myself included) who initiated, made, created and established, and above all challenged the concept that there is no artist in his city and that culture is always an import product from the center to the periphery.
In recent decades, the local culture in Be'er Sheva has been supported and strengthened as part of the local government's policy.
Today you can see the results that turned Beer Sheva and the Old City district into a bustling space of opportunities for artists and entrepreneurs from all fields.
Creators search for other forms of life, cheaper living expenses, and along the way find a lot of cultural and human inspiration.
Huge festivals such as the Fringe Festival, to which artists from all over the world come, are integrated into festivals and events that promote and emphasize the local produce, and in the activities of the artist houses that have grown and continue to grow generation after generation of cultural events and local creators.
On the face of it, it should be like that everywhere.
But she is not like that.
Last week I ran into Ramla.
While wandering the fringes of the local market, I saw a sign that caught my attention, my stomach and my curiosity at the same time.
"Samir - cuisine, history, culture".
It was clear to me that a restaurant that puts history and culture as part of the menu cannot be casual.
I hoped for the best, but I won a miracle.
The masbah was phenomenal, the falafel was a green and mellow wonder that managed to be crispy and soft at the same time, and certainly one of the best I've ever eaten in my life.
There was no hint of exaggeration in the advertising.
The kitchen was a culture, and this culture had a history that was renewed for me on the plate.
A conversation with Jalil Davit, the owner of the place and the invisible hand behind the extraordinary food, revealed his secrets.
He is the current link in a family cooking tradition.
After opening hummusos in Berlin and Germany, Jalil returned to Ramla to continue the glorious food dynasty, but at the same time tried to turn the place into a cultural center as well.
In recent years, he produced many cultural events inside and outside the restaurant, with an emphasis on the local and alternative.
When he told about his cultural activities, there was a spark of mischief in his eyes.
I know this Zik very well, I immediately knew that this was an entrepreneur of the most poor and dangerous type.
A crazy entrepreneur who does it because he owes it to himself.
But Jalil's words also show the frustration of the lack of support from the municipal establishment and the indifference of the local community to his initiatives.
And he is just an example.
There are many entrepreneurs like him all over the non-commercialized country, but entrepreneurship alone is not enough.
Because without an establishment that supports, appreciates, respects and cherishes the local entrepreneurs, this entrepreneurship is doomed to wither and disappear.
It is the combination between local entrepreneurs with a vision and committed and enabling establishments that makes urban change, and together create a place that deserves its name.
Throughout the conversation with Jalil, I wanted to suggest that he move to the south, where his initiatives would be received with an attentive ear and assistance.
The great beauty of local entrepreneurship is that it is local and not a parachute.
It is good that "Samir" will exist in Ramla as a cultural institution and as part of the beauty and uniqueness of the city.
May the people of the local establishment in the whole country realize that there are entrepreneurs in their city, there are female artists in their city, there are prophets in their city and there are dreamers in their city, and it is worth investing in them more than any other artist who will come from outside.
Because a moment after the spotlights turn off, and the national artists take a nap on the way to Tel Aviv, those who will be left behind are the most important engines of growth for building an authentic and original urban identity, the creators of local culture.
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