In normal times, when father's days and August break out, and the news broadcasts start reporting on the disputes between the teachers' union and the Ministry of Education over wages and collective agreements and amendments to collective agreements, I get stuck in irritation. I'm especially angry when the brazen question "Will the next school year open or not?" is injured.
Once, when it was reported that the chairman of one of the organizations announced that at the end of the successful negotiations he could already "announce the start of the school year as usual," I likened it here to an old story of my father who will live, about a guy in his hometown whose name was "Moishe Ride."
He would stand at the first bus stop, and every bus that was about to leave, he would stand in front of him and signal him with his hand and even announce loudly: "Go!"
Over time, the drivers got used to his presence and the role he took on, and would wait for the wave and announcement, and only then would they leave. This is what happened to the education system. She doesn't really need to announce the start of the school year.
The school year just starts when its date arrives. But over the years, she has simply gotten used to the fact that an integral part of the process of starting the school year is getting permission from the landlords. Without the declaration "go" - it does not move.
But this year, when I heard on the news about the conflict between the teachers' union and the education system, and the question of whether or not it will open, it became good and comfortable and safe for me.
For many months now, I, an optimist like myself, have been obsessively searching for signs of normal life amidst the chaotic reality that surrounds us. A week ago, this happened to me in the midst of a mass demonstration in Jerusalem. We got stuck at the southern entrance to the city in a crowd making its way out of a huge demonstration and were trapped in a car for about an hour and a half. At a certain point, there was something illogical about the dripping flow of traffic, and then we noticed that most of the traffic jam was caused by road work carried out in the Nayot neighborhood and not at all as a result of a demonstration. It was a small redemptive moment for me, partly because it washed over me with a stream of regret and affection for the demonstrators I blamed for nothing, and partly because it was a stroke of a normal element of life amidst the chaos. Here, more roads are being paved. Here, the roads are blocked because of a tractor and not because of Zambora.
But the truth is that just building and planting and traffic congestion is still not enough. In order for us to be sure that life goes on and that no institutions of the land will collapse and the world as usual - we also need the usual quarrels, those that are not part of the general package of the current mess.
Those whose very existence and reporting perpetuate the turning of the wheel, the existence of the blessed routine of life. And who do we have a more routine foundation than the teachers' wars with the Education Ministry and the Finance Ministry? It is clear to me that if there had not again been a headline related to a financial dispute between teachers in the Ministry of Education ahead of the next school year, I would have been genuinely anxious. Because then it would mean that the world really deviates from its course and something basic, internal, no longer functions.
For that, thanks and blessings. His consolation, members of the teachers' union. His consolation.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us