Winter in Israel... Already

Early on the first Sunday morning after Rosh HaShanah Israel switches back to standard time. From what has been explained to me, this is to make the fast day on Yom Kippur easier since the sun goes down earlier, the fast day will end earlier on Saturday night. Aside from royally destroying the rhythm I had going with being able to skype with people back home, this means it is winter in Israel... kind of.

In the daily liturgy, we haven't switched over to the traditional prayers for wind and rain, but the mood has changed. The nights seem cooler. I have slowly noticed the change since getting back from Haifa two whole weeks ago. Something was different in the air this Sunday though.

Part of this may have been the feeling I got on the roof of Rabbi N. Kalman's apartment Saturday night while we met for Havdallah. Some of it may have something to do with the fact that back in the states we just had the first week of the NFL season. Yet another piece could be connected to the Gophers' Football team getting there first loss (under Brewster I'm surprised it took them two weeks to lose their first game).

Another piece could be the fact that I was rained on a little on the way to school and noticed that there were clouds in the sky the last few days. There is just a different feeling in the air right now and it feels like it should be fall. The problem is that I'm not used to there still being so much green in the fall. The leaves should be changing colors. I should smell the crisp fall air.

As a final note, I'm still wondering whether or not I want to see snow in Jerusalem this year. I know it would be beautiful, but I'm torn between the aesthetic aspects and the fact that I would love to have a year without snow.We shall see.