An Actual Miracle

The title of this blog, for those of you who haven't noticed, is 'Believing in Miracles'. Originally it was a somewhat optimistic take on the regional conflict, but yesterday I realised its true application.

If you have spoken to me or read this blog at any point in the last six months, you will be aware that I have been in the process of applying for a settlement visa in Israel, giving my humble non-Jewish self the unrestricted right to work in this country. This visa, as is common in many countries, is granted on the basis of one's relationship (married or no) with an Israeli citizen. For more excruciating details on what this entails see my rant post on it from earlier this year.

Yesterday was our interview. Or inquisition. Or interrogation. Interestingly, Palestinian Arabic slang would have referred to it as a sin wa jim, or a 'Q&A session', which is how they refer to the little tea parties they have every now and then with the IDF. But I digress. Our interviewer was, to my initial horror, a religious woman. You could tell this, by the way (cultural tip!) from the way her hair was covered - a mitzvah in the Torah specifies that married women should cover their hair. But I digress. Religious people aren't known for their great love of the 'mos with a capital H.

This is the miraculous part. She just did her job! She obeyed the law! I was shocked. I expected her to grill us mercilessly and then invent some non-existent document that she could say was 'missing' from our file to give her an excuse to refuse our application. Far worse things have been done in this country in the name of HaShem (='the name', epithet used for God by religious Jews seeking to avoid breaking the third commandment. See what I did there?), but it seems the gods of my people were smiling on us, and Jehovah's attention was elsewhere, as she approved the visa!

In further miraculous news, not only has our friend and (now) flatmate Judd returned from his journeys in the upside-down half of the earth, but it rained today in the holy land! In October! It's been an amazing few days. Now to get a job (should be done and dusted by Sunday), and start thinking about Sean's UK visa.