September 1 means back to school – unless there’s a strike

I woke up in a cold sweat at 6am. Have we bought the kids the right textbooks? Did I remember to buy rolls for their mid-morning snack? Quick, turn on the news to find out if they’re even going back to school, or is there a strike?

And then I remembered: my kids are all in their twenties and left school years ago. Clearly, my long acquaintance with the Israeli September 1 phenomenon has left its mark.

There was a palpable national sigh of relief this morning as the vast majority of Israel’s under-18s did indeed go back to school. The Education Ministry, the Petah Tikva municipality and the three private religious schools that refused to take in Ethiopian students managed to reach a last-minute agreement before the official start of the school year, so there were “only” a few unrelated strikes.

Now that the “chofesh hagadol” – the long school holidays - have finally come to an end, the local early morning car and foot traffic will increase as children make their way to school - at least it will for a whole two weeks, until the next break for Rosh Hashanah.