"Global Warming," Brrrrr... Impossible to Prepare

Beit El, thanks Miriam

International Leftists, like former United States Vice President Al Gore make oodles of money lecturing and organizing "think tanks" on "global warming," while the world seems to be getting colder.

The center of Israel, the mountain range from Hebron, Jerusalem, Beit El, Shiloh up to the peaks over Shechem have experienced one of the greatest, longest, deepest and coldest snowstorms in recorded history.  Paralyzed roads, no electricity etc were reports I had heard from family in North America the past few winters, so why should we in Israel be any different?

Who’s to blame for the fact that cities like Jerusalem and Safed were cut off from the rest of the country for more than two days, and that thousands were forced to find alternative housing for the weekend because they had no heat or electricity? We can blame whomever we want – but the main culprit here seems to be the storm.
Commuters who mistook Thursday afternoon’s precipitation respite as a green light to drive into Jerusalem are the ones who had to abandon their vehicles when they couldn’t get home in the evening.
Those same vehicles prevented the snow plows mobilized in and out of the city from clearing the roads.
And when trees and branches fall, electricity is bound to falter, despite the best-intended contingency plans.

Not only was the quantity of snow for the record books, but for us to have snow three years in a row is pretty much unheard of.  Generally we have snow in Shiloh or Jerusalem, which are similar heights, twice or thrice in five years.  Sometimes two years in a row, but three is a chazakah, a very permanent number. Does that mean that we should expect snow every year?  The last time the Jerusalem Municipality invested enormous amounts of money in snow-removal equipment we had a series of warm winters and "limp" quickly vanishing snows. That's why it's wasteful to buy the equipment Chicago has.

Just stay safe and remember that the true message of this snowstorm is that G-d is in charge.

Shiloh snowstorm Tevet 5774, December 2013