I recently blogged about the study that indicated that 83% of adult Israelis are satisfied with their lives. There have been a few theories as to why this is the case, one of which is that Israelis have a strong sense of not being alone. A sense of community, if you will. Or Hev’re as Imshin puts it.
Nothing illustrates it better than this next item from the Media Line:
The owners of Aroma, a large chain of popular coffee shops in Israel, have decided to close their branch in Jerusalem’s German Colony for three days to express solidarity with the Hillel cafe that was bombed on Tuesday, killing seven people. A large banner was placed at the entrance to the coffee shop announcing it will be closed to show sympathy with the victims and solidarity with Hillel. The branch is considered a competitor of the Hillel cafe, located just a few buildings away.
Yariv Shefa, owner of the Aroma franchise, told The Media Line that the move was his decision because he did not feel it was appropriate to open his cafe when just a few meters away a ghastly terror attack caused so much devastation and death. “I don’t think that we can just continue as though it’s business as usual,” said Shefa. He added that he was discontent with the prevailing view that every time a tragedy occurs, Israelis continue as normal instead of stopping to ponder or taking action.
Bela Spivak, manager of the German Colony branch of Aroma, said since the branch was closed, several regular customers she met praised her for the move, although she added it will cause a significant loss of profit. Spivak added that she stands behind Yariv Shefa’s decision and believes it is a wise and appropriate move. “It’s hard to stand behind a counter when something so terrible like this has happened. We are good neighbors.”
