Sunday, January 13, 2013

Gan Registration Riot

As I do not personally trust technology for the important stuff, I went down to the Jerusalem Municipality this morning to register Raphaela for Gan next year in person, rather than the suggested Internet site.

While the office itself opened at 8:30 am, many parents including myself chose to arrive much earlier in order to get a number and be one of the first to receive assistance.  I arrived at 7:45 and there were already 15 people ahead of me...handing out an old fashioned piece of paper and a pencil.  You see, Israel with all its technological prowess, did not think to test the system before the onslaught of the first day of processing, and so the number machine (which runs on Windows) was not functioning, and there was no one person there who actually knew how to repair it.

After close to a half hour of random attempts, the number computer was up and running, and by that time there were close to 50 parents clamoring at the door.

Once we got inside, it became clear that the computers for the registration process itself had also not been tested and prepped before hand, and miraculously, the only stations that were working were those that helped the Chareidi (Ultra-Orthodox) community.  That's right, all the computers attached to the same network and the same Internet cables;  and while the "regular" (ie taxpaying, army-serving, non contentious) Israelis had to wait almost an hour to register their children, the Chareidim were zipping in and out without a care, because they know the Big Secret:  G-d really does like them better.

Needless to say, it didn't take long before all of us sitting and waiting began grumbling the same chorus, "Those damn Chareidim, they take full advantage of the system and couldn't care less if the heretical Jewish State crumbles, and they get better service than the rest of us, every time."  I would not have been comfortable as a Chareidi at that moment, I half expected parents to start a riot and demand that we get equal time on the few functional computers in the room

Thankfully, I had received lucky number 13 and had a relatively short wait, and blessed be, walked home from the center of town in the sun and warmth that we in Jerusalem had not experienced since last week before the start of the deluge of rain and the snow.  It was so hot that I even took off my coat.

1 comment:

Rachel Selby said...

I'm with you on the technology thing which I why I met you there on the first morning last year. This year, however, DD is continuing in the same gan so whilst I still had to register, she will not be kicked out for another child to take her place (in theory). I managed eventually to find the form online and I registered, and I have the printout to prove it. Ho hum - let's see what happens :).