Ee-Kay-Ah

With everything going on in this part of the world, this might seem a mundane, ordinary or just plain uninteresting topic but you've gotta believe me when I say that nothing here is mundane, ordinary or uninteresting. And even if it was, sometimes an escape from the intensity isn't a bad thing.

As mentioned in my previous post, we have been tasked (read: blessed) with the guardianship of a small piece of the Land and the apartment that sits upon it. Taking care of an apartment includes furnishing it and, for the past five weeks, we have been actively trying to do just that - which is where Ee-Kay-Ah comes in. You might be more familiar with it as...

There are several in Israel, one about an hour's drive from Afula. In the first three weeks of our stay, we visited there three times until we learned that although you can't order online directly from IKEA in Israel, there is a service which, for a nominal fee, will order for you. That turned out to be a HUGE help with the ten dining room chairs that we would have had to pull off the warehouse shelves and arrange for shipping to our apartment - a multi-step process.

But ordering intricacies aside, IKEA in Israel is unlike anywhere else. The bookcases on display are stocked with volumes of Torah and other sacred texts.

The dining room tables for sale are set with challah and kiddush wine for Shabbat.

And last but not least, where else in the world can a kashrut-observant Jew eat in the IKEA cafeteria? I didn't opt for their famous Swedish meatballs but the salmon, chips, string beans, etc. were tasty, plentiful and reasonably priced.

All walks of Jewish patrons (and some non-Jewish ones as well) were enjoying their choices from the varied menu. Some didn't seem to be IKEA shoppers at all - just there for the food!

The "doggie bags" we took home (or arranged for delivery) included everything from towel bars to barstools; dressers to dining table...

You might think it a stretch to say that IKEA helped us Remember Jerusalem in a meaningful way but as we furnish our home in the Holy Land, we pray that Hashem will soon build and furnish His Home in the Holy City so that we may all live in its extended shadow - even here, way up north.

There will probably be at least one more visit to IKEA before we head back to the States. Yes, it's something of a trek but never mundane or ordinary. In fact, on our most recent drive in that direction, we even got to see the flowering almond trees that I didn't manage to catch on Tu b'Shevat.

Wishing you the opportunity to furnish your very own home in Israel

- and enjoy the meatballs!

"That's how you say 'hearty appetite' in Swedish." (And "b'tay'avon'" in Hebrew.)