Its coming

It all started about a week ago. I was at the park with Ayelet at about 5 PM. Out of nowhere, I see a group of 5 or 6 teenage boys shlepping wooden beams. I was tempted to yell at them, they had clearly stolen them from the construction site across the street. But I held my tongue and figured, why start, let someone else yell at them... then a couple days later I saw kids hanging out at the construction site. Rolling over stones, climbing on the mountains of dirt. I was actually begining to see this almost daily. I was a little suspicious, and again, tempted to speak up, but I just minded my own business and continued on my way. Finally last week, on Friday, the principal was making some school-wide anouncements, as she does every Friday. One of her announcements said essentially the following: "Remember to be careful not to get hurt by splinters or nails when collecting branches and wooden beams for Lag Ba'Omer..." A light bulb went off in my head! So thats why the kids are now all of a sudden hanging out at construction sites! They're on the prowl for wood... and everyone knows that wood doesn't come easy in Israel. This was such a new phenomenon to me! --that kids of all ages, from the day after Yom Haatzmaut until Lag Ba'Omer turn into hunters and foragers! I couldn't help but wonder if their parents knew where they were, or whether they supported these actions. Here's the answer: Monday night I was walking home at 10PM from a lecture I had attended. I get nervous walking the streets alone at that hour, but it was literally down the block, so I assured myself. I was already halfway home and I saw a white car driving very slowly up my block, on the side of the construction site. At first I thought, maybe its an Arab driver, coming to take home the Arab workers (they do stay pretty late, and sometimes sleep over!). This made me nervous, so I studied the car a little more closely. I saw that next to the car, on the side of the construction site was a young girl, walking at the same speed of the car. Guess what she was doing? Thats right! looking for wood, at 10 PM at night, with her father, on a construction site! So the answer to my question is YES!