School Bus to Ramle

We had just come back to Israel from Palo Alto after spending a sabbatical year there and my child was starting school. I walked down with him to wait for the school bus. To my great surprise it was a yellow school bus just like in the US. The school bus driver checked the name and said “Yes, we are going to Ramle, get on”. “To Ramle?” I screamed “Why Ramle?”. Ramle is a small town 50 kilometers from Jerusalem. I walked up quickly and asked my wife “Ramle? why Ramle?” My wife listened carefully and replied: “Do you think it is a bad idea to send the child to Ramle?” “Of course!” I said. “It is too late now”, said my wife, “You shoule have thought about it while we were still in the US.”

I was so upset that I woke up covered with cold sweat.  It was a weekend day in Palo Alto in our cozy apartment in Los Robles street off the famous El Camino Real, a most prominent road that goes, people say, from San Diego all the way to northern California. I told my wife the whole dream and she listened very carefully. “Do you think it is a bad idea to send the child to Ramle?” she asked. “Of course!” I said “it makes no sense at all! There are schools in Jerusalem”.  “No problem, it is not too late now”, said my wife, ” If you object to sending the kid to Ramle we will not send him there. It is good you thought dreamed about it while we are still in the US”