I live in Israel and love it. I love learning Israeli culture and, in contrast,  learning about mine. One point of divergence between our cultures  is how Israelis give directions.

Here in Israel it’s a common thing for people to ask other people for directions. At corners and stop lights, or in the middle of traffic, taxi drivers ask other taxi drivers, drivers ask people walking or driving for directions, walkers ask other walkers or drivers.

But, I find the answer to “Where is…?” a problem.  Ask an someone on the street where someplace is or how to get there and the likely answer will be, with a hand wave: “yeshar”.  Roughly translated it means: “Straight ahead”. Of, course, if the route is a little more complicated: (hand waving forward and left) “yeshar, yeshar, yeshar, smolah”, “Straight, straight, straight, left”.

Of course, the person you asked may really have no idea.

What I want from the question “Where is..?” is a certain degree of detail lacking in a “yeshar”. Finding addresses in Jerusalem is an adventure. Most addresses are for the whole building, not individual businesses in the building.  My apartment has 3 different numbers above the entrance. Only one of those is correct.

A business can be anywhere top to bottom, side to side,  back to front in a building with little, no, or outdated, signage to help. Or, it could be in a little warren of lanes and walking alleys, making it very difficult to find the place. “Yeshar” just doesn’t give me enough confidence that I will find the place.

I’ve discussed with friend the possibility that a “yeshar” has a certain distance associated with it. But, I’m not sure how far that might be. Is one “yeshar” a block, a few blocks, 500 meters? Are multiple “yeshars” additive or just indicate it’s more than one “yehsar”?

Late one night, on my way home from a night out with friends, a big panel truck stopped beside us and the driver asked us how to get to Tel Aviv. A friend gave some directions . Satisfied with the answer the driver made a three-point turn on our two lane street and headed off to Tel Aviv.

After he was gone, we thought to respond ( with the appropriate hand waving): “Smolah, yamina, yeshar, yeshar, yeshar, yeshar, yeshar,yeshar, yeshar, yeshar…………yamina”; “Turn left, turn right, go straight for a long, long, long ways, then turn right off the freeway ramp”. I think that would approximate the 60 km trip from our corner to Tel Aviv.

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