But I remind myself that as in any relationship, it's the little extra bits that express the love.

From the moment I arrived in Jerusalem, it became rapidly apparent that, in comparison to Perth, this is a completely different dimension of living. It has been explained to me that, but for the careful attention Hashem directs to this country, the entire flow would grind to an instant halt.

At first, when trying to settle in, there are many instances which can be taken as offensive to the quiet, ordered perspective of an Australian:- the general conversation on the street, the impositions and the manners, the people asking for tzedaka, the beards, the kippot, the politics, the payot. The whole package is foreign to a world of conveniences, niceties, Sunday afternoon footy etc. This country pumps on a level of urgency unseen in other quarters of the globe.

So, once you put your previous world on hold and accept that things are "just different" in Israel, you become sensitized to the whole madness and it begins to grow on you. In fact, you realize that it is actually a part of you, that the craziness and the holy chaos are just reflections of dizzy love and the mad passion shared between the Jews, Hashem and the land of Israel. Back to Pesach. One small incident which I found truly ridiculous is the extent to which Jews destroy chamtez before Pesach. Being that my Yeshiva is on the outskirts of Geula and Meah Shearim (2 very religious Chareidi suburbs) we all get to interact with Jews that have managed to accurately re-create the 1800's in Poland. The interaction is frustrating yet compelling, awkward yet pure. The biggest flaw is a complete lack of understanding basic tenets that the modern world has established via the research of the scientific world. In many ways, usually business, this part of town is up-to-date, but in others ways, the knowledge and awareness of the world is completely lacking.

Anyway, on Friday morning before Shabbos followed by Pesach, I woke up ready to doven and then burn my chametz. I had been wondering where exactly I was going to do this, but figured that there is obviously a policed area where we can dispose of our little bread-filled packages.

Before Shacharit, I went upstairs to the roof to hang out my washing and noticed a hazy mist and the smell of smoke. Because the roof of the yeshiva is very high, you can see right across Jerusalem. Staring out over the roofs, I noticed columns of smoke dotted all around the residential areas. Interesting…

After dovening, I walked outside with my small palm sized package ready to make a little controlled fire when I see down the road, people gathered around raging flames. I was a little shocked by the candid approach of these people dressed in Hats, Streimals, long black coats etc. standing casually around a vengeful fire, throwing in all sorts of chametz or chametz-related things. People were burning linen, bottles, plastic, couches, boxes of food and whatever else they couldn't own because of the strictness of Pesach. You see, selling your chametz and keeping it in your home is really considered a secondary option to the most preferred method of just destroying it outright.

I now understood the columns of smoke and misty sky. And as I walked around Jerusalem doing last minute Shabbos/Pesach things, I was really quite shocked by the choice of locations for fires. There were fires burning all over the place; by shop windows, against walls on main roads, on street corners etc. And as you can imagine, by each fire were kids and families disposing of the all their chametz-stuff.

The laughter that comes in these times is not hilarity but rather just a response to the complete lack of common sense and precaution. I mean, in Australia, if you lit a fire a quarter of the size somewhere public, you would face serious penalties and the police would no doubt arrive in under 10 minutes. But not here. Oh no! The religious Jews here read "burn your chametz," and they make sure they destroy the stuff… and any place will do because Hashem protects this city, because if he didn't, the whole place would implode. Only in Israel can you see this. Only in Jersualem can Jews get away with this. You have to just join in the madness, burn your chametz, grab your fellow around the shoulder and tell him that despite the different planets that we come from, we are brothers and we are on the same mission.

Mission: Materialize the Spiritual and Spiritualize the Material