What’s Shitat Matsli’ach? And why do they say that everybody needs ksharim in life? What’s protektsia? And what’s Vitamin P? So many questions, so little time.

Today we talk about bureaucracy in Israel.

Listen to the All-Hebrew Version of This Episode

New Words and Expressions:

Shitat matsliach – “The maybe successful technique” – שיטת מצליח

“Ani matsliach lehavin pachot” – “I am successful in understanding less” – אני מצליח להבין פחות

Im hitslachta/hitslacht – If you succeeded – אם הצלחת

Ksharim – Connections – קשרים

Tsarich ksharim ba-chayim – One needs to have connections in life – צריך קשרים בחיים

Protektsya – Connections – פרוטקציה

“Higati la-dalpak, bikashti doctor or, amru li ‘ein protektsia, ve-ta’amod ba-tor’ – “I reached the counter, I asked for Doctor Or, they told me, no protektsia, and stand in the line”. – הגעתי לדלפק, ביקשתי ‘דוקטור אור’, אמרו לי אין פרוטקציה, ותעמוד בתור

“Vitamin P” – Protektsya, connections – ויטמין פי

Snif – Branch – סניף

“Ha-shvil ha-ze matchil kan, bein snif bank le-maayan” – This path starts here, between a bank branch and a spring – השביל הזה מתחיל כאן, בין סניף בנק, למעיין

“Ha-shvita partsa kmo esh” – “The strike broke out like fire” – השביתה פרצה כמו אש

Lishbot – To go on strike – לשבות

Etsa – Advice – עצה

Leya’ets – To give advice – לייעץ

Playlist and Clips:

Yoni Rechter – Bimkom Kol Ze (lyrics)

Dori Ben Ze’ev – Ani cholem al ha-kayits (lyrics)

Ehud Banai – Yotse La’or (lyrics)

Shalom Chanoch – Shvita (Lyrics)

Locating a post office in Israel

Booking a post office appointment