Tis the season of holidays, festivals and memorials in Israel

This beautiful time of year is the heart of spring in Israel. Once Purim ends, people fall into a cleaning frenzy.

In my yishuv, Susya, you can read the daily messages of people giving away "chometz" starting the day after Purim: "Giving away breadcrumbs, pasta, and cornflakes ... will throw out on Friday. It is sitting in our entranceway," people write. Sometimes a photo is posted with the words "giving away" in Hebrew. And then there are the sales - locally made olive oil in five-kilo containers, the "shoe truck" which travels throughout Israeli villages twice a year for Passover and Sukkot,...