In praise of warm and fuzzy snow

Wouldn't it be reassuring for the soul to wake up on Shabbat morning and go out and play in the snow?

By DAVID BRINN
Couple playing in Jerusalem snow 390 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Couple playing in Jerusalem snow 390
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The possibility of snow in Jerusalem is enough to reduce the most wizened of grouches into sparkle-eyed optimists.
Maybe it’s because snowfalls are so far and few between in the area, that when the storm does come – even if it only drops a centimeter or two – the whole city is sent into a tizzy.
Drivers actually travel below the speed limit, as the roads get jammed with buses and slush-challenged motorists.
Children and adults alike try to take every advantage of the treasured white stuff, making skeletally creative snowmen and sliding down hills in whatever makeshift cardboard or tin sled facsimile is handy.
The last time we saw an accumulation back a few years ago, we brought the kids to Mount Scopus and, along with like-minded families both Arab and Jewish, spent hours joyfully playing, pelting one another with snow balls and trudging back up the steep hills after exhilarating slides down.
Yes, there are reasons to be giddy and lighthearted when the forecast calls for possible snow over the weekend. But maybe it’s not because of the fun that may awaits us. Perhaps it’s because of how the city looks with a fresh coat of snow. Seeing the sites of Jerusalem, whether they be the Old City and the Kotel or the Knesset and the Windmill, covered in unblemished white – pure and sparkling – elevates the spirit and makes the city even more beautiful than it usually is.
The snow temporarily covers up the every-day turbulence constantly in motion right under the surface of life here in our spotlit corner of the universe.
And it provides a cushiony blanket that lovingly envelops us, if only for the moment. After a chilly Arab Spring, an icy Iranian front, and positively freezing assessments of what lays ahead, wouldn’t it create a warm and fuzzy feeling to wake up on Shabbat morning and go out and play in the snow? It’s the least we deserve.