Taking a Shower: Not as Simple as it Used to Be

Taking a shower in Israel takes more planning and thought than the usual shower. The most important component of a good shower, aside from water pressure, is hot water. In the States I took for granted that every time I would turn the hot water knob, scalding water would stream out. In Israel that is not the case. To get hot water in this country you must in fact heat the water. There are 2 ways to do this: electrically or by the sun.

Each housing unit has a “dude,” a hot water container. This dude is either run by electricity, solar power or both. Anyone who has been to Israel can tell you that the sun here is hot and there are many hours of sunshine, especially in the summer. Therefore, in the sunny months there is no need to heat the water because you know that you will have hot water. Of course, it is so hot outside that you actually prefer to use as much cold water as possible. However, in the wintertime when you wake up and want to take a hot shower, you must remember to turn on the dude at least 30 minutes beforehand, if you want hot water. Of course, Israelis cannot be expected to remember to turn on the dude every time they want to take a shower; therefore, you can set this dude to a timer. You set the timer to the local time and then for each little tooth that you push down, the dude will turn on for 15 minutes. This way, you don’t have to wake up at 6:00 am just to flip the switch and then go back to bed. I have been fortunate to live in 2 apartments in Tel Aviv that both had solar heating. This helps keep the electricity bill low, but also increases the rent. Some of my friends living in older apartments are not as fortunate.

Another perk of taking a shower is being able to relax. In Israel, every showerhead is different and many of them can be detached from the wall. In fact, some of them don’t even have a holder in the wall so every time you want to shampoo your hair you have to put down the showerhead. This is not only annoying, but in the winter can get quite chilly. When Ariel and I moved in to our apartment there was no holder in place, but thanks to Ariel’s handy work, we simply bought one and affixed it to the wall.

Now with a solar heater, a timer to set the electric heater when necessary and a holder for the showerhead, I am living the good life. No more cold, one-handed showers for me.