The Big Vacation
(HaChofesh HaGadol)
HaChofesh HaGadol (The Big Vacation) is the name for the Israeli students’ summer holiday.
This vacation drags the entire State of Israel into a partial, sticky, and scorching rest during the months of July and August.
HaChofesh HaGadol is first and foremost, and above all, the holiday of the education system in all its components: from kindergarten children to university students. Starting from the end of June, rest comes to education and teaching—school and university students, kindergarten teachers and assistants, teachers and lecturers, and academic staff all go on leave from studies and work.
This is the motion of the first wheel, and it drives all the other gears in the timeline of the Israeli summer.
The moment the final school bell rings—one-third of the country's citizens are free to find employment for themselves that will allow them to pass the heat of July and August peacefully. The remaining two-thirds are forced to adapt themselves to the major shift that is about to change the order of day and night, and the spaces of activity both inside and outside the home.
Officially, it begins on June 20th.
This date marks the arrival of the first wave: high school and middle school students, and the teaching staff, leave their framework. Afterward, the second semester of most academic institutions ends.
On July 1st, the second, more potent wave arrives, as kindergartens and elementary schools empty out. From then on, until August 31st, alternative frameworks for children and teenagers will open, but the State of Israel is already entering a partial recess that lasts for two months.
This recess brings with it a change in the balance that existed before. It eliminates fixed and predictable routines in favor of the unexpected, reduces traffic jams on the roads, and increases hotel occupancy and the volume of flights at Ben Gurion Airport (Natbag).
During July-August, industry slows its pace, government offices reduce activity to a minimum, and private workplaces maneuver between organized vacations for all employees and synchronizing employee vacations to fit essential operations.
Only hospitals and emergency services operate on a regular schedule, but even there, they have to deal with parents whose children are on holiday and need to be accommodated.
School children head home to rest, providing work and headaches for parents
HaChofesh HaGadol in Israel is not different from summer vacations in most countries worldwide. Nevertheless, unique religious, cultural, and national influences are noticeable within it. Here are two of them:
The Influence of the Hebrew Calendar
Between the months of July and August, there are three weeks during which the general mood of many in the Jewish population changes, especially in the religious sector, and its influence is noticeable among all citizens of Israel.
This period of time is determined by the Hebrew calendar, and each year spans different dates on the Gregorian calendar. It begins with a fast day (Seventeenth of Tammuz) and ends with a fast day (Tisha B'Av). In the 21 days between the two fasts, religious and traditional people refrain from participating in cultural activities of a joyous nature.
During these three weeks, no Jewish weddings are held in Israel—couples who wish to marry during this period will not find a rabbi willing to sanctify their marriage according to Jewish religious law. And without a rabbi, an authorized representative of the Orthodox religious establishment, such a wedding is not legally valid.
Bar Mitzvah ceremonies are also not held, and the result is evident on the ground: event halls are almost completely closed and do not host family events of a religious nature. This atmosphere prevents the planning of festivals and mass events intended for the general public.
The Months of IDF Conscription
July and August are the largest recruitment months for young people for mandatory service in the IDF. Most of them have reached the age of 18, the age at which military service is compulsory, but as long as they are studying in high school, the IDF grants them a postponement of the conscription date until they finish their studies and pass the matriculation exams. Immediately after the end of the school year, and especially in August, tens of thousands of young people report to the IDF induction base, shed their civilian clothing, and put on the green military uniforms that will be attached to them for the coming years until the end of their compulsory service in the IDF.
Every conscription is an emotional day for parents, siblings, and all family members who accompany their loved ones to the gates of the base, until the moment the conscripts part ways and begin the next chapter of their lives.
The IDF's "August Recruitment"—calling tens of thousands of soldiers and their families to the IDF Induction Base
HaChofesh HaGadol in Israel is the peak of the Israeli summer, and a particularly scorching season.
The weather is hot and humid in most areas of the country, affecting the mood of those who are on holiday and those who are not. It necessitates air conditioning in every home and office, increases general electricity consumption throughout the country, and increases crime and violence, as well as road accidents.
This is a particularly intense season for children, teenagers, and their parents.
HaChofesh HaGadol is a crossroads between a school year that has passed and a new year that will come after 72 days. This is an especially long time window, 1,488 hours, during which mothers and fathers try to prepare for it in advance. And they do not quite succeed. Because even after they pack it with day camps, after-school programs, family flights abroad, extracurricular activities, and enrichment programs—the horizon still seems distant. The daily squares on the calendar empty out, and the hands of the clock move slowly, and the children fall asleep after midnight and wake up after noon.
Since the establishment of the state and throughout all the years of its existence, July and August have been the months for family vacations.
In the first decades, families went on holiday to hotels and nature sites in the north and south of the country. Since the beginning of the 21st century, more and more Israelis spend their family vacation abroad. The result is visible at Israel’s only airport, Ben Gurion—millions of Israelis fill the two terminals at Natbag and find refuge from the Israeli summer in one of the countries around the globe.
July and August at the Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal—the most crowded place in Israel
The end of the summer vacation in Israel, on August 31st, does not return Israel to a regular pace of activity.
Schools may return to a regular study format and workplaces ostensibly function normally, but everyone knows that this is only for a short time.
A few weeks later, they receive another respite when the major holiday season begins—from Rosh Hashanah until Sukkot. Only after the end of the Jewish holidays celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar, when summer is behind them, do autumn clouds cover the sky and cool winds chill the short day and long night. Air conditioners shut down, parents calm down, work returns to normal, meetings can be held, and a regular routine can be managed.
Citizens of Israel can relax and return to the normal rhythm of life, until the next summer.
This is part of "The Israeli Story 1948-2025" project.
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