Hamshush is an acronym. Israelis love acronyms. This one is composed of the letters "khet," "mem," "shesh," "vav," and "shesh" (חמשו"ש). These refer to "hamishi," "shishi," "and shabbat" -- in other words, the fifth, sixth and seventh days of the week.
Why has this term arisen? It's arisen because, as elsewhere in the industrial world, Israelis crave their weekends. Weekends aren't very long here -- though they're longer than they used to be.
Once upon a time, Israeli workers didn't have to work from Friday afternoon through the end of Shabbat on Saturday night. Whether you were religious or not, that was tough. For religious Jews, that meant that Shabbat preparations had to be squeezed into Friday afternoon. For non-religious Jews, their one weekend day was one on which there was limited public transportation and diminished commercial activity.
Over the past twenty years, I have noticed that things have changed. More and more Israelis don't work on Fridays at all. Colleges and universities rarely schedule classes on Fridays. The government is contemplating eliminating Friday classes for most school children. Friday and Saturday together have come to form what seems closer to an American-style weekend.
But as a result of that, a new phenomenon has arisen: adding Thursday evening to the mix.
It has the most impact on men and women doing army service. Soldiers in the army who get off for Shabbat are usually discharged on Friday mornings. They may barely get home in time for Shabbat. Saturday night, they might stay up late, but they've got to be back at their base early Sunday morning. It's tough.
Soldiers returning to their bases on a Sunday morning.
(Photo taken at the main train station in Tel Aviv. That looks like an awfully heavy pack, doesn't it?)
THAT is a "Hamshush." And it's worth it.
