Yihiye B'seder

There is an Israeli phrase that is peculiarly...Israeli. Every Hebrew speaker and even some non-Hebrew-conversant Jewish types know this phrase: Yihiye b'seder.

"It will be okay," or "Everything will be fine" or "Things will get better" all approximate yihiye b'seder. Literally, it means "it will be in order" but that doesn't have the same flavor.

However, it is a phrase used with heavy irony here in Israel, which is not always understood by olim or tourists.

The bank calls to tell you that you're over your overdraft. "Yihiye b'seder."

Your car went into the shop for a routine tune-up and you get a call telling you that you need a new transmission. "Yihiye b'seder."

You have a tooth ache and go to the dentist, thinking you have a cavity, but what you need is a root canal. "Yihiye b'seder."

No matter how awful, no matter how impossible, no matter how difficult the situation, no matter how painful, Israelis wryly remark, "Yihiye b'seder." It's Israeli gallows-humor. I'm sure it stems from an ironic contemplation of life's disasters coupled with an absurd faith in the future.

Hence, Benji Lovitt's new T-shirt line has a shirt I HAVE to buy!







The perfect Hanukkah gift for Israel - berated by friends, abandoned by allies, threatened with extinction by enemies.

Yihiye b'seder!