A family friend recently lost her wallet containing credit cards cash driver’s license and other crucial papers. In great distress she dutifully called all the credit card companies to report her loss. One of them the US–based Visa credit card listened very sympathetically to her plight and canceled her card. Then the agent added: “We are really sorry about all this and so we are going to grant you a $25 credit just to share in your misery.”

Our friend then called her major Israeli bank which shall remain nameless. They too agreed to cancel the card. And the agent added: “There will be a 50 shekel cancellation charge.”

Now before jumping to conclusions that Americans are kinder and more sympathetic than Israelis bear in mind that the Israeli agent was simply carrying out his bank policy as his American counterpart was carrying his bank policy. The real question is: why is one country’s bank policy so much more generous than that of another country?

Several suggestions: The difference is the difference between competition and monopoly. In America banks vie for customers and do all in their power to attract and retain them. There is free checking and fees in general are kept to a minimum. Because of competition American banks want to preserve their good name and reputation (and get favorably mentioned in magazines like Mishpacha). InIsrael banks big money and government are virtually synonymous. It is no wonder thatIsrael charges the third-highest banking fees in the world. Many Israelis are charged even when they deposit money into their own accounts. Simply to talk to a bank teller is to engender a fee. Israeli banks enjoy virtual monopoly status and they can do basically as they please. Since there is little competition why worry about silly things like public relations?

But there is another more profound factor at work here: the attitudes built into two different cultures. The culture of one is that the customer is all-important and must be pleased and retained at all costs; the culture of the other is that the customer is a necessary nuisance — but still a nuisance.

Sometimes it seems that this culture is not limited to commercial transactions but that it seeps into ordinary daily life. It is ironic: Israeli Jews are tough but underneath the exterior they are the kindest most caring and considerate people in the world. But put a kindhearted Israeli behind the wheel of a car or stand him in a line at a bus stop or find him walking toward you on a crowded sidewalk — and the courtesy kindness and consideration are forgotten while the toughness takes over: It is my road my line my sidewalk. Nothing personal mind you; this behavior is not directed at you. He might be the sweetest person in the world but he is simply reflecting the tough society in which lives. He is treated this way by others so he treats others the same way.

To investigate what creates certain attitudes in certain cultures is beyond the scope of this essay. One can only speculate: Is it the overpowering Israeli Middle Eastern sun? Is it the fact that Israelis live under great stress both economically and militarily? Is the bein adam l’chaveiro aspect of Torah not emphasized enough in our schools? Do the crowded cheek-by-jowl conditions of Israeli housing make “my space” a jealously guarded commodity? Is it the influence of European cultural mores?

We will never know but in the interim while you think about it do something constructive: if you want to make a quick $25 make sure to lose your American credit card….