Odds & Ends from Jerusalem

The Dead Sea

Shalom from Jerusalem,
Wednesday

In a mixture of English and Hebrew, the instructions were simple: “Through that alley, first right, right again, straight for a little bit, sharp left, then come back a little through the middle passage, the second or third door on the right or maybe left, he could still be there. You should rush to get there.” That’s how it sounded to us; we were wrong.

He, the person we were seeking, was the local seller of lulavs and etrogs in that vicinity of Arad. Not surprising, we were unable to buy a set in the town. It meant more pressure for the next day when we would arrive in Jerusalem.

We read about the many ‘Black Hebrews’ that reside in Arad—not to be confused with the Ethiopians. By the way, when we see these fellow African Jews melding into the local culture, we are ‘moved’ and delighted. Back to the ‘Hebrews’. In fact, there are three different sects. In our own classification, it would appear to be orthodox, conservative and very reform. We don’t know where we got that from but it passed through our minds. Anyway, when we experienced car trouble, Jen went off to the toilet (not because of car problems, of course.) ‘That will be two shekels,’ the attendant mentioned. Fortunately, it wasn’t a pay first system. When our editor needed a return visit, she went prepared. He looked at her sympathetically and waived the fee: ‘I understand your troubles,’ he said. We wondered whether he was referring to her bladder but then realized he knew about the car. Jenni found out that he emigrated from Ohio thirty years earlier. The reason: Being a ‘Black Hebrew’ he wanted to live according ‘to the law’ of his people. “So you’re Jewish,” she said to him. “No,” he replied, “we date back prior to the Jews.”

That would place him before Abraham. ‘We don’t think he looked that old,’ we mentioned to our editor. However, she has developed a bad habit of ignoring us much of the time. Nevertheless, it’s most interesting meeting such a diverse group of people, cultures and nationalities. We wonder if ‘by the law’ he was referring to the Noachide laws. Jen did not ask him, her mind was elsewhere.

We decided to set off early from Arad as there was much to do before the Chag. We were loading the car when a fellow decided to park his truck in the space next to us. Besides being an incapable driver, his truck was too large to fit. Not that it made any difference to him. While we were watching with trepidation, he parked us ‘in’ so that we could not move. We thought that was gross chutzpah. After explaining the obvious to him, we made little progress. This was a second test of our vows following Yom Kippur; the other being the car issue of the day before. Had he not compromised slightly by reluctantly moving his truck, and only two feet back, we were ready to put our editor on to him—red pen et al. That would have been ugly, indeed.

‘Okay, let’s get to the Crowne Plaza first, try secure a room early, unload luggage, get the car back to the rental company as they are closing at 1pm, buy a lulav, etrog and some food for the Chag, and then walk back to the hotel.’ Easier said than done in Jerusalem, especially for us. When we arrived, it looked like organized chaos. A few days ago, we wrote about the Russians. We see it now. The Americans are smart. They sent the Russians to Netanya and took the first prize, Jerusalem. We wasted our time taking a ‘crash course’ in Russian. In Jerusalem, English works for us, even the American adaptation.

Our navigator was on top form so we arrived at the hotel as hoped, were treated well, allowed an early check-in, found the rental car depot without missing a beat, food was easy and plentiful but the challenge was finding a lulav and etrog. We asked many people and received various opinions about markets, lulav agents, directions, distances and even prices. However, progress was slow. Then we sat our editor down, unburdened ourselves of all parcels and ‘Sea Biscuit’ decided to ‘hoof’ it in the Jerusalem dash. Meantime, our editor related how worried she had been, knowing the quality of our internal directional compass. We are pleased that she was concerned she might lose us. However, she maintains she was only worried about losing her passport. She’s becoming a Sabra already—a little tough on the outside. Fortunately, everything worked out very well although the day was stressful, to say the least.

We walked the streets of Jerusalem, watched the festivities and enjoyed eating in the Kotel succah on two occasions. It helps that one is able to carry food on the chag. One of the mitzvot of Succot is to be joyous. The City was bustling after first day Succot; it was vibrant. We listened to a few entertainment groups, especially a Chassidic father and son trying for early redemption. The atmosphere was different from any other place we’ve been. However, for tranquility and a little sanity, we intend to return to the Negev.

An interesting tidbit occurred while davening at the kotel one morning. Quite a few gentiles approached the Wall, prayed or at least, made their pleas or conversed with the Master. It gave us food for much thought.

We thought we had made a serious error when we arrived at the Great Synagogue the other day. For a moment, it seemed we were in an opera house. The Chazan and choir are a wonderful combination of singers. However, our opinion is that davening is not akin to a performance. With respect, we thought they forgot that the Shemoneh Esrei is eighteen blessings rather than a repetition of the amidah eighteen times. So, for Shabbos, we did the Jewish thing. We joined the Yeshurun Central Synagogue, which proved to be terrific and similar to La Jolla.

We wish you all a joyous Succot. We thank you for your interest, suggestions, comments, good wishes, wonderful anecdotes and mostly, for just being there.
Chag sameach,