11 - Co-existence 2

Ugh, I have got to stop eating like this … the salads, the hummus, the falafel, the fish, the pita, the cheeses, the breakfasts, the sorbets … it’s all quite good for us, but too much, far too much. You'd think I would have learned that no every meal might be my last meal sometime! I will miss so much from this trip, but one thing I look forward to about going home is getting back to a rhythm where high quality and tasty food does not constantly surround me in such abundance.

Okay, back to our experiences thus far in Jerusalem.

Rebecca:
Co-existence among ages: After touring the Temple Mount, we visited the Kotel, otherwise know as the Wailing Wall or the Western Wall. The Kotel is the remaining retaining wall of the Temple Mount from the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 a.d. It is significant for the Jewish people as both the largest remaining piece of the Second Temple, and also as the closest that Jews can get to the old Temple site to pray. The Kotel is a somber place, where men and women separate to pray, women are modestly clothed, and Israeli soldiers frequently visit. Visitors to the Wailing Wall bring their prayer books and lean directly into the wall, feel the Jerusalem stone. They pray and they mourn the destruction of the Temple. I do not know if there are specific prayers that Jews are encouraged to pray at the Kotel, but I intend to ask this question to my family tomorrow. The tiniest of crevices in the stone are all stuffed with little notes that individuals have left in the wall. Susan left a note that her boss’s daughter had written in anticipation of her Bat Mitzvah this fall. Rebecca wrote and left a note … I do not intend to ask her what she wrote … on second thought, I might, but I probably won’t publish it … sorry y’all J

In general the Kotel is very moving, but I was particularly struck by the many generations at the Wall. Children as young as 4 and 5 walked down the women’s side with their mothers, teen-agers prayed earnestly, and adults and the elderly stood and sat to pray at this holy site. It seems, that at the Kotel, at least on the women’s side (I can’t speak for the men’s side) all ages are equal, and no person’s role was different according to their age.

Susan:
As we were planning our walking route from the Jaffa Gate to our hotel just after 4 four this afternoon, we began to hear chanting and a drum sound. We learned that an Armenian funeral was approaching, and sure enough, we watched the entire funeral process on foot before following the mourners out of the gate. First, a ministerial looking man carried the lid of the casket. At first I thought he was a superman because he alone was carrying the box, and only later realized, as he passed, that he was only carrying the lid. Was this a symbolic ritual? Next came 30-40 men all clothed in black robes and head cloaks, singing a hymn and syncopating by hitting their walking sticks on the cobblestone street. Behind them were about 8 men, the pall-bearers. As they made their turn in front of us to move through the gate, I realized that this was not a symbolic funeral or another ritual unknown to me … it was an open casket. Right. But before I had too much time to dwell on how invasive I felt, the mourners passed us … weeping, crying, wailing, shuttering. It seemed clear who the new widow was by the way in which her community surrounded her.

Like so much else on this trip, I feel like there are at least two well-defined take-aways from this experience. On the one side, I felt so much like the tacky-tourist … in my Keens and growing sunburn, half-lost in the Old City. And on the other side, I immediately felt like Jerusalem had brought us into its inner circle through this intimate encounter.

When co-existence doesn’t quite work out: We had a troubling experience in the shops area of the Jewish quarter of the Old City today. We wanted to do some shopping … mostly window-shopping, but we also hoped to find some items to bring home as gifts. Susan had one particular gift in mind for a friend, and Rebecca (in her expert Hebrew) set out to help her do some cost comparisons. Seeing 3 or 4 shops in close proximity with the same item, Susan and Rebecca talked with the first man about his selling price, and then politely told him that they weren’t ready to buy anything yet, but might come back for it. He dropped his price a bit, and they repeated that they didn’t want to buy yet, but might come back later. As they walked away to go to a nearby shop, he dropped his price again, and then called after them, “You don’t want to buy from me because I am an Arab … all you tourists are the same, you only want to buy from Jews and not from Arabs.” Was this man using a ploy to get my sisters to feel bad and therefore purchase the item from him? Or does he really feel that he is discriminated against because he is Arab? Regardless of his motivation, such an experience in an every day setting has sit very poorly in all of us.

To end on a couple of higher notes …
We ran into our guide who took us up Masada and to the Dead Sea last week. In true MacNichstro style, we shouted to him “hello, Aaron!” from across the Arab quarter in the Old City. He, in turn, though leading another group, seemed quite pleased to see us!
We think that a group of us (those of us who drive on Shabat) will be able to go out to Bethlehem on Saturday. Israeli citizens are not permitted to go to Bethlehem because it is in the West Bank, but as tourists we will be able to go with a guide (it’s just 10 minutes outside of Jerusalem), and we look forward to visiting Manger Square.
When we emerged from Hezekiah’s tunnel, we were at the ruins of the Jewish constructed pool to which they had diverted their water. Our guide informed us that this site is significant in the Christian tradition, in that it is believed to be the place where Jesus gave site to a blind man. What a joy to stand in the footsteps of Christ.