Came outside to the David Citadel Hotel to sign up for a tour to Massada and the Dead Sea. The concierge asked where I was staying. When I said, inside the old city, I thought he asked me if I had a sofa. I was offended. We eventually figured out that he meant cellphone.
This is going to be a really hot day to head for the Mount of Olives, Gesthemene.
I walked all the way around the walls of the city and when I got to the bottom of the Mount of of Olives, a cabby asked me if I wanted a ride to the top. I took him up on it. He wanted to know if I was a believer. I said no. He said he wasn't either. He wanted me to hire him to take me all over Israel. I settled on 15 shekels to the top. When I got there, Jerusalem lay off in the distance like a faded oriental carpet spread out on the dirt. The bad air (which I thought was smog but turned out to be storm of desert dust) rendered it all the much more indistinct.
I get an old Arab to let me have a picture with him and his donkey.
"Kiss, kiss" he tells the donkey as he takes my hand and sticks it in the donkey's face. It has big soft lips and as it smiles, it's teeth are huge.
I hope my sunburned fingers didn't look like little carrots.
Having a coffee, a cappuccino in the little Arab village of El Tur. Good coffee but this guy is about to crank up this big water pipe next to me. I ask him what's in the pipe, as he sits there with a cigarette in his one hand and holding the mouthpiece up to me with the other. I manage not to take it, with a lot of nodding and bobbing, and smiling.
Having a coffee, a cappuccino in the little Arab village of El Tur. Good coffee but this guy is about to crank up this big water pipe next to me. I ask him what's in the pipe, as he sits there with a cigarette in his one hand and holding the mouthpiece up to me with the other. I manage not to take it, with a lot of nodding and bobbing, and smiling.
We part friends.
Unlike Deb, I didn't read the guidebook until I had already climbed the mountain and , only then, do I discover that all the churches close at noon (it's now 2:90) and you can't go in wearing shorts anyway. Someday I'll learn.
Walking through the old city, besides the sheer number of people, is the almost crushing waves of smells: saffron , coriander , mint, cooking meat, tobacco smoke from giant hookahs, green spices, red spices, purple pickled cauliflower, and above it all- "mister, mister, come into my shop!"
There are lot of articles in the Israeli press about the ultra-orthodox and how they are so far outside mainstream thinking. In fact, the paper says, if you include the Arab population, 1/2 of all the first graders in Israel are not receiving an education that is in any way supportive of the state of Israel.
There are many articles here about not wanting to be the new South Africa, but there are a lot of similarities between the Haredim and the Boers. SA made a choice and Israel will have to also.
Reading the Israeli papers, I have to say that everyone here appreciates the immense problems and the articles that I have read are unanimous in a desire to solve them. In circumstances this extreme, I can only applaud them. Throughout history, Jews , pound for pound, have done more to advance the human experience than any other group. The awkward question, now is, can the Israeli experiment further the Jewish future?
An Israeli cab driver called the Arabs "garbage", a group of people who, for good or bad, represent 20 per cent of the population of Israel. In America , if we said that about such a large part of our people , it would be condemned.
Walking through the old city, besides the sheer number of people, is the almost crushing waves of smells: saffron , coriander , mint, cooking meat, tobacco smoke from giant hookahs, green spices, red spices, purple pickled cauliflower, and above it all- "mister, mister, come into my shop!"
There are lot of articles in the Israeli press about the ultra-orthodox and how they are so far outside mainstream thinking. In fact, the paper says, if you include the Arab population, 1/2 of all the first graders in Israel are not receiving an education that is in any way supportive of the state of Israel.
There are many articles here about not wanting to be the new South Africa, but there are a lot of similarities between the Haredim and the Boers. SA made a choice and Israel will have to also.
Reading the Israeli papers, I have to say that everyone here appreciates the immense problems and the articles that I have read are unanimous in a desire to solve them. In circumstances this extreme, I can only applaud them. Throughout history, Jews , pound for pound, have done more to advance the human experience than any other group. The awkward question, now is, can the Israeli experiment further the Jewish future?
An Israeli cab driver called the Arabs "garbage", a group of people who, for good or bad, represent 20 per cent of the population of Israel. In America , if we said that about such a large part of our people , it would be condemned.
It has to be condemned here.
I love the vibrancy of this place. Right outside the restaurant there is a large group dancing. How can you not love it. They can't all do the dance, but everyone is trying.
Campaign slogan: do you want a future, or do you want to be passed by?
I do have to admit that while watching all the people dance, if this were america, I wouldn't be worried about being blown up. Walking here is not on solid ground, but on a tightrope.
Why do people hate other people? I really don't get it!
We're here for a short amount of time, (tears in my eyes).
People are still dancing. Go People!
One comes to Jerusalem to feel. So far so good.
Deb, you are the one, you're the one in my heart, you're my darling, my life's greatest thrill!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I love the vibrancy of this place. Right outside the restaurant there is a large group dancing. How can you not love it. They can't all do the dance, but everyone is trying.
Campaign slogan: do you want a future, or do you want to be passed by?
I do have to admit that while watching all the people dance, if this were america, I wouldn't be worried about being blown up. Walking here is not on solid ground, but on a tightrope.
Why do people hate other people? I really don't get it!
We're here for a short amount of time, (tears in my eyes).
People are still dancing. Go People!
One comes to Jerusalem to feel. So far so good.
Deb, you are the one, you're the one in my heart, you're my darling, my life's greatest thrill!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment