A Hectic Week in the Holy Land

Hey Everyone,

At the end of last week's post, I mentioned that there was a log to look forward to this week, and to be quite honest, the week didn't disappoint. This post is going to be really long since so much happened, but you're all used to that by now. Plus, I'll have some visual aids, so you won't be too bored.

Monday was a really low key day since my late afternoon class and football game was canceled. I had all of this free time, it was really cold (it now actually feels like winter) and I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I wound up going out to dinner with a few friends to this really cute soup place which had really nice soups made with fresh fruits and veggies. It was a really nice low key evening.

Tuesday was set to be a really productive day. I was going to go to class, work on my paper that was due the next day, and then go to our mandatory program at night. As always, it didn't go as planned. After my mid-day class, instead of going to the library and working on a paper, I met up with Hannah and Deborah Sosebee, two family friends from home. We wandered aimlessly around the old city and wound up walking through a Jewish elementary school. It was cool to see parts of the city that had no tourists anywhere to be found. I forgot my camera, though, so I couldn't get any pictures.

Tuesday night, our program took us to David's Citadel to see a light show that showed the history of Jerusalem projected onto the ancient walls. As we walked through mamilla (a very high end tourist shopping center) to get there, we got to see a really cool display of lights. It looked just like the Christmas lights at home that all of us are craving. A picture is below. While the show itself was a little bit tacky, it was cool to see the fusion of modern technology with ancient locations. That seems to be a trend here in Jerusalem.

This is the Channukiah that was located at the Jaffa Gate outside of the old city.

Wednesday, I woke up early to go and join the Women of the Wall for their monthly Rosh Chodesh prayer. Because of how extensively I discussed it last month, I'm going to stay away from the description of the group and the basic framework of the event and instead tell you about the things that were different. If you are interested in the background info, though, I highly recommend you check out my post on the Women of the Wall from about a month ago. Here is the link: http://beccarosenthal.blogspot.com/2010/11/women-of-wall.html. I'm also going to apologize, becuase this time, I was far more focused on teh actual service and far less focused on taking pictures. While this enhanced my experience, it doesn't exactly aid yours, so I'm sorry.

Here are some of the biggest differences I saw:

1) This month, there were significantly more men at the Kotel. I don't know if the boost in numbers represent a larger counter protest or if Channukah brought out more men to the Kotel, but regardless, it was quite distinct. Furthermore, there were more women at the wall as well. Here is a picture of the most interesting protesting man. This is interesting for many reasons. firstly, I was yelled at last month because I was visible to the men while standing on a chair. It is no problem that a man is standing on the chair visible to the women. Secondly, he wasn't really yelling. He was just swaying back and forth with his hands up. Thirdly, the wall is viewed to many people as being so sacred that one should never turn his or her back to it, yet his back is turned to the wall. Finally (and having nothing to do with the man), you can see the Channukiah in the background. During the Holiday in Israel, there are channukiot EVERYWHERE, and the Kotel is no different. Every night they did a candle lighting ceremony at the wall.



2) The women were asking different questions and yelling different things. Instead of being told that I was a slut, dog, pig, goy, etc, I was asked why I didn't have a beard or a mustache or why I wasn't wrapping tfillin (see the photo above for what that is). I enjoyed answering those women that I didn't want to look like a circus freak. I found it far more amusing than they did, but having said that, both of us were laughing at the other.

3) The service felt much more genuine. Last month, I noted that the service didn't seem like a real service, but this month, I really enjoyed the davening that took place. More of the women seemed to have an idea of what was going on in the service, and thus, much more respect was given to the prayer by those davening.

4) The group was smaller. This really demonstrated to me that lack of a large core. Many people who go to join the Women of the Wall go once or twice, and that's it. There aren't that many regulars, though there are obviously a few.




 

5) One women walked up to the security guard and asked if the Rabbi of the Kotel approved our presence at the wall. The security guard answered her with something that I thought to be the most powerful quote of the day: "he didn't. The law did."

That's about it for Women of the Wall. I'll repeat the same thing that I said last month, which is that if anyone wants to talk to me more in depth about it, feel free to contact me at beccarosenthal@gmail.com or (assuming you are calling from somewhere outside of Israel)
011 050 407 6783.

After my Philosophy class on Wednesday, I had my first exposure to a real college library when I went to do some research for one of my four final papers due in the next 3 weeks. The library at Hebrew U is MASSIVE and has so many books in so many languages that I was more overwhelmed than I had been in a very long time. Having said that, though, I was able to go on the library computers, search for what I needed, and find everything I wanted BY MYSELF! I was really proud.

Wednesday night was one of the coolest experiences I've had since coming to Israel as a group of roughly 10 nativers took a walk through Mea Sha'arim, the biggest Chareidi (black hat) neighborhood in Jerusalem to look at the Channukiot and talk about the culture there with the assistant director of our program. Becuase of the religious nature of the neighborhood, all of us got dressed in our most frummy outfits. It was really interesting to note how people on the street looked at us when we were wearing long skirts compared to jeans. It was definitely different. I can't say better or worse, I can just say different.

I'm going to preface my discussion of Mea Sha'arim by saying that entering this neighborhood is like stepping out of the modern world and stepping onto a different planet. This community is based on the notion that change from Jewish life as it was in the shtettles in 19th century Europe is not only unnecessary, but dangerous and bad. Most homes to do not have internet, communication takes place in teh form of large posters (generally in black and white) plastered all over the neighborhood. Many people don't work as they only study torah all day, and thus, the neighborhood is very poor. There is trash all over, and there is lots of vandalism (mostly by bored Chareidi teenagers who don't want to live that lifestyle but don't really have an alternative as they can't go the army, university, or anything else that reflects non-Chareidi Israeli society). Here are some pictures. I'll explain them in the captions. That seems to be the easiest way to transmit information about this different world.

This is an example of some of the posters that exist in the neighborhood. The one on the right is talking about a type of olive oil that is Kosher for use for a Chanukkiah but not for eating. The neon poster next to it reflects a difference in advertising methods in this neighborhood vs any neighborhood you would have seen. In the modern world, advertisements should pop off a page and be as attention grabbing as possible with pictures, witty tag lines, or anything else that will make someone focus. In Mea Sha'arim, this neon advertisement serves as that.

This sign translates to something along the lines of: it is forbidden to watch movies. It is written by a person who lives in the neighborhood who the group believes is a Rabbi, but assumes is not anyone in a particularly high position of power. The fact that this sign exists in the neighborhood shows that they find movie watching to be an issue. This reflects the fear of integration into the non-chareidi world. Even modern orthodox is a scary idea for these people.

I want to preface this picture by apologizing for the picture quality. The photo was taken from across the street with terrible lighting and I had to awkwardly alter the picture to make the message readable. The message reflects an extreme ideology among the ultra religious, claiming that a Jewish state should not exist until the arrival of the messiah. Since the Messia hasn't come yet, many ultra orthodox jews believe that the state of Israel shouldn't exist either. While you may ask why these people choose to live in the Jewish state, the answer is simple: they lived here far before the Jewish state existed. They weren't going to move because of a change in soveirnty, but they do make a point to not participate in teh system. They don't serve in the army, they don't pay taxes (also because they are too poor to pay them), and they are in virtually every way seperate from society.

While the Chareidim are known for being mean people who throw rocks at people who aren't a part of their society, the reality is not so simple. This bookshelf is made up of donated books by people in the community. The idea is that if someone buys a new set of Jewish books (which are not cheap), they donate their old ones to a Jewish book store. Then old set is purchased by someone who can't afford a new set of books for a very low price, and thus, they can study. Similar systems exist for clothing, wedding dresses, and more.

This is a display of Channukiot. The rule is that people should put their Channukiot in the most visible place in their house, so many people choose to put boxes outside of their homes to make the Channukiot most visible from the street. It was the 8th night of Channukah, so they were were quite beautiful.

 

I hope you enjoyed your photo tour of Mea Sha'arim.

I have just hit Thursday morning in my post. I'm tire of writing and I'm sure you're tired of reading, so I'm going to stop here and explain the rest of the week either tonight or tomorrow, so until then, talk to you soon,

Becca,