Kiddush Craziness and More

This past Shabbos was way more hectic than the one before it. On Thursday night I did some last minute shopping with Aaron at a nearby market. It was crazy busy and cramped as the whole market was pretty much one aisle that wrapped the inside corner of a building. Israelis are well known for being pushy--a fact made clear as one women was trying to push her cart
through me. One other interesting thing about this market is that it had separate checkout lines for men and women. I felt a little uncomfortable standing in line with Aaron in the shorter men's line, so I waited outside while he paid.

As always, Friday was filled with cooking and cleaning. This time we also had to put a mehitza (a barrier--in this case shower curtains--separating the men and women) for the kiddush, and all day long neighbors brought by cookies, cakes, and kugels. In addition, Calanitte's cousin and a friend, who are studying at the yeshiva Aaron first went to, came for Shabbos. Saturday morning was crunch time--setting up the tables, chairs, and food for the kiddush which started at 10:45. The way these things go is people drop by, have some kugel/cake/juice, say mazel tov, and go home for the second meal of Shabbos. In the end, about 10 women, 10 men, and 10 kids dropped by and we had a TON of leftovers. It didn't help that the women who came didn't eat a bite--something we were not expecting. Interestingly enough, Avital and the little girls there seemed to eat more than the men and women combined. After about an hour of open house, we cleared up for the second meal. I was seriously tired from all the preparations, so after lunch I had a nice Shabbos shluf (you're supposed to nap on Shabbos so there's even a special name for it). The ladies (me, Calanitte, Avital, and Calanitte's sister Keren) had the third meal on our own because the guys were at shul. As soon as Shabbos was over the serious clean-up began.

Sunday morning I went with Calanitte into town to run some errands. I finally took care of my business with Bank Leumi. It was nice having Calanitte there because the bankers' English wasn't very good and my Hebrew is even worse. We searched allover for a falafel place with a hecscher (Kosher certification) that she accepts, but didn't find one. I got myself a falafel and Calanitte stopped at Sbarro. When she was paying at Sbarro, they asked if she wanted to contribute a shekel (about $.25) for security. This seemed odd, and is odd even in Israel where security is always heightened and having your bag searched is routine for entering any restaurant or store. Then I remembered that Sbarro had been blown up a few years back and was relocated to this spot a few hundred feet down the street from its previous location. When I got back to Ramot, I had my falafel (in laffa this time rather than pita), and then Aaron and I went back out to the Old City to go to the Kottel (the Western Wall--the holiest site in Judaism). The first bus we took was a Mahedrin bus which caters especially to the Chareidi (ultra-orthodox) community, so men ride in the front and women enter and ride in the back. This was my first experience on one of these buses--on most buses in Israel men and women can sit wherever they want, but usually women sit next to women and vice versa. It just so happened that on this bus there were more men than women, so there were men standing in the front while there were open seats in the women's section.

The second bus took us right to the Kottel. The Kottel was not too crowded which was nice because I could actually pray along the wall (last time I was there was the last night of Channukah and it was packed). After praying, I met back up with Aaron and we walked down the hill to the City of David (Ir David). According to Aaron, this is where the Cohens (priests) lived in the time of the first temple. Now it is right on the edge of a huge Arab neighborhood (probably the West Bank, but I'm not sure). We walked down a bunch of stairs that seemed to be leading to the Arab neighborhood. Aaron explained that there is a very holy mikveh (natural water source used for ritual baths) nearby, but you have to walk through the Arab
neighborhood to get there, and it's a bit sketchy (apparently someone he knows had his tires slashed when he went there). We were just about the only ones there, and I'm not sure if that's because they're still redoing the place or because it's not so safe. Hmmm...

Anyway, we made it back to Ramot without incident. On the way back, I saw a guy on the bus wearing a Berkeley shirt so I asked him if he goes there, but it turned out to be his friend's shirt--oh well, would have been pretty crazy if there was another Berkeley student on the bus to Ramot.

Now I'm beginning to pack up my stuff and get ready for the next leg of my journey. My flight to Johannesburg leaves tomorrow night, so I will be in South Afrcia by Wednesday morning!