cellio | Thursday in Jerusalem

This morning we went to HUC for a double bar mitzvah and then we scattered, mostly into the old city. It was a good day, though mostly unstructured.

(I wonder what the correct way is to refer to a single event containing the bar mitzvah of two boys. It seems wrong to say I went to "a b'nei mitzvah", but just "b'nei mitzvah" implies two separate events to me, like having b'nei mitzvah this week and next. Hence "double bar mitzvah" above... This ends the anal=retentive portion of this entry.)

Last night there was snow -- not a lot by Pittsburgh standards to be sure, but enough to cripple parts of the city. (It's like when snow falls in the south and they shut down the city.) Last night some of our group had gone off to a shopping mall (teenage demands), and they ended up waiting outside for two hours for a bus that never came followed by cabs that never came, until finally one showed up and people piled in, sitting on laps. One of the adults in the group has proclaimed "no malls until Eilat", though the snow has mostly melted today.

While this was the farthest thing from my mind until now, it occurs to me that I should look for a conventional mall in Eilat (or elsewhere, but that's really the only opportunity now). A few Hebrew-language movies on DVD, with English subtitles, might give a boost to my Hebrew (especially spoken) and be fun besides, assuming I can find some. My rabbi suggested I also watch English movies with Hebrew subtitles; I've watched some TV here, but often the subtitles go by too quickly for me. So eventually, and maybe even now, but I think the other direction is more important. (Extra points for finding a movie or two that I've already seen in English, but I don't know how common dubbing is.)

My rabbi led the service this morning. He'd arranged to borrow a guitar, so he had that. The congregation consisted of our group and a few friends of the families; either HUC doesn't have a regular weekday minyan, or they're on break right now, or it meets somewhere other than in their chapel. The boys both did very well with chanting torah, and they gave good divrei torah -- neither of which began with the phrase "in my parsha" or "my parsha begins" (score!).

The families hosted a luncheon for everyone, which I thought was very nice of them. It was also held on HUC campus, so I got to see a little more of the place. It's a beautiful campus -- haven't seen the study hall, of course, but one can only be so nosy. :-)

The afternoon was designated as time on our own. Another couple and I decided we wanted to explore the old city some more. Others were also going to the old city for various reasons, so my rabbi led a group walking there so we wouldn't have to figure it out on our own. (We walked past the US consulate on the way and waved to the numerous security cameras.) My rabbi encouraged us to see the Tower of David museum, so most of us went in there while he escorted one person to some other destination.

The museum is not one that's full of artifacts; rather, it tells the story of Jerusalem's history with a bunch of exhibits and films. We started with a short animated movie giving an overview from the town of Shalem on the hillside up to the founding of the state. The film was well-done; I wouldn't object to seeing it again. It was narrated in Hebrew with English subtitles, by the way -- those speaking only Arabic are on their own, I guess. (All of the exhibit signs were trilingual.)

The exhibits themselves were interesting but not very detailed -- definitely closer to "slice of life" than an academic treatment. The language didn't suggest that it was pitched for kids, though; I think they probably set out to put together an accessible introductory presentation and succeeded.

The people I was with wanted to go back to one of the shops on Cardo in the Jewish quarter. Finding it -- Cardo, I mean, not the shop -- was a bit of a challenge; we missed the small, dark street that started two-thirds of the way down a staircase. The old city is like that. We had a map, though, so when we realized we had only walked 20 feet and had somehow passed it, it was easy to fix. (For those who know the city: we had walked down Chabad, turned and walked down some steps, and found ourselves on Yehudim (I think). The map said Cardo was between them.)

(One language score: earlier in our walk through the city, when we were trying to figure out if we were going in the right direction, we passed a tour group being led in Hebrew. I listened for a moment and then told my companions "they're going to Cardo and we're going the right direction".)

We bought a few things there (none of us haggle well), and then went off in search of the Armenian quarter so I could look at pottery. (I really like the painting on Armenian pottery.) We had a little trouble and it was getting dark, so we only looked at a couple shops. In one I wanted to buy a couple things and asked the price (one was marked, one wasn't); he said a number and I countered, and he pointed to the sign saying "fixed price" -- which is fine with me, actually. He then proceeded to give us a lesson in haggling, which I found interesting. (He, having opted out, doesn't have an obvious vested interest, so I'm inclined to believe him at a first approximation.)

He said that when prices aren't marked, the merchant's opening gambit is based on your appearance -- one price for Americans, another for Israelis, another for Russians, etc. He suggested that the transaction should go something like this:

Merchant: 220 shekels.
Customer: (walks out of store)
Merchant: I'll make it 200.
Customer: (keeps walking) (Iterate a couple times, until:)
Merchant: 140.
Customer: (turns around)
Merchant: What do you want to pay?
Customer: 80.
Merchant: Come into the store.

This part of the lesson ended there, but that was the gist of it. His main points seemed to be (1) go way low compared to what the merchant opens with (none of this 20%-lower stuff), and (2) the merchant has to make several bumps down before you even bother to open your mouth. I don't know how well this really works, especially for tourists, but it was interesting to hear about.

One of the challenges of this trip for me is being one of only a few single people. We have a family of five, two families of four, two families of two, and four individuals (not counting my rabbi). When there's unstructured time, the families tend to go off on their own. I want to spend time with more than the other three singles (especially as we don't have identical interests). Today I attached myself to one of the couples, and I'll probably just have to keep doing that sort of thing. The families don't, for the most part, invite us -- not because they're rude or anything, but because they're on a family vacation, I think. And when you've got kids things change anyway. Don't get me wrong -- I'm enjoying the trip immensely. But sometimes I'm a little lonely and next time I want to come with a couple pre-made friends, or Dani if I can get him. Trying to make friendships from scratch while on the trip doesn't work so well; you need to come pre-loaded, I think, if you're going to be part of a group like this.

I am in awe, and am a little intimidated, at the load my rabbi is carrying during this trip. He looks out for all of us and cares very much that each of us has a good time and gets what we need. People go to him with their problems, including (based on snippets I've overheard) things they could and maybe should have solved on their own. (People who won't even try to RTFM before taking someone's limited time drive me nuts. There was a lot of this at the group meetings before the trip -- really, the rabbi is not the best person to answer your luggage questions; go to the TSA site on your own time.) But I digress. When during all this does my rabbi get a vacation? He doesn't. I hope the fees we paid cover his accommodations; for him to have to pay out of pocket to do this full-time-and-more job would be wrong.

Someday I hope I can return to Israel with my rabbi and under circumstances that don't stress him so much. I don't know what those circumstances would be, though; perhaps this sort of thing is as much a part of the job for people with lots of trips under their belts too. But I think his second-time-or-better trip idea is an interesting one, and I hope he does develop that idea more. I'd go; I like it here and I very much want to see whatever my rabbi thinks is important for me to see.

Tonight some of us walked to Emek Refa'im for dinner, which is helpful for me because that's where Shira Chadisha is and I had been in line at the concierge desk to ask for those directions when someone said that's where we were going. As it turns out, my rabbi is also planning to go there Shabbat morning, so I assume I'll have someone to walk with. Emek Refa'im is a yuppie center and was pretty crowded; we had to try three restaurants before our group of six could be seated. My rabbi had to leave early and the other four wanted to wander the neighborhood and then take a cab back; I decided to try to retrace the path there and walk back alone. This was my first walk alone here (except for a quick run to drop off the stained shirt yesterday -- which was not ready tonight as promised, grumble). There is a park between our hotel and Emek Refa'im, and walking through it alone at night was peaceful. (Yes, the park is well-lit.) I enjoyed that tiny bit of time to "commune with Jerusalem" on my own, so to speak. I think today was the first day that I felt comfortable venturing out on my own; while I wouldn't have walked to the old city myself (too complicated), I would have been willing to walk around in it alone if armed with a map. I didn't have to, but I could have -- and I wouldn't have earlier in the week. (I am still, however, not ready to take public transportation.)

After dinner my rabbi spoke with the whole group, mainly about tomorrow's visits to Yad Vashem (Holocaust memorial) and other memorial sites. He went over the itinerary for the next few days; Sunday morning we leave Jerusalem and head south, stopping at the dead sea for a couple hours, and Monday and Tuesday we're in Eilat. (We leave Eilat Tuesday sometime; our flight leaves Ben Gurion at 11:30PM.) There's unscheduled time in Eilat, along with a visit to Kibbutz Lotan, a Reform kibbutz that was (co?-)founded by a relative of our congregation's cantorial soloist.

I'm starting to learn my way around parts of Jerusalem, and it feels very comfortable. I have not felt in any danger during my visit here, except for 30 seconds when someone asked the question and I saw that I was sitting at one of the first tables inside the door of a restaurant. (The restaurant had a shomeir, a guard; many places do. I've only walked through a few metal detectors; most seem to be doing visual inspections. Makes sense.)

Being immersed in the Hebrew language is an interesting experience. I understand bits and pieces of overheard conversations but not entire conversations. I can have the minimal polite conversations that one has in the street or in shops. I would have ordered at the restaurant tonight in Hebrew if "sweet potato" hadn't stumped me. (I know potato is "tapuach adamah", literally "apple of the earth", but "sweet" stumped me. It's based on the word for "orange", which I don't remember.)

Instinct will take longer; I definitely have to work to form Hebrew sentences most of the time, but I'm getting better at counting (well, prices). But yeah, if I were here for several months insstead of several days, I think my Hebrew couldn't help but get better even without the ulpan experience (which I understand is a good idea for everyone).

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When I was in Israel about 10 years ago, I hung out a lot with one particular flat-mate (from England *g*) and we discovered that although we had similar levels of Hebrew language skills, we had different approaches re situations where we knew we'd likely have to use Hebrew and might be unable to use English (e.g. shopping for a shirt in a not-aimed-at-tourists store). She would map out whole sentences before we got there to have ready to use, while I might look up some words (e.g. colors) and then just start talking. The result was that she sounded more fluent as long as the conversation stayed close to her prepared script but she had a harder time improvising, while I sounded less fluent vocabulary-wise* but had no trouble improvising (e.g. we'd walk in and she'd ask for a particular style, size, and color, and I'd point to something on the rack and say "like that but blue and smaller").

I think the main reason for our different styles was our formal Hebrew education: mine started in preschool and included lots of conversation, especially with teachers at various grades teaching "ivrit b'ivrit", while she had mostly taught herself while spending a year in Israel after college - she was put in "aleph" (the lowest level class at the school) when she arrived and was in "dalet" (the highest) when I met her about one year later. So, I was used to thinking and speaking Hebrew as one step (no time to split them) while she was used to memorizing vocabulary lists.

I'm not sure whose approach would work better long-term (after all, both should eventually lead to the same point), but I think one or the other might be a better fit for a given person along the way.

*A lot of my Hebrew teachers and some of my classmates in school were Israeli, and I mimic accents well, so after a day or two in Israel I was back to being able to switch between Israeli and American accents for either Hebrew or English at will, so long as I paid attention (w/o attention I tended to match whoever I was talking to).

There is a park between our hotel and Emek Refa'im, and walking through it alone at night was peaceful. (Yes, the park is well-lit.)

That is, I think, Gan Sacher, which I always thought of as "Soccer garden". At least in '97, I found Jerusalem pretty safe: the dangers weren't random muggers as in NY, but people who wanted to blow themselves up and lots of other people, as well. There was one park which we were warned not to walk through alone at night (near the Israel museum), but otherwise it felt safe. I even walked through that park with a couple of people at around 1am, after watching 4 hours of Babylon 5 non-stop.

Public transportation isn't that tough, actually. Key words: "Rak Rega!" (just a minute), for leaving the bus, if the driver is trying to pull away. Also, having a bus map helps ;-) I actually had more problems with cabbies than with busses -- all the cabbies knew that I was american, and about half seemed to think it was a challenge to overcharge me. Grr...

When I was in Israel about 10 years ago

Hey, I was in Israel about 9 years ago -- '97/98.

I'm pretty sure it's Gan HaPa'amon, actually.

Sweet potato is "batata," unrelated to the words for either "sweet" or "potato."

Also, is there any chance we could meet up Saturday night? I have a return message and gift that I'd appreciate if you could give to Their Sylvan Magesties.

This is Naomi, by the way, in case you're having trouble matching usernames to IRL people.

It's the Liberty Bell Park, which I haven't seen or heard rendered in Hebrew.

We were warned about the apparent prevalence of broken meters in cabs for American passengers.

I'm told that Saturday night is a free night in Jerusalem. Want to get some people together and show me ths sights? :-)

I'm staying at the Dan Panorama and the room's in my name (user name = last name), if you want to call either before Shabbat or soon after.

Thanks for the correction... I was better about knowing my way around 9 yrs ago (I think)

We were warned about the apparent prevalence of broken meters in cabs for American passengers

yah. Sometimes they would just start driving without turning on the meter, hoping to get you with "well, the meter wasn't on from the start...". I'd try to get them to turn on the meter before closing the door; that way if it was "broken" I could say "OK, I'll get another cab". Sometimes the meter miraculously got better. Sometimes they would try to convince me that it would be cheaper with it off. Sometimes I had no choice (late night, etc.) and I just dealt with it. I found that the cabbies who came because I called them were generally better about turning on the meter than the ones I hailed on the street... but, of course, they had some accountability. And even if the meter's on, a clever cabbie can get "lost" (or really lost) and run the bill up that way. Also, the cabbies on the meter were always so polite, stopping at yellow lights, letting people cross in the cross walk...

That's an interesting difference. I found myself tending to do some mapping out in advance, but I think I'm evolving in the direction of improvising the way you did. I need to get a better handle on some of the grammar yet, I suspect -- simple conversation that's mostly pa'al or implied verbs will be more comfortable for me than anything that invokes other binyanim. And it's all limited by vocabulary, still.

I am a far, far cry from being able to think in Hebrew or just fall into a conversation. I hope to get there.

that way if it was "broken" I could say "OK, I'll get another cab"

Yeah, "lo rotzah" was a phrase I was prepared to utter in cabs and shops as needed. I don't know if that actually works any better than using English, but it's probably not worse.

Getting "lost" and being polite: yeah, I hear you. I presume that if they think you're a resident they might behave better ('cause you might run into them again), but tourists are great targets. I assume cabbies do this all over, not just in Israel, of course.

Sorry we didn't meet up directly Saturday night. I hope Uriel's feeling better. I received your package and will convey it to their majesties at first opportunity (possibly this Sunday).

I had to memorize verb conjugation lists in grade school, which helped somewhat, but what helped even more was learning to take a verb I was used to using in conversation (in whatever binyan it was usually used, e.g. k-t-b (write) for pa'al, d-b-r (speak) for pi'el, p-l-l (pray) for hitpa'el, etc) and replace the root letters in my head. I still have to worry about unusual consonant/vowel combinations, but in general if the original verb "sounds right" in my head then the new one will be correct too.

I haven't had this experience as much in NYC. Maybe it's because I haven't taken as many cabs, or it's harder to peg me as a "tourist", or because the yellow cabs are more regulated?

Thursday in Jerusalem

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