The day before, when we walked into the student village, an odd looking man was standing in the courtyard, talking to a few other people from the Rothberg school. We stopped by to see what was what, and he turned out to be Jeff Seidell, who runs the Jeff Seidell Student Center. He told us his friend Tzipporah was having a Shabbat lunch for students, and we were welcome to go. This sounded just fine to me, so I said sure. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.
The next morning, me and the other kids who were going met Tzipporah's husband Yakov and a younger man as well at the north gate. I knew something was up when I saw Yakov, with his long beard and tzitzit, and the younger man looking so very pale and thin and strange. I got a funny feeling about it when I noticed that the two of them shook all the guys' hands, but just nodded at all the girls. But I didn't know how truly bad it was until we got to Tzipporah's house.
Let's start by saying I was the only woman in the building wearing pants. In case that wasn't uncomfortable enough, men and women were sitting clumped at opposite ends of a long table, so I was subjected to a few hours of girl talk- OY. Tzipporah, as it turns out, is an ultra-Orthodox American Jew who made aliyah a few years ago and lived in a West Bank settlement for a few years. I got along better with her 2-year-old daughter than with her (the 2-year-old didn't really talk).
We talked a little bit of politics, but I tried to steer away from that, because we all know I have some trouble keeping my mouth shut. Tzipporah firmly believes that the recent archaeological find that appears to support the existence of the first Temple is an obvious sign that everything ever written about Judaism is true. We talked a little bit about history- and how Jews had to pay special "taxes" under Ottoman rule because of a verse in the Quran that says that Jews are allowed to practice, but not with their "heads held high." This, according to Tzipporah, is why the Arabs hate us. I think there might be some other reasons too, but again I kept my mouth shut and made, instead, a mild comment on how the Quran seems to contradict itself in a lot of places, calling for jihad and preaching tolerance at the same time. Tzipporah observed that we're lucky because the Torah never contradicts itself. I, again, did not say anything. I guess throughout the conversation I was pretty quiet, because I don't think there is a lot I can say about anything to ultra-Orthodox Jews from the settlements who never served in the army and refuse to wear pants without offending someone.
The only truly positive things I can say are these: the food was good, and we managed to escape from that awful place after only 2 and a half hours. Thank God.
After that ordeal, me and a few friends walked to the overlook on Mount Scopus to read and watch the view of the city- which, yesterday, included a building on fire in one of the Arab neighborhoods. In the evening we took the bus to Ben Yehuda street and had some shawarma for dinner. We also made the grim discovery that Kinder has stopped making chocolate eggs. There are now Disney chocolate eggs with little Disney characters in them that you don't have to build. Not nearly as much fun, but we still got a Winnie the Pooh and Minnie Mouse.
We tried to take the bus home, but for some reason Bus 19 to Mount Scopus never came. We saw Bus 71 pass about 30 time- I have to figure out where it goes, so that I can move there! Eventually we gave up and took two cabs. I ended up with 3 of the guys, and when we all got in the cab, the driver immediately exclaimed about how enormous the guys were. I suppose I'm used to the general dimensions of American men, and they seem like perfectly normal sized men to me, but I guess if you compare, Israeli men are decidedly slimmer. Poor boys!
I chatted with the taxi driver about this and that- chatting with drivers is an excellent way to practice a language, the goal being to trick the driver into thinking that you speak it fluently- and discovered that he doesn't like the ultra-religious people any more than I do. My parents have told be that the taxi drivers are a good barometer of political opinions, so I guess on this issue I'm pretty mainstream.
Today we are going to campus to get oriented, and tomorrow the adventure really kicks off with the Ulpan!
Tell us about the conversation around the table; did you talk politics? Were you polite?! We want some juice!!!
ReplyDeleteSo thats what you were talking to the taxi driver about!
ReplyDeleteI finally learn the truth