Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Cross; Jerusalem, Israel |
It is hard to believe that we have reached the midway point for our year abroad. Already so many experiences and memories. The home schooling is working fabulously, particularly when supplemented by local attendance at the gymnasium (high school) and after school lessons in piano and painting. I am on target to publish my book in late summer, having attained the expected milestone. Dear hubbie has exhausted his list of home improvement projects on the Sifnos cottage. We are at liberty to experience the reciprocating end of home exchange stays. We leave Sifnos in good shape for three months of suitcase living. First on the itinerary is Israel.
And here we are in Jerusalem, already for several days, ready to celebrate Christmas by treading in the path set by Jesus. We sense the contradictions, harmony, conflict and unity that is this community of people in Israel.
Lost our way and found friendly hospitality
Home exchange |
home exchange living room |
Forever needing friendly advice with map |
Mahane Yehuda souk |
Once in the souk we admit that we know no Hebrew, yet find that for every vendor who cannot speak English there is one who can. Meanwhile, we hear in the crowd a cacophony of different languages, (recognizing Arabic, French, Italian, Greek, and German). We fumble with the money system, struggling to calculate 3.8 shekels to the U.S. dollar, learning which coin or piece of paper money represents what amount, calling upon the aid of the stall vendors. We ask the vendors to teach us how to say in Hebrew “hello, excuse me, thank you”. We are treated to tastes not ever explored before. We discover that here there are as many baffling varieties of hummus as one finds choice in morning cereal boxes on a U.S. super supermarket shelf. We are gifted small treats accompanied by toothy smiles and exclamations of heavily accented, “Welcome to Israel”.
Hookahs for sale |
Pyramid of thyme with Gold Dome atop |
Old City of Jerusalem |
Our new friend Moses
Santa embellishes Armenian pottery |
On Dellarosa Street -- you know, the one
celebrated for being the path on which Jesus carried his cross to his death -- while
working our way from the wailing wall and towards the Holy Sepulcher church, I
stop to replace a depleted camera battery.
Gerhard, waiting and antsy to move on, occupies these moments by window
shopping at a jewelry store. Its
proprietor emerges and attempts a low key friendly dialogue, trying to guess
Gerhard’s nationality. By asking for
Gerhard’s help to spell out a sign “German spoken here” (in German)
he lulled
us into his store, offered a peppermint tea, settled us into
a cozy pile of oriental rug clothed pillows, and we began
to exchange stories. The proprietor
explains that he is very happy at the moment, having enjoyed a very profitable
day because he had just sold three diamond and gold cross pendants to a wealthy
Canadian. He enchants us with stories
about his unusual upbringing, having been sent away to board at a Greek
Orthodox monastery school outside of Jerusalem where he was taught the classics
along with silver craft and carpentry.
Hearing about Karoline’s
exploits in making earrings at Berkeley’s bead shop, he teaches Karoline a life
lesson about how one can not always rely on academics and, instead, can develop
a lowly hobby, such as jewelry making, into a profitable profession. His personal example: he started as a private driver employed by a
four star hotel catering to the rich and famous. He would guide his clients to his jewelry
atelier in their evening spare time for their exclusive *wow* jewelry
purchases; them training him on how to market and sell his craftwork. And so on.
Sipping spearmint tea |
An hour later, feeling relaxed, I inquire about where to buy low cost
beads made from an Israeli material for Karoline to craft into friendship
bracelets. Clearly, I know this is not
the shop to buy them since his offers are exquisitely hand crafted pieces using
the finest precious stones and silver or gold, yet he might have a tip for
us? Fast forward to two hours later and
we are *hugging and kissing* friends with the artist proprietor -- having
spoken with him in German, halting Greek, limited Chinese, and English, and
having heard him speak with his staff in Arabic and Hebrew -- and with plans to
visit him again the next time we are in Jerusalem, or, perhaps, even a few
weeks hence when we both plan to be swimming in the waters around Dahab. Lowering prices “because he had a very
profitable day earlier”,
he has seduced us into buying a ring, pendant necklace, and ancient Roman glass
beads for me to make into gifts for my girlfriends. Furthermore, we are
*gifted* more ancient Roman glass beads, (certification of authenticity
provided), for Karoline’s
friendship bracelets, a cashmere shawl for me, and a small jewelry box for the
yet additional gift of five moonstone beads for Karoline. The ultimate was the moment when he gently
asked Karoline and me to leave the shop because he needed to have a man-to-man
discussion with Gerhard. Gerhard
divulged later the gist of that discussion:
because I was exceedingly hesitant to buy the pendant necklace, the
proprietor was substantially reducing the price of it to well below cost “because he could see
that…bla,bla,bla…and that we had
adopted Karoline, therefore, we must be “giving, kind, humble people of lesser
means”…and
he too is sponsoring an orphan in a Gaza orphanage…and he is gifting us
part of the cost of the necklace to share in the blessings of his very
profitable day, so we really must buy the necklace.”
Moses |
His final lesson to Karoline: “When you share the joy
of your success with those around you, your happiness blossoms many times
more.” We walk away from his shop in awe: either he is the world’s very best salesman
and story teller, or, he is an authentically incredible example of they way we
wish everyone would be. We are
not sure, and, because he is our new friend, we really don’t care, and I believe
that is the way that Moses Salhab wishes it to be.
Happy Chanukah! |
The Israel Museum
Dead Sea Scrolls Center, Israel Museum |
Equally pleasurable to the indoor exhibit halls are the well considered garden spaces that host sculpture while subtly guiding visitors through the flow of buildings and towards the exit. The gardens encourage a frolick or two.
In the gift shop any number of hamsas, menorrahs, kipas, pomegranates,
mezuzah covers and dreidels are available for sale.
On Christmas Eve we cycle throughout Jerusalem
Christmas Eve happens to fall on Shabbat, which means no cars, buses or taxis may drive the streets. No stores or restaurants may be open. We took advantage of the cleared streets to join a four hour tour on bike of the city. To get to the meeting place we had to walk two miles, and then, of course there was the return two mile walk. I am not sure what it would be like to deal with a habitual lack of services on Shabbat, yet, for this once, we completely enjoyed the tranquility and lack of pressure to "perform". In general, from our apartment we have been able to branch out to all of the city's attractions by foot, which means that we have been walking over five miles a day, and loving it.
Happy New Year, with wishes for peace, good health and prosperity!
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