We've been here 10 days and the jet lag has been bad. I'm usually OK after a couple of days, but not this time. Even worse for Sid. The rule of thumb is it takes 1 day for each hour of time difference, so we should be adjusted by now. Maybe age is a factor, much as I hate to consider the possibility.
It's wonderful to be here for a holiday, especially Sukkot which lasts a week. Schools, businesses and factories are closed and there is a very festive atmosphere everywhere you go. It began last Wednesday (Oct 4) night. Of course we went to Batsheva and Eli's for dinner. Food, as always, was sensational and we ate way too much.
These adorable mis-shapen lemons are etrogs. They cost upwards of $100, depending on size and shape. Prices were even higher this year due to a blight in Calabria, where most of the etrogs that are used here come from.
Sid wanted to go to Shira Hadasha on Thursday morning. We were the only ones without a lulav and etrog, and we had no excuse since they were being sold at every corner (above). Shira Hadasha has changed over the 15 or so years we've been going there. The service is the same but the crowd is different. Neither one of us saw anyone we knew, which is unusual. What surprised us was that the announcements were in Hebrew only. They used to be made in both Hebrew and English. This shows how the demographics have changed. It's still basically an Anglo shul, but Hebrew is the first language of the kids and grandchildren, making English redundant. Time marches on.
Friday: I was dead tired, having been up most of the night, for the second night in a row. But with a lot of shopping to do we had to go to the shuk. We got a late start and by the time we got there it was more crowded than I've ever seen it. Not just with shoppers but with tourists, since it's become the most popular tourist destination in Jerusalem after the Kotel. There were choke points where people just stopped moving and I was on the verge of a panic attack. This is no place for someone with claustrophobia.
We stopped at my butcher, who greeted us like long lost relatives. As we were leaving I told him I will need to order something in November. Before I finished the sentence he said yes, I know, a whole turkey. I was stunned. The last time we were here for Thanksgiving was 4 years ago, when I made half a turkey in a toaster oven. I can't imagine how he remembered.
We went to the conservative shul on Shabbat morning. Each time we go there are fewer people than the time before. Sad really. If it wasn't for student and camp groups who rotate thru, and the adjacent conservative seminary, they would have closed their doors by now. The movement never caught on here.
Sunday (Oct 7). There's no time like a pilgrimage festival to be in Jerusalem. About 90% of the country is on vacation, and Jerusalem, the focal point of the pilgrimage, attracts enormous crowds. The streets were jammed and the Kotel was so crowded I couldn't even get into the women's side. There was a very large security presence and thankfully no incidents.
Wall-to-wall crowds on the way to the Wall
Cute, right? Based on their hand positions I think they want to be rappers.
There are sukkot everywhere you look. On balconies, sidewalks and in public places.
The restaurants also build sukkahs for the holiday. We met our friends Vicki and Gary for dinner at Pompidou, one of our favorite restaurants, and sat at a coveted table in theirs.
It rained on Monday. Actually it poured for about an hour and our street turned into a river. This was unusual, because the seasons actually do conform to the prayers for dew in the summer and rain in the winter. The switch occurs twice a year, at the end of Passover in the spring and the end of Sukkot in the fall. By that calculus it wasn't supposed to rain until yesterday. Much as I would like another few weeks of warm, sunny weather I shouldn't be so selfish. The Kinneret, the main source of fresh water, is at a record low and is replenished for the most part by rain. Altho Israel leads the world in desalination, this is still a desert with a growing population and increasing demand. As we've seen recently in the US, rain can be destructive. The rain we pray for is "geshem bracha" - rain that is a blessing and not a curse. May this rainy season bring only blessings.
Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,
Peggy and Sid
Peggy and Sid
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