Adventure in the Rain

So far, we have been lucky with the weather. Except for some showers at the beginning of January, it has been dry. Not good for fire conditions in rural Israel, but it certainly facilitates being a tourist. Normally, December, January and February compose the rainy season here. So, we had been expecting much more rain than we in fact have had.

Yesterday and today made up for that good weather. Yesterday, we still had our rental car and was able to overcome the obstacles of moving around in the rain. Today, however, was another story. At the end of the day yesterday, I returned our car after a month--we'll get another car tomorrow as we have learned that you can't move around too well without them, especially given the amount of inter-city driving we are doing.

Last night we borrowed Gina's car (Ety's daughter) to get home and back to her house this morning. They needed the car today and so I had to take the bus home. In fact, the bus system here in Jerusalem works well. It covers the city well with routes that make sense. As I've previously said, Gina lives in a religious neighborhood. The bus I took went from Har Nof in the extreme western part of the city through a corner of downtown and then passed through a series of other religious neighborhoods before it took a right turn to complete its route on King George Street in the city center.

Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of the route before getting on the bus, so in fact, it was not the best route to take. Not being sure where it would go, I got off at a stop just at the end of Ge'ula, one of the principal religious neighborhoods of the city (adjacent to the most famous, the closed enclave of Mea Shearim) on Nathan Straus Street. As I got off the bus, the heavens opened up after an hour of quiet drizzle. By the time I had made my way down Jaffa Street to King George and the Ben Yehuda pedestrian district, I was soaked. Desparate to get dry for a little bit before completing my walk home (another 15 minutes), I looked for a coffee bar, a beit cafe, the Israeli institution that I've come to prefer even to our coffee bars in São Paulo (sorry, Café de Porto). I didn't find one that met my increasingly exacting standards, but I did find an attractive Schwarma/falafel place that didn't reach down to the "joint" level, but was too informal to be called a restaurant proper. Since Schwarma is one of my musts on any trip to Israel, I stopped in and had a decent, but not spectacular Schwarma sandwich. At least it gave me a few minutes to shake the water off my coat, feel a little bit warmer and try a new place.

When I left, the weather fooled me for a few minutes. There was even a patch of blue sky. But by the time I had gotten to Derech Azza (remember from an earlier post that's Gaza to you and me), I got dumped on again until I was about 2 minutes from the house. But, here I am now, clothes changed, coat and hat in front of a heater drying off, generally warm (the feet are the last to recover) and happy for the experience.

Two points of interest. After my warm praise for the Jerusalem bus system, I don't feel so warm and fuzzy about the surface light rail that the city has constructed and is currently testing. The route is a useful one that will tie a number of neighborhoods to the center. On the positive side, it has also caused the construction of one of Jerusalem's landmarks, the "David's Harp" suspension bridge, which will carry the streetcar over the main entry street to the center, Shazar Boulvevard. But, the streetcar takes up the entire width of Jaffa Street, arguably the city's most important central city thoroughfare. Currently, points where the street can be crossed are severely limited. Jaywalking, an art practiced for centuries on this thoroughfare, is currently impossible. Nor do I think it will be after the system opens for business later this year. As a result, pedestrian traffic on the street will decline and with it will go the shops. Mamila Mall, this isn't. The stores are downmarket and there has always been a high turnover. Within a few years, I think they will be closed and we will have an urban desert.

If the problems were restricted to Jaffa Street, that would be sad, but they will also affect its parallel companion, Agrippas Street. That street, narrower than Jaffa has now been restricted to buses and taxis only. Private transport out. So, again, we will have the same problems with commerce that are already beginning.  My real concern is for the Mahane Yehuda market area that has become one of Jerusalem's hotspots of the avant-garde. Popular restaurants, galleries, etc. are making this the equivalent of the Sheinken Street or Yafo neighborhoods of Tel Aviv. (It's a little erroneous to call Yafo a neighborhood, since it's really a city in its own right, a city with centuries of history, compared to the 100 years of Tel Aviv.)

Second point. I've referred to religious neighborhoods. This is an interesting phenomenon. As the haredi population of Israel and Jerusalem grows, they are seeking residences among other haredi. They prefer to keep somewhat apart from the general, secular population mostly due to the desire not to have to see cars moving and other evidence of behavior that doesn't agree with their sabbath practices. Second, they prefer to have their women and children only exposed to people who dress according to the modesty requirements of the observant Orthodox. Jerusalem has traditional religious areas such as Ge'ula and Mea Shearim. Har Nof is a new neighborhood, built in the 1990s that is almost exclusively Haredi. There are many others spread around the city and throughout the suburbs. At the entrances to many of these neighborhoods are gates that are closed for the 25 hours that Shabbat observance is in effect. Two weeks ago, I needed to pick Ety up after she spent Shabbat with her son in Bnei Brak. Shabbat ended there at 5:46 pm. I arrived at 5:50 and the barriers were still up on most of the streets. Not wanting to give offense, I drove around for 10 minutes until I found a street where the barrier had been moved aside. As it was, I was the first car to drive up our son's street.

Is this separation a good thing? A recent poll found that more than 50% of the secular population and more than 60% of the haredi population wanted to be separate. However, separation also creates a great deal of discomfort and mistrust between the secular and Haredi populations. Haredi rabbis have recently urged Jewish women not to date Arabs. Secular Jews are angry at the level of public services that the Haredi population takes advantage of. And, the real irritant between the groups, army service. Military service is universal in Israel. However, Haredis who are studying in a Yeshiva or Kollel can be exempted. When parents send their kids off to military service, they are not happy that a portion of the population can opt out. The Haredi sympathizers in the Knesset have finally perceived this and there is a bill moving through the legislative system that will cause more Haredi youth to serve in the IDF and participate more in society by working in addition to their religious obligation to study the Torah daily.

Let's see if the bill gets through.