Close Encounters

1. The jackhammering is almost over... for real this time. Straight from the mouth of a foreman from the construction site. They're evening out the sides, but they are not going to dig any deeper. Who knows what other rukkus they are going to raise next, but at least the jackhammer will be silent soon.

2. Apparently, Jesus loves me very much. I learned this from Aria, a neighbor from Finland who has been living here for 7 years with her husband. She is a minister of some kind of evangelical church. She has nothing warm to say about Muslims, and her dismissiveness of them was pretty much when she lost me in an otherwise cordial conversation about how diverse Jerusalem is and how much I appreciated that she is taking care of the landscaping in front of our building. She was very sweet and a big glassy eyed when she told me how much Jesus loves me, and it was hard for me not to think to myself, "Cukoo..." I mean no disrespect to her faith, but there was something so self-righteous about the way she spoke of how Jesus told her to share his love with the Jews, and how she's studying at Hebrew University in the theology department and learning that the Koran does indeed preach hatred and violence. I don't know much about Christianity, but she didn't really seem to be speaking and walking in Jesus's sandals, even though she sure thought she was. When I tried to say anything to the contrary about Islam, she rolled her eyes and told me to look deeper and not believe the lies. But Jesus still loves me, and Aria loves the Jewish people. I guess it's just another day in Jerusalem. This sure is a fascinating city.

3. I've started volunteering on Thursday mornings at the Beit Alicia home for the elderly. I'm visiting with a woman named Marcelle who moved here from France 50 years ago. She used to have a candy and chocolate shop on Aza street. She's very sweet, and appreciates my visiting, and it feels good to go there on Thursdays. She walks very slowly with a walker, but likes to sit in the sun outside, so together we shuffled very slowly about 30 feet to sit on a low wall in the sunshine and talk. She says France has changed "because of the Arabs." The French hate Arabs, whether or not those who hate are Jews. They're not big fans of Jews either. Marcelle likes flowers, so I'm going to bring her a little bouquet of flowers from nearby bushes next time I see her.

4. On Tuesday evenings starting in a few weeks I'm also going to be volunteering at the Mevasseret Ethiopian Absoprtion Center. We visited last week. Fascinating. The kids were amazing, and we'll be spending lots of time playing with them - all of us with our limited Hebrew. Parts of the community look like parts of West Oakland... I guess a ghetto is a ghetto is a ghetto no matter where in the world you go. Apparently, when the absoprtion center was used mainly for immigrants from Russia and other countries where the Jews are white, the apartments they gave each family where twice the size they are now, even though families were smaller. I guess they assume that the Ethiopian families are used to living in huts or tents in refugee camps, so why would they need more space? Hmm... I have a feeling I'll be writing about this experience a lot.

5. Today I sat on a wall on Ben Yehuda and ate a falafel while listening to an African American man play guitar and harmonica and sing songs about God. About 10 feet away, Orthodox men were helping other men who were walking by to lay tefillin. God was in the air, and the singer had a great deep voice as he sang about Noah and the flood and God's love. The Israeli girl next to me loved his singing, and we both clapped when he stopped. I gave him 5 shekels and said, "Thank you, brother." People watching on Ben Yehuda, accompanied by music and falafel, is definitely one of my favorite in-town experiences.

6. On Wednesday we're off to Petra and Sinai for 10 days, where we plan to have encounters with mules (to carry Dahlia in Petra), horses (horseback riding to celebrate Dave's birthday), and camels (because when else will Dahlia get to ride on a camel?). Some great photos coming after Oct. 7th...