Thursday In Jerusalem

I have heard from several people that my posts are very long but I would just like to mention that these posts are entries for multiple days and we learn so much, especially on travel days that I want to share. But to make it less daunting I will from now on be making each day a separate post, even if posted on the same day.

Thursday July 18^th  

As per usual for a Thursday, we woke up relatively early to get on the bus for a trip. This week the trip was to Jerusalem and everyone was excited. I was especially happy because as I mentioned in a previous post, I love Jerusalem. Not for the religious reasons but because I lived there on EIE. I was also excited because I knew my day would include ice cream and finally meeting with a reform organization.  

The day started off with a tour of all 4 quarters of the old city. Personally, I never thought I would get to see all 4 quarters because on EIE the idea seemed a little out there. But, as I learned throughout the entire weekend, the freedom I have on this trip as compared to EIE is what really made me feel like the city was mine and I was better able to understand the culture and issues that surround Jerusalem. You would think, or at least I did, that the Jewish quarter would be the largest of the 4 but in actuality it is the smallest. The Christian and Muslim Quarters are much larger but the same number of people live in both the Christian and Jewish Quarters (2500—25,000 live in the Muslim quarter). I was surprised to learn that the wall surrounding the city is actually only 500 years old and that there can’t be cemeteries inside the walls of the city. This is actually a reason they know the wall around the city must be newer than I would have thought; Jesus’ burial place inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is inside the city walls. The first quarter was visited was the Christian quarter (but on our way there we walked through the Arab market and I think I figured out that I had tried dried ginger the night before). In the Christian quarter our main stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

We learned a lot from our tour guide about the history of who was in power of the city at what time and he mentioned that all the names we have for Israel and the Old City are representative of who was ruling at the time. For instance, when the Romans took over and rebuilt the city as a pagan city they renamed the land Palestina (hence the current name of Palestine). When the Romans were in power Jews were only allowed to visit the Old City once a year, on Tisha B’av. When Islam came into play and its followers took power, they could have destroyed the Church but rather they choose to build a mosque right in front of the church so that the Christians would always know who was actually in power. 

 Outside of the church on the second story there is a ladder. We asked our guide why it was there and he said it was because of the clashes between the different Christian groups in control of the Church. Currently 6 sects of Christianity have control over the church, the largest two groups being the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian Orthodox.

When the church originally was created the Greek Orthodox section of the church was the first floor and the 2^nd level was where the Armenian Orthodox monks lived, worked, and studied. However, the Greek Orthodox wouldn’t allow the food for the Armenians to pass through their floor so they made them climb up the side of the building. This occurred right around the time that they were creating the agreement about who controlled what in regards to the church and as part of the agreement it was written that a ladder must always be present.  

We had a couple of minutes to go inside and look around despite the fact that normally Jews don’t go into Churches. I personally don’t have a problem going into a church but this time it felt a little weird. So, I went in, took a couple of pictures, and walked out to sit outside and look at it from afar.  

Our next stop was the Muslim Quarter of the City. The Muslim quarter, like the Armenian quarter is mainly residential (only the Armenian quarter has been completely closed off by a wall of their own creation). I am assuming this is in an effort to maximize living space, but rather than there being a lot of streets to walk through, the main way to get around the quarter is by walking on the roofs of the buildings. Because the Jewish quarter is so small though, some Jews have expanded into the Muslim quarter. In the Jewish quarter you see very little security but because of the Jews living in their quarter, there is Arab security surrounding the “Jewish” neighborhoods and most of the Jewish homes have security cameras and very protected cages over their windows. What’s also interesting about the Muslim quarter is that part of it sits right on top of the western wall. Our guide took us to a section of the wall near the Temple Mound and it was surrounded by homes. It’s kind of cool but also a little off putting that a family may have their TV mounted on the wall of their home, but also the Western Wall.  

Because all of us had already done pretty extensive tours of the Jewish quarter we didn’t spend a lot of time walking around, maybe 15 minutes. We saw the “playground” of the Old city, which is in front of several of the yeshivas in the Old City. It isn’t a typical playground though. It is simply a huge open space full of Israeli stone where the yeshiva boys can run around and play. By the time we got to the Jewish quarter we were all pretty hungry so we split up and went for lunch. I was pretty excited for lunch because I remember the ice cream in the Old City being really good. We got sandwiches and then I walked into the Ice cream store prepared with 5 lactaid pills in hand. I ended up getting two flavors, white chocolate pecan (a flavor I thought my grandfather-Poppy Roy would appreciate) and Chocolate Oreo (because I am having a little bit of separation anxiety from my boxes and boxes of oreos that are sitting at home).  I was a very happy camper. After lunch we ended the tour by walking through the section of the Armenian quarter not walled in. It was entirely too exciting but it was still interesting to see.  

The next part of our long day was a meeting with a Haredi (ultra orthodox) Rabbi. I tried to keep an open mind and for a while I simply found what he was saying interesting. Despite our different beliefs he said a couple of things that I appreciated. The first was that a Jew is a Jew no matter how religious they are. Having been told that I am not Jewish enough because I am not religious like some kids on my campus I found this statement to be comforting. However, that was until we started talking about what is seen as a proper conversion in the eyes of the unorthodox. Personally, I believe that if you feel Jewish and believe in the ideals of Judaism you are Jewish. I think it is something you feel, think, and practice; not something that needs have been genetic or through a proper ceremony and learning technique. The other piece of advice I liked was that we should never believe what people say. We should investigate, learn, and listen, and then form our own opinions. I thought this was especially interesting for a Haredi rabbi to say because from what I have seen they have very specific views and would prefer that all Jews view the religion as they do.

As we all know I have very set viewpoints and have been blessed with a very reform way of thinking. So I asked him about conversions and I expected the response I was given. My tipping point was when he stated that conservative and reform Jews “steal” orthodox children who fall down the religious ladder. He claimed that the orthodox feel a need to have a lot of children to support the other sects of Judaism. Along with this he claimed that reform and conservative (secular) Jews aren’t able to maintain being Jewish for more than 3 generations. He thinks that by the 4^th generation, we marry out of the religion. I thought this was completely false and pointed it out to him that I know a lot of families that are 4^th and 5^th generation reform/conservative. --- I would write more but the topic in general just really frustrates me. On a kind of plus side he told me I looked Jewish but I wasn’t entirely sure how to take that in the context in which it was presented.  

Luckily, upon leaving this meeting we went to Hebrew Union, the Reform center of Israel to meet with the Israeli Religious Action Center (IRAC). I have a little background with the organization because NFTY brought in the RAC (the American version of the organization) several times plus Rabbi Shankman’s husband is on the executive board. IRAC is the legal and advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel. Their mission is to make Judaism accessible to the Israeli State. We specifically met with the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism. As of right now they have 5 main areas:

1.     Recognition of Non-Orthodox Rabbis

2.     End orthodox control over personal status and religion

3.     End gender segregation in the public spaces: There is a radio station in Israel that wouldn’t allow female listeners to call in. Instead they had to fax their statement so that a man could read it on air.

4.     End racist incitement of public figures

5.     Protect the rights of non-Jewish Israeli citizens

I of course really enjoyed learning about all the things this organization has done. For example they ended gender segregation on public buses, something I didn’t even know existed. But it does happen. The man we met with even told us that his wife was flying to the U.S., they had paid for economy plus, gotten her a window seat and everything she needed to be comfortable on the long flight. But, 2 orthodox men were supposed to sit next to her and they weren’t okay with sitting next to a female. So the flight attendant told her that she was being given a better seat and took her to the back of the plane and gave her a middle seat.

Literally, everything in this country has to go through the Rabbinit. A marriage isn’t recognized unless it was an orthodox marriage. So in rebellion many people go to other countries to get married and then file as a civil marriage in Israel. But, then to get divorced it has to be proved by the orthodoxy as well. Only, women can’t testify for in any situation so it’s a little difficult. What I really found interesting though was that a lot of ultra orthodox women are reaching out to IRAC for help. IRAC has a crisis hotline that many of these women call for help since no one in their community is willing to assist them. Even to get an abortion in Israel you have to go to a panhel to get permission.

Muslim entrance to Temple Mound

Probably one of the most interesting things I noticed from both of our meetings throughout the day though was that both men had very similar positions on the new legislation that yeshiva students have to go to IDF. Both men noted that yeshiva boys are not educationally prepared for the army. They stop secular studies very early on, can’t work on Shabbat, and most likely aren’t modernized enough. Many Israelis want the yeshiva boys to go to the army because they are part of this country as well but the idea itself produces a lot of issues that need to be discussed.

Just as an overview of my views: From my many experiences I have found Judaism to be a very open and tolerant religion. I am not sure if that is because of how I was raised or the community I was brought up in but I have always felt like I was part of a welcoming and open community and religion. I would hope that this view is shared among the rest of my religion and I think to a certain point it is. The difference I have found over the last couple of weeks is that the Orthodox are open and accepting but only if you are Jewish. To me, that shouldn’t be the case. We should be open to everyone; perhaps there wouldn’t be as much trouble between countries in the Middle East if that were the case.

Once we were done at the IRAC the weekend was ours. There were 11 of us staying at the hostel so we walked there together. It wasn’t a bad walk but I walking down streets I had been on before and recognized very little. In 3 years so much has changed. There is a new light rail system going down one of the main roads of the city (conveniently right next to our hostel) that was only being built when I was here on EIE. After we checked-in we all searched for a place for dinner but with 11 people it was a tad challenging. Eventually we found the perfect place though, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant that suited the kosher, lactose, and vegetarian needs of our large group. From then on we just enjoyed our night in Jerusalem.