Life in Israel (3)

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I was finally in! There was much to learn about, so many dynamics to understand and manuoever through. Firstly, the landscape. The first time I've ever been to a place as mountainous as Israel was in the caribbean. The only difference was instead of coconut trees, there were palm trees; instead of black folks, there was a mixture of all sorts of brown.

Everywhere was Hebrew scripts. I don't know why that amazed me, I mean, it is Israel after all. But still for some reason that amazed me. I think the cool word at the time was "super!" and so every advertisement had that word in it. Super drink! and super store, etc.

I already mentioned the Old City and its stoney countenance.

Next was the people. At the seminary there were all types of English speakers. I had never met a South African before (I wasn't sure how to react when i did. It was a bit disturbing because of S.Africa's history), I also met for the first time Australians, British, Irish, not to mention the run of the mill Canadiana, South Americans, etc. Basically -if you could speak English, you were there.

The seminary was also interesting because I had never really dealt with "kiruv" rabbis before. Kiruv Rabbis are rabbis who's task was to bring back the secular Jews into religious life. (I guess, kinda like proselytizers but for their own. Judaism does not promote conversion). I've always dealt with pulpit rabbis. So, this new rabbinical way of talking -combining science, math, etc, was very refreshing. Also, the Rebbetzins, the ladies, were impressive with their knowledge.

Nevertheless, I had already gotten a taste of the 'outside' world and after classes, I longed to explore that more. The Israelis! Now that was something I had to chew on much more slowly.

They seem to wear their emotions on their sleeves. If they were upset at someone, it came out -right then and there! But then afterwards when its all out, they seemed friends again. It was too weird. But I appreciated the straightforwardness of it all. I just didn't do so well when it came to holding my own. I realized what a mouse I was. I barely raised my voice about anything (now I do), if I felt wronged, I'd just leave (now I stand up and argue!). This helped me to realize how it came that that Rosh Yeshiva -who by the way was a short man of about 5 feet or less and about 70 years old- could have been so feisty with me on the phone!

Here, it seemed like my second name was "motek". I found out afterwards "motek" meant "sweetheart". Even big burly cab drivers would call others motek. At times, I would go on a bus and assume my "bus look" so sure that nobody talks on the bus. But people would turn and talk to me. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold my end of the conversation so well back then because of my poor Hebrew.

Still I had my insecurities. Baggage from a racist society that I came from. So, I was always self conscious. I noticed Israel was not racist like in America. In Israel, it seemed, it wasn't money that made one feel great, but rather chutzpah! (boldness). Without some serious boldness I realize I could not accomplish much in this country. (Not to say there isn't any prejudice. Its just not from the same root as in America). Sometimes, I would take an elevator presuming no one else would come on. After all, a strange black girl in an elevator -I might steal a purse, no? Nothing doing, folks piled into that elevator and made the best of the space available. They'd even push if there wasn't enough space!

But I must say,inequivocolly, that I absolutely hated the beaurocracy there. Hated it and still detest it to this day. The clerks seems to work very hard at coming up with ways NOT to help. Whenever they could, they would hand you a slip stating you needed to make a new appointment. Hardly anything could get done with out shouting and tears. What a bother!

Israel felt like a third world country made up of first world citizens. Once I went to get a blood test. All the workers there had the white coats, etc. but many also had open toe sandals. I don't know, that seemed a bit odd to me.

But there were fun parts too. Once some other travellers and I missed our bus. There were no more buses leaving where we were (Ramat Beit Shemesh) to go to Jerusalem. We didn't know what to do. Should we try to share an expensive cab ride. We were all strangers to each other. Should we each try to hitchhike (which is pretty common here) Suddenly, an off duty bus passed us by and we all waved at it for help. Hooray, It stopped! We explained our situation and he promptly offered to take us all back to Jerusalem. This driver was in a very good mood. So much so that he opened up his glove compartment, took out a bottle of pepsi and some cups and passed drinks all around. Everyone and sat around the front seats chatting.

Another time, I returned back to the Western Wall in the Old City to pray where the Holy Temple once stood. Usually the place is packed and I can never make it too the actual wall. This time I made it. However, everytime I opened my mouth to pray, the lady next to me would wail! She would cry out with such depth and pain that I had to wait until she calmed down so I can concentrate on my own prayer. Calmness again. I opened my mouth again -and there she went. Wailing! After a few more episodes of this, the only prayer I could muster up was, "Dear God, please help this poor women with whatever she needs!"

I began to change from the inside. Materialism was not as strongly emphasized. Spirituality was more the norm. Now, instead of shopping sprees, I now started going on 'blessing' sprees. Going from rabbis to rabbis getting blessings for x,y, and z.

Well, a few months into it all a bunch of friends decided its time to get married. The black girl, the former bhuddist, and my former room mate. Of course, we went to a sephardi rabbi from Iraq for his blessing. And then began the hard work. Going from matchmaker to matchmaker putting our best foot forward, etc. In my previously blissful self-indulging, I failed to see any of the negatives of Israel. But as the search for my bashert (destined) dragged on, my eyes also began to open to the not so good sides of things...

To be continued...
(this series will conclude on number 4)