They Paved Paradise...

The past two Shabbats, I have been spending my afternoons outside of a parking lot. You might be thinking that Ethan has finally lost it and the the Jerusalem weather is going to his head. Or you may be asking yourself, Why is Ethan going to a parking lot when there are so many beautiful places to spend the Sabbath in Jerusalem, from parks to the old city, or to his own bed. And you may even be asking yourself if this is the parking lot that Joni Mitchell sang about in "Big Yellow Taxi."

Those are all good questions and thoughts, but the real reason why I am spending time outside of a parking establishment is that there have been protests every Shabbat afternoon since my arrival seven weeks ago to this "Holy" City (though you wouldn't know it was holy if you were strolling by the parking lot on Saturday).

Why have there been protests you may ask?

It is because the parking lot is open on Shabbat. (I know--on Shabbat... I can hear your gasp of utter dismay over the internet).

Now for a little background... (and for a more in-depth background of the situation visit this site, the reflection was written by Rabbi Stanley Davids who I traveled with to the protest). Jerusalem citizens elected a new secular mayor, after there was a division between the ultra-orthodox sects during the last election. Since coming into in office, the mayor realized that there was no place for tourists to park (Jewish and non-Jewish) when visiting the Old City on Shabbat, so he decided to open up the municipal parking lot, outside of the Jaffa Gate (one of the gates of the old city). All visitors can park here for free on Saturday so they can visit the many holy sites of the Old City. Yet, a sect of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi didn't like the mayor's decision to open up the parking lot, as they consider this a violation of Shabbat, and to show their disgust they have been protesting every Saturday afternoon since the opening.

As a Jerusalem resident for the year, I decided to check out the protest. And it has been one of the most enthralling yet disturbing and disgusting things I have ever witnessed.

At about 6 PM sharp.... you start hearing people yelling in a low, monotone voice, "Shabbos..." You hear it first, and then all of a sudden a flood of men and boys dressed in black and white, with black hats, kippot, pay'es and beards emerge onto the sidewalks and streets surrounding the entrance and exit to the parking lot. Israeli police forces and soldiers are around the parking lot trying to maintain order as members of this Haredi sect start running into the streets, sitting down in front of cars, pushing the soldiers, and continuing to yell "Shabbos... Shabbos... Shabbos...."

Then a protester or two sits down in the middle of the road. After about 20 seconds, a group of police officers pick up the protester and bring him back to the sidewalk. Sometimes it gets a bit more physical, and two officers on horseback ride around to disperse the crowd, which seems to be pretty effective (from my two weeks at the protest I have come to the conclusion that the longer your pay'es -- sidelocks -- the bigger coward you are). When you think it can't get any worse, the mob starts yelling "Nazi Nazi" at the Jewish police and soldiers and spitting at women who are walking by who are showing too much skin for their liking.

There are a few counter-protesters, yelling back at the mob. Pointing out there are other ways to be Jewish. Yelling at them for fighting against other Jews. But their words are shot down by chants of "Shabbos... Shabbos... Shabbos..."

Each week, when I leave the protest, I'm disgusted. I'm disgusted that I stayed and watched it for so long... Disgusted at this group of Haredi men who don't pay taxes to Israel, don't join the Israeli Army, who don't bring anything to Israeli society except hatred towards people who do not practice the same Judaism that they do. This is no way to celebrate Shabbat. I want to shake the protesters and tell them, "Go take a Shabbat nap--you would be so much happier."

This parking lot needs to stay open, the mayor and the municipality should not fold because of a few hundred men who have nothing better to do than protest an opening of a parking lot. Jerusalem needs to be a city where all types of Jews can feel comfortable and welcomed to practice their own type of Judaism.

I love Jerusalem but..... (Part I)

Jerusalem Cats Drive me CRAZY!!

This is what I see when I leave my house every morning. Ten to twenty cats sitting on a stoop, hissing at people, scurrying around owning the streets, picking fights with other neighborhood cats, waking you up in the morning with their meowing and fighting. Jumping out at you when you pass their dumpster. The situation is awful (trust me...), I think it might be worse than sitting through a production of CATS the musical.

The history behind Jerusalem's Cat Problem:
1. Jerusalem used to be over run by rats.
2. Jerusalem officials decided to release stray cats into the city to solve this problem.
3. Jerusalem has a MAJOR cat problem...

Thanks for listening to my rant... I feel better now.

On another note...
Below is a picture of the family that I stayed with last weekend at Kibbutz Yagur. Kibbutz Yagur is the largest Kibbutz in the world with the largest dance club in Israel too. The dance club holds over 3,000 people and during the day it turns into a playground/adventure park for kids from the Kibbutz. (I hope they clean up well from the night before). I left the club around 1 AM and people were just getting there... I think I'm getting a bit old.

The weekend up North was wonderful filled with a lot of relaxing, eating, and good conversation. One interesting note about my family is that the husband (Ronen) is Israeli and his wife (Marriana) is Brazilian but not Jewish. Interfaith marriage in Israel is extremely rare... and may cause some challenges in the future for their very cute one-year old, Ben. (Ben was also the name of my late cat-- I liked my cat and the one-year old a lot better than the Jerusalem cats... but that isn't too hard).

Ben (the kid, don't want to confuse you with my dead cat) is not considered Jewish as his mother is not Jewish. So Marianna is looking into converting, as she is very interested and knowledgeable about the Jewish faith. However, she has run into some problems and obstacles with the ultra-orthodox rabbis she has talked to about conversion. She is now thinking about meeting with a Reform rabbi in Haifa to see if she might begin the process with him. Yet, some in Israel would still not consider her Jewish if she does a Reform or Conservative conversion. Just another highlight of the tensions between Secular and Religious Jews of Israel.

So I got to run... I have to break up fight outside... Two cats are at again. But I'll try to blog later this week, updating you on my Hebrew skills and all that is good in Jerusalem.

PEACE,

ERBP

Milk and Honey Today... Big Apple Tomorrow

I hope that you can excuse the delay in my posting a new entry on my blog. I been extremely busy meeting with two of my good friends Bibi Netanyahu and George Mitchell. You see, it seems that there has been tension between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over the entire settlement issue. I have been trying to help them to find common ground, but so far to no avail, I been unable to figure anything out. I'm still optimistic...

The big news regarding Kotel6 is that in a year the entire establishment will be moving to the Big Apple. Though rent is a bit higher in NYC, four years of schooling at HUC-NYC is calling as well as a shoe-box apartment somewhere in the five boroughs.

Besides, trying to get the peace plan back on track and being wicked excited about NYC (I might need to get rid of this word from my vocab now that I'm not living in Boston)... I've been working on my Hebrew, attending some concerts, the Jerusalem wine-festival (which was awesome!), playing tennis, and continuing to eat as much falafel and shwarma as possible.

Last week was Tisha B'av, and some Jews would call it the "saddest day in Jewish history," as it is the date in history when the first and second temples were destroyed. On Tisha B'av many traditional Jews fast, refrain from wearing leather shoes, do not bathe, read the book of lamentations, and gather at the Kotel the entire night. (To me it sounds similar to what they do every day....) As a reform Jew, I rarely commemorate Tisha B'av... because 1. it is during the summer months and we are on vacation and 2. we're not really focused on rebuilding the second temple and going back to animal sacrifice. I did however mark Tisha B'av by attending a service and visiting the Kotel. The wall was packed with lots of croc wearing folk, tearful eyes, and some colorful characters. Pictures from my visit are below...

The Kotel6 Pose

reading lamentations at the Kotel

A random guy I met at the Wall

Unfortunately, this past week Israel was also witness to baseless hatred, when two Israelis were killed (a 16.5 teen year old girl and a 24 year old man) on Saturday night and several others wounded when a masked gunman bursted into a gay community center in the heart of Tel Aviv and opened fire. The story was all over the news in Israel, and secular Jews were pointing fingers at ultra-Orthodox communities for in-sighting hate. The Tel Aviv police have not found the murdered and have not uncovered a motive either. To show our support for the two that were murdered and for the gay and lesbian community in Israel, I attended a vigil with many of my classmates in Jerusalem. Here are some photos from the vigil too.

The signs read... Only 16 and Here is not Iran

On a more uplifting note... I'm heading to a Kibbutz up North for Shabbat and staying with a random family. The Kibbutz is said to have a great pool (I'm excited --- no sarcasm here) and the largest dance club in Israel (I'm pumped --lots of sarcasm here). I'll make sure to update you on my adventures.

But for now... Shalom,

ERBP