Do They Play Blackjack in Israel?: A New Week

Ahh so by the end of this post, we'll be all caught up.

Monday was uneventful...I did the laundry...I tell you this only so you don't think I've been doing some exciting thing and not telling you...

Okay, well one interesting thing. We took a walk that evening to get some falafel and went down to the old city. As we entered the Jewish quarter, we heard singing and dancing. Then saw a horde of kids running to grab what appeared to be party favors. A wedding? Bar Mitzvah? Nope, it was another new Torah dedication ceremony. And this one was way bigger than the last one. The central square next to one of the oldest (if not the oldest) synagogues in the country was filled with people celebrating, live music, and dancing. Very interesting. Sorry I don't have pictures.

Tuesday we went for another walk into the Old City. I needed some pieces for my backgammon set which I bought many years ago in Jaffa for around 30 shekels. I had been berating my friends about their negotiating skills (considering we are all future lawyers, I assumed we'd all be a lot tougher) but as it turned out, things are different now. I remember going into the market in the old city, and at the time there was so much tension in the air that there was really only one area of the Arab sections we ever went, one street that intersected the Christian and Armenian quarters. Only once did we get lost and wander into the Muslim quarter, and you could really feel the tension. Because of that atmosphere, there were very few tourists - shoppers in general - that were patronizing the market. So at the time, bargaining for a good deal was relatively easy, shopkeepers were more willing to make a deal.

Now, the market is packed. Tourists fill the small alleys and there's no animosity. This is great for the country, great for the economy, great for business...bad for haggling. These guys are real tough now. Don't get me wrong, I still don't get taken, but I just can't get as great of a deal as I think I could have. I guess it's the difference between a fair price, and a great deal.

So we wandered around into the Christian quarter, my friends wanted to look around the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and we wandered a bit into the Muslim quarter (not too far). Felt no animosity, no tension at all.

For dinner, my friend Mike invited me to his Uncle's house for Erev Shavuot, and his grandmother's birthday. His uncle just so happens to live in Ma'aleh Adumim - a settlement in the West Bank. Years ago we went to Ma'aleh Adumim for a speaker, and had to take a bulletproof bus to get there - it was really a controversial place. Now, it's still controversial, but much safer. In fact, I wouldn't even know where we were if I didn't know. It's a really beautiful town, more of a city than a settlement.

I returned to Jerusalem and met up with a couple of friends. As I mentioned, it was Erev Shavuot, the holiday when we celebrate the giving of the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai. Traditionally, people stay up all night learning and then go to the Kotel at sunrise. I wasn't sure if I would stay up, but there was a speaker I wanted to hear. Nathan Lewin, Esq, an American lawyer who frequently argues before the U.S. Supreme Court was speaking about issues involving Constitutional Law (now I wish I had my Chemerinsky book with me). This fall he will argue a case which stems from a congressional rule requiring American citizens born in Jerusalem to have "Born in Jerusalem" stamped on their passport, as opposed to "born in Israel." The lower courts have dismissed it as a political question. I think, if I understood correctly, that the issue is whether congress has that power as foreign affairs is an executive branch power. But I'm not 100% because we got there halfway through the lecture - it was in a tiny synagogue in a tiny neighborhood up some stairs down an alleyway, so we couldn't find the place! And wandering around Jerusalem late at night is usually not the best idea. Although that night was different because it seemed like the whole city was up and wandering around! There were literally hundreds of lectures all throughout the city all night.

The next speaker was a rabbi who spoke about good leaders having shady backgrounds, not too in depth, but somewhat interesting. At 1:30, we went to another place down the street from where we are staying to hear a lecture from someone who works in Bank of Israel. The lecture was about Real Estate and foreclosure law as it relates to the Jewish law. I didn't realize there were rules about repossession in Jewish law, but I guess people needed loans back then too. At 3:00, a real treat, the speaker was Muki Tzur, a famous Israeli author, poet, and figurehead of the Kibbutz movement. I've heard him before, but why pass up another opportunity? He was a little hard to follow, his stories kind of went all over the place, but he still gave an interesting history of the first Kibbutz, Degania, and early Zionist immigrants.

Just after 4:00, I started heading down to the Old City...and so did everyone else. People were conglomerating from all over the city to go to the Kotel. They came from the various side streets, flowing into a river of people down into the Jaffa Gate. Throngs of people stormed through the Old City, in and out of alleyways and made their way to the Kotel. Never have I seen so many people try to get to the wall at the same time. I decided to head for higher ground to get a view of the scene. As the sun came up over the desert, more and more people came. I only wish I had pictures, but since it was a holiday, I did not bring my camera. I will try to find some and if they show up, I will post them.

I walked back to the hostile around 6:00 a.m. this morning, very tired, and overwhelmed. Tonight I am heading to a concert by missFlag, an Israeli band who sings like Coldplay, some in English, some in Hebrew. They came to Texas many years ago when I was running an Israeli Music radio program, and I was able to interview them. If I can figure out how, I will post that interview. But they since broke up, and now tonight they are back together with the original band. So I am very excited about that.

But first I must pack - surprise! I'm going to Jordan tomorrow to see Amman and Petra. Will be back Saturday night. I will for sure have pictures of that.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the park near where I'm staying.