מאה שארים

Me'ah She'arim (if you don't already know) is a very religious neighborhood. When you think about what a sterotypical Jew looks like, they probably live there. If you can't think of what I mean by the stereotypical looking Jew, picture men with either fur hats, black hats, etc. Men have either a goldish or black or striped or gray robe or they are wearing a black suit. Men also have the long beards and the Pe'as (side curl). Women are wearing all black, all white, black and white, maybe some gray. Their dresses are ankle length, elbows and wrists covered, collarbones covered. Married women have their heads covered and unmarried women have their hair up in a ponytail. This morning for Shabbat, Calah and I went with Achi (our madricha) to Me'ah She'arim (which means One Hundred Gates). We knew we had to dress appropriately. I wore a turquoise long skirt that went down to my shins, a lime-greenish long sleeve shirt, a green shirt that covers my collarbone, and knee high socks that look like the Wicked Witch of the East's. As we walked inside the neighborhood, the first thing we noticed was the barriers. No cars would be allowed inside on Shabbat. Then we noticed all the bulletins. Achi read them to us: "Don't go to this store, it is not Frum enough" etc. As we were walking around, Calah and I kept commenting about how filthy it was. There was trash everywhere on the street. Then Achi wanted to show us the synagogue she went to for Yom Kippur. So we went and she was telling us about her first time there when she couldn't find the entrance to the women's section and asked a man to show her. (on a side note...in this neighborhood, if a woman is walking on one side of the street and a man sees her, he walks to the opposite side of the street) The women's section was up a set of stairs that seemed hidden. It wasn't too crowded up there mainly because the women's section was surrounding 3 of the 4 sides of the shul. When we were sitting in shul, there was a 12 year old looking girl who kept giving Calah and I dirty looks (probably because we weren't wearing black). So Calah leans over to me and says" if she gives us one more dirty look, I'm going to stick my tongue out at her to see what she does." Before the Torah service, we decided to leave. However, before we went down the stairs, Achi asked us if we had any questions. "What's the difference between the different types of hats and why only black and white clothing? Why is there so much candy for the kids?" We asked a girl who had a bag of candy. The candy was because there were 2 brides and 2 grooms (so 4 families). Black and white because it's just the way things are. The hats and men's clothing have something to do with before marriage and after marriage. As we were heading back to base for lunch, we asked 3 women who were walking about the black and the hats, but this time about why most people shave their hair and just leave the pe'as. In the Torah, it says you should leave hair to a certain point and they interpret it as shaving their hair. We noticed she was married because her head was covered, but we noticed her head was shaved underneath that. After we left, we walked on the outskirts of the neighborhood for a bit. Then, we came to the Russian Compound. Achi was explaining that it used to be a hostel for men and a hostel for women and a hostel for the rich, but now it's a jail. As we were walking down the road a bit, we saw a very familiar place. What I learned is actually called Kikar Maccabi, I know it as Crack Square (The alleyway looking road that where the bars and clubs are. While I have walked through there at night, I had never seen it during the day. What a difference. Everything was closed and I never realized how wide the street actually was. At the end of the street was a restaurant. As we went up to it, Achi pointed out the lyrics to a very famous song by a popular Israeli band. Hadag Nahash's Hine Ani Ba. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kke3gP1Opi4 (it's the song with English subtitles). Then we went to a little circular area where if you stand in the middle of the circle, it echos. Then we walked back to base to have lunch. We stopped in the park and learned a little bit about the convent next to us. Then Achi mentioned she wanted to learn the history of Beit Nativ. Fortunately, I knew about it because when I went to shul the previous week, the rabbi (who happened to formerly live in Dallas) did a mini tour of the guest house. Then Achi remembered she was going to find me a host family for lunch. She was gone for quite some time, so I sat down at the table when she walks in. She told me they are waiting for me at their house. She proceeded to tell me the directions. As I eventually found out (after getting lost), I went the wrong way. So after I walked back to tell her I got lost, she got up from the table and walked me very close to where I was actually supposed to go. Throughout this walk, I kept apologizing to Achi about how I was stupid and couldn't find my way and how I felt bad about her having to get up from lunch. While I was saying this, she kept telling me to shut up. "Shut up, Dena. Shut up. Punch Buggy. Shut up" I found my way the second time with her help. When I arrived, I recognized one of the people. [if you remember from my entry about the worst Shabbat ever when I had to go to a different house for lunch] She was there. It turns out, I went to her daughter's house. It was a very enjoyable day. After a nice lunch, I went back at 15:00 and slept until 17:30. It was fun