Monday, July 6 Jerusalem

Our last full day in Jerusalem, and it was quite unexpected, as we are used to...

We woke up early and got the girls ready for Camp Ramah. I took them by taxi (meter, 31 shekels (lots of slow traffic) and walked across the street to take the #22 bus back to the center of town, to the hotel, and then to some time to write.

....and then Marci called... She's on an immersion in Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox, Torah True Judaism, take your pick) life led by Rabbi Menashe (once known as Mark) Bleiwess; whom I knew as an undergrad at Cal (Go Bears!). Marci got me special permission to join them for part of their tour of Mea She'arim, the most tradition-bound community in Jerusalem, with Menashe offering support since he also wanted a chance to reconnect after the 15 years or so its been since we've seen each other.

Presto chango. Got back to the hotel; absented the T-shirts and shorts; and faster than Mr. Rogers changes his sweater, I was long slacks, long sleeve colored shirt, kippah, and off to walk to Mea Shearim.

We were to meet at the Mir Yeshiva, otherwise known as "The Mir." Organized in 1815 in Poland, it is now, in Jerusalem, the largest yeshiva in the world with 6,000 students. Waiting outside The Mir for Marci and the Wexner group, I was usually ignored by the men walking in and out. Occasionally, some would slow down, look me over (not mistaking me for Haredi). One was kind enough to ask if I was lost...

When the Wexner group came (women together in the front; men together behind them), we were able to tour the Mir with the Rosh Yeshivah (Principal, Head of School, Superintendent, whatever). It was very high status and probably the only way about 20 western dressed men could wander through the yeshiva. The Rosh Yeshivah brought us to a huge room, PACKED with men, sitting in long rows, with lots and lots of noise as they all studied together the Talmud. They were packed in so tight it was claustrophobic. We walked through a door, into ANOTHER huge room, also PACKED with men studying. Then, up a floor, then down two floors, then onto what once was the women's balcony at their synagogue. EACH place was wall to wall Talmud study. We left the building and the Rosh Yeshivah took us to ANOTHER building. (Turns out the Yeshiva owns half a dozen buildings in the community.) This one was just as packed, in every room, and seeming crawl space. Or, as one of the guys in the Wexner group said as we got on the elevator, "What, no one studying in here?"

On a serious note, it was one heck of a fire hazard. On a more vivid one, it was described as "a factory" by one person in the group and "a sweatshop" by another. The women were able to look through one window into one room to see the place.

I did get a very brief chat with Menashe and had to leave to get the girls at camp. Apparently, and Marci will have to blog about this, he did reference our time together at Berkeley (Go Bears!) as part of his personal journey to Haredi Judaism.

I hopped in a taxi in Mea Shearim (35 shekels, off the meter, which was a GREAT price for the distance) and went to San Simon to get the girls.

We lunched at a little mini-mall around the corner from the Goldstein Youth Village, did some shopping in the local market, and then headed back for our favorite #22 bus back to the city center.

The Jerusalem Time Machine is a movie and simulator experience in Jerusalem and if you have the time to do it, I DON'T recommend it. Its really bad. So, they created a new version (shown only twice a day) on all of Israel. We saw it this afternoon. It was better than the Jerusalem Time Machine AND we still DON'T recommend you go!

Marci's cousin Donna and her parents drove in from Tel Aviv so the girls and I went for dinner with them at YMCA. Marci was at Wexner and joined us much later back at the hotel.

It's almost midnight and we're packing!

Lailah tov.