Day 8 - Adventures in Sales

Today I was ambivalent about what to do.  Last night I met three really cool Israelis who all immigrated from Russia/Ukraine at the tail end of the exodus from the former Soviet Union in the 90s.  They were just visiting Jerusalem for the weekend and stayed in the hostel.  They're really friendly! They invited me to go to the Israel Museum with them, and maybe I should have gone.  But all public transportation is shut down on Shabbat and it looks really, really far on the map, so I thought I'd save it for another day when the busses are running.

What I ended up doing probably involved more walking, though, so in the end...?

I thought I'd cram in a few more Christian things before I meet up with my next Jewish program.  And along the way hit up some other stuff to.

The streets are empty on Shabbat, it's always very peaceful and lovely

Adorable little kid and a beautiful narrow street in the Jewish Quarter of the old city

The Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter

So, this synagogue was originally build in the early 1700s and called the Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid synagogue.  In 1721 it was destroyed by the Muslims.  When the area was recaptured by Israel, they built a commemorative arch and it looked like this: (Photo not mine)

In 2010 they rebuilt it so it looks like my photo above, and called it "HaHurva" meaning "The Ruin."  This is this really terrible speech by a Palestinian leader I saw a while back, I'll try to post it some time, in which he was talking about how Jews are demons and how we even have a synagogue called "THE TEMPLE OF RUIN!!!" Hilarious.  It's called the ruin because you ruined it. I can't.

I walked by the Western Wall, intending just to peek down, expecting it to be crowded as always.  But it was EMPTY!!! Now was my chance!  

My shoulders might harm the delicate feelings of the men.  They're very powerful shoulders, you know. I put on a wrap.

This is the bag of prayers I collected from friends in the US and around the world.  I put them all in the wall!

I went to the wall and I cried a little and I prayed a little and it was nice. I had a lot of space so I could really give it good snuggle. I am excited about my prayer.  We'll see what happens.

Then I went into the Western Wall tunnels.  Basically, they're  tunnels under the temple mount that get you closer to the original structure inside.  It was pretty cool! Unfortunately they do not allowed photos inside, but here's one I found online to just give you an idea:

Unfortunately, I had to go in the women's tunnel, which leads to the women's section.  You get to the end of the tunnel and you end at an interior wall of the old temple.  The guys are all down at the wall praying and chanting.  It's very beautiful.  There's a fancy altar.  Guys of all ages and dress are down there, praying and davening and singing and laughing and moving lawn chairs around.

Ladies, on the other hand, are restricted to a glass balcony.  We can't even go up to the wall! We don't even have our own section!  

SO STUPID.

I might have been angry another day.  But today I was just amused.  So amused that these dudes are so afraid of their own sexuality that they keep the women away because they'll be too distracted by our very presence to talk to God.  Gentleman, God made you this way, you know! Grow up!  So pathetic.

Then I wandered through the Muslim quarters on my way to Gethsemane. This is where the title of this post comes from.  Soooooo many eager salesmen out today.

Now, I'm pretty sure every shop owner or guide I spoke with feels very accomplished for tricking or cheating the silly American girl.  But I have to say, that's not the case.  I don't really barter with people, just pay the asking price, not because I"m a moron but because if he asking price is $8 for a pretty scarf, then what the hell do I care?  It's worth $8 to me, so fine. I could talk them down to $5, but why bother? The $3 might actually mean something to them, and I'm getting a thing I want.

I also "fall for" different tactics to get me into shops.  And by fall for, I mean recognize and agree to just to see where they plan to go with this. For example, this guy was like "Hi! Hi! Do you speak English?" and when I said yes, he asked me to go into his shop and write out "Grand opening" for him because he doesn't know how.  Of course I knew this was a ploy, but what was his transition going to be? I went in and wrote it for him, though I said the english on his business cards was perfect so I'm sure he could manage.  He didn't really try to transition, he just asked where I got my star necklace, and when I said the US, he asked if I wanted matching earrings, and I said my ears aren't pierced and left.

BAM, you have to ask needs based questions, man.  You have to size up your customer.  I don't have pierced ears.

Another guy tried to get me to come in by saying, "Hey pretty lady, you like silver jewelry? You want a rich husband?"

And what if I am??? Am I going to find a rich husband in your shop??? I don't understand this pitch.

Another guy asked me to stop, and when I said I couldn't, he said, "Oh, well you don't like men then."  Clear cause and effect there.

I finally made it to Gethsemane and the adventures in sales continued.  This middle aged guy stopped me and asked me if I was with a group.  When I said no, he said "Why do you look so sad??? Why would an American Jew look so sad???" I smiled and did a little dance for him and he said he wanted to be my guide.  I talked down his price (because it actually was higher than I was willing to pay this time).  And I'm glad I hired him because it was a hilarious mess.

Now, maybe he was actually very knowledgeable and was telling him the truth, but I have my doubts.  For those of you who don't know your New Testament, Gethsemane is an area East of Jerusalem where Jesus hung out with his friends, had the last supper, and they all passed out when he asked them to stay awake, and then he cried and prayed a lot because he knew what was coming, and then Judas betrayed him and Romans came to arrest him and then this roman guard's ear was cut off and then Jesus put it back on and then Jesus started sweating blood and then they dragged him away and it's all very intense.

My guide tells me this is the Golden Gate where they took Jesus in after his arrest, and how the Messiah will eventually enter Jerusalem.  I told him I didn't see any openings but he insisted there was one.  "A huge one!!"

They built a church around the Stone of Agony, where Christ sat when he was praying to God the night before his arrest.  You can kind of see it between these people's heads.

All of the architecture, like this door, is themed around the olive trees in the garden.

The other nice thing about having a guide is he could take pictures of me.  Here I am with the oldest tree in the garden.

The garden, it was pretty!

So, apparently, you can't go into the garden unless you talk to the priest ahead of time.  Not sure I really believe that.  There was this guide in the garden who was wearing normal clothes and didn't look like a priest, but my guide said he was The Father and that he'd take a donation if I wanted an olive branch or a piece of wood to bring home with me.  Pretty sure this was just a friend of my guide's who snuck into the garden and then sold me some mulch, but again, I don't really care.

The grotto of Gethsemane, where my guide tells me Jesus and his friends liked to hang out.

Then we went into this little place where supposedly Mary, Jesus's mother, died  and then rose again three days later.  This rock in the glass is supposed to be where she died.

This was all in a cave, too.

I asked why everything was in caves.  He said it was because they didn't have houses or churches back then.  I squinted at him.  Of course they had houses, Jesus visited Jerusalem, a city of buildings. He said no, no houses or churches.  Well, not churches, I said, but other places of worship.  No, he said, just caves.  He said Jesus was also born in a cave.  I said I thought the story was that Jesus was born in a barn.  He said yes, a barn in a cave.

It's disturbing how confident he was about this.  I wonder how many people leave Gethsemane picturing Hebrew cavemen...

A view of the Mount of Olives and the giant Jewish cemetery.

The old city has the best street names!

Attack of confident ignorance part two!  So I was trying to get out of the old city again (It's a MAZE, I tell you!) and this guy stops me at a street corner and said if I go up these steps, I'll get a great view of the city.  I thought... why not?  So up I went.  Where are you from, he asked.  I said Boston.  He gave me a head start up the stairs but then chased after me.  "Boston, Boston!" he cried.  "Hey, Boston! Did you know, this is the OLDEST part of the city???" he pointed to this random white dome in the roof.  "It's from the Romans!" he said proudly.

I squinted at him.  "It can't be the oldest if it's Roman..." I said dubiously.  "The city was here before the Romans came."

"Who told you that???" he asked, alarmed.

"It's history..." I said.

"It was a Roman city first," he insisted.

At this point I was hot and tired and done with this ridiculousness so I waved him away.  Then I tripped and slid on the very pretty but very slippery stone roof and fell on my butt and now I have a huge purple bruise.  But I DID get a nice view!

The Dome of the Rock.  I tried to go up Temple Mount, too, but it was closed today.

Some graffiti on the roof.

At the end of the day I went with my new Russian Israeli friends to get some dinner.  We went to a Georgian restaurant and then I did some laundry back at the hostel.

This will be my last entry for a few days because I'm going into the West Bank.  It's not like I'm going into a post-apocalyptic world or something.  But I just think it might be better to leave my laptop in a locker here.  I'm not sure if there will be internet anyway.  I will write everything down and post about it when I get back on Tuesday!

Love you all!