Shabbat in Jerusalem

The sixth day blog written by Anne Easterling and Leonard Freifelder.

It's March 21, 2009 and the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue group is in Jerusalem. So, why is this day different from all of the other days of this trip? Why? ... because it's Shabbos in Jerusalem!!

And, for the first day since we've arrived in Israel, the group really doesn't have anything (much) on our schedule. This morning, the Rabbi did give a speech at a nearby Shabbat service. Mike, our guide, did give a tour of the old city in the afternoon. So, what did we do? We caught up on our sleep (because Anne was sick).

What's Shabbos like in Jerusalem? It's very quiet, because basically everything is closed, at least until later in the day. It's kind of like a Saturday afternoon in Manhattan in July, when everyone is in the Hamptons or somewhere other than New York City. There's more space to walk around, there's fewer cars of the street, everyone is calmer than they are on the other days of the week.

Before Anne and I left on the trip, Ammi warned us to sleep before we left and his admonition was true. The pace, up until today, was very frenetic. And, even going to bed by 10 pm, you didn't seem to be rested when you got up to get going the next morning. So, today's break from the schedule was welcomed, at least by the two of us.

This afternoon, Anne felt better and we had a quick drink on the terrace of the King David hotel overlooking the Old City. The view was lovely and although it was sunny and bright, it was a little cold. We then took a walk to the Old City of Jerusalem. The old city, although mostly closed, because it was still Shabbos, is much like you might imagine.

It's a warren of tiny streets with slippery cobblestones and doorways leading who knows where. Occasionally, there's a Roman arch or column, an apparent archeological dig. Then, of course, there's a shwarma stand or a Coca Cola sign or a modern jewelry store (all closed while we were walking around). We walked through the Arab market, which was open, full of little shops similar to what we've seen in other locations on this trip.

Then, this evening, we got our first invitation to move to Israel. While we were walking to go to dinner, someone behind us started calling out "Cleveland, Cleveland." The couple thought that we were from Cleveland because of the logo on the back of my denim jacket.

They were an American couple who had moved to Jerusalem a few years ago. It seems that they do marketing to several U.S. baseball teams via a call center that they've set up here. Anyway, after telling us how hard it was to make a living in Israel if you don't speak Hebrew fluently, they suggested that we should consider making Aliyah.

What a sales pitch!!