January 24-30, 2009 from Stan

Jan. 24, Evening: Stan: We went to the ‘Off the Wall Comedy Basement’ on Ben Yehuda and King George in a real basement. There were two comedians and since this is Jerusalem both were Rabbis!! First was Rabbi David Kilimnick originally from Rochester, NY. His show is called, “after three years here, still can’t find a job or a wife.” He was funny talking about his father had spent $150000 on his rabbinical training and now he chose comedy as a career. What was funnier was that his father (also a Rabbi, but not stated) was in the audience. Second was Rabbi Morty Katz, from Australian and more recent Brooklyn who had 16 kids and had a very dry sense of humor. A great show.

Jan. 25: Stan: We went to a concert at the Jerusalem Theater only to find that the concert had been cancelled because the musicians were out on strike. So we went through display of costumes from the Jerusalem Theater over the last 40 years, which was in part of the lobby. Some of the gowns were quite impressive. It was fun to guess the play from the clothes. Lots of the plays were written by Israeli’s and may have not made to Broadway.


Jan. 30. Stan: We went on a 3.5 hour walk around the Old City with a company that does the tour for free only for tips. We covered all 4 quarters of the Old City. Very interesting but I will spare dear reader by relating only 3 items. The walls around the Old City were built in 1532, by Suleyman the Magnificent to protect the Jerusalem & Muslims from another Crusade. I guess he was too familiar with European history at that time.
The two architects/engineers who built this imposing structure were beheaded because Suyelman didn’t want them to build something equally grand for someone else. Or, he was mad as heck since they left Mt. Zion King David’s Tomb outside the walls. He was soon sorry of his deed that he had their short tombs placed near the entrance where they are to this day.

Second, there is a Christian man named Wendell Jones who has been searching for over 30 years for the Arc of the Covenant lost from the First Temple Destruction in 587 BCE. He has been digging in the desert with a band of followers. When Steve Spilberg came in the early 80’s heard about Wendell and decided it would make a great movie, which it certainly did although the name was changed to Indiana Jones. Interesting Wendell 2 kids converted to Judaism and are now Orthodox. Only in Israel.

Third, 2 weeks ago there was a fistfight in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre between Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Priests over which group has time to do certain religious ceremonies. In fact the church is locked each night and unlocked each morning by a Muslim who has had the key in his family for centuries since the Christian groups can’t agree even on the possession of the key

For Shabbat services I went to Shira Hadasha in the International Cultural Center for Youth on Emek Refayim just 1 block south of our street Cremieux. It is very modern Orthodox with separate seating but equal for men and women with a curtain down the center of the large room. Women lead the Kabbalat Shabbat service, which all sung with Carlebach tunes, which were wonderful. The singing was very loud, happy, and with clapping. Men lead the next service Mincha. On Shabbat morning women are called to the Torah, read from the Torah, and can recite Kaddish. Of course everything is in Hebrew. A very large and young congregation.

For Shabbat dinner we were invited to Allen and Rita Croft on 3 HaMeitz#6 in the German Colony. He was a professor at Amherst for many years in Biochemistry and Biophysics. Also present were Sol and Julia Green. Sol is very active at Pardes and is taking Rabbi Hartman’s class also. A wonderful time.

Jan. 31 Shabbat: Stan: We went to the Conservative Synagogue again. See Jan. 24 description. Cantor Ahuva Batz was incredible as usual and it is wonderful experience to hear pray and sing. She sends her love to Bob and Susie Raful and said she sits in the chair they donated.

We were invited for Shabbat lunch to Jeff and Yemima Finger’s at 6 Molcho #5 in Rachvia off Jabotinsky. Jeff is Roberta’s sister Steffi’s friend from way back when Jeff was getting a Ph.D. in computer science at Stanford and they both attended Israeli dance classes. Jeff told this funny story that after he made aliya to Israel he really wanted to get married so he went to a matchmaker (they still have them here). After 62 dates he decided to call it quits. His hard drive was getting full keeping track of all the info on each. Then he met his future wife just walking down the hall in his apartment building where they both lived. Just good luck around the corner. Yemima is very sweet and cute and their 2 year daughter Abigail is also cute. Most incredible she told about one of her grandparents who lived in a small town in Iran as a Muslim! In 1835-9 there was a blood libel in their small town and all the Jews either had to convert to Islam or be killed. The families outwardly were Muslim and secretly Jewish from then until they immigrated to Israel (I think in 1949) when they resumed their Judaism. For over 120 years this family hid their religion but maintained Judaism and are now very religious. Absolutely incredible!! She served a wonderful complete dinner with many different dishes unique to Jerusalem.

Had a delicious lunch--an onion dish something
like a quiche but no crust except its own crispiness on the bottom, grape leave
rolls, tomato and cucumber salad, avocado and pine nut salad with lemon
juice dressing, fried cauliflower, a potato dish with a yellow Indian spice which was neither curry mixture nor tumeric. salmon. Dessert was a fruit compote
and cake. Also had delicious challah from a bakery. He used to bake his
own challah but no longer as Jerusalem is the challah capitol of the
world.: