Market Day: The person I’m staying with in Jerusalem gets up at 4am on Friday to do Shabbats shopping at the huge Mahaneh Yehuda Market. We arrive at 5 a.m. and already the place is buzzing with activity. A large group of “Ultras” walks past us on their way home from early morning prayers. It seems that a month before the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) there is a sects that conducts services throughout the City at this ungodly hour. Twice I tried and failed to get up in time to participate in the service. I can only assume that God is a morning person.
Just a few of the many trucks lined up at 5 a.m. to set-up the busy Mahaneh Yehuda Market. Most of the vendors have already been to the wholesale markets at 3 a.m. to make the best and freshest purchases.
I’m sure every “farmers” market sets up like the one in Jerusalem, but the combination of its huge size and the impending insanely chaotic Friday shopping day, makes this an especially unique experience. At this hour, everyone is especially friendly and my guide seems to know everyone by first name. Of course, no two products are bought at the same stall. One vendor with unique seedless grapes, can not be used to purchase, special cherries. Cheeses, (I affectionately call them the “Baby Cheeses” in honor of the fact that the son of God may actually have shopped at this market) are in a separate wing and fresh breads are purchases down the street at the bakery. Within an hour, twenty individual bags have been accumulated, a meaningful one-on-one conversation/negotiations has been exchanged with each seller and then all the early morning regulars sit down for a nice breakfast. As you can imagine with this many Jews, the conversations are animated, sometimes contentious and usually insightful.
This totally unexplainable and even gaudy sculpture sits atop one of the premier art buildings on the grounds of the huge Israel Museum.
Here is a better example of the other sculptures on the grounds of the museum, The towering letters spell "love" in Hebrew and there is yet another breathtaking view of Jerusalem in the background.
Dead Sea Scrolls: On the one hand it is easy to dismiss the Scrolls as much ado about nothing. After all, these are the writings of a group of people, living in the middle of nowhere, with barely a pot to piss in, (actually the only pot they may have had was used to hide the Scrolls), writing in an archaic language, which not only is in fragments, but eroded over time and difficult to translate. One the other hand, the Israelis really know how to package their archeological discoveries. The building housing the Scrolls as well as all the surrounding decorations, make for an incredibly impressive presentation. I don’t know much about the Scrolls but two things jumped out at me from the various segments on display. First, the Esseneians (or whoever wrote them) were dedicated ascetics as in fervently anti-materialists. This is in breathtaking contrast to the modern Israelis whose pursuit of seems to know no bounds. Second, the “creator” who apparently either dictated or inspired the words written down in the Scrolls, seemed unnecessarily obsessed with how he/she/it was to be worshipped, with pages and pages of detailed rules as to what can and mostly can not be done on the Sabbath, and similar instructions many of which the Ultras not only follow today, but expect everyone else to follow. I just don’t get it. If there is a god and he/she/it has the power, time and inclination to talk to us mere mortals, then why spend so much time explaining what kind of goat should be sacrificed on what kind of holiday in order to get a measly smile on the face of the supreme being. In any case, despite all their efforts to follow these rules, the Esseenians never seemed to have made it out of their desert caves.
This is a photo of the "jar" shaped white building that houses the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was built to look like the containers in which the scrolls were found, it is white to symbolize goodness, and there are showers of water continually being spayed on the building. (forgot what that symbolizes) In the foreground is a huge, black marble rectangle which I think symbolizes "evil." Not sure what that has to do the scrolls, but the image of the two icons is very powerful.
Knesset: As I have commented so often before, the Knesset building and the associated trappings of power present an awe-inspiring sight. One is endlessly reminded that Israel is the “only democracy in the Middle East” and up to a certain point that is true and worth something. It does give one pause to sit in a large parliamentary hall and contemplate the kinds of debates that have raged in that chamber. Many brilliant decisions were made there, as well as some bone-head ones. Of course, the ultimate issue of “peace with its neighbors” has not only eluded the government, it has also eluded the Jewish people for 3,000 years. That is not the fault of democracy, but I am not quite convinced that a democracy has the intelligence and will to bring about peace in our time.
This is a portion of the large iron fence surrounding the Knesset. This is a common motif in Israel and I believe it is usually trying to represent barbed wire and memorialize the Holocaust.
What I find really fascinating about Israeli politics is the absolute brilliant strategy of the Ulta-conservative religious parties. For many reasons, some logical and other irrational, the Israeli electorate is generally equally split between liberals and conservatives and this split pertains mostly to issues of war and peace and economic welfare policies. The Ulta’s, however, represent “god’s” issues, which mainly comes down to getting extra money for having their children, making sure their kids don’t have to go into the Army, and no negotiations on the status of Jerusalem. With these issues clearly articulated and with their 10-20% voting bloc, they can form a coalition government with either the liberals or conservatives depending on who is more willing to meet their demands. It’s a brilliant strategy, which uses the Israeli democratic institutions to ultimately reach an undemocratic conclusion.
This is a distant photo of the Knesset building as picture taking was forbidden inside which is unfortunate because there were huge Chagill tapestries and the chamber was very impressive.
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