Maale Adumim

I've spent almost a week in a town over the Green Line called Maale Adumim. It's a city really, but so much quieter and cleaner than Jerusalem, with many more trees and views of undeveloped valleys and of Jerusalem. The air is clean and there's so little traffic that you can hear the birds sing. I felt my heart open up the first time I came here to visit with Maya and Ivan.

The commute via bus and train to Jerusalem is inconvenient, but seeing bare earth rejuvenates my soul, which I did not even realize needed rejuvenating.

The commute has its up side. One day, when traffic was particularly bad and I was beginning to be annoyed, the bus crested a hill and a view of the Old City appeared before us. Amazing!

Last week, Maya and Ivan helped me schlep my three small bags and drum on public transport and then Ivan helped me track down the home I'd be staying in. (Never would have found it without him!) Then we walked to their home. I spent some time with them before taking a short walk, buying a few groceries at a tiny, Ethiopian makolet, and enjoying the view of a forested valley in front of Dennis's and Batyah's home.

I should have taken pictures, but I was so caught up in looking that it never occurred to me.

Friday was great! I've been wondering about the rhythm of the week here. In the States, Shabbat begins right at the end of the work week, so you have to spend a little time every day preparing for Shabbat, and then, after enjoying Shabbat, you have Sunday to either rest some more or run errands. Here it often feels that we don't have a weekend at all. You spend Friday morning rushing to do errands or see sites before everything shuts down in the early afternoon.

I think this past Friday are what Fridays in Israel are supposed to feel like, a gentle movement toward Shabbat. I took a very early morning walk, then went back to bed, did my laundry, and helped a tiny bit with Shabbos cleaning. The art museum was closed and so was the archaeological site, so then I walked past stunning views to the kanyon (K.N.H. - shoresh for buying) and wrote a little bit.

Maya had started a new job my first day there and was also very, very sick, so I hadn't see much of her, which was one of the main reasons I came out here for the week. On Friday, she dragged herself out to spend time with me. We sat on the grass near some olive trees in front of the town's knesset, enjoying the warm sun watching a black and tan raven and talking about Tolkien and aliyah. Maya really should have been in bed resting, but I was so glad we had that time together.

She took me to a grocery store and showed me how to "rent" a shopping cart. I  managed some short, Hebrew conversations in the grocery store (Yes, I can save your place... Sorry, sir, there's one person ahead of you...) before heading back to Dennis's and Batyah's home.  I admired the view, their son showed me how to set a table, and then I began reading the weekly parasha.

To my surprise, Dennis asked if I'd like to walk to shul with him. It was kind of him, but I didn't want to sit alone in the girl's section and try to remember my way around the prayer book, so I stayed to finish reading the parasha and to light candles with Batyah.

Just three months of intensive Hebrew has transformed how I read the parasha! I could locate words and phrases more easily, knew what to look up, and wondered at past tense verbs that shouldn't have been in the past tense. It was the most fun I've ever had reading the parasha alone. Just think what a few more years of study could do for me!

I had interacted with Dennis and his children just a little and had barely seen Batyah before the weekend, so I wondered what Shabbat dinner would be like. Fabulous! Dutch melodies are different, but they asked me what my favorite song was and Dennis (for obvious reasons) knew the Sephardic tune that I love. And discussion of the parasha was relaxed and inquisitive. Dennis also explained the "tense changing vav" to me.

Woke early again, Shabbat morning. The sun was warm and I listened to birds singing and gazed at the trees. This is the kind of place I need to live in. I feel human again.

My day was very Jewish, if unobservant. It was Tisha B'av and I listened to an online meditation and a lecture by Jill Hammer about the evolution of Tisha B'av observance. Then I walked some more and took a Shabbos nap. I was reading when Batyah invited me to join them for havdallah. How nice of them! It's one of my favorite rituals.

My time here was wonderful, but I won't stay any longer. The local aliyah rep would help me find an apartment in Maale Adumim, but it's not the town for me. I think I'd be too alone. Dennis doesn't think a single woman could find community. I don't think I'd see much of Ivan and Maya, and besides, they will be moving away at the end of the summer. It's a shame, because I like Maale Adumim so much more than Jerusalem.)