Givat Ram

This morning, I took the #14 bus to Givat Ram. While the winding route it takes through the Greek Colony, Katamon, and Talbiyah, before reaching the main government institutions was familiar, the time waiting for it wasn’t. In the past they used to post bus schedules; now, you’re just expected to know it only comes every half hour.

The National Library has been improved. I learned how to use the new system and started calling up books from the stacks. Last time I was here, I spent most of my time in the Jewish Reading Room. I popped my head in to take a peak, and it’s just the way I remember it: filled aging scholars all intensely hunched over their tables and laptops, furiously typing (or occasionally scribbling) away. This time, I had my books delivered to the general reading room, which is a far calmer and friendlier place.

While I waited, I admired the beautiful Ardon Windows, by the Gershom Scholem Library, but when I looked for the periodicals room, to my disappointment, I found it was gone. Nothing to distract me from work.

Anyway, it was a good day research wise. Found most of the stuff I needed, including the last book for the annotated bibliography I’ve written. Now it just needs another round of editing. After that, I will start editing the article I’ve written to go with it. That’s pretty close to being done, too. I’m also feeling much more confident about the article I’ve been researching here, and I think I can get a draft done before the new semester starts.

After enjoying my regular afternoon coffee at Aroma, I set out for the hotel to start cataloging my photocopies. But oh, the heat! In the low 90s! By the time I got up the hill, I was sopping wet and needed to change my shirt. I waited ‘til 7, when things would be cooler, before heading out to dinner.

I decided to stick to Baka tonight. It’s very similar in style to Emek Refaim, but not as crowded. Lots of beautiful buildings from the 1920s and ‘30s.

I looked at the Garden Cafe, but I didn't want the pasta:

Dinner at the Grand Café again (though inside because of the heat).

The neighborhood has a nice feel in the evenings.

On the way back, I noticed a bar had a big screen tv set up for the Denmark-Portugal game, so I bought a beer and watched the last 30 minutes. Pretty exciting stuff!

Tomorrow it’s back to Givat Ram. I need to talk to the hotel manager as I’ve decided to leave the hotel a day earlier than I planned. My flight out is 5 am, Sunday the 24^th. I’ve decided to head to Tel-Aviv the Friday before to stay at Ofer’s; that way, I can take a nap Saturday afternoon and take a taxi or sherut to the airport sometime after midnight.

Yad Vashem

The more I think about The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel the more I think that the plot doesn't entirely work. I never really connected with Penelope Wilton's character (the one who won't leave the hotel), while the transformation of Maggie Smith's rather vile character seems totally out of character. It was enjoyable, but more fluff than substance.

Thankfully, no more djookim last night, but instead, my cell phone decided to ring incessantly at 1:30 am. I didn’t even know I could receive calls here, but apparently the iPhone works in Israel. I don’t have a cell plan that could make such calls affordable, though. At first, I couldn’t figure out whose phone was ringing, until I realized it was my phone. Luckily, I had no problem falling back asleep.

Today I set out for Yad Vashem. This involved changing from the bus that stops a block from the hotel to the light rail system running up Jaffa Road and then to Mt. Herzl. The light rail system is clean, air conditioned, and quiet. It runs very smoothly.

Here's the train at the Mt. Herzl stop:

Here's what it's like on board:

It took almost 45 minutes to get to stop by Yad Vashem, and then another 10-minute walk to the memorial’s entrance. There's another path that starts just from the entrance that links Yad Vashem to Herzl's grave. If I have time, I'll walk it later:

This time, though, I wasn’t going to the memorial, but to the library and archives, which are located a little to the north and east of where most people go. Yad Vashem was in the news today because some vandals, believed to be extreme ultra-Orthodox, spray painted anti-Zionist graffiti in several places. I wasn’t in any of those areas, though. From what I could see, it all looked the same as usual:

There’s always a bit of learning curve when going to new archives. My main goal today was to finish looking up books for the annotated bibliography on children and the Holocaust that I’m submitting at the end of the month. I found everything I needed, though just now when I was making the edits, I see I over looked one last book. I’ll take care of that tomorrow at Givat Ram.

I then started pulling up articles related to Holocaust curricula in Israeli schools and so far, I’m in the clear on my plans to write an article on the subject this summer. I hope to have it ready to submit before the start of fall semester. There are a few more articles in Hebrew I still need to check, and there’s one dissertation I need to look at. Luckily, I can find all of them in the National Library of Israel (which is a far easier name to pronounce than the Jewish National and University Library, which is what it used to be called when I did most of my dissertation research in '98-'99).

I also wanted to see if I could find any of the original responses to the survey I found in the State Archives and which I hope to write my article on. No luck, unfortunately, though I did find one file on the Holocaust curriculum committee. I had already seen other copies of most of these documents at the State Archives, however.

There's a nice view from the archives, but I didn't think they would let me snap a photo inside, so this is the same view, but from just outside the door:

There's a sculpture just in front of this that looks like it was created by the same artist who did one of the ones in the Jewish museum in Berlin, only there the floor was covered by them:

By 3 pm, the archives started to fill up with people looking for relatives, quite loudly, making it difficult to work. Lots of yelling at the staff, at each other, etc. I went back to Emek Refaim for my daily routine of buying the International Herald Tribune (which includes an English-language edition of Ha’aretz), but they were sold out so I had to settle for The Jerusalem Post. I was hoping to watch the Russia-Poland game tonight, but the hotel’s limited tv selections do not include any station carrying the game, and I didn’t see any cafes with tvs set up to let patrons watch.

Tomorrow, I’ll head out to the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University. This was set up after 1949, when the original Mt. Scopus campus was inaccessible. This is where the National Library is located and where I spent over half a year working on my dissertation. Luckily, there’s a direct bus from Emek Refaim (though direct may be somewhat misleading, given the amount of twists and turns it takes and is goes up, over and around hills, while stopping at both the Israel Museum and the Knesset before reaching Givat Ram.

"The Size of a Buick"

I woke up last night around 3:30 and when I went into the bathroom, I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I assumed it was a “floater,” but when it moved again, I realized it was not some disturbance in my eyeball, but a djook (cockroach) THE SIZE OF A BUICK. It was three inches long, light brown, and had wings (I watched it fly short distances).

At first, I thought I would just ignore it and it might go away on its own, but I decided that I couldn’t bear the thought of it crawling on me, so I got up and decided to kill it. But how, given its ENORMOUS size? I took the damp towel I used in wringing out my laundry earlier and threw it over the djook (which is what everyone is Israel calls them, though I understand, the word is Polish in origin), and then I stomped on it. This actually took several attempts, because its strong exoskeleton protects it from minor stomps. First I winged it, and then I took it out. After that, I scooped it up and flushed it down the toilet.

Unfortunately, I really had trouble falling back asleep after all that excitement. I tried to do my best impression of a sleeping person, but by 5 am, I surrendered to the inevitable and got up. I used the extra time to catalog my photocopies on the computer.

After breakfast, I went back to the Israeli State Archives one last time. I wanted to photocopy the file that I had photographed, just to have a second back up, but they had sent it back. I went through the remaining material pretty quickly, and by 10:30, I decided to head up to the Hebrew University library on Mt. Scopus.

This involves taking the 4A bus, which I had forgotten how much I dislike. Oh, the bus is fine; it’s clean and air conditioned, but once it crosses Jaffa Road and begins to make its way through what amounts to a series of ultra-orthodox slums, the ride becomes more uncomfortable. After 45 minutes, I reached the campus, just in time for lunch in the cafeteria, which really hasn’t changed at all in 13 years.

It turns out that most of what I need is in the main library on the Givat Ram campus, so thankfully I won’t have to do that ride again. But the trip wasn’t in vain. It turns out that they have some of the lesser history textbooks from the 1950s in the Education Library. I asked directions from the reference librarian and she laughed and said “it’s at the end of the world.” Turns out its as far as you can get in the main, long building, before you enter the Judean Desert.

[Though it does have a nice view of the Temple Mount.]

I found some of the books I need, though not the most important ones, and went to look for the photocopy machines. There are three, one on each floor, but one ran out of paper on the third page. Unlike at the State Archives, you don’t have to buy a copy card; their machines accept credit cards (though at the same low price of 35 agarot a copy). Around 3 pm, I decided to head back.

The ride back was like the ride there, but in reverse. The bus starts out only with passengers from the university, but just after passing French Hill begins to get packed with ultra orthodox, including at least one person who actually was crazy. He looked like Rasputin, but wore a long-sleeve sweater. He seemed to be having a very animated conversation with himself, but thankfully, his words remained unspoken in his head. When he got off, I noticed he pulled his sleeves down so his hands didn’t touch anything.

Around King George St., the ultra-orthodox leave, and the bus patrons become more middle class, modern orthodox, or tourists, and it’s a pretty secular group by the time I got off in Emek Refaim. I grabbed a large kafe hafukh and croissant at Aroma and read the paper, before heading off to the Cinemateque to watch The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I wasn’t the youngest person in the audience; I think several patrons brought their adult grandchildren, but sometimes it felt like it.

I enjoyed the film and afterwards I walked back through Emek Refaim to get a late dinner. I love the view from right above the Cinemateque:

Silwan and the Jordan Valley at dusk:

On the way back I noticed this sign at the very beginning of the German Colony. It appears squatters are using an abandoned building for random parties:

Emek Refaim is really is my favorite neighborhood in Jerusalem. For example, it has two of these:

They are called “bookstores.” It also has little markets:

And lots of cafes.

Tonight, most people were watching the France-England soccer match of the European Games.

I stopped by the falafel place on Rachel Imenu to get a falafel with everything:

And watch the end of the game. The elderly gentleman sitting with me was rooting for the French. He claimed to be French, but I think he meant Algerian or Moroccan. He didn’t hear very well, so we couldn’t really talk. In any case, although the game was a tie, it seemed to me the French played better..

Tomorrow I head to Yad Vashem. As of tonight I’m almost halfway through my research: six days in archives behind me; seven days in archives ahead of me. This trip is really flying by fast.

Getting Lost

I’m going to start off with two stories that should have made it into yesterday’s post. The first involves the Chilean diplomat, Ofer and I had dinner with Friday night. He mentioned that one of his prior postings was Brussels, so on a whim I asked him if he’d ever gone to Brasserie George, one of my parents’ favorite restaurants in Brussels. “Oh, Brasserie George!” he exclaimed and turned to his partner and said he Spanish, “he knows about Brasserie George.” He told me they ate there once a week. “Why only once a week,” I asked. “Because there are many other excellent restaurants in Brussels we wanted to try,” he answered.

The other story involves taking the bus to the sherut Saturday morning. There’s been a lot of stories in the papers here about migrants from Sudan, South Sudan, and Eritrea in Israel. Two weeks ago there were anti-migrant riots in South Tel-Aviv and there was an arson attack last week on the apartment of several migrant families here in Jerusalem. Lots of xenophobia and racism on display. When I was here in ’98-’99, the area around Tel-Aviv’s old central bus station was basically a seedy hangout for Russians and Thais, now I could see it was predominantly east African. I got the last seat on the sherut, and I would say that a third of the passengers were east African migrants. I can also migrants here in Jerusalem, but they aren’t as prominent here as in Tel-Aviv.

Now for today’s news. I discovered a few more changes in Jerusalem yesterday afternoon. After an hour-long nap, I decided to get a cup of coffee to tide me over until after Shabbat ends. I went to Aroma only to find them shuttered. Yes, Aroma has gone kosher. No more coffee on Saturday afternoons, the way I used to enjoy when I lived here in ’98-’99. Everything was shuttered. Emek Refaim has become more religious.

That left me a bit puzzled what to do. As we approach the summer solstice, we are now at the longest days of the year. What that means is that Shabbat doesn’t end until about 8:45 pm. Since I hadn’t thought I was going to have to do more walking in the heat, I didn’t have my water with me, so I went to one of the gas stations (most stay open now on Shabbat) and bought half a liter. Then I started walking. I didn’t find an open place until I reached Zion Square. I ended up having an early (for Jerusalem) dinner at Shanty around 7:15 pm. They had the soccer game on, so I watched while enjoying an excellent salad and then the entrecote with garlic, along with a glass of red wine (and a glass of water).

Afterwards, I walked down Nahalat Binyamin, where I found one other open café and ordered a large coffee and watched the end of the game (big upset, Denmark beat the Netherlands). I chatted with two Germans, one of whom was studying at the Hebrew University, and then I went to buy Friday’s paper and see if Babette’s Feast (Hagigat shel Babette) was open. By then it was 9 pm and all the kosher restaurants were opening. “Just 10 more minutes,” they told me.

[The inside of Babette's Feast]:

When they opened, I ordered a waffle. What do you want on it, they asked me. Just whipped cream, I said. It was half the price of Waffle Bar, but only 10% smaller in size.

After I finished it, I decided instead of walking to take a bus home. This is when my real trek began.

I went to the bus stop, but wasn’t sure if the #7 bus runs Saturday night. I saw a #22 bus coming and checked the sign for its destination: Talpiot! Where my hotel is. I decided to take it. I figure, even if it didn’t drop me off right in front, at least it could get me 90% of the way. This was a mistake.

My first misgivings were when the bus turned right to go through Rehavia. I reminded myself that the bus I used to take to the Givat Ram campus took the same circuitous route and still ended up in Emek Refaim. Except this bus never seemed to turn east the way I thought it should to get to Talpiot. I wondered if I was going to end of at the Talpiot Mall (which would be about a five-minute walk from the State Archives where I’m working, and then another twenty-minute walk home. But no, it never got near there. We were passing signs to places I’d never heard of before and I began to wonder if this bus’ final stop would be Bethlehem (or Har Homa, which is close enough).

Finally, the bus stopped at what looks like a place where they store and repair old buses. I asked the driver where Talpiot was. He said this is Talpiot. I asked how to get to Baka or industrial Talpiot, but he didn’t know. I asked the only other passenger, but he didn’t know either. He suggested I try the gas station. There I found a police jeep, but the driver was apparently new to Jerusalem and didn’t recognize any of the areas in southern Jerusalem I named, including the German Colony. I then asked a taxi driver busy repairing his vehicle. After I said “Emek Refaim?” he replied “on foot???? Wow, that’s a long way away. Well, walk down to the traffic light, turn right, and then ask someone else.”

Refusing to despair, reminding myself that Jerusalem is actually a rather small, compact city that can be crossed on foot from one end to the other in about an hour and a half (and prepared, if necessary, to take a taxi), I started down the hill. At the traffic light I felt like it seemed familiar. I hadn’t seen any of these building before, but I had a kind of feeling that I was nearing familiar territory. To the right and up the short hill I went. There, I turned left and saw it: not any building I could recognize at night, but a traffic circle with metal statues that I knew! I had reached the industrial section of Talpiot (I was seeing all the buildings from the side I had never been on before). Just 3 minutes later, I was at the skewers place I like to eat, and 15 minute after that I walked, exhausted, sweaty, and looking like a drowned rat, through the door of my hotel. I drank lots of water, took a shower, washed my shirts, and went to bed.

The funny thing is that if I had waited for the bus to Emek Refaim, it would still have been a twenty-minute walk to my hotel (as opposed to the thirty-minute walk from where the #22 dropped me off).

I slept a little restlessly, but didn’t wake up until nearly 8 am, about an hour later than I usually do. I went to the archives where I saw Dan Porat as soon as I came in. I thanked him for the advice he gave me last week, and I mentioned some of what helped me from the articles to which he had referred me. I asked him if he knew anything about the survey document that I had found, and unfortunately, he knows about it. In fact, he’s made reference to it in an article. Disappointing, I know, but then I had expected someone had written on it. The good news, I now know where to look to see what’s been written and I hope there’s still room for me to add my own research. This is pretty common in history; there aren’t a lot of new things out there that no one has ever seen before. I’m still quite optimistic that I’ll be able to get at least one article out of this.

In fact, I've just read his article now, and while he does mention this survey, he only has a single paragraph on it, where he notes that only a third of the schools responded, and a quarter of them said that they did nothing to commemorate the observance. There's a lot more I can do with it than that.

The first file I went through today was on Yad Vashem, and included a lot of the internal discussions in the Ministry of Education on how to establish it. I made a lot of copies. The copy machine is working fine today (though the other one is still broken); my problem is now with the card dispensing machine. In order to make copies (35 agarot a page), you need to insert a copy card into the machine. When you use up all the money on the card, you need to add more. Today, the card dispenser decided it no longer wants to accept 5 or 10 shekel coins, just 1 shekel coins.

By the time I reached the ministry file on Holocaust remembrance day, I decided just to photograph each page (it will also cut down on the amount of paper I have to carry home). I made it 90% of the way through that file before the archives closed at 4 pm. I’m hoping to finish my main research at this archives tomorrow. Then I will probably head up to Mt. Scopus to check out some of the articles Israelis have written on ministry policy regarding Holocaust education in Israeli schools.

I walked to Emek Refaim, had a coffee at Aroma, and caught up on the news. Then I went back to the hotel to drop off my stuff and find out more about the bus service to Mt. Scopus and Yad Vashem. There isn’t a direct bus to either from the hotel, so I will have to change once each way (though to Yad Vashem, I’ll change to the light rail line).

Tel-Aviv Pride

Friday morning I packed my knapsack and took the bus to Tel-Aviv.

Here's the billboard in front of Ofer's apartment on Rabin Square:

I had no trouble getting to Ofer’s place and we had plenty of time to chat before we headed out to the parade.

Ofer at his desk:

Ofer needed to pick up his three-year old son, Yanai, from gan (day care), so he arranged for his friend Arik to do it and meet us at Gan Meir, where the parade was supposed to begin. After some confusion, we finally met up with them, though Yanai was sound asleep by this point.

Ofer and Yanai:

While this is officially the Tel-Aviv pride parade, and while some other cities (most notably Jerusalem) have their own events, Tel-Aviv pride is the biggest and has the feel of a national pride day. There are several big differences between pride parades in the States and in Israel. First, there are a lot more marchers than watchers. Basically, everyone marches. Second, I would guess at least half the participants are straight. Lots of young secular families with kids. Yanai was by no means the only toddler there.

The Labor Movement contingent:

The march took place under a clear, blue sky and it was rather warm (though thankfully not yet humid). I made sure to buy half liters of water every now and then (“mayim karim! Mayim karim! Rak 5 shekel! – Cold water! Cold water! Only 5 shekels – it wasn’t cold, but it was wet).

Looking down Bogrushov Street:

And then behind us, back towards the starting point of the march:

Yanai loves helicopters (and dump trucks and tractors), so Ofer was pointing out a helicopter to him:

After about 45 minute, Yanai got very tired, so Ofer took him home, and I continued the march with his friends Arik (a movie producer, whose newest film, All the Happy Mornings, I’m hoping to see at the Jerusalem Cinemateque in a week) and Yoav (a photographer with the newspaper Yediot Ahranot).

Arik and I:


Yoav and I:

Before the parade reached the beach, it turned north on Ben Yehuda.

Here’s where things really slowed down. There were several trucks playing music in the middle of the street, and the parade had to make its way around them.

I think all of us were ready to bail at that point. We skipped the final section to Gordon Beach and left the parade to get a late lunch at Shine.

We all had a very nice chat (in Hebrew, of course), though I found Yoav someone hard to understand as he mumbled slightly. Arik told me about his film and we chatted with people they knew who were walking by. This is what I love about living in a city where you don’t need a car and everyone walks. Around 4 pm, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Ofer’s place, where he and Yanai were sound asleep. They soon woke up and Yanai’s mother Gil came by to pick him up. I shared the photos I had taken and Yanai did the classic three-year old’s response to questions: he shrugged. When I saw him doing this earlier I asked Arik what the verb “to shrug” was in Hebrew. He didn’t know, but he suggested “limshokh et hak’tnafayim,” literally, to pull the shoulders.

After they left, Ofer need to make a quick trip up to Herzelia, so I decided to check out the beach party now that it was a little cooler.

The Tayelet at Gordon Beach:

People were already leaving the beach, but I had time to check out the stage and the dancing, but I really shouldn’t have been in shoes to enjoy it. After that, I headed back to Ofer’s place. On the way, I passed the Betty White café, whose name I found highly amusing.

Sunset from Ofer's apartment:

I took a shower and finished my book. When Ofer got back we went to a neighborhood sea food restaurant he highly recommended. There was quite a crowd, but we didn’t have to wait too long. The first table that was available was far larger than we needed, so Ofer invited a group of Chileans who were also waiting to join us. One turned out to be in the Chilean foreign service and was stationed at their embassy. There was also his partner and a friend of theirs who was visiting. We ended up having a rather complicated conversation in both English and Spanish, since Ofer couldn’t speak Spanish, none of the Chileans could speak Hebrew, and one of them couldn’t speak English. In any case, the food was good, and the conversation, while somewhat complicated was interesting.

This morning, I managed to sleep until nearly 8 am (though I did have a work-related nightmare that made me feel I was back in graduate school). Ofer was heading to his parents’ for brunch and I decided to head back to Jerusalem. Even though the buses are shut down in Israel on Shabbat this was not much of a problem. I took a private van to the central bus station and then a sherut (a shared taxi) to Jerusalem. I figured it would leave me off at the Central Bus Station and then I would walk all the way across the city to where I’m staying, but instead, I got off at the Damascus Gate.

I love spending Shabbat in the Old City, and I made my way to the Christ’s Church guesthouse and café for an American-style buffet lunch of chicken and mushrooms, rice, mixed veggies, and chips (which is always pronounced “cheeps” in Israel). Then it was a half hour or more walk back to my hotel. I may take a short nap now and then head to Emek Refaim for a late afternoon coffee. Tomorrow is back to work.

Death by Belgian Waffle

My hotel is located in such a quiet, residential neighborhood, that I’ve tried going without using ear plugs at night. Unfortunately, I’m woken up by the birds at 6 am, so I’m going to have to continue to use them.

I found the archives Hebrew-English dictionary today, so I finally was able to confirm the meaning of such words as “director-general,” “deputy director,” “bureau,” “circular” (as in a memo, not the shape), and “post-primary schools.” I ordered another set of files, but due to a typo, they won’t be delivered until Sunday (the archives are closed tomorrow). I’ve been going through the material pretty fast, and I think I may be finished with this archive by Monday, at the earliest.

That will still leave me a lot still to do, though. I need to spend at least a day or two in the Mt. Scopus library of the Hebrew University, looking at school textbooks from the 1950s and 1960s. Then, I’ll need to go to the Givat Ram campus, to look for some additional material there. Then, I’ll probably need at least half a week now, at Yad Vashem. If I still have time after that, I may need to check out the holdings in Yad Ben Zvi.

Since I finished a little early today, I took the #7 bus from near the hotel to downtown Jerusalem. I wanted to check out the office of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel to find out when their free walking tours are. They're located in an old Ottoman-era building off a beautiful courtyard garden opposite the Russian Compound:

After that, I wandered down Jaffa, now totally free of cars due to the light rail system. The last time I saw Jaffa Road without cars was on Yom Kippur.

There were a few protesters and what looked like a film crew on a shoe-string budget. I thought they were protesting the latest controversy over an illegal settlement, but it turns out they objected to the light rail system.

I made my back to the hotel, via the Baka neighborhood. This is a similar sort of construction as the German and Greek colonies, though a little quieter. I decided to come back and eat dinner on Derekh Beit Lehem. I’ve been very frugal all week (today’s lunch of four borekas, a soda, a small coffee, and a small danish came to about $10), so I decided to treat myself to dinner in a restaurant.

I chose the modestly named “Grand Café,” and I decided to order the special: fish kebobs on a spicy herbal cream sauce with tomato salad. I expected whole chunks of fish, but of course in the Middle East, “kebob” means minced, then grilled. It was quite tasty, if somewhat unexpected.

Instead of having dessert, I wanted to finally try the “Waffle Bar” (conveniently, one was located across the street). I decided to go simple and get a belgian waffle with vanilla sauce and hot chocolate. I didn’t realize it also came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and an even larger scoop of whipped cream.

The Belgian waffle was the size of two, and I do really believe that these were meant to be shared; it’s too much for one person to eat. The edges of the waffle were covered in a vanilla sauce that tasted like crème anglais, but had the consistency of whipped cream. In the middle was a sea of hot, dark chocolate sauce. It was definitely overkill. I undid all the good work of this week’s exercise. At least I managed to burn off a few of the calories on the 15 minute walk back (up hill) to the hotel. That was on top of the 3 hours of walking I had done earlier, so maybe I broke even.

Since I can’t work tomorrow, I’m heading down to Tel-Aviv in the morning for the annual Pride parade. Ofer has graciously offered to put me up in his guest room, so I don’t have to take a sherut back to Jerusalem tomorrow evening (after all the buses shut down for Shabbat). I’m leaving my computer in the hotel, so no blog updates until I get back Saturday night.

According to the weather reports, the temperature in Jerusalem will be going up tomorrow. It should remain hot (in the 90s F) all next week. Yuck. Oddly enough, it’s supposed to be (slightly) cooler in Tel-Aviv.

Walking

I’ve been doing a lot of walking since I arrived here on Sunday. Between the 20 minute walks to and from the archives, the 15 minute walks from the archives to the German Colony for lunch, and then the 15-20 minute walks to dinner, I’m walking at least 2 hours a day. And another thing: I haven’t set foot in a car, taxi, or bus since I arrived at the hotel. That’s why I lose weight in Israel. Even though I never go to the gym, just all that walking is good for my health.In case, you were wondering, here's what the archives look like:
The sign directing you to them:


The building:


My desk (with files):


A typical file (the yellow tabs are documents I've marked to photocopy later):


The reading room of the archives (with the problematic photocopy machine in the background):

A good day at the archives. Sometimes, the best research is what we find when we’re looking for something else. In my case, I’ve been going through Education Ministry files from 1947 to 1966 looking at how history was supposed to be taught. Along the way, though, I ran into what looks at first glance to be a fascinating document related to how the Holocaust was to be taught in Israeli schools. I’m terrified someone may have already written on it; but if they haven’t, I found my next article.

The copy machines aren’t working so well. Won’t just shut down yesterday while I was trying to use it and announced it has decided not to accept any cards. The other machine decided it needed a new part. One problem with the photocopy machine is that all the paper is A4 size, but some of my documents are legal, which is about 1 and a half inches longer. For some documents, I had to choose which lines would be cut off. Tomorrow, I’m bringing my camera and use that to take photos of the legal-sized stuff.

I ended up have a schnitzel sandwich for lunch. It wasn’t bad. I stopped at English Cake for coffee, and ordered a large kafe hafukh, but what I got was barely the size of a double espresso. Not much bigger than those tiny glasses of juice you get in cheap diners. I went to see A Dangerous Method at the Jerusalem Cinemateque and really liked it.

Here's the view of the Old City walls from above the Cinemateque. The theater is the red roofed building in the foreground with the flags:

Afterwards, I got a falafel in the German Colony at an old place on Rachel Imenu.

The weather cools off nicely in the evening. They’re promising that it will get warmer tomorrow, but as long as it stays cool at night I’ll be happy. Last night I slept the latest (without chemical assistance) since I arrived: 7 am!

The Sights

Here's the street my hotel is on in the Talpiot neighborhood:


And here it is, the only hotel in Talpiot:

This isn’t really a vacation for me; it’s a working trip. Not much time for sightseeing;just work most of the day. Today was my second day in the archives and it was much more routine.

The weather was much cooler last night and there were no more bugs, so I slept well (though I still woke up earlier than I preferred)and made sure I came down for breakfast after 7:30, when all the food was out. After that I left for the archives.

Now, I feel like an old hand in the archives. I went right to the computers and started going through the holdings, looking for files. Then I started going through the files I hadn’t finished going through yesterday. One thing I’ve been struggling with is that my Hebrew isn’t bureaucratic. I have a pretty good vocabulary for everyday things and for historical texts. What I don’t have, though, is a vocabulary for government affairs. Sure, I know the words for “minister,” and“ministry,” but all the other language of government documents is new tome. Since I left my dictionary at home,I just try to figure it out from context. In any case, I’ll do my translation work when I get home.

Staring at page after page of onion-skin carbon copies (you wondered where those end up? Well, now you know, they go to archives) makes bleary eyed after a while so I look forward to lunch. Today I tried a foccacia sandwich at Hillel Café. It was much better than yesterday’s pizza, but too much food. I need to find a cheaper place for lunch that doesn’t overwhelm me with giant portions. I found two bakeries a few blocks away under the Pardes School;they both have sandwiches and bourekas (Moroccan knishes), so I will try one tomorrow.

After a whole set of files that were just dry wells (nothing relevant), then I opened one of four files I ordered with the same title (just different and distinct files on a related theme): “Plans for the Teaching of History, 1939 to1966.” Lots of good stuff. Not that I’m sure how I’m going to use it,but still good stuff. I stayed up until they rang the bell for last call (so to speak) at 3:50 pm.

Instead of going to Aroma cafe, I went to the bakery by my old apartmen

I went back to the industrial section of Talpiot for dinner.

I went back to the “skewery”(it’s official name is Tsiyon Hagadol) and had a kebob in pita.

(my kebob is one of the ones on the grill)


It comes with a choice of toppings:


The dining area is a little nicer than I remember it from 12 years ago; then it was just a big tent:


Then I walked up to the promenade, to see the Old City sky line at sunset. It's a ten minute walk from the hotel:


At that point, it’s clear enough to make out the mountains of Jordan. You can also make out the separation barrier:


I decided to treat myself to some ice cream and then it was back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow’s work.

Cooler Today

I have mixed feelings about the hotel I’ve chosen.  On the one hand, it is the closest hotel to the archives I’m using, just a 20-minute walk away.  On the other hand, the breakfast is pretty weak compared to what I’m used to in Israeli hotels.  Also, I had a few flying bugs in the bathroom last night.  So far, I haven’t seen any this evening, so maybe it was a one-time thing.

Today was my first day using the archives.  I’m not really sure how to search for what I want, so I decided just to review all the files in order, calling up the ones I thought might have something good.  One of the archivists helped me figure out what I should be doing, so I ordered around 15 or so files and then went to lunch. 

For old time’s sake I went to Sababa Pizza on Emeq Refaim.  I hadn’t eaten there in 13 years and it really hasn’t changed all that much.  I ordered an onion pizza and sat down to read the paper.  Unfortunately, I slurred my words and instead of getting pizza with onions (betzal), I got pizza with hard boiled eggs (betzah).  With or without the eggs, the pizza pretty much sucked.  It was like matzoh pizza, but chewier.  I won’t be going back.

The files I ordered arrived in the afternoon.  Mostly files about educational policy from the early 1950s.  I was very happy to find one in which the religious orthodox high schools identified all their textbooks, by subject and grade.

As I was reading, I saw someone come up to me.  He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place his name.  He, of course, remembered mine and that I was a student of David Myers.  God I wish I was better with names.  He asked what I was researching and, of course, he’s written several articles on this subject (which, of course, I haven’t read).  I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants on this.  I’m going to try to download his articles tonight.  He also pointed out that the Hebrew University library at Mt. Scopus has an excellent collection of Israeli textbooks.  I thanked him and made a mental note to visit Mt. Scopus next week.

The archives close at 4 pm, so I headed back to Emeq Refaim and ordered another large kafe hafukh at Aroma.  It’s a little on the pricey side, so I’m going to make this a regular afternoon coffee break, I’m going to have to find a cheaper café.

The weather was better today, not quite so hot and even breezy in the afternoon.  I headed back to the industrial section of Talpiot (where I ate last night) to try a different place.  This time I had the schnitzel, with pita, chips, and salad.  It also came with tehina and salat turki (a kind of mildly spicey tomato sauce). 

Once the sun set, it actually got cool.  I may open the window tonight for some cool air (the thermostat is permanently set at 23 C) as long as no more flying bugs can get in. 

Back in Jerusalem

I tried to go to sleep last night, thinking that with only four hours sleep on the plane, I should have no trouble falling asleep.  I was wrong.  After two hours of unsuccessfully imitating a person asleep, I got up and took an Ambien.  After that, I fell asleep and didn’t get up ‘til 7:30 am.

I think part of the problem is the heat.  It’s already summer in Israel.  The high today was 30 C; or about 87 F.  That’s not really that high, but the sun is much hotter here.  It’s hard to explain.  Even at night in Tel-Aviv, I definitely needed the fan.

Ofer gave me great directions, so I had no trouble reaching the lawyer this morning.  He advised me to stick to the boulevards, as the shade from the trees would keep me from dripping with sweat by the time I got there.  That only partially worked.  It was definitely cooler in the shade, but after 25 minutes, I was definitely sweating.

I was a little nervous at the lawyer’s, so when the receptionist buzzed me in I said “I would like to see the Mr. Peled.”  “Good morning,” she responded coolly.  In my anxiety, I had forgotten the social niceties.  “Good morning,” I answered.  “Do you have an appointment?” “Yes,” I told her.  As soon as he was free, I went in to see him.

We chatted while he worked out some legal arrangements for me.  It took longer than it should, but that’s only because it involves Israeli banks.  45 minutes later, I was on my way.  This was another half an hour walk, but I figure I definitely need the exercise.  I headed down to Ben Yehuda, where I noticed they’ve finished construction on the building next to the one my father lived in.  I was worried they might tear down “his” building, but I was pleased to see they’ve only patched it.

At the bank, the lawyer had arranged for one of the officers to handle my transaction, since my father had had difficulties last time.  It was a typically Israeli bank:  the tellers and the officers are on a first-name basis with many of the customers.  “Oh, so-and-so, how are you doing?” she said to the woman in front of me in line.  She teased her about all her paperwork and then explained to the man behind her that they know each other from the nursery school (presumably where both their children go).  Then she turned to the teller and asked her if she was going on the branch-wide trip to the Galilee at the end of the month.  The branch will close for a long weekend, while all the employees who wish can go away together.  One of the tellers asked if there would be karaoke.  Finally, it was my turn, and the bank officer covered all the legalities of the unusual transaction.  After much explanations, it was done and I left.  I definitely had an easier time of it than my father did a year and a half ago.

It was so hot that I knew I shouldn’t mess around; I went to the market and picked up a big bottle of water, and then headed to the café my mom and I had frequented on our last trip. Unfortunately, it was full, so I headed back to Kikar Rabin where Ofer’s apartment is and had a “toast” in the bookstore café under his building.  After that, I picked up my luggage and followed Ofer’s direction to the train station, where, counter-intuitively, I got the direct bus to Jerusalem.

Less than an hour later, I got off the bus and grabbed a taxi.  The hotel I’m staying at isn’t really in Baka like I thought, but just south of it in Talpiot.  I’m about three blocks from the Haas Promenade (Tayelet).  The room is nice sized with a good sized bathroom, and has a small fridge, a hot water maker, and a small tv.  There’s also AC, for which I am truly grateful.  I took a shower, then a quick nap.

Around 4 pm, I headed out to find where the archives are.  They are only about a 20-minute walk from my hotel (which is why I chose this hotel:  it’s the closest and cheapest hotel to the archives).  After that, I headed toward the Greek Colony, where I lived in ’98-99.  I stopped at the Aroma Café on Emek Refaim and had a large kafeh hafuch (café au lait) and pan aux chocolate and read the paper.  Then I walked through the German Colony passing a new place called “Waffle Bar” that specializes in Belgian waffles and will certainly challenge my plan on losing weight on this trip.  My goal was the Jerusalem Cinemateque, where I picked up a film schedule for this month.  I’m hoping to catch up on some movies I missed because of work.

The view of the Old City from above the Cinemateque never fails to take my breath away.  I may not like the religious or social politics of Jerusalem, but it does have some very nice features. 

On the way back to Talpiot, I picked up some apples for snacks, and then went to the industrial section of Talpiot.  I was looking for a place my Israeli roommate introduced me to thirteen years ago.  It’s a “skewery,” a place where they cook meats on skewers over charcoal.  I got a chicken skewer with some hummus, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red cabbage salad.  After that I walked back to the hotel.

Tomorrow will be my first time using the Israeli State Archives, and I’ve heard they can sometimes be difficult.  Hopefully, everything will go smoothly.

Back in Israel

The flights from the States were uneventful, though they rushed us to board the flight from JFK early and  then we ended up sitting for over two hours.  Meals were blah, but I did manage to sleep 4 hours on the flight to Tel-Aviv, so I'm not a complete wreck today.

Ofer picked me up at the airport and I'm now is his apartment off Rabin Square.  He has a beautiful view of the rooftop of central Tel-Aviv and one can just make out a sliver of the Mediterranean on the horizon.  He has a great place.

Tomorrow, I'll head up to Jerusalem to settle into my hotel.  I brought my laptop and so far it's doing fine in terms of using the power and of connecting to the wifi.  I've never used wifi on this before (it's a rather old laptop, which is why I brought it), but it's behaving itself.

My only regret on this whole trip is I'm going to miss the season finale of Game of Thrones, and will have to wait until July to see it.