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The bus comes careening down the narrow street, and the few pedestrians hug the walls as the thirty feet of Egged bus hurtles by with inches to spare. Years ago, this was all a lot of fun, and we used to describe the experience, unique to this neighborhood, as a new sport, eligible for the Olympics. It doesn’t seem possible that there is enough room for both the bus and the pedestrians (not to mention baby carriages, wheelchairs, etc.) along these narrow streets which are more like alleys, but somehow everyone always emerges unscathed; one more miracle in the city of Jerusalem.
Students used to delight in the ‘thrill’ of an Egged bus hurtling along at breakneck speed, without even seeming to slow, and feeling the wind rush by as the thirty tons of bus rushed by, inches from their faces.
But the groups don’t really come to this Jerusalem neighborhood anymore. And not because of the fears of terrorism, or the concerns of being out in public areas with everything going on today; no, the neighborhood of Meah She’arim has become persona non-gratis to tourists for a whole different reason.
On a beautiful Friday morning in Jerusalem, we took a group of thirty-five birthright students on our Isralight trip, for a walk through Meah She’arim.
The residents of this neighborhood who define themselves as ‘ultra-orthodox’ Jews, (not to be confused with the ‘super double secret orthodox’ of the next neighborhood over….), are very sensitive to outsiders who come in to their neighborhood, and with good reason.
I have seen tourists walk up to people with cameras and photograph their faces at distances of two or three inches; I have seen large buses disgorge huge groups of two and three hundred tourists at a time who practically stampeded through this otherwise quiet neighborhood on a Shabbat afternoon, and I can understand how the people who live here have gotten tired of being Amish-like tourist attractions.
Add to that the fact that this is a neighborhood which values a certain inner and outer modesty, in an effort to view people for their spiritual essence, and not as physical objects, and one understands that some of the people here have a very low tolerance for foreign, and especially Western visitors.
Nonetheless, there is much to be learned from a visit to this traditional community, especially on a Friday morning when the entire neighborhood is seen preparing for Shabbat, and a walk through the inner courtyards is like a visit to the shtet’l of our great- great grandparents. So, we went for a walk.
There are few things more important in human relations than the opportunity to be sensitive to those around us, and, truth be told, a walk through Meah She’arim is actually an opportunity to practice heightened sensitivity to an entire community. So we asked everyone to take this into account and adjust their normal mode of dress and so we left the tank tops and shorts behind in favor of long sleeves, skirts and button- down shirts.
We split up with the men walking on one side of the street and women on the other (I felt like Moses in the middle….) and I asked the students to keep the volume down and experience the neighborhood as visitors, rather than as the normal deafening horde of tourists in search of oddities and curiosities.
It is actually amazing to see how people react to these efforts. I cannot tell you how many times Meah She’arim residents have made it a point to come over and say ‘Todah’, thank you, for making the effort to take our sensitivities into account.
All of this allows people to see the beauty around them. To be sure, this is not an aesthetically beautiful neighborhood, and the wealth of the people here is not measured in dollars and cents, but there are beautiful messages hidden between the cobblestones.
As an example, the next time you take a walk in Meah’ She’arim, take a good look at the store windows and you will notice something missing…. there are no window displays. For the most part, if you pass a women’s clothing store, there is simply a rod with some dresses hanging in the window. A shoe store simply has a pile of shoes, and a paper goods store will have a shelf with some paper plates and plastic cutlery.
Noticing this phenomenon years ago, I once asked a shopkeeper why he didn’t utilize his store window to advertise his wares with more than just a pile, and he explained this to me: there is a verse in the Torah “Mi’De’var Sheker Tirchak”, “Distance yourself from falsehood”. (VaYikra 19)
Notice, he pointed out, that it does not say “Don’t Lie”. It is not enough merely to avoid the lie; one has to distance oneself completely from lying. And that is why the Meah She’arim shop windows are so different. When you walk by a store you should go in to buy a dress because you need a dress, not because you are enticed by a display. Advertising is often about encouraging people to want what they really don’t need, and if a woman, as an example, is buying a dress because she thinks she will look like the model in the store window, then that is just not honest. And, added the storeowner, ‘I want to know that no one enters my store because of anything I have done which is dishonest’. What a refreshing way to look at life!
All of which makes some of the other types of stories and experiences one can have in Meah’ She’arim so much more challenging, and this stroll was no exception.
Standing in front of the Breslau Yeshiva and taking in the smells and sounds of Jerusalem preparing for Shabbat, we were confronted by a fellow with a mission.
He had a knapsack on his back, and a megaphone perched on his shoulder, (taped to one of the back- pack’s straps) and he was speaking into a hand-held mike at the top of his voice, essentially intent on reminding us all that most of the present day ills of society could be traced to the immodest dress prevalent in the West. And that all Jews who dressed immodestly bore the responsibility for the consequences being meted out today on the Jewish people.
This fellow was actually somewhat representative of a few other individuals who made it their business to come over to us and take us to task for whatever perceived or real infraction of Jewish tradition we were visiting on their Jewish community.
Now, to be fair, there were also people who approached our group and invited students home for Shabbat (and this in a very poor neighborhood by Western fiscal standards, and with only a few hours left till Shabbat), so the issue we are raising should not be taken to represent this entire community, and in fact the overwhelming majority of Jews who live here are very hospitable and welcoming, especially when you meet them outside of the glaring tourist lights of the cameras. (As an example, dress appropriately, and walk through Meah She’arim with a friend or two on a Shabbat afternoon without the cameras, walkmans and cell phones….)
However, what is interesting here is the issue this incident raises: Here was a fellow, whom none of us had ever met before, who devoted his entire Friday to the mission of telling anyone venturing into his neighborhood where their behavior, in his opinion, was lacking according to Jewish tradition. What on earth would posses a person to spend his time going to all this effort? In fact, one seems to encounter a significant number of people who seem to see it as their obligation to point out to others whatever they are doing wrong and even how they are supposed to go about fixing it!
So what ever happened to ‘live and let live’?
Now, this particular arena of human behavior is actually addressed in the Torah and even given a name:
“Hocheach Tochiach Et Amitecha”, And you shall rebuke (or give reproof to) your colleague (or friend).” (VaYikra 19)
If you see someone doing something, which is a violation of Jewish tradition, there is actually a mitzvah to rebuke that person and it appears to be incumbent upon any one of us to tell this person off and somehow ‘bring them back’ to the path of Jewish tradition!
This mitzvah, called Tochachah, is challenging to say the least. Does telling someone off for what I may perceive to be misguided behavior, really cause him or her to mend the error of his or her ways? Does anyone really believe that yelling at someone to ‘cease his or her sinning’ will have the desired effect and actually cause a significant change in human behavior?
And with what arrogance to I presume to be the source of all wisdom and the paragon of virtue who can tell everyone else how to behave? Who am I to tell someone else what they are doing wrong? And yet, the Torah clearly states that this is, after all, a mitzvah….
This week’s Torah portion,