Crowds

Crowds in the shouk Monday -- more than I'd have expected on an odd Monday, but the weather was sunny and warm, and Yafo Rd sidewalks were also full of pedestrians all the way to Kikar Tsion. For a long time after they closed Yafo to traffic to build the light rail, few people walked this route. Now I have hope the crowds are buying more from the stores along the way.

Many of the shops sell shoes. "How many shoes can Jerusalem need?" my friend asks. to be sure, in spite of a more and more people owning cars, Jerusalemites still walk more than do the inhabitants of most US cities. Also, I've noticed relatively few cobblers' shops. Many of today's shoes cannot be repaired.

If you like Nayot or Beautifeel shoes, buy them here for less.

Copyright 2014 Jane S. Fox

Shortly After Noon

Friday, shortly after noon, light rain, temperature around 8 celsius (high 40s farenheit) the shouk demonstrates that lots of people have money for good produce and cheap bakery. Tour groups crowd the shoppers getting a more exciting experience than I had on a midweek tour, but surely they feel twinges of guilt at hindring people there to get food for shabbat and shopkeepers trying to make a living on their busiest day.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Fish monger

In the shouk, the tiny storefront of the fishmonger I was used to was empty today of everything but sacks of building materials. His sign is gone from overhead. The fish monger next to him is still there, and across from him is a double-wide fresh fish shop. But I liked the man who was always helpful and who seemed to remember me. What with one thing and another I didn't stop by for two weeks. I'm sorry I missed the chance to say goodbye.

"Probably going to put a boutique there," a friend mourned.

She was wrong. He's back. "Everything's new and clean now," he told me. HOpe he had a good vacation.

I do like fresh fish.

Copyright 2013 Jane Schulzinger Fox

Cheese emporium renovation

Bashar's is now easier to get in and out of and has added a second floor. Somehow it seems narrower, though the cheese selection seems as wide.

Copyright 2012 Jane S. Fox

Wash cloths

• I've not been able to find wash cloths in Jerusalem.
• I'm sure they can be bought somewhere, but I haven't seen them where they sell towels.

Copyright 2008 Jane S. Fox

Arbor Day

• Four different new years are referenced in the Bible. Ancient Jews decided that the onr on the 15th of Av is the new year for trees.
• At noon in Jerusalem the rain paused . The sun even shone briefly. The entertainers in the Maheneh Yehuda shouk drew crowds.
• When the Kurdish dancers walked up the street with drummer, horn, and shofar (which I did not hear sounded) the Klezmer band played a marching tune until they passed. Then the clarinetist took fire.
• A marching klzmer band, heavy on the brass, made the rounds.
• Elsewhere, a woman sang in Ladino and her musicians played eastern melodies, old and new.
• Alround the corner, two older men with glorious young voices sang songs that passersby foxtrotted to, though the Artie Shaw never played such eastern modes.
• A mime in the best tree costume I have ever seen grew slowly. Another mime was draped in white, like the blossoms of the almond tree, which blooms at this season. A stilt walker appeared in more white drapery and another as a more colorful tree. Clowns tossed roses from balconies. Line dancers debkaed. Jugglers juggled. A candy maker rolled mashed dates in oatmeal and ground almonds.
• Camera phones were held high, but you really want to be there.

Copyright 2008 Jane S. Fox

Tu bShvat in Jerusalem

• This year, Tu bShvat, falls on Tuesday, January 21.
• The Municipality has announced that entertainers will be in the Mahaneh Yehuda shouk from noon to 4.
• So the entertainment won't be unexpected ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/unexpected-february-entertainment.html ).
• Though if it rains, the expected entertainment may be cancelled.

Copyright 2008 Jane S. Fox

Plastic Bags

• Who remembers string bags?
• Into these, Israeli shoppers, like European housewives, put the produce they bought at the market.
• Fifteen or so years ago, Mahaneh Yehuda vendors laughed when presented with string bag or other reuseable carrier. "Yesh nylon!" the stallkeeper would say, pointing to the plantic bags with some indignation, as if the shopper had called him too primitive to do things the modern way.
• Now the Knesset is trying to pass a law requiring a charge (of more than 25 US cents at the current rate of exchange) for each plastic bag, "to encourage the use of reuseable bags."
• My string bags are long gone. No doubt I will soon find something similar in the shops. And, if we are fortunate, the vendors will expect me to have one, if I don't want to look like a primitive person who fills the landfills with disposables.

Copyright 2008 Jane S. Fox

Hannukah

• Hannuka (or Channuka, or H.annuka, or other spellings for the Festival of Lights) is said to be an occasion when people who don't look like they bought their clothes there can go into haredi neighborhoods like Meah She'arim in Jerusalem without being harrassed. This is true wherever Jews follow the commandment to publicize the miracle. (No one follows all the commandments and those who violate this one, and the commandment to provide hospitality, do not welcome outsiders at any time.)
• You can see the lights in many other Jerusalem neighborhoods. Try Nahalaot.
• All along the street, oil lamps flicker in glass enclosures. Some buildings have a glass-doored niche built into the wall along the sidewalk. Elsewhere families put the lights on a kitchen chair or small table beside their gate.
• If you are in Jerusalem during Hanuka (minimalist spelling), go out between 5:30 and 6 and stroll around any neighborhood where people put their hanukiot (eight branches plus one candlelabra) outside. Elsewhere you will see the lights in windows and on balconies.
  Ha'Shla St. in the Sha'arei Khesed neighborhood is a good place to start. See eMap (http://www3.emap.co.il/eng_index.asp) for directions. Keep turning corners to see more and more of the lights, tiny but lovely.
• In windows, candles burn in greeting-card "menorahs." (A misnomer. Th menora was the seven branched candelabra in the Temple. But, since the holiday commenmorates the relighting of lights in the Temple, why not call its candlelabra a menora?)
• In the shouk, wait till a batch of soufganiot comes out of the oven. Buy some hot. The traditional red jelly ones are still best. The bakery on Yafo, between Mahaneh Yehuda Street (the widest in the shouk) and Eitz H.ayim (Chaim) (the narrower alley with Bashar's cheese store in the middle) has some of the best. The soofganiot at the more modern bakeries get lower ratings in newspaper polls.
  

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Hannukah

• Hannuka (or Channuka, or H.annuka, or other spellings for the Festival of Lights) is said to be an occasion when people who don't look like they bought their clothes there can go into haredi neighborhoods like Meah She'arim in Jerusalem without being harrassed. This is true wherever Jews follow the commandment to publicize the miracle. (No one follows all the commandments and those who violate this one, and the commandment to provide hospitality, do not welcome outsiders at any time.)
• You can see the lights in many other places. Try Nahalaot.
• All along the street, oil lamps flicker in glass enclosures. Some buildings have a glass-doored niche built into the wall along the sidewalk. Elsewhere families put the lights on a kitchen chair or small table beside their gate.
• If you are in Jerusalem during Hanuka (minimalist spelling), go out between 5:30 and 6 and stroll around any neighborhood where people put their hanukiot (eight branches plus one candlelabra) outside. Elsewhere you will see the lights in windows and on balconies.
• Ha'Shla St. in the Sha'arei Khesed neighborhood is a good place to start. See eMap (http://www3.emap.co.il/eng_index.asp) for directions. Keep turning corners to see more and more of the lights, tiny but lovely.
• In windows, candles burn in greeting-card "menorahs." (A misnomer. Th menora was the seven branched candelabra in the Temple. But, since the holiday commenmorates the relighting of lights in the Temple, why not call its candlelabra a menora?)
• In the shouk, wait till a batch of soufganiot comes out of the oven. Buy some hot. The traditional red jelly ones are still best. The bakery on Yafo, between Mahaneh Yehuda Street (the widest in the shouk) and Eitz H.ayim (Chaim) (the narrower alley with Bashar's cheese store in the middle) has some of the best. The soofganiot at the more modern bakeries get lower ratings in newspaper polls.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Strawberries

• The little strawberries, ecstatically juicy essence of strawberry, will spoil you for the large ones.
• Because they are more fragile, I think they are less profitable for growers. I expect tasty strawberries will be increasingly rare.
• A stand in the middle of Eitz Khaim Street in the shouk usually has them in bulk. As soon as you can, wash and taste them. You'll see why a kilo is not too much to buy at a time. they're good with ... but I eat them up as is, and have none left for recipes.
• See also http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/abundance.html

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Cilantro

• When buying herbs, I had to be careful not to mistake cilantro (http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cilantro.htm ) for parsley.Although I like coriander, I'm not fond of cilantro. Perhaps I just don't know how to cook with it.
• Large bunches of cilantro and parsley are piled next to each other in the shouk on tables at stands that sell parsely, mint, dill, cilantro, green onions, celery, and various types of lettuce year round, and sometimes parsnips.
• All but the parsnips are much less expensive than in their least expensive Wisconsin seasons.
• To be sure I got parsley, I could smell the wet bunch or ask, "petrozilia?"
• A large bunch of mint, parsley, dill, or cilantro is about 35 cents (1.5NIS) at the stand where it is always very fresh, or two thirds that on special.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Almond and Tamarind

• At about the middle of Mahaneh Yehuda Street (the wide, uncovered one in the shouk), on the left as you face Yafo with your back to Agripas, is a cafe with excellent almond (shkaydeem) and tamarind (tah-mar-indy) drinks.
• Many say that their sahleb ( http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/orchid-pudding.html ) is the best.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Indian Vegetarian

• One of the tiny shouk (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/abundance.html )restaurants offers Indian vegetarian food.
• I could tell you the exact location, but where's the fun in that?
• Its sign is in English.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Apartment

• We found our apartment (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-jerusalem-neighborhood.html ) on flathunting.com , which is a Yahoo group for Jerusalem real estate. You can take look at what's offered or post your needs.
• Living in an apartment means not having the hotel breakfast, but you can get the equivalent on Friday at Cafe Rimon for 49 NIS (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/brunch.html ).
• It means an excuse to go often to the shouk (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/abundance.html ) for fruits, vegetables, nuts, olives, baked goods, salads, and more.
• More includes prepared foods for "take-out." Many restaurants will also pack their food to go.
• So you needn't even cook.
• You'll save money, and feel you are really living in Jerusalem, and be free to do all the interesting things you've read about in this blog.
• See http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/private-guides.html about finding licensed guides for exactly the tours (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/time-well-spent.html )you want.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Private Guides

• If you've done a guided tour of Israel and discovered that your choices for the next guided tour cover much the same ground, you can go around on your own, or hire a guide.
• Many sites offer English tours: for example, Ir Daveed (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/city-of-david.html ), the Israel Museum (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/model.html ), the Municipality (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/12/valley-street.html ). Egged's Line 99 around Jerusalem (http://www.egged.co.il/Eng/main.asp?lngCategoryID=2773 ) provides commentary in English as do the other tours run by Egged and United Tours (http://www.unitedtours.co.il/map.html ).These tours let you come to Israel on your own and pick where you want to go.
• Although you can find licensed guides on the Internet, I recommend contacting Beit Shmuel and asking to be put in contact with one of their English-speaking guides.
  972 2-620 3461 or Doron_yosha@wupj.org.il
• Yad Ben Tzvi has excellent guides, but I don't know whether the organizaiton will set up private tours. You can try them at 972 2 539 8855 or had@ybz.org.il
• Tell them what interests you: architecture, art, bakeries, crusaders, literary references, neighborhoods, nineteenth-century history, prophets, travelers to Jerusalem ...; or list things you want to see and learn about. Tell them how much you want to walk or climb and how sure-footed you are or are not.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Entertaining Children

• Children like the energy-saving lights in Jerusalem stairwells. They push the button to trun on the light, wait on the landing until the light goes out, push the button again. One races ahead to push the button o,n a higher landing. That extends the time the light is on.
• For a child used to the family car riding a bus is an adventure -- a city bus where you give the driver money and get change and the printer prints out your ticket. You can keep the ticket as a souvenir. The bus starts moving before you get to a seat. It winds back and forth through narrow streets, up hill and down. Who needs Disneyland?
• Taxis. Another treat! "Good thing I'm a city kid and I can hail a cab" goes the song. (Googl ehas failed to identify the source.) It's magic for a midwestern kid. I wave my hand and a car stops, ready to take us anywhere.
• The shouk (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/abundance.html )can be almost too exciting. "What are those men shouting?" asks an eight-year old. He stands very close to me. "Bananas two and a half shekels a kilo," I tell him "Clementines three shekels a kilo." He moves a little away from me and listens. "Yes," he says. "I hear 'bananas' and 'kilo.'"
• For kids who don't like strange food, there's pizza. Many pizza parlors squeeze fresh juice (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/juice.html ).

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Bread

• Thursday evening I went on a walking tour called "Not by Bread Alone." The more apt "Mainly Bread" would have lacked Biblical resonance.
• We started across Agrippas from the Shouk, the area described in http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/one-block-from-agripas.html and named Mazkeret Moshe, although I did not know that when I first wandered into it. Here was an unsuccessful 19th century wheat field. Jerusalem has not had a climate for wheat -- probably since before wheat was domesticated. On to Ohel Moshe (both undoubtedly named for Sir Moses Montefiore) where we heard tales of bread-related customs of the Jews of Yanina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioannina ; Yanina is mentioned in the Count of Monte Cristo). From there to the shouk, because it is an experience not to be missed on a Thursday night and there are plenty of bakery stands, with stories to be told of their history.
• At a Kabbalist center across Yafo and down Takhimoni, a jolly young rabbi told us about mystical meanings of bread and then called his father up the long flights of stairs to tell us a little more and bless us. Whatever else they spend contributions on, it is not on beautifying their bare, but very clean, building.
• At the Avihail Bakery (Rehov Pri Khadash 8; find it on emap http://www3.emap.co.il/eng_index.asp ; the number 4 bus has a stop on Straus, not far from the intersection. I bought some of the best bread rolls I've had this year -- and that is saying a lot. Now that the neighborhood has gone Khareidi, women might feel more comfortable walking to this bakery wearing a knee-covering skirt and a blouse with sleeves (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/between-meah-shearim-and-zichron-moshe.html ). Commandments of hospitality are not well-observed by haredim except to people who dress the way they do. The bakery owner and his employees, however, not being haredim, are very hospitable and nice whatever you are wearing.
• We paused for tales of bread-related customs of Jews whose families lived for centuries in Gyorgia.
• We went to two more bakeries, one tiny operation with a blowtorch-heated brick oven and the other a Persian bakery, both deep in Meah She'arim, where men dress either like early ninteenth-century Christians in Polish cities or wear zebra-striped coats patterned after the style of Jerusalem Arabs, also of the 19th century. Strange place.
• See also http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/bakery.html

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Bourekas

• So where do you buy the best (in my opinion) bourekasim?
• The shop is on Mahaneh Yehuda Street, which is the uncovered part of the shouk. It is close to Agrippas Street between two shops selling nuts and dried fruit and across from another.
• Bourekas is what they do -- filled with spinach or mushrooms or various types of white cheese (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/dairy-products.html ). They also bake an unfilled, pritzel-shaped variety. This the will split and spread with fresh white cheese. If you eat there, at the counter along the wall or at one of the small tables out front, they may put a slow-cooked egg and a pickle on your wooden plate. If that's what you want, point at the picture hanging from the ceiling near the cash register.
• The best, I say, but there's a place on Rehov HaNeviim I want to try.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox

Orchid Pudding

• When days grow shorter and cooler, samovars replace the sorbet machines. these dispense hot orchid pudding, "sakhlab."
• The shop with the best (to my taste) bourekas in the shouk also sells the best sahkhlab. On top, they sprinkle grated cocoanut, cinnamon, and chopped peanuts. I taste those, and beneath that, in the hot, slippery pudding, what must be orchid.

Copyright 2006 Jane S. Fox