Once upon a time, in another life, I had a home in Jerusalem, just down the road from Jaffa Gate.
When I remember Jerusalem, the edges are soft. “My” Jerusalem is gone, replaced by housing projects, shopping malls, and office parks.
When you move to Jerusalem, it is called “going up” to Jerusalem. Indeed, it is on top of a small mountain, but there’s more to it than the simple physical act of climbing. It’s an emotional event of rising into another place and a different world.
I didn’t know I was arriving at the end of an era. Those would be the last years the Bedouins would cross their sheep through the middle of town, stopping traffic on King George Street on their way to the greener grass on the other side of the mountain. Those would be the final years during which you could stand on the edge of the wadi by an ancient olive grove to see the great golden Dome of the Rock glowing in the first light of dawn. Now, the wadi is filled with condos. A promenade has been built where ancient olives trees grew.
At the end of January 1978, my son and I arrived at Lod airport. Neither of us had ever been to Israel. Owen knew absolutely nothing of the place. I had read a great deal about it … history, legends, guidebooks, and novels. We had no friends or family in the country, nor were we familiar with the language or customs. Despite this, we would make it our home and both of us would grow to love it.
My mother said she thought me very brave to leap into the unknown. I enjoyed the role of intrepid heroine. But I was not brave, just hungry for adventure and yearning for culture shock.
When we arrived, exhausted and anxious at the airport, I scanned the faces in the crowd, wondering who would be there to take charge of us and get us to our destination. Remarkably, someone was there. Somehow, we recognized each other. We were collected, processed and given official identity papers. A small amount of money. I had no idea how little it was worth. It was a while before I learned to do exchange rates in my head.
I remember that the taxi driver played the radio loud and sang along. The music was 1960s American rock and roll. The driver spoke no English. I spoke no Hebrew. Images tumbling one on top of another.
The apartment in which we were to live had a living room, a hallway with a kitchenette, a small bedroom, and a tiny bath with a half-tub. No closets. You buy closets and install them. Israeli closets combine closets and dressers. Lacking any place to put our things, we used our trunks as dressers.
We had nothing to eat. The refrigerator was empty. Hunger was gnawing at us, but we had no car nor a clue where to shop. No other choice, so we ventured out. Found a grocery store. All the labels were in Hebrew. Bread was sold in whole, un-sliced loaves. Cheese was sold by metric weight. Mostly, I recognized the fruits and vegetables, but even some of those were unfamiliar.
Culture shock really struck when I tried to buy milk. Finding milk required asking everyone until I found someone who spoke English. He then led me to the dairy case. This was unsettling since I’d thought that a dairy case is a dairy case and would be easy enough to recognize. Milk was sold in plastic bags.
Not cartons. Not bottles. Bags. What in the world was I going to do with a bag of milk? Finally, I bought a pitcher. After tearing the bag open with my teeth – not having thought to bring scissors – I poured the milk into it.
It turned out that there are special containers to hold milk bags and you just snip off a corner and pour the milk directly from the bag. Who knew?
We finally slept. The next morning dawned into brilliant sunshine.
“Let’s go see our city,” I said and we found the bus to Jerusalem, rode down Hebron Road, and got off at Jaffa Gate.
The walls rose up around us. I shivered with excitement. I suspect that Owen, lacking my expectations, was merely stunned into silence. This was what had brought me to Jerusalem. Thousands of years of ghosts floated through those narrow streets. You never walked alone in Jerusalem. Generations of ghosts walked with you wherever you went.
Donkeys, so heavily laden that they looked as if they would collapse under their loads, plied the stone streets, cruelly prodded by small brown boys armed with sticks and shrill voices. Vendors called from their stalls. Dresses blew gently in the soft wind, brightly ornamented with intricate needlework.
Everything rustled in a light breeze. Stall owners stood in the lanes accosting passersby.
“Come in, come in,” they called. “I make you a special deal.”
Small open spaces housed spice markets that filled the air with the most exotic smells, the scent of ginger mixed with cinnamon, cumin, and saffron. Breathing in all the scents was a joy.
As the day moved on, more and more people arrived, filling the shuk until it seethed with activity and noise. Everywhere, people were haggling over prices, making deals, grabbing up bargains, filling their bags. It was vital and alive.
Everyone was buying or selling. Voices echoed off the stone. Jerusalem of gold, Jerusalem of stone, and in the springtime and summer, Jerusalem of flowers. All around you, embedded in the walls, is the architectural history of the city.
“Yerushalmis change their minds a lot,” I was told. The walls told stories. You could see the outlines where arches and windows had been but were now closed and see how the ground level had risen.
That first day, we wandered. The city led us into herself. She twisted us around until we found ourselves atop a hill, looking down at the Temple Mount, the golden Dome of the Rock shining in the sun. The walls, the golden dome, the stones made my bones resonate.
I fell in love with Jerusalem. No matter how difficult my personal life became, the city lifted me up.
Jerusalem sang to me, called to me, made love to me, and now, so many years later, in my dreams, I am still in love with her.
Categories: #FOWC, Daily Prompt, Fandango's One Word Challenge, Israel, Jerusalem, Marilyn Armstrong, Personal, story
I LOVE your post, Marilyn. So much emotions that I can relate to. I envy you for I have never been to Jerusalem and I should have a long time ago. I would not have seen yours since I was too young back then. But what an amazing description you are offering us. Love your last lines.
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Sometimes when we write about things we love, it shows. I really love Jerusalem, probably even now with all the changes. Like Paris. An eternal city.
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beautifully written Marilyn- and you were one brave young lady!
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I don’t know about brave, but I loved my years there. It is one beautiful place to be!
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You WERE brave and adventurous. I remember those milk bags – we had them too. 😀 How long was Jerusalem your home? Such an inspired writing, Marilyn. Congratulations on your ability to transmit so vividly what was felt so many years ago.
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Thank you! We were there almost 9 years. I didn’t know anyone else had to survive milk bags. That was definitely my biggest trauma … that and a war and an economic collapse! I really loved it, but eventually, I needed to come home … and home was here.
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You can take the girl out of Jerusalem, but you can’t take Jerusalem out of the girl! 😉
Although it seems some there are doing their level best so as to make it all but unrecognisable. 😦
I think it will likely outlast them but how much damage will be done and how long to fix it?
love
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Israel is tiny and they have had a huge increase in population … so … they are building. Like every other country. But I don’t have to like it.
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It does not fill me with any Joy either. 😦
love
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Beautiful memories.
Great pics too. Are they yours?
Another place I’d love to visit, but not likely.
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The pictures are not mine. i didn’t even own a camera while I was in Jerusalem. It broke right after I got there and i never had the money to buy another. But the story is real 🙂
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Your writing jogged my memories of Jerusalem, Marilyn. It was still like that when we were there. All the places we saw. The meal we had in a little restaurant at the Sea of Galilee. We had fish and it was fresh.
Leslie
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St. Peter’s fish, right? I think it’s the only native (edible) fish in the Sea of Galilee (in Israel, just HaGalil). Galil means “harp” and it is sort of heart-shaped. We had fish there, too. I know that the world is ever-changing, but I didn’t want that world to change.
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We were in Tiberius at the time. The fish was really good.
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I thought Tiberius was the MOST beautiful city I’ve ever seen. Nestled in the hillside with the Galil in front? We drove up from Jerusalem along the border road (adjoining Jordan) and when we rounded the corner, there was Tiberius. I almost stopped breathing.
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Marilyn, my sentiments also.
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It is sad to see history replaced with subdivisions and condos. I know times change. I always wish there could be a happy medium between the two.
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In a country that tiny, there isn’t much choice. I’m sure it still is lovely — in its own way. But not like it was when we got there.
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This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read. ❤
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Thank you. I always feel this way about Jerusalem. My magic city.
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What a spectacular memory to have. Although I’ve only seen pictures, you made the experience live in my heart and mind. Exquisitely written, Marilyn. Thank you for sharing such a touching experience. Really.
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A lot of it is in my book. It was a world-changing event 🙂
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I haven’t opened your book yet. My son’s been sick and returned to work but too exhausted fighting this thing to do much but relax atm, but I yearn to read it.
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This is part of the chapter on Jerusalem. Actually, it’s my favorite piece of the book.
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What you have written here is brilliant
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A fascinating glimpse of a complete switch in cultures! Thank you for sharing this!
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The switch in culture was really the point, for me. I wanted to be someplace entirely different. I wanted a different sky, different trees, different air. I was eager for culture shock. Not sure my son was exactly ready, but where mom drags you, off you go.
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I’d love to read more of your experience!
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This is really beautiful! I love the evocative descriptions. What an amazing story.
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It was an amazing experience. Everyone should live outside the U.S. for at least a few months. You learn SO much and the world makes more sense. These days, it feels like something that happened to someone else.
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So beautifully written, Marilyn. You take us along with you. I love the line, “When I remember Jerusalem, the edges are soft.” I kept hoping you’d tell us how old your son was, though. Could you make that small addition? And can you tell us even more? Not in this piece, which is perfect, but in additional stories?
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He was 9-1/2 and BOY was he CONFUSED. But in half a year, he spoke Hebrew like a native while I was still stumbling along in about 300 badly pronounced words.
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If I have your email address, which I am pretty sure I do, I will send you my book. It IS the whole story, though parts of it have changed. A lot.
Ebook sent!
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Great for kids to be exposed at the earliest age possible as their language minds are sponges. For how long did you live there?
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Just short of 9 years. Sometimes, it feels like a dream.
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I still remember standing on that street…watching Bedouins and Camels trekking by on one side…locals and touristas, cars, etc. on the other side. It was like a time tunnel moment.
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I sent you the book. I hope you own a Kindle!
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I do, but I’ve never read a book on it. Yours will be the first!
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Muchas Gracias..
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And it is such a shame that these places now only exist in our memories. Everything has to be modernised and changed. After reading your book I realised what a wonderful experience it must have been, seeing the sights that no longer exist. My relationship with London is similar. The streets and old houses, even the sights of London, are no longer there. Of course everything is bigger and better and more expensive.
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I was back in Israel for a couple of weeks at the end of August into September 2001. It was work and it was all different. Almost a nightmare of the country I loved with bumper to bumper traffic, pollution, and bad water. I came home the day before 9/11.
I don’t think I’d want to go back again. Like you and London, it’s not the same place.
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As I read this piece, memories of my ’83 visit to you in Israel were jogged. What a wonderful time and all too short a visit. I just recalled doing a 3 part series, “Making Aliyah” a few months BEFORE that visit. I never grasped why I was chosen to do that series. Too Jewish??
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Much too Jewish 🙂
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That’s the trouble with you Irish Samoan Americans – you’re much too Jewish! 😉
love
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So true, my wise friend.
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