Walking in the Old City–Jerusalem

Mick and I decided to go touring in the Old City on Sunday. Our final destination: the Wailing or Western Wall. Our departure point was Hashmonaim where we were visiting a friend who had moved there six years ago. After taking the bus to the Central Bus Station we were directed to look for the Number 1 or 2 bus. Despite asking directions and receiving replies in mixed English and Hebrew, we never did find that bus stop, so decided to take the light rail.

Many of the passengers had a card (probably for unlimited monthly trips) but we had to struggle with the machine. They gave us a choice of at least four languages, English was one of them, but still it had to be negotiated and we never did figure out how to express the fact that we are old and therefore eligible for a discount.

Once on the train, we put our ticket through a machine and a ticket checker came through after most stops to determine if we had a ticket and had it verified.

We exited the light rail at the Damascus Gate which took us through the Muslim quarter of the Old City. There it is easy to get lost as alleyways meander in all directions. It is a colorful shouk with shopkeepers hawking everything from food to belly dancing costumes to clothing.

The first two photos are a group from Africa visiting two of the churches located in that quarter.

This quarter also contains yeshivas (places of religious study for Jewish men) and a synagogue.

Once at the Western Wall (or kotel), we were jostled by people from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. Even though it was a slow day there, everyone wanted to squeeze close to the wall to shove into every crevice of rock their written pleas to God to grant their wishes.

Here young soldiers are brought to the Western Wall to be inducted into the Israeli Defense Forces.

Very young children walk alone through the Jewish Quarter to go home for lunch.

We departed through the Zion gate partially going through the Armenian Quarter.

Weary tourists perch on stone pillars to relax their feet.

An Arab woman rests under a palm tree that casts a life like shadow on the wall.

As we waited to take the light rail back to the Central Bus Station, I was amused to pick up wi-fi at the bus stop, minutes away from the BC 19 Wailing wall.

(Joan Gross is the co-author and illustrator of “Forty Days and Forty Nights, Rain, Rain, Rain”.)

What Is Your Worst Quality?

By: Joan Gross

My worst quality is that I refuse to recognize that I have a worst quality. Looking at myself through rose colored glasses has taken a lifetime of discipline.  For at least sixty years, I always compared myself to others and found myself sadly lacking. Everyone else was prettier (who cares?), everyone else was smarter (who knows?), and everyone else was more charming (who was the judge?)

One day a Jewish philosopher changed my life. He said that when someone sees a bad quality in you, they recognize it only because they own that very same attribute. So, if someone accuses you of being a procrastinator, or pompous or worse, a prevaricator, you might want to run for them thar hills. After all, when they point their accusatory, menacing forefinger at you and it hovers somewhere between your nose and your mouth, and you’re tempted to take a juicy bite out of it, three fingers are pointing back at them. They harbor at least three times that obnoxious quality.

Recognizing bad qualities in myself was like tying an elephant around my waist. My “bad qualities” loomed so large that I was defeated before I ever got off the ground.

If someone else was prettier, how would I find the right husband? If someone else was more charming and smarter, how would I get ahead in business? When I decided that I was just as pretty as anyone else (after garnering four husbands that were not right for me), I found the fifth. Since I think I am pretty, he also thinks I am pretty. Positive thinking is a miraculous quality.

Deciding I was just as charming, or even more, just as smart, at the very least, new avenues of thought have flashed through my brain and I feel capable of, and have accomplished, more in business than I ever dreamed.

Bad qualities you want to discuss? Not me. I have decided to see only good in me and in you too.