In our 21 day stay in Jerusalem we have encountered no less than 4 major public holidays – all of which spanned more than one day. Shabbat and these religious holidays start at sunset of one day and finish at sunset the following day or in the case of New Year it lasted 2 full days. Counting these holidays and the 3 shabbats we’ve been here for it has meant public transport has stopped and restaurants, shops, museums etc. have been closed on either part or all of 14 of the 21 days we’ve been here!
We’ve needed to be organised and make the most of the 7 days completely unaffected by shabbat/ holiday closures and ensure we got home in time on the days when these things closed in the late afternoon. We made sure we had food enough to last us through when things were closed- you can imagine that all of Jerusalem was doing the same thing so the markets were crazy busy on the unaffected days!
Thankfully the Palestinian buses still run on all but Yom Kippur so we haven’t been completely stranded. They run past our place to the Old City and also to places like Bethlehem and Ramallah in the Palestinian Territory- so we planned our visits to those places on days when the Israeli buses weren’t running. We have also walked into town and home again – it’s about 40 minutes to the Old City which is ok in the evening (around 20 degrees) but in the heat of the day, in the sun (often ca. 30 degrees) it’s a bit hot and uncomfortable.
We landed in Israel September 30th which was the middle of Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year holiday. It meant that the usual public transport wasn’t running so we had to get a shared taxi / van from the airport to Jerusalem. We waited a long time before one was willing to take us- we learnt quickly that Israelis don’t have a respectful queue culture- that jumping the line whenever you can was more how it was done! Good thing we weren’t in too much of a hurry— we’d already been traveling over 40 hours since we left home… what was another hour and a half waiting!
I couldn’t get over how my pack was only half full- so the night before we left I added 5 books (!) and some things from the kitchen pantry which proved a god-send when we first arrived and EVERYTHING (shops, restaurants, public transport) was closed. We had rice and korean seaweed for dinner that night then the next day my homemade (soaked) museli for breakfast and when everything was still closed rice and seaweed again for lunch! The people we were cat/ house sitting for had left us some biscuits also which was kind of them. Our first packet of biscuits in years (as we are trying to reduce waste so not buying packaged food)… but here with no other food options we couldn’t resist them. Zero waste fail 🙁
We headed out to explore some of the city in the afternoon and in hope to find something open after sunset when the two day holiday officially finished. We bawked at the prices of restaurant food here but eventually found something open that looked ok on our walk home. It turns out neither of our credit cards worked at the restaurant (strangely) but Antony had his business card and tried that which worked thank goodness. Despite the portion sizes being enormous Antony managed to find room for an icecream, the praises of which he sang for several days. Needless to say it was the first of many icecreams for him! The picture below was taken when en route from the city to home one night we got off the bus at this place just so he could get an icecream then we jumped on the bus again to go home!
Arriving when we did and being available for much of October when so many public holidays were happening was primo for housesitting as so many Israelis go away for the holidays and need their pets looked after. We were lucky to find a couple needing housesitters for 3 weeks here in Jerusalem and have really enjoyed looking after Chairman Meow and having a base here that’s felt like home.
Chairman is quite a character – she can meow like no other in the middle of the night and wake us up (through the closed door). A couple of times she’s woken me up at 4am and as soon as I open the door and give her a pat she is quiet again. She’s mosty quite affectionate and as soon as we sit or lie down on the couch she plonks herself on top of us. We quickly became very fond of her. When she is thirsty instead of going to her bowl of water she stands in the bath and waits for you to turn the tap on for her to drink from!
Our good friends Simon and Nagisa (who have been living in Spain until recently) also found a housesit here for about the same period so that we could hang out. It has been lovely spending time with them! We’ve explored Jerusalem together and we also went to their apartment one night for a meal and games.
While we were spending our Rosh Hashanah waiting for a ride at the airport or meandering about Mt Zion, religious Jews were probably practicing the custom of Tashlich. It’s where they empty their pockets into a body of water like a river or lake symbolising casting ones sins into the water. This holiday marks the start of the 10 days of repentence which culminates in Yom Kippur, the next major holiday.
On Yom Kippur Israel shuts down – even the Palestinian buses don’t run and everything is closed. People don’t even drive cars so the roads are clear of traffic. Some roads get quite busy with pedestrians, cyclists, wheelchairs, kids on scooters and rollerblades etc. as you can see in my video. But the area near our apartment was so quiet. I went for a walk around the block not long before Yom Kippur finished and it was fun to see people with disabilities whizzing up and down the usually very busy 6 lane Hebron Rd on their special trikes and kids biking in the bus lanes and scootering around. In the synagogues people were praying and outside them kids were playing soccer in the street.
Locals told us that we should visit a synagogue for the start or end of Yom Kippur and so we did. We walked a good 45 minutes to get to the syngagogue at the Hebrew Union College, one we were told had the service in English and was reformed so men and women could sit together. The view of the old city from the Synagogue was amazing. The service was mostly sung and was an interesting experience (although quite long). Most of the words of the songs and prayers were quite beautiful.
I made the video below which features the last song sung in the service (my favourite) and scenes from that night as we walked home on traffic-less roads. What I didn’t realise at the time I was filming was that not only do Jews fast from food and drink for 25 hours during Yom Kippur, they also go without technology. The Israeli TV and Radio stations stop broadcasting and people avoid their computers and phones. I did wonder why no-one was taking selfies or on their phones as you’d usually expect when people were gathering together! Whoops, hope they didn’t get offfended that we ignorant tourists had our phones out quite obviously for photos and video.
So with the fasting and atonement for sins over with there were a few normal days before the next holiday kicked in. Sukkot actually lasts for a week with kids off school and many Israelis on holiday. But the actual everything-closes-down-for-this-holiday-and-you-are-forbidden-to-work part is just the first day (sunset Sunday until sunset Monday) and then the final day on the following Sunday/ Monday.
Sukkot, also known as the Feast of the Tabernacles, is a kind of harvest festival that marks the end of the agricultural year in Israel. It is also when Jews remember the Exodus and their dependence on the will of God. The word Sukkot is the plural of sukkah which is the name for the temporary dwelling farmers would live in during harvesting. Sukkot are put up outside homes, apartment blocks, restaurants, in parks etc. They are thought to also remind people of the fragile dwellings the Israelites dwelt in during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. People eat in them and hang out, some even sleep there.
The biggest Sukkot in Jerusalem is put up outside City Hall so we went to check it out during the week. It was packed inside with people enjoying the various entertainment that came and went on the small stage.
We did a free tour of the City Hall while we were in the area, which featured a look in the Council Chambers, a great view of the city from a terrace and also looking at an amazing model of Jerusalem. We learned that although there are about 30 city councillors only the Mayor and the eight assistant mayor positions are paid ones. Our guide pointed out from the balcony view and also on the model where Jerusalem had been divided/ Jordan for the years between 1948-1967. It was quite fascinating learning how the city had changed and was adapting and building up as the population was increasing.
On the last day of Sukkot, back in the days when the temple was standing, Jews would circle the altar seven times chanting prayers while holding what they refer to as ‘the four species’. All week we saw people walking round with metre long plastic bags with what looked like branches/ palms inside. We also came across a specific tent/ market just for the ‘Four Species’ which are 1. the fruit of the citron tree, 2. a ripe, green, closed front of the date palm, 3. a branch with leaves from the myrtle tree and 4. a branch with leaves from the willow tree.
It is tradition to bind these four things together, hold them and shake them while praying each day during Sukkot (except on Shabbat). While waiting for the bus I watched as an orthodox Jew had these things and was offering to say the prayers for/ with people who were passing by. One guy took up the offer and held on to the four species, shaking them and repeating a prayer or blessing, line by line, after the orthodox guy.
On the last night of Sukkot (which was the final holiday we were here for) we could hear yahooing and singing outside on the street. It looked like a good crowd of people (maybe just men- hard to tell) going round a bit in circles, singing, dancing, with young children on their shoulders. It was really joyous and loud. I google to see that at the conclusion of Sukkot there is the Simchat Torah – a Jewish holiday that marks the conclusion of the year of Torah readings and the start of a new one. It is characterised by dancing and rejoicing – that’s what I assume the group on the street were doing. A nice note to end our time in Jerusalem on.