Blisters

"Have you been here before?" He asked.

"To where? Israel, the old city, the Arab shuk?" I inquired.

"Have you been to the Arab shuk before?"

"Why did I do something wrong?"

"No," he responded. "You are very nice. But you shouldn't tell people in the shuk where you live."

"I don't understand. Did I say something wrong?"

"If you tell people where you live, they will like you less because you are Jewish."

I looked down at my skirt and modest dress and asked, "Can't you tell by the way I am dressed in the Old City, that I'm Jewish?"

"Well yes, but still don't tell people where you live here."

"Why?"

"Because usually people like you are not very nice to us. So we don't like Americans, because they are usually Jewish. South Africans, too. When I tell them this purse is 150 shekels, they laugh at me and offer me 20 shekels instead. Its not polite. It offends me. - Is it okay if I smoke?"

"Sure," it's bad for your health - I thought to myself, "I was nice to you though, right?"

"Yes, yes, very nice."

"I'm sorry that people may offend you. But we're not all like that. There are many nice Jewish people. We're not all as you describe. All Jewish people are not like that."

I expected to leave with a pair of sandals, not with the weight of defending my People. And I'll probably get blisters.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 13, 2007 at 5:59 AM

    dear Jen,
    yes, that's in the deal (of which, and being a Jew you know that best, no one asked you whether you'd like to be a part of) of being a part of a People, especially in Israel.
    I don't believe we should take it as a burden, but work with it in order to mend the world - changing our People from within, and changing others' feeling towards it from without.

    In short... thanks for coming here.

    ReplyDelete

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