Making the grade

 Tuesday morning, I decided to stay in. I was here to chew gum and grade papers, and I was all out of gum. The weather validated my decision -- gusty winds and driving rain made the entire of outside even more uninviting than I find it usually is. 

While I worked, I had an idea. This is never a good idea. My having an idea is not a good idea. I decided to download the WOLT (delivery) App and try it out. I found a restaurant called Halati, in Hebrew Challahti (I think their sammiches are served on challah). David got a pulled beef sammich on some sort of bread (possibly challah). I searched the menu for the word "fried" and then clicked "select all" and "add to cart." Forty minutes later, a guy on a motorcycle drove up and handed me a bag. They estimated the time would be an hour but he was 20 minutes early. That was unexpected, but welcome.

We sat with Avital (Yoni is sick on the couch and Eyal is at a Yom Patu'ach for Shefa) and ate. The sweet potato fries were a bit סגי but the onion rings were crispy. The kubas were kubalicious. I got the schnitzel strips. They have an interesting recipe. First you pound out the chicken breasts incredibly thin. Then you slice it up and put it on the side and go ahead and just fry the crunchy outside. Serve and enjoy! Now back to work.

I learned something interesting about the weather in Israel. In the US, when the temperature goes down a degree, that is 1 degree. But in Israel, when the temp drops from "17" to "16" that means it dropped 36 degrees (or maybe 2.2. I'm not really a math guy and I rarely go outside). The evening concluded with some more Jack Reacher and a few hours of Reels. By 2:30AM I had exhausted the internet's store of videos so I decided to try and fall asleep. I awoke at 8:05 and checked my phone, only to find that there had been more videos uploaded while I slept so I dutifully started watching. I got up at 10 and added money to my Rav Kav. This would guarantee that I don't use public transportation!

I walked out into the mist, the midst of it. The drizzle was light and actually refreshing -- the only thing missing was some warm sunshine. Mist and light rain would work so well with sun but unfortunately, it was cloudy here.

Continuing down Ben Yehudah. It was mostly empty because of the inclementine weather (it is orange and sweet outside) and there was a lack of buskers. Because of this I was able to hear essence of Jerusalem, the natural sounds of antiquity and the beating heart of the Jewish people: EDM blasting out of the Cellular stores and construction vehicles backing up. It is like stepping back 2000 years!

Continuing down, I approached the old city and sunlight broke through. It was a sign to me -- a sign that I could take my hood off. So I followed God's edict and took off my hood!  I entered the old city through the Jaffa Gate and walked a route that I could walk with my eyes closed (though I don't recommend it -- you hit a lot of stuff) but I could not explain to anyone else. I finally made it to the entrance to find the entrance was closed and I had to walk back to the main entrance. I made sure to open my eyes for this part. I got to the wall and had a heart to heart with God.  There is much construction even at the wall plaza and the idea that they are doing construction there makes me wish for future construction there as well. I hope that in the beis hamikdash, when it is rebuilt, there will be a separate room for Ashkenazi sacrifices, otherwise I'm going to be so lost.

And they will have break-away showbread. There, I said it.

It is humbling to be in the presence of so much living history. If you go to historical sites, you usually end up looking at the past. At the kotel, you see the past, present and future at the same time. We visit not to remember, but to reconnect with a living and breathing wall. There are no ghosts but there are millions of souls. And also no wifi. So there's that.

A shacharit minyan was just wrapping up while I was tghere which means it is time for mincha. I sat for the 16 minute lull until the first opportunity to daven mincha approached. We started a minute before the earliest time so we hit the Amida right at 12:18. Bam. I overheard a tour guide give a totlly inaccurate explanation of Jewish prayer to some tourists. I felt at peace. As mincha time approached, the various sections started recruiting people and tried to attract people to any one of a bunch of different minyanim. I was reminded of restaurant owners who stand outside their restaurants trying to entice passers by during the off season. The guy in charge of the minyan in which I davened kept shouting that this was a "super minyan." I assume that's because I was there. How could it not be?

Eventually I walked back to the square by the Churva synagogue and thought about food. I saw 2 pizza places. The first had no seating and, as it was raining and cold, I had just climbed 8,000 steps, I opted out. The one next door had seating so I waited to order. And waited. It seems that there was only one guy working the counter and he was also making pizzas to order and waiting for them to cook. The guy in front of me had asked for 5 different and customized pies so nothing got done while the proprietor made each from scratch to spec. Eventually he heated up 2 slices for me. The crust was doughy and chewy and there was very little sauce. The cheese was middle of the road, nothing special. But it was heated up and I got to sit. I continued my walk back (I saw a former student in the old city but I don't remember her name...don't tell her; I am so embarrassed. Then right after she passed, I saw a woman and her child -- she said "is that Rabbi Rosen?" so I smiled and waved. They waved back. I haven't the slightest idea who they are).

I left the old city and started up Yaffo. Suddenly I see (suddenly I see) another pizza place (Pizza Mamila). By law, I had to stop in and try it out. It was a little dry and I think they used a premade crust but it was fast and hot and tasted ok. Nothing to write home about, so if you are in my home, please don't read this. I saw the Liskers as I crossed to the top of Betazlel and I waved hi to them and then I let myself roll down until I returned to N+D.

Now I will sit and try to grade some more papers (I got 1 done so far today...at this rate my students will be in graduate school before they get these papers back) and rub my ever growing belly.