From Nation's Capital to Nation's Capital: The Azza Street Spy

Christmas in the Holy City
If you blink, it's possible to miss Xmas in the Holy City of J-m.

A few weeks ago, lights were hung from the street lamps on Yafo and Emek Refaim streets, I suppose as a celebration of winter. They looked distinctly like Xmas lights to the Americans. Not sure if the Municipality of J-m picked up on this, or total coincidence. But, other than the Xmas lights that no locals seems to realize are Xmas lights, there is barely a hint of Xmas.

Last year, when walking to one of my three dozen work destinations on 25 Dec, it occured to me that I should go to Bethlehem one Xmas. Bajillions of people, i.e., Christians, dream of doing this, and I have such easy access. But, I'm not really sure that it's worth a vacation day. I can wait until the 25th falls on Friday, my non-work day, but then again Fridays in December are too short already... I'm not sure what I'm willing to give up for a venture out to Bethlehem. Neither of these concerns acknowledge the obvious wrinkle: safety. IDF and police forces are beefed up for the Xmas pilgrims, accurately reflecting the increased safety concerns...

So, this is how my Xmas passed:

My sister called me ~7:30 am to wish me a "Merry Xmas." B.c she is a boring married person who goes to bed really early, being 8 hours behind me still does not enable her to call me. But, b.c she did not have work the next day in honor of the holdiay, she could call me at 11:30 pm her time.

I went to work, and whined to my officemate about how we should have the day off. "Jewish people in a Jewish country should get the day off?" She did have a good point. But I told her that living in a Jewish country has disadvantages: every holiday is meaningful and there is always something to do. There are no days off when one can do nothing. Other than Independence Day and the occasional Election Day (may we have another one soon), the other vacation days are all Jewish holidays. What about the long weekends, and for Jews, Xmas? I miss the don't-have-to-do-anything vacation days from work. I then shut up and let both of us get back to our work.

Arriving home in the evening w. no real plans, a brilliant one occurred to me: I need to go to the gym. Ate way too many sufganiyot (jelly or caramel-filled doughnuts) over Hanukah and had been negligent about the gym a bit before. This would be my evening activity on this boring, ordinary day.

Approaching the building that houses my gym, something seemed amiss. Why was the building so quiet, dark, and without its usual pedestrian traffic? Oh, right! This is the ever-famous Jerusalem YMCA. These people actually do care that it's Xmas. Still hopeful, I enter the building. The guard tells me the pool is closed. What about the religious women's gym? Oh, that's open. Not. Very closed.

Alas, the only thing in this Holy City that was closed on this ordinary day was my gym! What a combination: over-eating on Hanukah and not being allowed to exercise on Xmas.

(They probably had signs up the week or so before announcing that they would be closed. But, I was not there to see them. And, it did not occur to me to call them b.c I kept forgetting that this was not an ordinary day.)

I made it home; read more of the book "Yonah Ve-Na'ar", the book my Israeli literature club is currently reading; went to bed; woke up on the 26th. A pretty bland day, after all.

While I wish my gym had been open and that we would get random days off, the trade-off of not being assaulted by Xmas is totally worth it. Since I despise Xmas music, when I lived in the US immeidately after Thanksgiving, I used to avoid the drug store and the public environments that pipe in music. Here, not only does the day pass, the pre-Xmas season doesn't exist. I did hear a Xmas song or two on Israeli radio, but totally negligible. No more than you might here in July.

Side bar: We had a huge rain storm yesterday through today, turning into snow in the late afternoon! May the Land and People of Israel be blessed with a rainy winter.

Advertisement