Rivkah and Yerachmiel wrote out a detailed explanation of how they chose the name Chaya Rochel for the baby. It's fairly long so I'm not going to include it in this email, Andy posted it on elsternet.com. You can see some newly posted pictures there too if you'd like. As I finished the rest of this email I noticed it's long also - sorry about that.
I thought I'd give you a little taste of their neighborhood, Sanhedria, though, since I've been staying here for 2 weeks now and it's so different than anywhere I've stayed before.
It's a residential neighborhood but there's a fruit and vegetable shop you can get to in 2 minutes with a short cut going through a couple of alleys and a mini-market next to it. (Although for some reason the market doesn't seem to be open that often, not sure if it has posted hours.) Just a 5 minute walk in another direction is a main street with busses going every which way and lots of merchants. There are restaurants, felafel shops, a pharmacy, house ware stores, a wine shop, bakery, a supermarket, another fruit and vegetable shop, etc. Another supermarket is about a 5 minute walk in the other direction.
There are a lot of families, lots of nice parks, and lots and lots of kids. It's not unusual to see a sister who looks about 9 years old pushing a stroller down the sidewalk with a 1 year old, surrounded by her 3, 5 and 7 year old siblings. No parents in sight. On Shabbat Rebecca and I went to take a walk with Chayala through the large wooded park whose entrance is just down the street. As we were sitting on a bench near some play equipment a group of 5 adorable blond siblings, dressed in their best Shabbat clothing, came to the play area. The oldest brother (probably about 10) was pushing the stroller with the 2-3 year old sister. No parents in sight, possibly they lived nearby and could see the kids out their window, but I'm not sure how likely that was. They all ran for the slide and very nicely took turns going up and down for about 10 minutes, then went to the sand box and played nicely together with the plastic bottles they had brought with them. We left shortly after, so I don't know how long they were there by themselves, if their parents came to join them, or if they packed the bottles and the little sister back in the stroller and headed home on their own.
Yesterday I went to the fruit and vegetable shop in the neighborhood, and a boy who looked like he was around 11 years old was at the cash register. Another man came in while I was picking out my purchases and asked to speak with his father, but the father wasn't available. The kid was in charge on his own. He did a great job weighing the produce and entering all the correct codes into the register, standing on an upside down crate so he could reach the scale!
Many people don't have radios, computers or other electronic communication in their homes. To pass on information there are cars/vans that go down the street with loud speakers blaring messages. About 20% of the time they are soliciting for tzedakah and the other 80% they are announcing funerals. In Jerusalem a body needs to be buried the day of the death, and it's a big mitzvah to accompany the body, so this is how many people get the information immediately. Probably because it's almost Rosh Hashana there are more calls for tzedakah, but these loud speakers seem to go by about 4-5 times a day.
Each neighborhood in Jerusalem has it's own character, and this one is very small. It just encompasses a few streets, is very kid centric, fairly quiet, and religious. Most of the residents are ultra orthodox, but I have seen a guy with a knit kippa a couple of times who seems to live here, and a few women walk through that are not dressed so modestly. There are 5 shuls just on their street, each serves a different community within the neighborhood, none of which Yerachmiel goes to regularly. His is a street over, in a complex that's packed with 4 other shuls in the building. The real claim to fame of this neighborhood of Sanhedria are the tombs of the members of the Sanhedrin from second Temple period, at the bottom of the park where we spent our Shabbat afternoon.
I'm enjoying it here, feeling safe even as I walk back to my apartment at midnight by myself. I do keep my hair covered, as you have probably noticed in the pictures, to be respectful of those that live here. Basically it has some positive aspects - no bad hair days, cab rides with the windows open don't bother me, and it cuts another 5 minutes off my morning routine. I'm having a little bit of fun tying the scarf Rebecca lent me - trying to keep it from coming unravelled!
All the best, Beth