Spongebob, Ramallah & Meah Shearim

Hanging out with Spongebob in Ramallah

 

Several weeks ago we met an awesome guy from Meah Shearim. He was certainly on the fringes of the community, while very much being a part of it at the same time. We heard about how he walks a fine line between his Jewish world and the secular world. When we toured Meah Shearim, another person from Meah Shearim started to fight with our tourguide, yelling at him for bringing us (non-ultra-Orthodox) to the neighborhood. Our tourguide began to defend his right to bring us to the streets of the neighborhood- a public place. After a little pushing and shoving, our tour guide moved us away from this man. That man does not represent my Judaism.

Jump forward to this afternoon. Another girl from my program and I took a bus to Damascus gate and took another bus to Ramallah. I didn't tell anyone in the U.S. where I was going, because I could anticipate the response- fear mixed in with a good dose of racism. In Ramallah we wandered the streets and finally arrived at our destination- Krabby Patty- a SpongeBob restaurant! This was a pretty ridiculous outing on many levels. The food was not so great, but the décor kept us laughing the whole time. At no point during my trip did I feel threatened, afraid or even disliked.

In Jerusalem, the place that is supposed to be the heart of the Jewish people, why is there a sect of Judaism that makes me feel unsafe? The irony was all too present today. I don't know that things will ever change.