…The divided city.
He asked me about my first impression of Jerusalem and the first impression is its beautiful, the second it’s so divided and so unfair in so many ways. I’ve asked myself the question about if woman should be protected by law for covering up and I said to myself, but so many want this … because that’s what they say when they got to be heard in interviews.
My taught now are different. Last night we walked at Mea Shea rim the orthodox Jewish street. A sign at beginning at the street tells woman to please cover themselves. They have (if you guys remember Bruno running around chased by the fashion police) some people that actually tells woman that doesn’t dress according to the code, to go away from their street. It’s not a law but it’s in the Jewish context, woman shall dress their gender, especially when married. In Europe we blame Muslims for the burke, here so far I have had more strict rules with the Jews. It feels weird for me, the man in my company only have to wear a little Jewish kippa at their head, I have to cover .
The weird feeling is, surprisingly enough, not because of wearing the veil … because the silk veil I got from Rashad is very comfortable and good against the sun, and I do use it at other places when we walk in the heat …but … here I HAVE to. Somebody actually orders me to cover. And I hate it, every bit of the road I feel angry and want to tear it off, but as soon as we leave the street and it’s ok to take it off I don’t bother.
I can’t believe that a piece of cloth can mean so much. But here it does, in fact everything here does.
To watch the people walk to the holy walk, and get lost in their prayers are fascinating, My mind understand the needs of the people, but its still crazy in my head. And the divided feeling is following me … the fact that people are praying side by side next to the holy war but also separated by gender by another wall is also strange. In my mind religion should unify not separate.
So I am waling the Jewish quarters, dressed properly in a veil and I feel as if I got a flight back to middle ages …I do want to respect every peoples religion, every peoples feeling but under the forced-on-me-veil it’s hard.
Walking at Mea Shea rim makes the divided feeling grow stronger (Did you guys know by the way that married woman, at least earlier in Judaism) had to shave their hair after getting married because the sexuality sat in the hair, also that’s why the barbershops keeps the washed and cut hair from woman to make wigs of because the best wigs are from human hair.
Does it make sense to you? Well sexuality here is so suppressed that our new Jewish friend warn us from going to an internet café in the Jewish quarter …I bet you can guess where those teenagers learn about sex when they can’t talk about it at home …
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