Day 15: Bedouins and Innocents

Everyone tells us we have to drive a hard bargain here, but to be honest we are totally useless at the process. In Hanoi we could tell ourselves that we were just bargaining over 50 cents or a dollar or two, which was ridiculous since that might be meaningful to them but was insignificant to us. Here, the stakes are quite a bit higher, but we are equally incompetent. Roslyn has read about a small shop in the Old City that has particularly excellent Palestinian embroidery.  As we glance tentatively into it, a young man grabs us by the arm, “Please enter, I will introduce you to my uncle”. Now an elderly man wearing a long black robe and a white taqiyah appears from the back of the shop. “Would you like Turkish coffee or mint tea? Don’t worry, you will not buy anything but you will accept my hospitality, I will show you my wares most of which were made by members of my family and we will be like brothers. Sit, sit”. He sends of another relative to fetch the drinks and begins to pull out some absolutely beautiful dresses. He describes how they are made, which of his relatives made them, how they will certainly increase in value and how he is giving us the rock bottom price.  He swears it would dishonor him if he were to charge us a dollar more than their minimum value. Samuel Longhorn Clemens must somehow have seen into the future and had us in mind when he wrote The Innocents Abroad, but his stock is indeed beautiful and I now know exactly how a fly feels when caught in the web. Our bargaining powers are so anemic as to require immediate hospitalization, but we eventually decide that we like the dress, that the price seems reasonable by US standards and we buy it. Of course we are then informed that his cousin has a new jewelry store down the lane and having bought something from him, we will be guaranteed a special low price.

     Up to now all of our interactions have been with secular or religious Jews, but not with any of the ultra-orthodox. Today, we finally have an interaction with one of the multitudes of Hassids here in Jerusalem and it is not exactly pleasant. While in the Old City we are approached by a rather large man in a black coat and hat who thrusts out his hand and demands "shekels!". When I reply no, he presses closer to me and demands in a louder voice "shekels for tzedaka ! (charity)".  Now there is no way I intend to support this dude whose sole occupations in life are to read Torah and produce little versions of himself. When I reply "no" a second time, he really gets aggravated and begins to repeat his demand, but before he finishes, Roz lets him have it with an extremely loud and emphatic "NO!! I suppose being turned down by a mere woman is a major affront to him so he starts to mutter loudly in Hebrew. Since my Hebrew is pretty much limited to "Ani lo medibare Ivrit" (I don't speak Hebrew), I cannot fully appreciate what he is calling me. However, I am struck that perhaps I should open a Yeshiva in Jerusalem since it is clear that the one he has attended has never bothered to teach him that charity that is not freely given is not charity at all, but simple extortion.