Ribbons, Caves and Baby Birds

According to the Open House press release, an unprecedented 10,000 people marched in yesterday's Jerusalem Pride Parade (click on the link to see pictures from the event, taken by one of Jay's friends. Pictures of Jay and I are toward the bottom of the album). It was certainly crowded on Ben Yehuda Street, where the parade gathered in front of the Open House.

But after we began marching (under much surveillance by the police, and a fifteen minute walk in the midst of a detonated stink bomb) I noticed that a motley bunch of left-wing groups had taken to this parade like barnacles to a whale, symbiotically riding their host all the way to its destination: communist groups, anarchists, people in favor of legalizing pot, pro-Palestinian groups, people with blue ribbons (in favor of the Hitnatkut, or Disengagement) all began to emerge into distinct batches, with their various banners and flags, as the procession uncoiled along the street.

By the way, in Jerusalem, there's a ribbon for every political cause. So far I've seen prolific orange ribbons, against the Hitnatkut; blue ribbons/white ribbons, pro-Hitnatkut; green ribbons, probably pro-Palestinian; and for the first time last night, pink ribbons for Pride...

In any case, I might factor in Ha'aretz's estimate (2,000 people), and say perhaps 4 or 5,000 people actually marched in the Pride parade. The march was successful, but by no means was given the police protection that most expected (I later found out that the police only expected 1 to 2,000 people to march). There was an isolated incident of violence (within the minority of Orthodox protesters who showed up). Specifically, one man stabbed three peaceful marchers, and a total of thirteen anti-march protesters were apprehended and arrested.

In addition, Jay and I were approached by several people who were verbally abusive -- though Jay, both fluent in halacha (Jewish law) and Hebrew, seemed to be capable of shaking their constricted fundamentalist lenses. It was horribly upsetting, and definitely my first immediate brush with the terrifying expression of one of society's many phobias. So, it was definitely a time for me to reevaluate what kind of dialogues this city is receptive to and what kind of work might cause greater rifts in this society. This certainly isn't Chicago.

Today, Jay and I went to a JNF Forest, where your tree goes when you plant a tree in Israel (I received a form to plant a tree in Israel every year in religious school, so might have planted one of the stands of pines I was walking through!). It was a beautiful hike, and so nurturing to be in such a green space again after all this city and desert. As we walked back, we passed a cold spring, into which three entrances were carved. As I went into one of them, the bright mid-day sun was refracted in rippling white ribbons on the stone walls, until I got to the dark center of the cave, where the water's depth suddenly increased: the perfect (and, actually, very well used) space to mikvah (take a ritual bath) -- which I did. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Two nights ago, I felt like I was sleeping in Brooklyn, again, when Jay and I went to bed in the lofted area upstairs. So we moved the big futon to one of the downstairs bedrooms, which is much more private. The trees around the room absorb a lot of the noise that we were hearing from Bezalel, the main street nearby. We do have company, though: a rather large bird is roosting on a whole nest of hatchlings on the window sill, which is virtually inside the room! Jay put a few childrens books against the window to give it some privacy.