Chapter 36, Jerusalem

“Nanou, Avi” Mom called to us, “Put a pile of underwear, socks, your nice Shabat shirt and pants, and a few changing cloths. We are going on a little trip for a few days. I will pack all of it in a suitcase.”

Mom and dad planed a trip for the whole family to Jerusalem. I have never been to Jerusalem. I knew people from Jerusalem. Do you remember “Yehoshua HaParu'aa”? We were going to visit him and his family. 

The way to Jerusalem was not an easy trip. We had to take a bus to Netanya’s main bus station. On the buss we had to stand in the isle because it was full. From there we took another bus to Tel Aviv. On this bus we had to make sure we sat right behind the bus driver or Avi would get seasick and throw up all over. In Tel Aviv we took a short bus ride to the train station. The station was crowded, and it was hard to find a good spot for all of us to sit together. My little brother and I had to run along the train and look for a few empty seats for all of us.

“I want to sit next to the window” exclaimed Avi.
“No problems,” said Dad. “You sit on this side next to Mom and your brother will sit in front of you next to me.” Avi had to sit facing the front and I faced the back. We didn’t want him to throw up again. Once we were settled, I looked out the window and felt a little odd for a moment when the train next to us started to move while we were standing still. It felt like we were moving backward slowly and quietly. But as soon as it picked up speed, I realized it wasn’t our train moving. 

The road to Jerusalem was very pretty. Unlike the mostly flat desert road to Be’er Sheva, this road was hilly and full of trees. As we left Tel Aviv, we saw from a distance on the left side the airplanes landing and on the right side the orthodox village “Kfar-Habad”. When we got closer to Jerusalem, we entered a narrow valley at the foot of the hills. It is called “Bab El Wad” – the door of the valley.

“This is a very famous place” dad told us. “Do you see the building here on the far left? With the Hebrew graffiti on the wall?”

“Yes I do”, I unsewered.

“It is in Jordan territory. We lost it during the war of independent. Look forward on the two sided of the train and next to the road, do you see those abandoned trucks?”

“Yes”, said Avi, “I have a toy like that one”.

“During the war of independence, the Jordanians surrounded Jerusalem and prevented us from going in or out. We had to find way to bring supply to the people under siege. Many volunteers loaded trucks with food, supply and even water to bring up to the city. We found a side trail and drove up at night, but we were ambushed and most of the trucks you see here were stopped.”

“Did they all die?” asked my young brother.

“unfortunately, most of them. Some were able to reach the city and save the people, but we lost the old city of Jerusalem where our most holy place is and some of the villages surrounding the city.” 

When we arrived at the train station in Jerusalem, we had to take one more bus to the part of the city where Yehoshua’s grandfather lived, “Ein Karem”. It was also a very pretty area where old houses from hundreds of years ago were set along the hill facing west overlooking the beautiful valley. The house of Rabbi Abraham – Yehoshua’s grandfather – was one of those old Arab houses. It had a packed dirt floor and a round dome for a roof. His wife would pull water out of the well in the middle of the house to water the floor daily and pack it smooth. The water in that well was undrinkable, it had red thin worms you can see every time she pulled up the bucket. The ceiling of the house was round under the dome and the walls had carved deep shelves. They were beds, lined with straw mattresses and covered with clean white sheets for us to sleep in.

The next morning the Rabbi’s wife prepared a delicious breakfast. Fresh cucumber tomato and pepper salad, scrambled eggs and crispy toast. And from there we started to visit the city. The first place we visited was to the “Church of Visitation” a Franciscan church not too far from the Rabbi’s house. It was a walking distance, so we didn’t have to take a bus. We spoke French with the priests, and they showed us around the beautiful old church. It had nice paintings on the entire walls of biblical scenes.

Not far from there was the famous “Hadassah” hospital and “Mount Hertzel” where we saw the tallest tree in Israel. It was planted by Hertzel the “father” of the Zionist movement himself.

A place that is still making me feel sick to my stomach was also not too far from the Rabbi’s house. “Yad Vashem”. A memorial for the victims of the holocaust. We saw awful pictures of the Jews in the death camps and all kind of objects that were collected there, like soap made of human fat, or a pile of shoes or eyeglasses and more. In short, for many years after that, I still had nightmares.

David’s tower was located right on the border between Israel and Jordan. It towered over a building where King David is buried. I have never been next to the border of any country. Yet it looked just like a road gate with policemen on the other side. They even waved back at me when I waved to them.

“We will be going to a restaurant today for lunch,” Mom said with a smile.
“Really?” I asked, “we never go to a restaurant.” 
“True”, said Dad, “Because Mom cooks much better than any restaurants, and they are very expensive.”

“But we are not home for me to cook”, continued Mom, “so we will go to a sit-down restaurant like regular tourists and eat lunch.”

I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but I do remember it was better than Mom’s cooking. Well, it isn’t fair for me to compare, I never liked most of Mom’s cooking. It was either too spicy, too mushy, or simply not to my taste. I hardly ever ate any meat. If it was up to me, I would just live on fruit. But fruit was only for dessert at our house, and only if I finish my dish. And since I usually didn’t finish the dish, I hardly ever got to eat fruit. For a long time, I ate only chicken and before that, when I was sick in the hospital, I ate only chicken broth with a little chicken skin. Until one day it went the wrong way and I stopped eating chicken skin.

“Now, remember kids, you have to finish the whole plate or no dessert, this is way too expensive to throw away. And the dessert this time is not fruit,” said Mom.

When the waiter came and asked what we wanted to order, I had no idea what I wanted. There were so many options. One thing for sure I wanted was French fries, Mom hardly made them for us. 

“Why don’t you try this?” Asked Dad. “The calf liver stake” it isn’t tough, and it taste like the chicken liver you like.” 

When it arrived, I was shocked how big that piece was. I forced myself to finish it, I was curious about the dessert. It wasn’t bad, but the French fries were much better. That was the first time I actually liked beef but don’t ask me to eat it again. Avi, on the other hand, had no problems eating anything you gave him as long as the plate looked good and clean. For dessert I picked a piece of sideway layered chocolate cake that looked like a pyramid. It was very good and ever since we went to a restaurant I always asked for this cake.


The next place we visited was the Museum of Israel and the “Knesset” – the Israeli parliament. We did stay in the museum for long. Both Avi and I and even my dad found it to be too boring for us. We came and saw, now it’s time to leave. 

 

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Chopped Chicken Liver


  A Popular American Jewish food. Chicken liver was considered poor people food yet, it is full of Iron. Not everyone likes the flavor of it just on its own. And therefore, we have the Chopped Liver Salad. This one is my way of preparing it.

 

Ingredients:

½ Lb. Chicken Liver

1 Onion

2 Garlic Cloves

1 Hard-Boiled Egg

½ tsp Salt

3 TBSP Olive Oil

 

Preparation:

 Chopped the onion and sauté until it turns lightly golden. Crush the garlic and add to the onion with the salt and fry for one more minute. Add to the frying pan the chicken liver and lower the heat. When the Liver is fully cooked (stick a fork through it, it should go through easily and not bleed) take it off the fire and place in a bowl. Mash or chop it all together with the hard-boiled egg or blend with a blender until soft paste. I like to add chopped parsley on top before serving.

 

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