My visit to Maale Adumim

You probably have heard of Maale Adumim. It's one of those towns that you hear somebody is living in. It's said with a smile, with a familiarity as if they said, he's living in St. Louis. And you think, nice Jewish town.

But this isn't America. It's Israel. Maale Adumim is 10 miles from Jerusalem. It's in Area C of the West Bank. It's a town that the Zionists built as part of their plan to insert themselves into the West Bank. There's plenty of room for cities within the Green Line. Plenty of open space. No need to build in Area C. But build they did. And with that comes pain.

Let's first talk about the transportation. Took me 3/4 hour to get to Jerusalem, where I got on a local bus that took me to the light rail, where I traveled to Munitions Hill (so much is named after war here). A bus took me to the entrance of Maale Adumim. I'm traveling 2 hours thus far. 

At the entrance is the checkpoint. Two soldiers boarded the bus and came looking for Arabs. These guys had murder in their eyes. I did my best not to feel fear, but they were scary. I imagine that they parade around all day long with that attitude. The Arabs I see in Israel look  like shells of people. They have been through so much abuse. They tremble. They live in fear. It's really sad. 

So we got through the checkpoint but I had to get out after a few stops because the bus wasn't going all the way to the wedding hall, where I was going. I waited in the dark on a semi-deserted road for 1/2 hour. Finally a taxi passed. For 50 NIS (14 USD) he took me to the wedding hall, which actually wasn't in Maale Adumim but on the outskirts. I arrived three hours after my original departure. 3 hours to go 15 miles. Of course, I wasn't able to communicate with the driver because he didn't speak English and I didn't speak Hebrew.

In the parking lot of the hall were two young ladies that were there to help visitors navigate the confusing parking area. They only spoke Hebrew.

I made my way to the hall, which was pretty plain, I greeted the baal simcha, stayed for an hour. He encouraged me to get a ride home, which I was reluctant to do because one feels like a beggar. And sure enough, every car was full, and people didn't seem to feel bad that they had no space for me. In America I owned a Honda van and an Accord. Two cars. Here I'm spending 3 hours on the bus and begging for rides.

Finally, I got on a shuttle, which packed with women took me to Jerusalem, where I took a bus home. 2 hours to get home. That's 5 hours of travel, 1 hour of wedding.

On the elevator going down to the shuttle, a bunch of Israeli men got on. They were very chiloni, coming from gym it seemed. They smelled of sweat, they wore tank tops, and showed big muscles with tattoos all over. One had boxing gloves. Another walked a pit bull. he wasn't a bad guy. He asked the lady if she was scared of dogs. I couldn't hear her answer, but when I joked that I scared, he said something about not need to be afraid Am Yisroel Chai, or something like that. He was a nice guy. Sometimes the Chilonim are pretty decent and the Charedim not so nice. Depends on the person. But I did note to myself how much of this country is about fighting and war. It's unreal. Everybody is take krav maga classes and building muscles. T

My thought is this: Hashem kicked us out because we weren't keeping mitzvos properly. He said don't battle your way back in, do teshuvah. The Zionists ignored that warning and shot their way back in. So now, Israeli society is all about war, bombing, terrorism, killing, shooting, muscle building, army service. It's relentless. 

I felt all that in Maale Adumim. It's not St. Louis. It's a scary place. And it's bland, with the boring buildings like most of Israel society.