These glasses were created for one purpose, which was to test the Jewish people and the world. Will these been on display in all the hip charedi stores? Will they make a Ray-Ban model? Of course not. The Test? Tolerance. Tolerance for something that is the complete antithesis of what we represent. Tolerance of what we view as something that is just wrong. Stereotyping. We failed this as well. Not only are these glasses attached to ALL Charedim, but ALL Charedim are the same; Sexist, Oppressive, Abusive, Aggressive, Cultish Neanderthals. I might have embellished it a bit, but it was to make a point.

(image from http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1652)

Last week I interviewed Rabbi Meir Hirsch, leader of Neturei Karta Palestine, at his home in the Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Sharim in Jerusalem. Mea Sharim is a tight, crowded maze of a neighborhood with windy, dirty, dimly lit streets. Walking down a cobblestone pathway at night, with Orthodox men, women and children hurrying by on all sides, with cats scurrying in and out of dumpsters, with a yeshiva to the left and a kosher slaughterhouse to the right, one can sometimes get a flashback to a past life in an 18^th-century Russian shtetl.

In the few blocks around Rabbi Hirsch’s home, the Neturei Karta stronghold in the center of Mea Sharim, one starts to see Palestinian flags scrawled on the walls, with slogans like ‘No Zionists Allowed’, ‘Zionism is Dying’ and ‘Arabs are Good’ graffiti’d in Yiddish, then crossed out, then graffiti’d again. Rabbi Hirsch’s doorbell reads ‘A Jew Not a Zionist’.

An excellent interview detailing Rabbi Hirsch and Neturei Karta’s political views can be found here-http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1652. Also be sure to visit Neturei Karta’s website, www.nkusa.org!

When did your family come here?

Meir Hirsch: I am the fifth generation in this land. My family came 150 years ago from Russia. Then, Aliyah as a term, like Zionism, did not exist. People outside of Israel aspired to get to Israel in order to better worship God. When Mea Sharim was made 145 years ago, it was a wilderness at first! There were animals roaming around, people had to lock their doors!

When the Orthodox community saw waves of European secular Zionists coming, how did they feel?

The Balfour Declaration of 1918 made the people here, especially the orthodox families, very upset. There was an objection from the ultra Orthodox community, which was the majority, specifically in Jerusalem but in other parts as well. Jacob Israel de Haan was a secular Jew who became religious, and came here from Poland. He came to Palestine and at first he went to the Mizrahi movement, but was not content with their version of religion and connected with [WHO] the Chief Rabbi of the ultra-Orthodox. Because of his diplomatic connections he almost got the Balfour Declaration canceled- he had connections with Arabic leaders and British leaders. The Zionist leaders, because they saw that he was about to succeed, decided to assassinate him. When he was coming back from Maariv (evening) prayer, they shot and killed him. That led to the foundation of the Neturei Karta movement to continue to resist the Zionist movement.

De Haan was trying to make a bi-national state?

He was trying to undo Zionist aspirations towards statehood. The Zionists were progressing with their project and the Arabs were very much worried that the Zionists were trying to take their land. He met with King Abdallah of Jordan who promised him that Jews would have no problems living in Jordan or wherever he may rule, as long as they didn’t have any aspirations for political dominance.

Could you call de Haan a cultural, rather than a political Zionist?

He was anti-Zionist! He was completely detached from Zionism. All along Neturei Karta has been completely detached from Zionism in any form.

Where does the name come from?

Neturei Karta means ‘Guardians of the City’, it is an Aramaic term from the Talmud. It basically means to guard the city from Zionism entering the culture.

I lied to you, I actually know where the name comes from! [Taken from www.nkusa.org- Neturei-Karta is the Aramaic term for "Guardians of the City. The name Neturei-Karta originates from an incident in which R. Yehudah Ha-Nassi (Rabbi Judah the Prince) sent R. Hiyya and R. Ashi on a pastoral tour of inspection. In one town they asked to see the "guardians of the city" and the city guard was paraded before them. They said that these were not the guardians of the city but its destroyers, which prompted the citizens to ask who, then, could be considered the guardians. The rabbis answered, "The scribes and the scholars," referring them to Tehillim (Psalms) Chap. 127. (Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Hagiga. 76c).] So the Zionists in this metaphor are the armed guards of the city, and Neturei Karta represents the scribes and scholars who keep the truth alive?

Well in the passage, the armed guards were the Romans who had conquered Jerusalem, so they actually were the ‘destroyers’.

A (Hirsch’s wife, who wished not to be named): This passage is referring to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. Then, the scribes and the scholars literally were the guardians of the city in that, through the merit of their Torah learning, they watched over the city. But the name ‘Neturei Karta’ does not mean they are guarding over the city physically, but ideologically- they are guarding the city of Jerusalem from the ideas of Zionism.

MH: There were also ‘destroyers’ of the city who were not Roman. In the time of the 2^nd temple’s destruction, there were a group of Jews called Beriyonim, the ‘Bullies’, the family of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. They resisted the Romans, they decided not to surrender to the Romans at all. They were called Haruvei Karta, the Destroyers of the City. While everyone else accepted the Romans, they were adamant about not surrendering. And that is why the Romans destroyed the Temple, because of this resistance.

There’s a growing movement of reform and secular Jewish opposition to Zionism, in Israel and around the world. What is the relationship between this movement and Neturei Karta’s Orthodox opposition to Zionism?

The difference is that secular Jews are opposed to Zionism for humanitarian ideals which are basically Gentile, while Neturei Karta’s objection to Zionism, though it is also because of the humanitarian ideas, is drawn from religious commands. This is why our objection is much stronger, because it is based on religion.

The secular and reform anti-Zionist movement shares with Orthodox opposition a valorization of diasporic Judaism, but for different reasons- secular Jews feel happy and productive in their various countries, whereas for the Orthodoxy diaspora is our God-given lot until the coming of Messiah….

There is a similarity, but there is a fundamental difference because again, the Orthodox argument is based on a divine command to stay in the diaspora, while the secular Jewish ideas are based on humanitarian values.

What’s the difference between humanitarian moral ideas and divinely commanded moral ideas?

In Syria people are resisting the totalitarian regime. A humanitarian person would object to what’s going on, and would care about what’s going on there. However, in Israel the state is using religious symbols to justify oppression. For example its name, Israel, is the name given to Jacob in the Torah. Whereas anyone would care about humanitarian catastrophes going on in Syria, this is the basis of Neturei Karta’s objection to the religious aspect of Israel’s crimes.

Would you compare the State of Israel to the Jewish people’s sin of worshipping the Golden Calf?

It is much worse than worshipping idols, because while you are worshipping the Golden Calf, you are a Jew who worships wrongly, who worships other Gods. But Zionism comes in order to fundamentally remove the roots of Judaism, it aims to destroy the Jewish people.

A: Zionism claims the Jews need a nationalistic state, they need a land and a language like all other countries. Jews are not based on a land and a language, they are based on following God’s commandments, whether they live in Russia or England or anywhere.

I want to ask about the Three Oaths. (Talmudic passage cited by religious Jews as forbidding a Jewish state in Palestine)

One of them is ‘do not rebel against the nations of the world’- when the Jewish people are in diaspora, they should not rebel against the powers-that-be. The second one is ‘do not go up the wall’. ‘Go up’ is ‘aliyah’. There is no problem with living in the land of Israel, but Jews should not make a pilgrimage, we should not go there en masse. The third one is do not hurry the end- there should be redemption at the end of days, but there is nothing we can do to rush it.

I am curious- one of the Three Oaths is that Jews should not rebel against the nations of the world. Many revolutionary Communists, socialists, anarchists, etc. of the 19^th and 20^th centuries were Jewish. Were they violating the Oath by rebelling against states?

That is true, but the ones who did that were not Jews. They were fully secular, and therefore not part of the Jewish people anymore. So it was not against the divine command anymore, because they did not do it as Jews.

It is often said that the Messiah will come only and exactly when the world falls completely to pieces. Is the existence of Israel and its effects upon the world a sign that, because things are getting so bad, the Messiah will come soon?

We are not prophets, so we do not know! According to the Torah, the Zionist State of Israel should not exist, so it will be unmade.

The Book of Joshua details the migration of the Jewish people out of the desert into the land of Israel, and their slaughter and expulsion of the land’s inhabitants. What do you think of those who justify the modern-day creation of the state of Israel by citing this biblical precedent?

Because Zionism is coming to destroy the Jewish people, they have no right to do this. Attempting to come and use a Biblical ideal to justify their actions is blasphemous, it is like mixing light and dark.

Some religious Zionists say that Palestinians are descended from Amalek, the so-called eternal enemy of the Jewish people. What do you say to this? [Deuteronomy 25.17-19- "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget."]

This is brainwashing propaganda by the Israeli Zionist media machine. It has nothing to do with Torah. Zionists are actually Amalek! The Chofetz Chaim said that he who goes against Judaism is from the seed of Amalek! And so therefore Zionists are from the seed of Amalek.

Something else I’ve heard is that the Arab world hates the state of Israel because of a deep-seated Muslim hatred of Jews, turning the Israel-Palestine conflict into a ‘holy war’ between Islam and Judaism.

This is a very big distortion of history. If you go throughout 3000 years of history, the big persecutions of Jews were always in Christian, not in Muslim countries. The classic example is the deportation from Spain, where Jews, deported from Christian Spain, found refuge in Muslim countries. But you don’t have to go that far- in the Holocaust time, Jews found safe havens in many Muslim countries.

How is Neturei Karta received by the rest of the Orthodox community?

Almost all Orthodox Jews reject Zionism, and this is why almost none of them enlist in the army. Although many receive funds from the government and involve themselves in the politics of the Zionist state, they reject Zionism’s ideals. The impression is that Orthodoxy supports Zionism but this is not true. They cooperate, they go hand in hand with it but they do not agree with it ideologically. They have gotten used to it. But the difference between them and Neturei Karta is that we desire to have contact with Muslim people and Palestinian leaders.

How old were you when your father visited Yasser Arafat in Ramallah? What was it like?

I was 15 or 16. Even when Arafat was living in Tunisia my father went to him and explained that Judaism and Zionism are two opposite ideas, and that Neturei Karta aims to support the right of Palestinians to receive their national home in Palestine. I met Arafat in Ramallah and the Gaza Strip. It was very important for me, and a few days later, when Arafat spoke at the UN, he said he knew the difference between Judaism and Zionism. This was very important for me.

Were you or your father condemned by the Jewish community for this?

Of course there were objections, by settlers for example, to these meetings, but of course we don’t really care.

So you are carrying on your father’s message!

Yes.

Why is this important for you?

Zionist actions are creating a lot of hatred against the Jews, and it is important for us to make it very clear to Palestinian leaders that true Jews are anti-Zionist, to try to prevent as much as possible this misunderstanding.

There are some Orthodox Jews who simply ignore the State of Israel, refuse to pay taxes, etc. but Neturei Karta actively vocalizes and demonstrates opposition. What is the importance of this?

It is very important to be active against Zionist actions, because they are harming both Jews and the rest of the world. So it is important to maintain vocal opposition, to dispute the Zionist agenda and make it understood that the Zionists are not really the Jewish voice.

Do you go to the Kotel (Western Wall)?

Never.

Why not?

Because it has been occupied by the Zionist state, and I do not recognize this occupation.

It must be difficult for you, because it is one of the holiest places in Jerusalem!

It is hard, because it is only five minutes away from here by foot!

What do you think of international Neturei Karta members who refuse to even set foot in Israel for the same reason?

It is equally important, I believe, to be able to declare opposition from within here, to speak out against Zionist actions.

Do you think that the State of Israel will disappear and become another stain in Jewish history, like Sabbatai Tzevi or any other idol worship in the past?

Exactly.

(image from http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1652)

Last week I interviewed Rabbi Meir Hirsch, leader of Neturei Karta Palestine, at his home in the Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Sharim in Jerusalem. Mea Sharim is a tight, crowded maze of a neighborhood with windy, dirty, dimly lit streets. Walking down a cobblestone pathway at night, with Orthodox men, women and children hurrying by on all sides, with cats scurrying in and out of dumpsters, with a yeshiva to the left and a kosher slaughterhouse to the right, one can sometimes get a flashback to a past life in an 18^th-century Russian shtetl.

In the few blocks around Rabbi Hirsch’s home, the Neturei Karta stronghold in the center of Mea Sharim, one starts to see Palestinian flags scrawled on the walls, with slogans like ‘No Zionists Allowed’, ‘Zionism is Dying’ and ‘Arabs are Good’ graffiti’d in Yiddish, then crossed out, then graffiti’d again. Rabbi Hirsch’s doorbell reads ‘A Jew Not a Zionist’.

An excellent interview detailing Rabbi Hirsch and Neturei Karta’s political views can be found here-http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1652. Also be sure to visit Neturei Karta’s website, www.nkusa.org!

When did your family come here?

Meir Hirsch: I am the fifth generation in this land. My family came 150 years ago from Russia. Then, Aliyah as a term, like Zionism, did not exist. People outside of Israel aspired to get to Israel in order to better worship God. When Mea Sharim was made 145 years ago, it was a wilderness at first! There were animals roaming around, people had to lock their doors!

When the Orthodox community saw waves of European secular Zionists coming, how did they feel?

The Balfour Declaration of 1918 made the people here, especially the orthodox families, very upset. There was an objection from the ultra Orthodox community, which was the majority, specifically in Jerusalem but in other parts as well. Jacob Israel de Haan was a secular Jew who became religious, and came here from Poland. He came to Palestine and at first he went to the Mizrahi movement, but was not content with their version of religion and connected with [WHO] the Chief Rabbi of the ultra-Orthodox. Because of his diplomatic connections he almost got the Balfour Declaration canceled- he had connections with Arabic leaders and British leaders. The Zionist leaders, because they saw that he was about to succeed, decided to assassinate him. When he was coming back from Maariv (evening) prayer, they shot and killed him. That led to the foundation of the Neturei Karta movement to continue to resist the Zionist movement.

De Haan was trying to make a bi-national state?

He was trying to undo Zionist aspirations towards statehood. The Zionists were progressing with their project and the Arabs were very much worried that the Zionists were trying to take their land. He met with King Abdallah of Jordan who promised him that Jews would have no problems living in Jordan or wherever he may rule, as long as they didn’t have any aspirations for political dominance.

Could you call de Haan a cultural, rather than a political Zionist?

He was anti-Zionist! He was completely detached from Zionism. All along Neturei Karta has been completely detached from Zionism in any form.

Where does the name come from?

Neturei Karta means ‘Guardians of the City’, it is an Aramaic term from the Talmud. It basically means to guard the city from Zionism entering the culture.

I lied to you, I actually know where the name comes from! [Taken from www.nkusa.org- Neturei-Karta is the Aramaic term for "Guardians of the City. The name Neturei-Karta originates from an incident in which R. Yehudah Ha-Nassi (Rabbi Judah the Prince) sent R. Hiyya and R. Ashi on a pastoral tour of inspection. In one town they asked to see the "guardians of the city" and the city guard was paraded before them. They said that these were not the guardians of the city but its destroyers, which prompted the citizens to ask who, then, could be considered the guardians. The rabbis answered, "The scribes and the scholars," referring them to Tehillim (Psalms) Chap. 127. (Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Hagiga. 76c).] So the Zionists in this metaphor are the armed guards of the city, and Neturei Karta represents the scribes and scholars who keep the truth alive?

Well in the passage, the armed guards were the Romans who had conquered Jerusalem, so they actually were the ‘destroyers’.

A (Hirsch’s wife, who wished not to be named): This passage is referring to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. Then, the scribes and the scholars literally were the guardians of the city in that, through the merit of their Torah learning, they watched over the city. But the name ‘Neturei Karta’ does not mean they are guarding over the city physically, but ideologically- they are guarding the city of Jerusalem from the ideas of Zionism.

MH: There were also ‘destroyers’ of the city who were not Roman. In the time of the 2^nd temple’s destruction, there were a group of Jews called Beriyonim, the ‘Bullies’, the family of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. They resisted the Romans, they decided not to surrender to the Romans at all. They were called Haruvei Karta, the Destroyers of the City. While everyone else accepted the Romans, they were adamant about not surrendering. And that is why the Romans destroyed the Temple, because of this resistance.

There’s a growing movement of reform and secular Jewish opposition to Zionism, in Israel and around the world. What is the relationship between this movement and Neturei Karta’s Orthodox opposition to Zionism?

The difference is that secular Jews are opposed to Zionism for humanitarian ideals which are basically Gentile, while Neturei Karta’s objection to Zionism, though it is also because of the humanitarian ideas, is drawn from religious commands. This is why our objection is much stronger, because it is based on religion.

The secular and reform anti-Zionist movement shares with Orthodox opposition a valorization of diasporic Judaism, but for different reasons- secular Jews feel happy and productive in their various countries, whereas for the Orthodoxy diaspora is our God-given lot until the coming of Messiah….

There is a similarity, but there is a fundamental difference because again, the Orthodox argument is based on a divine command to stay in the diaspora, while the secular Jewish ideas are based on humanitarian values.

What’s the difference between humanitarian moral ideas and divinely commanded moral ideas?

In Syria people are resisting the totalitarian regime. A humanitarian person would object to what’s going on, and would care about what’s going on there. However, in Israel the state is using religious symbols to justify oppression. For example its name, Israel, is the name given to Jacob in the Torah. Whereas anyone would care about humanitarian catastrophes going on in Syria, this is the basis of Neturei Karta’s objection to the religious aspect of Israel’s crimes.

Would you compare the State of Israel to the Jewish people’s sin of worshipping the Golden Calf?

It is much worse than worshipping idols, because while you are worshipping the Golden Calf, you are a Jew who worships wrongly, who worships other Gods. But Zionism comes in order to fundamentally remove the roots of Judaism, it aims to destroy the Jewish people.

A: Zionism claims the Jews need a nationalistic state, they need a land and a language like all other countries. Jews are not based on a land and a language, they are based on following God’s commandments, whether they live in Russia or England or anywhere.

I want to ask about the Three Oaths. (Talmudic passage cited by religious Jews as forbidding a Jewish state in Palestine)

One of them is ‘do not rebel against the nations of the world’- when the Jewish people are in diaspora, they should not rebel against the powers-that-be. The second one is ‘do not go up the wall’. ‘Go up’ is ‘aliyah’. There is no problem with living in the land of Israel, but Jews should not make a pilgrimage, we should not go there en masse. The third one is do not hurry the end- there should be redemption at the end of days, but there is nothing we can do to rush it.

I am curious- one of the Three Oaths is that Jews should not rebel against the nations of the world. Many revolutionary Communists, socialists, anarchists, etc. of the 19^th and 20^th centuries were Jewish. Were they violating the Oath by rebelling against states?

That is true, but the ones who did that were not Jews. They were fully secular, and therefore not part of the Jewish people anymore. So it was not against the divine command anymore, because they did not do it as Jews.

It is often said that the Messiah will come only and exactly when the world falls completely to pieces. Is the existence of Israel and its effects upon the world a sign that, because things are getting so bad, the Messiah will come soon?

We are not prophets, so we do not know! According to the Torah, the Zionist State of Israel should not exist, so it will be unmade.

The Book of Joshua details the migration of the Jewish people out of the desert into the land of Israel, and their slaughter and expulsion of the land’s inhabitants. What do you think of those who justify the modern-day creation of the state of Israel by citing this biblical precedent?

Because Zionism is coming to destroy the Jewish people, they have no right to do this. Attempting to come and use a Biblical ideal to justify their actions is blasphemous, it is like mixing light and dark.

Some religious Zionists say that Palestinians are descended from Amalek, the so-called eternal enemy of the Jewish people. What do you say to this? [Deuteronomy 25.17-19- "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget."]

This is brainwashing propaganda by the Israeli Zionist media machine. It has nothing to do with Torah. Zionists are actually Amalek! The Chofetz Chaim said that he who goes against Judaism is from the seed of Amalek! And so therefore Zionists are from the seed of Amalek.

Something else I’ve heard is that the Arab world hates the state of Israel because of a deep-seated Muslim hatred of Jews, turning the Israel-Palestine conflict into a ‘holy war’ between Islam and Judaism.

This is a very big distortion of history. If you go throughout 3000 years of history, the big persecutions of Jews were always in Christian, not in Muslim countries. The classic example is the deportation from Spain, where Jews, deported from Christian Spain, found refuge in Muslim countries. But you don’t have to go that far- in the Holocaust time, Jews found safe havens in many Muslim countries.

How is Neturei Karta received by the rest of the Orthodox community?

Almost all Orthodox Jews reject Zionism, and this is why almost none of them enlist in the army. Although many receive funds from the government and involve themselves in the politics of the Zionist state, they reject Zionism’s ideals. The impression is that Orthodoxy supports Zionism but this is not true. They cooperate, they go hand in hand with it but they do not agree with it ideologically. They have gotten used to it. But the difference between them and Neturei Karta is that we desire to have contact with Muslim people and Palestinian leaders.

How old were you when your father visited Yasser Arafat in Ramallah? What was it like?

I was 15 or 16. Even when Arafat was living in Tunisia my father went to him and explained that Judaism and Zionism are two opposite ideas, and that Neturei Karta aims to support the right of Palestinians to receive their national home in Palestine. I met Arafat in Ramallah and the Gaza Strip. It was very important for me, and a few days later, when Arafat spoke at the UN, he said he knew the difference between Judaism and Zionism. This was very important for me.

Were you or your father condemned by the Jewish community for this?

Of course there were objections, by settlers for example, to these meetings, but of course we don’t really care.

So you are carrying on your father’s message!

Yes.

Why is this important for you?

Zionist actions are creating a lot of hatred against the Jews, and it is important for us to make it very clear to Palestinian leaders that true Jews are anti-Zionist, to try to prevent as much as possible this misunderstanding.

There are some Orthodox Jews who simply ignore the State of Israel, refuse to pay taxes, etc. but Neturei Karta actively vocalizes and demonstrates opposition. What is the importance of this?

It is very important to be active against Zionist actions, because they are harming both Jews and the rest of the world. So it is important to maintain vocal opposition, to dispute the Zionist agenda and make it understood that the Zionists are not really the Jewish voice.

Do you go to the Kotel (Western Wall)?

Never.

Why not?

Because it has been occupied by the Zionist state, and I do not recognize this occupation.

It must be difficult for you, because it is one of the holiest places in Jerusalem!

It is hard, because it is only five minutes away from here by foot!

What do you think of international Neturei Karta members who refuse to even set foot in Israel for the same reason?

It is equally important, I believe, to be able to declare opposition from within here, to speak out against Zionist actions.

Do you think that the State of Israel will disappear and become another stain in Jewish history, like Sabbatai Tzevi or any other idol worship in the past?

Exactly.

(image from http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1652)

Last week I interviewed Rabbi Meir Hirsch, leader of Neturei Karta Palestine, at his home in the Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Sharim in Jerusalem. Mea Sharim is a tight, crowded maze of a neighborhood with windy, dirty, dimly lit streets. Walking down a cobblestone pathway at night, with Orthodox men, women and children hurrying by on all sides, with cats scurrying in and out of dumpsters, with a yeshiva to the left and a kosher slaughterhouse to the right, one can sometimes get a flashback to a past life in an 18^th-century Russian shtetl.

In the few blocks around Rabbi Hirsch’s home, the Neturei Karta stronghold in the center of Mea Sharim, one starts to see Palestinian flags scrawled on the walls, with slogans like ‘No Zionists Allowed’, ‘Zionism is Dying’ and ‘Arabs are Good’ graffiti’d in Yiddish, then crossed out, then graffiti’d again. Rabbi Hirsch’s doorbell reads ‘A Jew Not a Zionist’.

An excellent interview detailing Rabbi Hirsch and Neturei Karta’s political views can be found here-http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1652. Also be sure to visit Neturei Karta’s website, www.nkusa.org!

When did your family come here?

Meir Hirsch: I am the fifth generation in this land. My family came 150 years ago from Russia. Then, Aliyah as a term, like Zionism, did not exist. People outside of Israel aspired to get to Israel in order to better worship God. When Mea Sharim was made 145 years ago, it was a wilderness at first! There were animals roaming around, people had to lock their doors!

When the Orthodox community saw waves of European secular Zionists coming, how did they feel?

The Balfour Declaration of 1918 made the people here, especially the orthodox families, very upset. There was an objection from the ultra Orthodox community, which was the majority, specifically in Jerusalem but in other parts as well. Jacob Israel de Haan was a secular Jew who became religious, and came here from Poland. He came to Palestine and at first he went to the Mizrahi movement, but was not content with their version of religion and connected with [WHO] the Chief Rabbi of the ultra-Orthodox. Because of his diplomatic connections he almost got the Balfour Declaration canceled- he had connections with Arabic leaders and British leaders. The Zionist leaders, because they saw that he was about to succeed, decided to assassinate him. When he was coming back from Maariv (evening) prayer, they shot and killed him. That led to the foundation of the Neturei Karta movement to continue to resist the Zionist movement.

De Haan was trying to make a bi-national state?

He was trying to undo Zionist aspirations towards statehood. The Zionists were progressing with their project and the Arabs were very much worried that the Zionists were trying to take their land. He met with King Abdallah of Jordan who promised him that Jews would have no problems living in Jordan or wherever he may rule, as long as they didn’t have any aspirations for political dominance.

Could you call de Haan a cultural, rather than a political Zionist?

He was anti-Zionist! He was completely detached from Zionism. All along Neturei Karta has been completely detached from Zionism in any form.

Where does the name come from?

Neturei Karta means ‘Guardians of the City’, it is an Aramaic term from the Talmud. It basically means to guard the city from Zionism entering the culture.

I lied to you, I actually know where the name comes from! [Taken from www.nkusa.org- Neturei-Karta is the Aramaic term for "Guardians of the City. The name Neturei-Karta originates from an incident in which R. Yehudah Ha-Nassi (Rabbi Judah the Prince) sent R. Hiyya and R. Ashi on a pastoral tour of inspection. In one town they asked to see the "guardians of the city" and the city guard was paraded before them. They said that these were not the guardians of the city but its destroyers, which prompted the citizens to ask who, then, could be considered the guardians. The rabbis answered, "The scribes and the scholars," referring them to Tehillim (Psalms) Chap. 127. (Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Hagiga. 76c).] So the Zionists in this metaphor are the armed guards of the city, and Neturei Karta represents the scribes and scholars who keep the truth alive?

Well in the passage, the armed guards were the Romans who had conquered Jerusalem, so they actually were the ‘destroyers’.

A (Hirsch’s wife, who wished not to be named): This passage is referring to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. Then, the scribes and the scholars literally were the guardians of the city in that, through the merit of their Torah learning, they watched over the city. But the name ‘Neturei Karta’ does not mean they are guarding over the city physically, but ideologically- they are guarding the city of Jerusalem from the ideas of Zionism.

MH: There were also ‘destroyers’ of the city who were not Roman. In the time of the 2^nd temple’s destruction, there were a group of Jews called Beriyonim, the ‘Bullies’, the family of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. They resisted the Romans, they decided not to surrender to the Romans at all. They were called Haruvei Karta, the Destroyers of the City. While everyone else accepted the Romans, they were adamant about not surrendering. And that is why the Romans destroyed the Temple, because of this resistance.

There’s a growing movement of reform and secular Jewish opposition to Zionism, in Israel and around the world. What is the relationship between this movement and Neturei Karta’s Orthodox opposition to Zionism?

The difference is that secular Jews are opposed to Zionism for humanitarian ideals which are basically Gentile, while Neturei Karta’s objection to Zionism, though it is also because of the humanitarian ideas, is drawn from religious commands. This is why our objection is much stronger, because it is based on religion.

The secular and reform anti-Zionist movement shares with Orthodox opposition a valorization of diasporic Judaism, but for different reasons- secular Jews feel happy and productive in their various countries, whereas for the Orthodoxy diaspora is our God-given lot until the coming of Messiah….

There is a similarity, but there is a fundamental difference because again, the Orthodox argument is based on a divine command to stay in the diaspora, while the secular Jewish ideas are based on humanitarian values.

What’s the difference between humanitarian moral ideas and divinely commanded moral ideas?

In Syria people are resisting the totalitarian regime. A humanitarian person would object to what’s going on, and would care about what’s going on there. However, in Israel the state is using religious symbols to justify oppression. For example its name, Israel, is the name given to Jacob in the Torah. Whereas anyone would care about humanitarian catastrophes going on in Syria, this is the basis of Neturei Karta’s objection to the religious aspect of Israel’s crimes.

Would you compare the State of Israel to the Jewish people’s sin of worshipping the Golden Calf?

It is much worse than worshipping idols, because while you are worshipping the Golden Calf, you are a Jew who worships wrongly, who worships other Gods. But Zionism comes in order to fundamentally remove the roots of Judaism, it aims to destroy the Jewish people.

A: Zionism claims the Jews need a nationalistic state, they need a land and a language like all other countries. Jews are not based on a land and a language, they are based on following God’s commandments, whether they live in Russia or England or anywhere.

I want to ask about the Three Oaths. (Talmudic passage cited by religious Jews as forbidding a Jewish state in Palestine)

One of them is ‘do not rebel against the nations of the world’- when the Jewish people are in diaspora, they should not rebel against the powers-that-be. The second one is ‘do not go up the wall’. ‘Go up’ is ‘aliyah’. There is no problem with living in the land of Israel, but Jews should not make a pilgrimage, we should not go there en masse. The third one is do not hurry the end- there should be redemption at the end of days, but there is nothing we can do to rush it.

I am curious- one of the Three Oaths is that Jews should not rebel against the nations of the world. Many revolutionary Communists, socialists, anarchists, etc. of the 19^th and 20^th centuries were Jewish. Were they violating the Oath by rebelling against states?

That is true, but the ones who did that were not Jews. They were fully secular, and therefore not part of the Jewish people anymore. So it was not against the divine command anymore, because they did not do it as Jews.

It is often said that the Messiah will come only and exactly when the world falls completely to pieces. Is the existence of Israel and its effects upon the world a sign that, because things are getting so bad, the Messiah will come soon?

We are not prophets, so we do not know! According to the Torah, the Zionist State of Israel should not exist, so it will be unmade.

The Book of Joshua details the migration of the Jewish people out of the desert into the land of Israel, and their slaughter and expulsion of the land’s inhabitants. What do you think of those who justify the modern-day creation of the state of Israel by citing this biblical precedent?

Because Zionism is coming to destroy the Jewish people, they have no right to do this. Attempting to come and use a Biblical ideal to justify their actions is blasphemous, it is like mixing light and dark.

Some religious Zionists say that Palestinians are descended from Amalek, the so-called eternal enemy of the Jewish people. What do you say to this? [Deuteronomy 25.17-19- "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget."]

This is brainwashing propaganda by the Israeli Zionist media machine. It has nothing to do with Torah. Zionists are actually Amalek! The Chofetz Chaim said that he who goes against Judaism is from the seed of Amalek! And so therefore Zionists are from the seed of Amalek.

Something else I’ve heard is that the Arab world hates the state of Israel because of a deep-seated Muslim hatred of Jews, turning the Israel-Palestine conflict into a ‘holy war’ between Islam and Judaism.

This is a very big distortion of history. If you go throughout 3000 years of history, the big persecutions of Jews were always in Christian, not in Muslim countries. The classic example is the deportation from Spain, where Jews, deported from Christian Spain, found refuge in Muslim countries. But you don’t have to go that far- in the Holocaust time, Jews found safe havens in many Muslim countries.

How is Neturei Karta received by the rest of the Orthodox community?

Almost all Orthodox Jews reject Zionism, and this is why almost none of them enlist in the army. Although many receive funds from the government and involve themselves in the politics of the Zionist state, they reject Zionism’s ideals. The impression is that Orthodoxy supports Zionism but this is not true. They cooperate, they go hand in hand with it but they do not agree with it ideologically. They have gotten used to it. But the difference between them and Neturei Karta is that we desire to have contact with Muslim people and Palestinian leaders.

How old were you when your father visited Yasser Arafat in Ramallah? What was it like?

I was 15 or 16. Even when Arafat was living in Tunisia my father went to him and explained that Judaism and Zionism are two opposite ideas, and that Neturei Karta aims to support the right of Palestinians to receive their national home in Palestine. I met Arafat in Ramallah and the Gaza Strip. It was very important for me, and a few days later, when Arafat spoke at the UN, he said he knew the difference between Judaism and Zionism. This was very important for me.

Were you or your father condemned by the Jewish community for this?

Of course there were objections, by settlers for example, to these meetings, but of course we don’t really care.

So you are carrying on your father’s message!

Yes.

Why is this important for you?

Zionist actions are creating a lot of hatred against the Jews, and it is important for us to make it very clear to Palestinian leaders that true Jews are anti-Zionist, to try to prevent as much as possible this misunderstanding.

There are some Orthodox Jews who simply ignore the State of Israel, refuse to pay taxes, etc. but Neturei Karta actively vocalizes and demonstrates opposition. What is the importance of this?

It is very important to be active against Zionist actions, because they are harming both Jews and the rest of the world. So it is important to maintain vocal opposition, to dispute the Zionist agenda and make it understood that the Zionists are not really the Jewish voice.

Do you go to the Kotel (Western Wall)?

Never.

Why not?

Because it has been occupied by the Zionist state, and I do not recognize this occupation.

It must be difficult for you, because it is one of the holiest places in Jerusalem!

It is hard, because it is only five minutes away from here by foot!

What do you think of international Neturei Karta members who refuse to even set foot in Israel for the same reason?

It is equally important, I believe, to be able to declare opposition from within here, to speak out against Zionist actions.

Do you think that the State of Israel will disappear and become another stain in Jewish history, like Sabbatai Tzevi or any other idol worship in the past?

Exactly.

A towering concrete wall slices through a city.

The security fence forces a border into the heart of this country, and before I left I was determined to see what was on the other side.

A barricaded road in Hebron

I started my two day tour of the west bank quite auspiciously: with two hours of sleep under my belt, playing pillow to a religious Jewish woman on the sherute to Jerusalem. There is a curious sort of intimacy engendered by the large shared taxi, a perfect alternate world where strangers usher each other to the land of communal dreams for a spell. And an alternate world is what I seemed to have stepped into for my time in the west bank–I am a veritable modern-day Alice down the rabbit hole. The facts of the matter actively twist and squirm, illusive and uncatchable.

For the first time in my life, and within the borders of Israel, I am asked to actively hide the fact that I am Jewish.

Reclaiming Street Names in Silwan

Building in a historic city is difficult in any country. Building in Jerusalem is another story entirely. And building a legal addition to your Jerusalem home if you are Palestinian is nigh well impossible. Walking through Silwan, a neighborhood directly adjacent to the old city, the social tensions created by unequally enforced legislation are visible everywhere. One family has had their home destroyed twice after they built additions to house new members. Before a home demolition, the army traditionally gives fifteen minutes warning. If the family in question is lucky, they will get half an hour notice before the bulldozers arrive in their front yard.

A Silwan resident called after us in English, swearing and demanding to know where the promised peace was. But, as my parent’s tour guide was found of saying, “This is the promised land. Everybody makes promises and nobody keeps them.” In the Al-Bustan neighborhood, 88 homes have been scheduled for demolition to make way for a park to be attached to the City of David archeological tourist site. The residents have refused the proffered resettlement package. Israeli and Palestinian children play together in the better quality Jewish playgrounds of Silwan, but the Palestinian children can be hauled off by the border police at any time–even if the only provocation is using a football court desired by a more legal citizen.

A religious tourist bus with all its windows broken

The Palestinian children act out by throwing rocks. But then innocent and guilty children alike get accused of such activity and are put under house arrest until their day in court. Parents must take on the constant care of a hemmed-in child in addition to the exorbitant lawyer fees to fight charges that can be leveled at any time with very little evidence. 50% of Palestinian males over the age of 18 have been arrested, detained or imprisoned. I have rarely seen such incredible sadness as that in the eyes of a teenage boy smoking a cigarette inside his parent’s illegal falafel shop as he tried to chat as if his small world wasn’t eroding away from the inside.

Instilling Silwan Pride

But these “facts” are all from the mouth of the Palestinian who runs the unofficial community center of Silwan, where he passes out Free Palestine literature and Silwan pride flags. He will not send his children to school because he fears that if he does, his east Jerusalem resident permit will be revoked. He claims that he wants only his civil rights, for Israel to look Palestine in the face and not flinch at the demographic question its existence poses for the state.

Charicature expressing how nobody looks Palestine in the face

Nothing in (or about) the west bank is without its bias, and my head is quickly overwhelmed trying to apply the correct torque against each speaker’s spin.

We spent the night in Shakeshura, a neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Our guide told us that most natives spend all of their time on either the east or west side of the city; even the roads are designed to be more passable north-south than east-west. It’s amazing that there is such blindness where there should be such obvious understanding. Within a block of crossing into east Jerusalem, the poverty of the area visibly increases.

East Jerusalem has been alternately ruled by Jordan and Israel, so here land ownership is even more complicated than in the rest of a country where a 99 year lease is the traditional mode of sale. Settlers challenged the Palestinian ownership of Shakeshura, claiming it was included in an earlier unspecific grant of land near Jerusalem to a Jewish conglomerate. The courts could not clarify the historical ownership of the land, so told all parties to leave the property. Settlers then moved into the houses and squatted, alternating every year so no further court cases could be brought against them.

Whether this version of the story holds a fraction of truth is frankly irrelevant when I listen to a burly, bear of a father type calmly tell us of watching a police officer evict his family, take the house key, kiss it, and hand it to a settler. Now, in a small sort of rebellion, he holds court across the street form his occupied house on a frayed couch and watches a settler family live in his home. My heart breaks when he talks about his visions for peace within a single state.

Slowly, and all at once, people appear in the street for a protest poetry slam. They peer through the slats of the fence the settlers have erected around the house and take turns at the blowhorn to shout anthems of hurt and healing and peace into the night.

A protester photographing the graffiti on a Settler's house in Shakeshura

I sleep deeply upon borrowed cushions in the protest tent covered in slogans and graffiti. I sleep through the shouts of “Free Palestine” and the loud music that pierces the night as the protestors needle the settlers from afar. I sleep through the election of guards to watch over the tent. I find out later that the last group who stayed the night in the tent had vomit poured on their heads by settlers while they slept. I wake up briefly as the Muslim call to morning prayer wafts over these contested hills.

Pro-Palestinian graffiti on the window ledge of the settler's house

The Ma’an News Network serves both the West Bank and Gaza, but is based in Bethlehem. The editor in chief of the network believes that the majority of Palestinians are angry and frustrated, but not violent. He believes that “The wall has made us deaf. They can’t hear our pain and we can’t hear their pain.” In fact, he cannot understand what the wall means; geographically it divides a single state, demographically it does not separate Jews from Palestinians, and religiously it walls in the fanatics so they cannot escape brushing elbows. He wonders why soldiers must aggravate the issue by overt presence in the territories–”What are you doing here with your gun?”

The head of the Ma’an radio station left the west bank during a war, so lost his family’s land. When he returned, he lived in a refugee camp. To escape the camp, he sold all of his wife’s dowery to buy a parcel of land in Bethlehem. Now his land has been confiscated to build the wall. He will receive no compensation from the state. He believes that Israel values security above all else, which translates to a lack of basic human rights for Palestinians. The west bank is under military rule, which translates to soldiers, cameras, barbed wire, and no appeals. He fears that his land will eventually be given to settlers rather than used solely to build the wall. I wonder how he can hope in this environment. He leans calmly against the wall of his office and explains that he can’t feel the hurt every day. He’s watched all the money of his life confiscated and now lives in the refugee camp once more–”What can you do?” My heart breaks again when he smiles. He doesn’t hope for a war, but his clear eyes see one coming. He translates an arabic saying for us: “The cat in a small corner will scratch you.”

While I always thought Israel had no business making a ghetto out of Gaza and the West Bank so soon after the Holocaust, I can also see the other side. One year after the “security fence” was erected, terrorist bombings in Israel ceased completely. The wall has been built along what will likely become the Palestinian border, so will serve as a security measure between the countries in the future. Hurt people lash out, and the wall prevents that pain from exponentially increasing through perpetual retaliation. If the left feels terrorized, they move politically rightward, which narrows the opportunity for peace, so preventing terror logically furthers the peace process. I’ve been told that the west bank is actually economically developing quite well for its circumstances.

The fact is that the wall sucks, and that the wall works.

The covered market in the old city of Hebron

Walking through the market in the mixed city of Hebron is at once bizarrely reminiscent of Jaffa’s own market, and completely alien. One moment I am accosted by children selling juice for one shekel, and the next I am passing alley upon alley of forcibly closed shops overlooked by military outposts and roads ending in concrete and barbed wire.

A settlement directly above the market

Our guide draws our attention to the nets strung above our heads. They are filled with garbage, which the settlers throw down upon the shoppers in the market.

An army outpost above the streets of Hebron

I have never felt so oppressively watched. Twice soldiers stop us to question our activity. Our guides whip out tired yet angry responses of inquiring after a written order that would remove us from the area. We get accused of photographing military bases and my notepad is mentioned … in my opinion a notepad is only threatening to those petrified of paper cuts or witnesses. I wanted to laugh, or maybe cry.

One of the many cameras overlooking the city

121 cameras watch the old city. There are 101 checkpoints and road blocks in 1 square kilometer. 512 shops have been forcibly closed and many more have closed for lack of customers.

I could never have imagined this uncomfortable, hair raising feel of wrongdoing (when all I was doing was walking around) from the carefree city limits of Tel Aviv. One of my friends calls Hebron an open air prison under her breath. I wonder how many Israelis know what it feels like to live the life of these settlers and Palestinians. I wonder how these people continue to get up every day with a smile and face the sneaking oppression of the guarded streets.

On the other hand, the area we walked through was the worst of Hebron. It is a buffer belt between the Israeli and Palestinian controlled areas, where Palestine has civil control, but Israel has military control. Boundaries of power are slippery and all are on high alert for violent outbreaks from both sides. 18 year-old boys in combat units are nervous and scared, trying desperately to keep things under control. One soldier we talk to describes the hardship of being away from home for such long stretches. He gets flack from both sides of the city as well as his commander. He says that the Palestinians cause more trouble because the Jews have no reason to.

A member of the Christian Peacemaking Team in Hebron tells us of the settler’s tours of the old city, where they ostentatiously look for proof of land ownership, but really (according to her) throw rocks, spit on locals and generally stir up trouble. She recounts the latest episode of violence her team could not prevent (through simple observation-a person watched is a person with more to lose by violent acts): an 11 year-old boy spit back at the settlers after they spit on a shopkeeper he considered his mother; later that night he was taken to a closed room by five soldiers and their commander and beaten up. The CPT member says sadly, “This is not a normal world.” She tells of losing her Palestinian ID when she married a European and moved to his country. She calls it legal ethnic cleansing.

The settler’s bus back to Jerusalem is filled with Jews and soldiers. The windows are made of bulletproof glass, and fog the view until all that can be seen are smudges of gray. As I stare at the inscrutable, impressionistic landscape, our guide falls asleep on my shoulder. I have come full circle.

Settler's children playing in the streets of Hebron

It took me nearly a week to be able to write about my experience in the West Bank. The more I talked about it, the less it seemed to make sense. I couldn’t, and still can’t, wrap my head around all sides of the issue. I can’t even give you a glimpse of the truth of the area, because I can’t separate the truth from the fiction. My madrich, Dan, explained that there is a myth of modern philosophy where if you study enough, see enough, and think enough you will be able to understand a thing entirely. There is no truth or understanding or academic explaining of the territories. There are only the people. And the people on both sides are hurting.

The history of the place has a death grip about its present. But the present is the stuff of nightmares, and people can only take so much. Time is running out. Those speaking the language of coexistence and basic human rights may give up if they can’t connect across the divide. Winston Churchill once said that “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” Accountability, like power, must derive from the citizens to compensate in a flawed democracy. And in Israel, the citizens have become a sluggishly blind watchdog indeed. I have no insight to offer into the issue and the life of West Bank except this:

I may be running in circles, but at least my eyes are open. Be the witness, and you can become the understanding. Bridge the wall. This is my small truth.

We were preparing for Shabbat too, on our way to a Mikveh. A Jewish man tries to go to the Mikveh every Friday before Shabbat. The Mikveh is a ritual purification by immersion in water. (A Mikveh must have a minimum amount of natural water: from springs, from rain, or from a flowing stream or river.) You can be sure that a Mikveh in Mea Sharim in Jerusalem is kosher.

We turned off Strauss Street into a courtyard, and walked over to a non-nondescript building, with a sign in Hebrew announcing a Mikveh. There was a small group of “Haredi” Jews lined up to enter, with a swarm of young boys hanging around. There was a large bulletin board announcing events in the community and posting several religious discussions, apparently publishing debates between some factions on obscure religious issues. At the entrance, there was no sign, no price list, nothing; but there was a “kupa”, a ticket window with an iron grate and one person. Nachshon asked about the prices in Hebrew. At that moment, a secular Russian man, short, but acting tough, said that he didn’t have the twenty-eight shach required for entry for steam bath and Mikveh. In broken English, “I’ll pay you the extra three shach next time. I have only twenty-five today. Next time, three more.” The ticket guy asked “What is your name?” (to write on the ticket). “Abraham Avinu.” This is a name given by someone who does not want to give a name. The ticket guy accepted the ruse and gave him the ticket. I paid for my ticket and we went up the stairs. The ticket guy gave us each a simple piece of dark blue cloth, with some velcro fasteners and a number on the tag. “What is this for?” We will find out later.

The building looked like a building that had been mostly abandoned many years ago. Water stains on the walls. “Peeling plaster” only begins to describe the condition of the walls and ceilings. Many of the railings, the door hinges and mechanisms were broken, maybe repaired with epoxy, maybe not. Floor dust and pieces of paper were everywhere. The sound of children and men’s voices filled the stairwell. All smoking had stopped outside. We walked up three flights. Nachshon is native in Hebrew, but we missed the sign on the door and went a half-flight extra to discover the trash-filled door to the roof: locked. Back down to the doorway to the Mikveh.

We entered a changing room, nearly filled with clothes and men and young boys. The metal racks for clothes had an unusual horizontal shelf, high above the floor. This shelf was filled with elegant black hats, some made of wool felt and some made of animal fur. Was it beaver fur? On the floor were low-cost black shoes. Almost all of the clothes hanging on the hooks were black trousers, white shirts, and on the top layer, a religious garment called “Talit Katan”, a ritual undershirt with four corners and tassels, “tzit-tzit.” We undressed and hung our clothes on the same hooks, but we didn’t need to use the hat shelf. As I undressed, several young boys stared at me. It was a direct and holding stare. They had no perception of personal space and the impoliteness of a long stare. They had no experience outside of their closed Haredi community and they wanted to understand this creature from the world outside of their community.

Not knowing what to do with the dark blue piece of cloth, we carried it with our soap and towels. I was a little worried about theft until I saw several brief cases containing lap-top computers sitting carefully on the benches under the clothes.

We had paid for the steam room and the Mikveh, and I suggested that we go to the steam room first. We had to pass through a major turnstile: floor-to-ceiling with bars. It allowed free exit from the steam room, but required the attendant to trigger entrance with a remote-control device. When entry was acceptable, the light turned from red to green. We gave up our tickets and entered. The device did not function the first time and we had to gesture to the attendant to get our admittance. We stood in the small entryway to the steam room. As we looked around, the attendant came through the gate to inform us that we must wear the dark blue cloth as a skirt while we were in the steam room. So that’s what it was for. It was a rather intimate space, so I was happy to cover my hips with the skirt. We opened the door to the steam room and went in.

We were hit in the face by the flow of hot steamy foggy air. Very hot and very foggy. I stopped to adjust, to let my eyes adapt to the semi-dark, to get my bearings. Where was I? Where could I walk? Where were other men? What space was okay for me to occupy? Where was I?

In a few seconds, I was ready to move. I could see some shower stalls on my left, with basins on the floor, some filled with strange-looking brushes, a few filled with bunches of natural twigs, maybe alder branches. The room was filled with the sound of Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian. What am I doing here? Should I run away now? All the men were naked except for the dark blue skirts. Men were standing, sitting on the multi-level benches. Some men were staring quietly at the floor, enjoying or suffering from the intense heat. I’ve been in many saunas and steam rooms, but this heat burned my mouth, my throat and my lungs. How long would I be able to last? As my awareness adjusted more, I could see one man leaned over the bench. His friend was rubbing his back with the strange brush, filled with soap. The strokes of the brush were like an “V”, with the intersection of the V slowly moving down the back to the waist. It looked sensual and fun.

I sat down on a low-level bench. On either side there was a small partition, which prevented a person from lying down. The temperature was noticeably lower for me. I could relax to notice the burning on me feet. The steam was flowing from vents in the floor, and I had to avoid placing my feet in the hot spots. Breathe. I noticed that after soaping a friend’s back, the brush was waved carefully over the whole area of the shoulders. What was that about? It couldn’t possibly be a cooling effect.

The brushes had a plastic handle, the width of a large man’s hand. There were many very soft plastic tassels about a foot long which created a brush resembling a strange bunch of skinny flowers. The application of the brush to a man’s back resulted in a spray of soap that landed on any man that was nearby.

I began to see that I could distinguish the Haredi Jews from the Russians, even while naked and in the semi-dark, steamy fog. The Russians did not have the long sidelocks, “payot”. Some of the Haredi had close haircuts with the payot. Some had shaved heads, except for the payot. I’m sure that an insider could tell a lot about a man, just from the style of his payot. My head is very closely cut, but not shaved. I did not fit with the Russians, nor with the Haredi.

We went out into the Mikveh. A hot pool, a warm pool and a cold pool. As I had experienced already, the temperature of the pools was extreme. The hot was HOT. And the cold was COLD. We entered the warm pool to do our Mikveh. I descended into my own spiritual space to purify myself and to prepare for Shabbat. I know of no blessing for a Mikveh, which is itself a surprise. I had left my wedding ring home, and by now I was completely scrubbed clean. I was ready for my immersion. Immersion requires a person to submerge completely, head under water, touching neither floor nor wall. I collapsed under the water, releasing air from my lungs until I started to sink below the surface. Before my feet gently touched the floor of the pool, I knew that I was immersed, completely contained in the water. Three times I sank into the water. The third time, I left all of my world, all of my body, all of my life behind. I was the water, and the world was me. I was ready for Shabbat.

The other men were completely absorbed into their personal experience of the Mikveh. The confusion, the noise, the communal energy of the steam room was left behind. Each man was alone with God, celebrating this ritual of several millenia.