On Thursday evening I got to go to an Indian music concert. My landlords’ daughter plays the bakla (Indian drum). The center was just down the street from my place and on the same block as Netanyahu’s house. They have the street blocked to vehicle traffic but we just walked through after telling the guard where we were going. Couldn’t help thinking about all the security around the White House. Much more than here and Israel really has a security issue. America is such a fear driven society. Sad. 

My Hebrew is definitely progressing but it is taking all my energy. So all I do is go out to some services, study and attend classes and do food shopping. So today I decided instead of going to shul, I’d go to the Kotel in the afternoon.  I was really mistaken about distances when I rented this place. I am in the middle of things but distances are much longer and the hills. So the Kotel is over a mile and a half away with hills not too steep. It took me close to an hour to walk there partly because I had to walk through the shuk. Since I was here last, they have increased the size of the women’s section considerably. It is almost as large as the men’s side. There is more shade and they have seats on the women’s side. Interestingly there were significantly more women than men praying. So I sat in the shade and watched people. I got to thinking about the Shema. How all is one which means that we are all part of each other. That means Trump is part of me. At first that was a horrific thought but then I started to analyze what that could mean. One way to look at it is that we are all collectively responsible for what happens in our society. However it is mind boggling how I can make a difference. I know that the Rabbi has said we start small, with things we can have some control of. Another way to look at it is that we all have a dark side, the yetzer hara. Always a challenge to channel this instinct into constructive behavior. Enough philosophy. I welcome anyone wanting to comment or discuss this further to send me an email. 

I am attaching two photos, one of the Kotel and the other just inside the Jaffa gate looking at the entrance to the shuk.