Silent Night
Jerusalem is the loudest place I’ve ever been. Between the bells and the calls to prayer and the constant honking it’s never quiet. And then there’s the endless barrage of holidays. It seems that the Jews, Muslims and Christians are in a competition to see who can have the most holidays, and who can be the loudest during said holidays. Sukkot is starting soon, and Yom Kippur is tomorrow, which means it actually started at sundown today. Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonment) is nothing like what I expected.
Jerusalem is silent. In Leviticus, God says that anyone who works on the Day of Atonement will be destroyed from his people, and it seems like the Jews here take that very seriously. No one is allowed to work, so nothing is open. No one can drive, so the streets are full of kids riding bicycles. Remember, Jerusalem isn’t a little town. It’s a huge city. People on the street don’t speak louder than a whisper. It’s actually a little eeiry. I forgot what quiet sounded like.
The city feels weird. The Jews aren’t eating or drinking for 25 hours. They are supposed to repent for their sins and spend time in prayer. If they’re good, their names will be written in the book of life for another year.
It’s so strange not to hear car horns.
