Cabbin’ It

July 16, 2007 - 12:00 PM by Israelity

One of the more annoying aspects of living on top of a mountain, or more technically, Mount Scopus, is the inconvenience of coming down the mountain. For instance, if you don’t keep the Sabbath, prepare to rent DVD’s, because you are either walking somewhere else, or sitting in your apartment staring at the wall.

Saturday, I made the long walk down the mountain to the Old City. By the time I made it there my legs were burning and the back of my neck was red. After an hour or two of amateur photography near the Damascus Gate, I flagged down a cab. I was NOT walking back up that mountain.

Shayna: Kfar Ha’Studentim, b’vakasha (Student Village, please).
Cabbie: Sixty Shekel.
Shayna: Lo. Shloshim Shekel (Thirty Shekel).
Cabbie: You American, today Shabbat. Special rate on Shabbat.

Special rate for American, more likely.
I look over at his name plate.

Shayna: Ahmed, if today is your Shabbat I think I need to get in another cab.
Cabbie: Tov, Shloshim.
Shayna: And by the way, I may be American, but I’m level Gimel in Hebrew.

Who knew that a Hebrew level could be used like an orange belt in Karate?

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