A moral dilemma on King David Street

February 21, 2010 - 8:32 PM by David · 5 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Crime, General, Israeliness, Life, Social Justice, Sports, coexistence 

I’m not sure if I was taken in by a 3-Card-Monty sidewalk scam or callous in not fully helping someone in need.

I left Jerusalem’s King David Hotel on Friday with my tennis partner Calev after our weekly doubles game (Why we get to play at the venerable hotel’s outside court situated in it’s beautiful poolside courtyard is another story worth telling some day).

As we were walking to Calev’s car, a neatly dressed woman holding two young girls – aged maybe six and four, dressed in their Friday finest approached us.

“Excuse me,” she said in an accented English that revealed her Arab origins. She was tall and thin, and wearing a fashionable black pant suit.

“I’m from Haifa, and I had to come to Jerusalem to take one of my girls to the hospital for an appointment. But I lost my pocket book, and now we have no way of getting back to Haifa. Do you have any money you can give so we can go home?”

What would you do?

Calev, who grew up in New York, immediately scoped out the situation as a classic tourist scam, aimed at bilking the high-scale King David clientele out of their money.

I looked at the little girls, and took NIS 20 out of my pocket and handed it to the woman.

“This will get you to the Central Bus Station,” I said. “You can ask Egged (the bus company) to help you get home.”

The woman wasn’t happy with that offering.

“But I need NIS 150 to get home,” she insisted.

Claiming that the money I gave her was all I had, we continued walking to the car. Calev said, “I’m sure she’s from east Jerusalem and does this every week.”

As we drove onto King David Street, he suggested we look for the woman and offer her a ride to Haifa. If she declined, then we’d know that I had been taken. If she accepted, then it was going to be a long afternoon driving two hours each way to Haifa.

Alas, we couldn’t find them on the street anymore, and we were left to speculate. Ultimately, I didn’t feel bad at my NIS 20 contribution to the woman. Even if she was a clever scam artist, the money would hopefully go to feeding her children. But we may never find out who she was… unless she’s there again next Friday when we finish our tennis game.

Tags: , , ,

Fit for a King (David)

February 1, 2010 - 11:12 AM by David · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Food, General, Politics, Travel 

We’re used to heads of state coming to Jerusalem, with the flags of the visitor’s country unfurled throughout the city, and their motorcades causing traffic jams wherever they go.

But what about the hotels where they stay and the accomodations and special needs required to host VIPs during their visits here?
With Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his huge entourage enroute to Israel on Monday, The Jerusalem Post focused on what the King David Hotel – the traditional resting hole for heads of state – is doing to prepare for the visit.

The King David’s Old World lobby is full of photos and signatures of the leaders and celebrities who have stayed there over the years, and in recent time, the person in charge of making sure they’re comfortable and pampered in their hours spent at the hotel has been Sheldon Ritz, the deputy general manager.

We’ve share a couple meals together over the years at mutual friends, and Sheldon, originally from England, is a charming, calm fellow. But all bets are off when he’s preparing for a state visit.

The Italian delegation has booked 200 rooms for their two-and-a-half day stay, and Ritz told the Post that he has had ‘thousands’ of phone calls between the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office in Rome, as well as the Israel Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) in Jerusalem to make sure everything is set up as required.

The biggest headache for Ritz and his staff is blocking off the rooms, so that the ministers are in one section, the journalists in another, security people in another and other members of the entourage in yet another.

“It’s like trying to seat people at a wedding,” said Ritz. “There are a lot of things to take into consideration.

Among Berlusconi’s likes and dislikes that Ritz has to worry about? he dislikes goats cheese and sheep cheese. He doesn’t eat animal fats, he doesn’t want perfumed flowers in his room and he likes his bed to be made French style – meaning that the covers are tucked in at the base.

The King David will also host a state dinner for Berlusconi, which will feature entrecote steak and lamb cutlets with four seasons pepper sauce.

While the Italian premier hasn’t asked for any special exercise equipment to be at his disposal, he can always partake of the hotel’s one outdoor tennis court. I played there on Friday, and can attest that it’s in tiptop shape.

It would be interesting to find out if Berlusconi, who’s just as well known for his prediliction for beautiful women as he his for his diplomatic achievements, has requested the company of any Israeli beauties. However that’s the precise reason so many important people stay at the King David – it’s far too discreet to disclose anything like that.

Tags: , , ,

So what is it like to live in Israel?

October 26, 2008 - 1:22 PM by Harry · 8 Comments
Filed under: Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

Welcome to IsraelI returned from a trip to the states last month and was as usual was quite annoyed with the incessant questioning about my life here. Call me impatient but it’s the same thing every time and it can get quite annoying. So one night after a difficult dinner where the amount of silly questions matched the amount of drinks I had I jotted down the most common questions. The most common of course is being asked “What is it like to live in Israel?” People fail to understand that my life here is not a Disney-esque adventure where I jump from an archeological site to the Great Synagogue and back again. Sure I live in Israel, but I have a real job, real problems and a real life.

Here are a few of the most common questions asked of me, my real answers and the answers I would really like to give.

Question: Do you like living in Israel?

Answer: Very much.

What I would like to answer: No, I’ve only stayed here for the past eleven years because of self-hatred and my love of bureaucracy.

Question: Should Jerusalem be divided? I don’t think it should be.

Answer: That is a complicated question that I would need hours to answer.

What I would like to answer: Well, that is a fairly complicated question that I can’t even approach. It isn’t so black and white and frankly, your opinion on the matter means nothing to me. Just because you stay at the King David Hotel once a year does not give you the right to determine the future of Israel’s capital city.

Question: Is it quiet over there?

Answer: Yes.

What I would like to answer: It’s quiet right now, but you never know when the next bulldozer attack is going to be and I hear Iran is developing nuclear energy.

Question: I know someone who moved to Modi’in last year? Do you know David, uh, what’s his last name (screams to wife/husband “What is David’s last name?”)

Answer: Modi’in is a fairly large city and most of my friends live in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

What I would like to answer: Even if I did know this person who you apparently do not know very well since you do not even know their last name where can we possibly take this conversation next?

Question: Your daughter, does she understands Hebrew? Do you speak to her in Hebrew or English at home?

Answer: Yes, she understands Hebrew. They speak to her in Hebrew at daycare. We speak to her exclusively in English at home.

What I would like to answer: Well, if we want her to speak like someone with a severe learning disability we would speak to her exclusively in Hebrew. Of course we speak to her in English, it would be a crime to rob her of the gift of fluency in English.

Oh, I’m really not that bitter…I did have several drinks before jotting all this down. And I was just really missing the land where high fructose corn syrup can’t be found, the hummus is more common in it’s unpackaged form and where salad is served with every meal. I just couldn’t wait to get home already.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

© 2010 ISRAELITY | Site by illuminea | Sitemap