ISRAEL - JERUSALEM

I decided to spend my semester abroad in Jerusalem without thinking much about what to expect. I was just curious and started to read about the city just a few days before I was to arrive. The first thing I came across was the Shabbat. At first I assumed that it would be like a Sunday in Germany. But since this is not quite the case, I would like to take a closer look at the days of rest in Jerusalem in this blog entry.

As I mentioned earlier, it is actually quite common in Europe for the weekend to be on Saturday and Sunday, with the majority of shops closing on Sundays. Restaurants, bars and the like are usually not affected.

In Jerusalem, the weekend already begins on Friday, or rather at sunset. According to the Torah, no work is allowed after this time. This means that it is rare to find an open shop after 3 PM on Fridays. All supermarkets and mini-markets are closed, as is every Falafel restaurant, no matter how touristic it may be, such as King George Street or Jaffa Street. The consequence of this day of rest is very different from the Sundays I know from Germany. Instead, Sunday in Israel is the start of the week, which is basically Monday, which sometimes still confuses me when planning my week.

 However, I now have to talk about something that surprised me a little and at the same time made me question why I wasn't aware of it earlier. It is obvious that Jerusalem is a melting pot for many different religions and cultures. The Old City is divided into the Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarters, which in turn contain different sub-religions. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, for instance, is shared by six different Christian confessions.

However, as my prior research was mainly concerned with West Jerusalem and thus the Jewish part of the city, my limited knowledge was only focused on the Jewish culture. In doing so, I had forgotten an essential part: East Jerusalem.

In this Arab part, which is also on Palestinian territory, Islam is one of the predominant religions. This leads to a different weekly routine. Due to the Friday prayer, shops here are already closed on Friday morning. In contrast to West Jerusalem, however, many of the shops open on the same day, after the end of prayer, and everything is open again on Saturday at the latest.

 The difference in opening hours between the districts is therefore not only the day, but also the duration and consistency. Whereas in West Jerusalem on Saturdays you have little choice but to stay at home, go to the park and just do nothing, in East Jerusalem you can still find some shops open on Fridays and don't have to worry about getting food.

It is therefore also exciting to walk around the city on Friday and Saturday. When I walk from Bab a-Zahara (my current home) to Nachlaot on Friday, it is comparatively quiet and empty at first. You don't hear the usual continuous traffic and car honks. The further west I go, the busier it gets and you see many people doing their last shopping for the Shabbat meal.

It's the other way round on Saturdays, when Bab a-Zahara is again dominated by the normal traffic chaos and activity. Because then the streets of Jerusalem are almost empty. Only tourists and a few people strolling in the parks are still wandering around.

 The regularity with which one crosses this "invisible" border sometimes leaves me with a strange feeling. Also because in the end I am not familiar with either of the two versions. At the same time, it is of course practical to use the differences for oneself, as there is always something to do or see.

At first, it amazed me how such contrasts can exist in a city, as I was used to the idea from Germany that regardless of which culture or religion prevails in a neighbourhood, Sunday is a day of rest that everyone has to come to terms with somehow. Through this experience, I question the German approach somewhat, when it works more diversely elsewhere.