My plan had been to go to work and then meet up with Barbara, my friend Heidi's mother, who I have known since I was very, very little. Barbara was here on a 9-day tour around Israel and Jordan and had a brief window of opportunity for a visit Thursday afternoon in Jerusalem (these tours give you precious little time to do anything "off schedule". Niece Saige was here last week on Birthright [which gives even *less* time off] and, very sadly, we didn't get to see her at all).
But when my school canceled late in the morning, I suddenly had the whole rest of the day open! Party! It meant that I was able to go to one of the big hospitals and visit former Maldener Eliana who was there with her newborn daughter. Nothing like a little newborn snuggle time to start things off right! When I called to see if she would be free, she suggested I check when visiting hours were. It hadn't even occurred to me that there would BE visiting hours (do any hospitals in the US, aside from maybe intensive care units, even have visiting hours any more?!). Aside from finding out that my proposed visiting time was okay, I also found out interesting things from the website, such as that "each (mother-baby) ward has spacious rooms, up to three beds per room. No mother stays in the hall". Yikes! Sometimes I forget that I am very, very far from the US in many, many ways.....
Then off to see Yehuda Leib, also a former Maldener (for a small community, Malden is pretty well represented here. At least in my life!). Yehuda Leib lives in a long-term care facility just outside the Old City walls that has been run by a Christian religious group since the late 1800s . But, hey, it's Jerusalem, so his roommate also wears a yarmulke and the kitchen of the entire hospital is kosher! When I arrived, a volunteer was finishing learning Gemara with him, and he told me that every week for Shabbos, a volunteer comes to help him to go shul, since that's the one big thing the facility is lacking--a synagogue (understandably so).
(You can just about feel the history in this building, right?! Before visiting Yehuda Leib, the only thing I knew about this building is that is has bullet holes in the outside of it, a remnant of the 1948 War of Independence between Israel and Jordan)
And then off to my 1.25 hour (did I mention her schedule is jam-packed?!) visit with Barbara. We had such a nice time walking around the city. She said she was glad to have the opportunity to see things that weren't on her tour and were more of everyday life (she was surprised to see the lightrail train coming up Yaffo Street--I guess they really hadn't had much of an opportunity to walk around!).
It was certainly interesting going in one afternoon along such a gamut of socioeconomic levels in Jerusalem. Barbara was staying at one of the nicest hotels in the city (earlier in the day, she asked the people inside the elevator to please hold it for her, only to find out it was Bob Kraft, owner of the Patriots, in town to receive the Genesis Prize--"the Israeli Nobel Prize"). Yehuda Leib was in more of a "historic place" than one with any sort of luxury to it, although the staff seemed truly lovely, which certainly helps make up for not living in the Ritz.
