Aliyah Blog 90: Ramla. Arabs.

Some Background about Ramla

The title is a bit of click bait. Ramla is another one of those places that is off the tourist map though if you had to find an exact geographic center of the country, this would probably be it. The city was founded in the 700s by Arabs and appears to me to have always been a bit of a “cosmopolitan” city, situated on the road (more like donkey trail) between Jaffa (basically, Tel Aviv) and Jerusalem … the museum says it took about four days to travel.

Before ’48 the Arab city accepted electricity from the Jewish electric company where as Lod, next door, did not. Jews were in and out of the city, moving there, expelled, and so on and so on, mostly Karites. After ’48 most of the Arabs left (big ‘oops’ in my opinion … the Arabs there today do quite well, overall … 30% of our doctors and 50% of our pharmacists are Arab and they live comfortable lives). Today, says the internet, the city is 74% Jewish, settled by Jews expelled from Arab lands in a population switch.

First impressions of Ramla

As many of my readers know, I live in a modern city which only began to be built after 2000 years again in the 1990s-ish, also situated between Jaffa and Jerusalem. Only 10 miles away, Ramla is the equivalent of a “county seat” for my “tribe” (Benyamin) and where we had to go to get our new immigrant free money. Having just arrived, driving there itself was and ordeal and instead of bright white many-story facades with accented trim, you’re greeted with stones a lot older with … less clean lines and facades and a mall that looks more like Penn station of Manhattan than an bright, Israeli mall.

In said mall, I received a new impression of Arab women in hijabs – I have some as clients from the old country (who don’t know I’ve moved to Israel) and they’ve either got serious faces, sad faces, or they’re screaming or protesting about something. Never did I see an Arab woman in a hijab smile and make a non-stiff movement. It’s a bias I didn’t realize I had until I saw these two women at a kiosk in the center of the mall chatting away, laughing, and gesticulating. I was still … cautious … around them and I little freaked out that in the center of Israel is a city with a big concentration of Arabs. <– first impression. Read to the end.

Second impression: lunch

I found myself (or rather, was directed by my wife) to drop off a sink for its dress fitting inside a slab of granite. That’s the kind of thing you find in Ramla … there’s a bunch of places like that in the area. Speaking to the guys inside I had to ask, knowing the answer: “Any problem living with Arabs here?” “No, never. In fact, the Arab falafel guy over there has a teuda selling only kosher food.”

I asked him the granite guy where was best to eat and he walked me to the shuk that I didn’t know existed … to go to “the best restaurant in Israel” … looked kosher. Religious looking guy there … no teuda. I asked him where the second best place was … Tunisian sandwich. Same deal. Third best place? Tuna sandwich. That’s it. They only sell tuna sandwiches. Two chairs in the entire place. Jews and Arabs coming in to buy tuna sandwiches in about equal numbers.

Third impression: Shuk

Shuk = an outdoor marketplace usually spanning many blocks . . . a permanent street market.

Then … how did a shuk get here? I thought that was a Jerusalem thing? Apparently, they’re in a lot of cities. I was just amazed walking all the way through … it’s mostly fruit … without a teuda … I asked a religious Jewish guy running one of them if he had one … he said “yes” … where is it? He said “ani” (me, e.g. just trust me). No.

Stores, other than fruit, included raw meat, raw fish, shoes, electronics, home goods, and some small eateries. Mostly it’s fruit stands . . . and some low-price clothing stores with name brands that I have my hunches aren’t really the name brands they proport to be.

This shuk which looks like it’s been there for hundreds of years is … 10 miles from the modern white-faced apartment buildings with accented trim. Ten miles and you’re in a different era with different people and different … everything … except Hebrew. Everyone speaks Hebrew here and there’s no pattern of where a Jewish vs. Arab stand or area is in the shuk. The Lubovitch Rebbe is the messiah stickers mix with the sound of the meuzzan’s call to prayer – seemingly life and not from a tape recording as he seemed kind of tired. (At home, I only get the tape recording from across the way in the Arab village. – I just called my house in Israel “my home” … that’s new.)

The Arab women … they’re more stylish here, often wearing better cut clothing and name brands across their chest, which may or may not be the counterfeits I have my hunches about. And … for the first time that I can remember since going to a Bassim Ibrahim comedy show, I felt comfortable walking among a group of Arabs. (Bassim Ibrahim, an Egyptian “refusenik” personally asked me during the show if I felt comfortable. Then he said, “we’re not going to kill you … yet.”)

While my home is in Israel, I was taking a lot of pictures of this shuk only 10 miles from my home. It’s authentic. One guy stopped me to ask me what I was doing … guess it looks suspicious. I told him I was tourist and this was all new and exciting for me. He asked me where I was from … I said “New Jersey”. He left me alone.

Visit 2: Tourist

Whoa, that segue worked out great. Really didn’t intend it. Same as when I entered ten puns in a contest and I thought I’d win though no pun in ten did.

The two cultural attractions that aren’t half fallen over piles of rocks next to the remains of mosques are the Pool of the Arches and the Ramla Museum. I’m much more partial to the shuk as the one thousand-year-old water pipe looks better than pipe in my own house (which we’re replacing – maybe I should put the old stuff in a museum).

GPS, even Waze, will not get you to the Pool of the Arches. Even when parking and walking until you find it, the entrance is not where the sign with the name of the places and hours are on the gate … it’s on the other side. The pool is an underground water storage basin build in the 700s and recently uncovered … you can paddle a rowboat through it. It’s great to say you were there once in your life though I was underwhelmed.

For a little more money, the ticket includes the museum. It’s one room … some history stuff, old pots and coins they found in the area … not much. Then it was back to the shuk.

Lunch in the shuk again

Borekas. They’re popular around here. Okay … this was bothering me to no end.

Borekas = one pastry (in Hebrew).
Borekas = two+ pastries (in English).

What is going on? It’s a samech, not a tav at the end. Seems the word came via Ladino (Hebrew/Spanish mix) from the Turkey word “borek”. Seems English speakers just assumed “borekas” is the plural of “boreka”. It’s weird. Also, triangular borekas are dairy – square are paerve. It’s required by the rabbinate here to differentiate them just as machine made matzos aren’t allowed to be circular.

So … this borekas stand … 25 shekels … about $7.50 … gets you three borekas, a hard-boiled egg, olives, and a huge glass of lemonade. He through in some yogurt which you drank from a glass and was more like sour milk with particulate matter. I liked it … and I drank my friends … he’s new … and still takes Thanksgiving seriously.

The downside of Ramla

Eighty-five percent of crime in Israel is carried out Arabs. Arabs murdering Arabs is a big problem here … they’re killing far more of each other than they are Jews. Once the highway between my location and Ramle was closed because of a shooting … not the Israeli kind … the New York mafia kind … appeared to be a ‘hit’ with one Arab gang killing an Arab from another gang. As long as you’re Jewish, I think you’re safe. (I kid just a little … I have no idea.)

Conclusion

1. Worldwide news should report on the mixed Jewish/Arab cities in Israel where everyone is chill with each other. Wait … that might attract attention and mess things up.
   
2. My impressions of the city went from “yeah, avoid that place to “wow, there’s a lot of character and authenticity here. This place is beautiful.”
   
3. It’s a nice place to visit. It’s not my first choice of city to live in. Do visit.