It's hard to believe that in a country the size of New Jersey there could be such a diverse population - and I haven't seen anything yet but Tel Aviv! Of course there are many people here from the former Soviet Union, both Jews and non Jews. Some 300,000 emigrated to Israel in the 1990's. How such a small country could absorb so many people in such a short time while defending its borders is beyond my comprehension. But the Russian presence is very noticeable. Many people in the street speak it, there are Russian signs everywhere, and many shops, especially jewellery and clothing stores which feature very ornate pieces that I imagine would have appealed to the Czars- or anyone else with royal inclinations! Apparently they are for the most part a very patriotic group and have their own political party called Ysrael Beytainu, which means "Israel, our home." and as if to corroborate that, I met a woman from Odessa yesterday, who came to Israel in 1990 with her husband and 2 children. "In Russia where I was born, I was always an outsider," she told me. "Here I am at home."
There are also a great number of Africans, mostly from Eritrea and the Sudan, both Christians and Muslims, who fled their homelands because of civil war and found shelter in Israel. They seem to do the menial jobs, but without language or skills they have to start somewhere.
Eating has provided us with the opportunity for adventure and insights. A couple of days ago while in Jaffa, an ancient port city on the coast, about a 45 minute walk from our apartment,with a mixed population of Arabs and Jews, we made our way to Abu Hassan, an Arabic restaurant that had been recommended by one of my guide books. We arrived during the lunch crush, and it was very noisy with all male waiters screaming orders. The clientele was also almost exclusively male. In the midst of this apparent and slightly overwhelming chaos, order was suddenly imposed. One of the clients took charge of us and told the maitre d' what to serve us. We were then ushered to a table where 2 men were already seated. Our lunch dates! Our food arrived in the blink of an eye and I recognized hummus and a bean paste on the plate, but there were other items that were a mystery, but very delicious. Our "dates" were very courteous, showing us which sauces were appropriate for dipping with which of our varied
tidbits. It was hard to tell from appearance (not that it mattered) but they were both Jewish. One owned a garage in Jaffa that his father started 30 years ago. When I asked him if his clients were mostly Jews or Arabs, he responded in a way which indicated that the answer was obvious, "Both." the other fellow had crutches and was disabled. A bullet from an Arab sniper, he told us. Yet when he left, he warmly embraced the owner, who's an Arab. Go figure.
This delicious feast cost us $5 each.
Yesterday we went to the Florentine district in south Tel Aviv. My uncle had a dry goods store there when I first visited almost 50 years ago, and it was then a pretty seedy area with little shops owned by Jews from eastern Europe. Now it's still seedy, but with obvious gentrification going on and the shopkeepers are both Arabs, and Jews from Middle Eastern countries. Our noses drew us to a Persian restaurant where we had what I thought was chicken soup with matzo balls. It turned out we were eating "Gondi", which are made with ground chick peas and chopped chicken. We were absolutely swooning with pleasure.
After lunch we made our way to a nearby street where there are shops selling an array of dried fruit and legumes that rivaled anything I'd seen in the markets in Istanbul. We bought candied ginger, dried apricots, and pumpkin seeds still hot from the roasting oven. That was supper, along with a bottle of very cheap and delicious cabernet Sauvignon from Romania.
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