On Top of the Mountain

First of all, I would like to start out by thanking all of the people who took the time out of their busy schedules to call, email, or otherwise contact me to inform me that something I wrote ended up in the paper.

For those of you who have just arrived from some distant, newspaper-free galaxy, I should point out that I am referring to the fact that someone apparently sent in one of my blog posts (specifically, the serious one about my first trip to the Kosel) to the "Reader's Forum" section of this past week's Hamodia. It was in the "Community News" section, page 39.

I actually did not send it in on my own; I don't have the guts to send anything to a newspaper that lots of people actually read (as opposed to my blog, which for all I know probably has just a small handful of really bored people reading it). Although I was glad to hear that someone else did send it in - I figured getting published in the Hamodia would be a great first step in becoming a famous syndicated journalist, and I would become so fabulously wealthy that I would regularly leave luxurious mansions with 4-car garages as tips. Or perhaps I would end up living under a highway overpass in a refrigerator carton. Whatever. It can go either way.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, we can move on to more important topics, such as my trip to Har Nof, where I spent this past Shabbos. My brother-in-law told me that years ago, people used to refer to it as "Har Nof, USA" because it is a rather American-intensive area. Although in recent years, things have changed, and the American influence is more visible in other areas as well - even Meah Shearim is starting to strongly resemble 13th Ave. in Boro Park, minus the double-parked cars (here we have triple-parked mopeds instead).

So there I was, at 3:00 PM on Friday afternoon, walking to the bus stop in Geulah, hoping to catch the number 15 bus to Har Nof. Someone warned me that he heard the last bus was at 2:30 PM, and that I would have to take a taxi, but I figured I would try my luck anyway.

If you're one of the people who has absolutely nothing better to do with your life than to waste your valuable time reading my blog, you may recall that a little while ago, I posted a rather negative rant about the bus service here, claiming that the buses are unreliable. However, I'm afraid I must retract that statement: to my utter surprise, a number 15 bus to Har Nof rolled up to the stop where I was waiting at promptly 3:10 PM, just five minutes after I got there. So now I don't know what to believe. Are the buses reliable or not? Perhaps we should demand that the US Congress stop fooling around with silly things like tax reform and illegal immigration and convene a special blue-ribbon investigative panel to focus on the more important issue of Israeli bus punctuality.

I know what you're going to ask me: "But why on earth would the United States Congress care about the buses in some other country?" My answer is quite simple: be quiet, and stop asking me silly questions that I don't have good answers for. Besides, I don't really care whether there's a good reason or not; I feel that if Congress can waste billions of dollars on stupid programs like "National Eggplant Ripeness Week" or "National Tractor Mechanic Appreciation Month", then they can afford to spend another few bucks to help a desperate American tourist figure out what on earth is going on with the Israeli bus schedule.

But getting back to my trip to Har Nof - which, as you may recall (although I highly doubt it) is supposed to be the topic of this post - I boarded the number 15 bus, and settled down for the 15 to 20 minute journey. I got off on Katzenellenbogen street (perennial winner of the prestigious Most Unnecessarily Long Street Name With Approximately Two Million Syllables In One Single Word award), and proceeded to number 76, where I would be staying for Shabbos.

Har Nof is designed in a very interesting fashion. Because it is built directly into the side of a mountain, and not on flat ground, many of the buildings have two entrances: on one side of the building the entrance is on the first floor, while on the other side of the building, the entrance is on the fifth floor or so. Really. I am not making this up. The buildings also have 2 addresses because of this; for instance, the building where I was staying was 76 Rechov Katzenellenbogen only from the fifth floor entrance - from the first floor address, it is known as 43 Rechov Agasi. Likewise, the buildings on the other side of Rechov Agasi have their second entrances even lower down the mountain, on some street whose name escapes me at the moment (not that I really care, and therefore neither should you).

Shabbos in Har Nof was very nice: not too Israeli, but not too American either. It was a nice blend of the cultures (at least as far as an uncultured individual like me could tell). On Shabbos afternoon, I went for a walk with my hosts to the very top of the mountain. The view from there was magnificent - we could see as far as Hadassah hospital.

As we marveled at the view of the spectacular mountains surrounding us, my host told me a vort that he personally heard from Rav Hutner z"l: the pasuk says "Yerushalayim harim saviv lah, v'Hashem saviv l'amo" - just as Yerushalayim is surrounded by protective mountains, so too Hashem surrounds and protects His nation from their enemies. Imagine, says Rav Hutner, just like the mountains surround and protect Yerushalayim - they are the "taful" (secondary) and Yerushalayim is the "ikar" (primary) - so too Hashem, out of His great love for His people, makes Himself "taful" - secondary (as it were) - to His people to protect them from their enemies.

It was with these words of inspiration in mind that I left Har Nof on Motzei Shabbos, after thanking my hosts for their warm hospitality. As I walked across the street to the bus stop, I thought to myself: we are indeed surrounded by evil enemies on all sides - whether the Arabs who would think nothing of taking our lives, or Chiloni instigators who would think nothing of taking our souls. But who can possibly harm us when Hashem is personally protecting us?