by Shelby Nies | Hillsdale College
Passages Alumna
Weaving though the people enjoying drinks, live music and each other’s company, I absorbed the sights and sounds of Jerusalem on a typical Sunday night in January. The night air cooled the otherwise warm vibrancy of crowded streets, narrow to the Westerner but broad enough for patios and performers, as a cocktail of music, smoke and color ascended between the buildings and dispersed into the dark sky. Following my friends through the alleys, I couldn’t help but smile. We were looking for a taste of local life, and found ourselves immersed in more sights and sounds than we could take in all at once. After wandering the streets for a while, we came across a coffee shop and ordered some drinks.
As I stood on the corner waiting for our coffee, a familiar face turned out of the passage perpendicular to the shop and passed by us. It took me a moment before I placed it: she had helped our group seven days earlier at the archeological dig site in Beit Guvrin. When she turned to rejoin her group, I stopped her and tried to ask if she remembered us, but she cut me off before I could finish. To my surprise she exclaimed, “You’re the Christians!” and with that we proceeded to reintroduce ourselves. Ariella, as she reminded me of her name, began by saying how much she enjoyed working with our group, and stayed for 20 minutes or so chatting about her life in Israel before returning to the poetry gathering she had organized in the alley next door.
Walking away, with her email and the hopes of future contact in tote, I no longer felt like an observer of the local life. In that moment, I felt at home. Running into Ariella reminded me of accidently meeting friends in the shopping center near my house and making plans to get together with them on purpose next time. She welcomed us into her life there, a life she loves profoundly, and shared with us the beauty of an average evening in Jerusalem. When I return, I plan on taking her up on her offer and sleeping on her couch. Although five months have passed since that night in January, the feeling of belonging in Israel has not ceased. I cannot wait to go back, and with places to go and people to visit, I don’t believe it will be long before I greet the Holy City once again.