I was looking forward to visiting the old Bukharan Quarter with a guide who could explain a thing or two about it. My main motivation was a longtime interest in the Moussaieff family’s history, for some reasons I won’t go into right now. So I went on a tour a few years ago, just before the corona hit us. It was quite an interesting place to walk around. Near the oldest synagogues there I saw a group of religious men loudly urging people passing by to shun the evils of cell phones.* I agree with them on this particular issue. I do dislike the constant bother cell phones always bring with them when you bring them along. I like to find my way without following their every dictate.
(*I should say there are stripped down versions of cell phones the Haredi have no problem using.)
Today I’m just going to share a few photographs I took — with a digital camera that is not a cell phone — while I was there. I didn’t take pictures of people, because people in this side of town often object to being photographed, and I’m way too shy to ask. I really want to go back again when the virus days are behind us. These days I’m going nowhere more than four blocks from home, for exercise, and order all my food for delivery to my front door. All too predictable. Enough with all that predictability. Nimaas-li* as the Hebrew speakers say, especially the children when there isn't anything fun to do. If an older person says it expresses a pathetic world weariness. That’s my understanding.
*נמאס לי
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| Yehudayoff Palace (circa 1905) |
To read a short piece about the Bukharan Quarter and its history, try this web page.
