Post-Purim, Pre-Pesah

This is my final catching up blog and I think Seth will be ready to share for a while.  As I write this, I am listening to the Gan (nursery) next door learn “Chad Gadya,” for the seder.  Living next to a nursery is a treat.

Marathon Day.  So on Friday morning, March 17 we three Korelitz’s got up at 5:30 AM for Zoe to run the 5k.  There was a 5K, 10K, half and full marathon scheduled and they were starting at different times.  Zoe did not start until 7:30 but our issue was getting to the starting point.  The full marathon literally covers the entire city and so most of the roads are shut down and there is no public transportation working until after the race, so we knew we were going to have to get there on foot.  It is not that far of a walk but we wanted to leave enough time.  

So we picked up Zoe’s friend, Edya at a prearranged corner and started making our way to Gan Sacher Park.  The starting point was actually somewhere on Rupin Street in front of the Knesset.  Not sure exactly, I never got that close.  As we left our apartment there were already barricades and police stationed at intersections.  The race wound past us at the end of our block so we were in the thick of the route.  And as we made our way up and I do mean UP Kovshei Katamon (a street to be mentioned later) we encountered many volunteers who would spend their day making this happen.

This was the 8th year of this event and it has swelled to 30,000 participants with 3000 international runners.  You can already sign up for next year’s race on the website, and I suggest to everyone who is a runner that you should do it if you can.  Even though I did not take part, I can tell you that Jerusalem is a spectacular place to run and a huge challenge. For those of you who have been here, you know this city is one hill after another so the running is not easy.  Allison Pollock did the half marathon for a second year and she was pretty nervous about it and she is an amazing runner: She runs overnight!  To Eilat!

The day was perfection -- that Jerusalem blue sky without a cloud and the temperature was a perfect runner’s 55 degrees.   The closer we got, the more people we joined.  By the time we got to Gan Sacher, it was packed.  The half marathon started first.  And as we were sending Zoe and Edya up to the starting line, we heard clapping and yelling and turned to see about 6 African runners wrapped in gold foil warm up capes walk through the crowd.  It was the Kenyans!  And now it felt like a real race.

Edya and Zoe, heading off to the Starting Line

We told the girls we would meet them at the end and then Seth and I tried to figure out how to do that. Finding the 5k finish line was not the easiest thing.  At one point we thought we were as close as we could get when a lovely, soft spoken police officer took pity on us and let us stand where we were not supposed to.  When you stand around with someone for half an hour, you end up talking and it turned out he was a Beduoin and was stationed there with a guard who was starting the army the next day.  The other guard was also not Jewish but I did not get his story.  Meeting Bedouins is not something that happens every day. Everybody has a story.

But then Seth and I figured it out and found where to stand.  And watching the runners cross was a blast.  Lots of kids in the 5K.  We got there in time to cheer Edya across the finish line and waited for Zoe.  And waited.  And finally, we decided that maybe she made it in before Edya so we called Zoe on her phone and she had finished but after Edya, so, somehow we were standing there when she finished and missed her.  There was a lot going on, but we still felt bad.

We met the girls back at Gan Sacher and watched the happenings going on. Here are our happy and victorious giborot (heroes in the feminine!)   It is a giant party.  There was a screen showing real time images of the marathon and they showed a trio of runners outside the walls of the Old City who we figured out were the front runners.  Here is a shot of what they looked like and a couple of other pictures to give you a sense of the hills as they run around the Old City and one with the Mt. Zion and King David Hotels in the distance.

More on the three of them later.

Then it was time to make our way home and so we left Edya behind to meet her sister and started the schlep.  On our way, we saw the half marathoners running up Ben Tzvi.  It is not a huge incline but it is a long uphill trek to the finish line.  The intersection of Herzog and Ben Tzvi is a fun spot to watch because as the runners come down Herzog, they turn onto Ben Tzvi for their last push to the finish line.  Uphill.  We stood there a bit to watch and our favorite moment was probably when we heard the singing of an entire army unit as they made their way down the hill.  There were thousands of people running for charities over the course of the day and we saw several army units running together which was usually being done for a charity or as a tribute to someone. If you have never seen an IDF unit running as a group, it is a thing to behold.  So we heard them before we saw them and then this unit appeared in the crowd of runners, all wearing matching t-shirts.  We had no idea which unit it was but they were in good shape.  In their midst they had a flag bearer who we assume ran all 13 miles with that Israeli flag raised high.  As they approached the turn onto Ben Tzvi they let out a war cry to inspire them to the finish.  It was amazing!

Then inspired, we continued walking home, cutting back through Katamon, arriving at the top of Kovshei Katamon.  Remember this street from the morning?  Well it is a long 45 degree angle straight to the top.  We were lucky because we were going downhill this time and got to see all the half marathoners as they slogged their way up.  Most of them were not even running at this point or just barely. (↤ Here is a picture with Zoe walking down.) There were people at the sides of the street cheering everyone on.  It was tough going.  And then, we heard a siren down the hill and the crowd started to part and a car appeared with a digital timer attached to its roof and a two motorcycle escort behind.  We had no idea what it was but I noticed that the time said 2:06 or 08 and then we saw him:  the leanest person I have ever seen running at a spectacular pace up that hill.  We figured out it was the marathon leader and he zoomed by us.  To watch running like that was a treat; it was beautiful.  Not far behind were the other two runners who had made up the lead trio.  They did not get the escort.

At that point they were really close to the end of the race because when I checked later the winner, Shadrock Kipkogey from Kenya, finished at 2:17:35.  He had won the year before but did not beat his time.  Allison was waiting at the finish line to see people come in and she said he came in cool as a cucumber. The number two runner was from Ethiopia and number three was also Kenyan.  The first woman, also a Kenyan, came in almost a half hour later and Allison said she looked like she was going to die.   

It was an exciting day and a day to be proud to be a Jerusalemite as the marathoners took in this city’s 3000 years of history along the way.  It was a great display of civic pride on behalf of its citizens who volunteered and took part in huge numbers.  

But it ended up being a day filled with sadness as well.  As Seth and I were waiting for Zoe to finish the race, Hannah texted us that Savta Engelhart had died that morning.  It was not unexpected at that point but it felt hard nonetheless.  We called her Savta (grandmother) because that is what Hannah and many others called her but her name was Esther Offer and she was Miriam Engelhart’s mother.  I could spend a lot of blog space on the Engelhart’s of Cleveland but I do not think they would like that.  I will just say that the Engelhart clan made Aliyah the year that Hannah decided to stay in Israel and they were Hannah’s adopted family, official or unofficial.  Their three older sons had made Aliyah on their own previously and the rest of the family came during Hannah’s year.  Yael is one of Hannah’s best friends and you saw pictures of her in Thailand.  I never had to worry about Hannah during her two years in Jerusalem because I knew the Engelhart’s were there to take care of her.  When Hannah needed somewhere to stay for Shabbat, she was with them and, sometimes, it was even just Hannah, Miriam and Savta spending Shabbat together.

I had the great honor of briefly getting to know Esther this year.  I spent a wonderful day with her eating cheese Danish (a passion we shared) and hearing her life story.  She was born in what was Hungary or Czechoslovakia or Ukraine depending on when you are talking about.   There was her normal life before the war reading Gone with the Wind, then surviving Auschwitz, and then building a life after the war.  She made her way to Palestine and was actually here for the very first Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Independence Day) in 1948.  But life was hard here and she had the opportunity to go to the States and she did, first settling in Detroit and then Cleveland, leaving a huge legacy on the Modern Orthodox community of that city.

But she made it back to Jerusalem.  She was 90 and she made it and this time she made it here with the most precious gift, the most generous and loving family imaginable filled with grandchildren and great grandchildren and extended family too.  They are a family who makes the world a better place and Esther was the acknowledged and adored matriarch.  She was strong and smart and funny and you wanted to be around her.  I know I will think of Esther on this Yom Ha’Atzmaut and I hope for all those in the years to come as all.  Her life was a triumph.

So March 17 was an emotional day and I was very grateful to be in this city to experience all of it.

Hannah had to walk all the way from the central bus station when she got in from Givat Shmuel because there was still no public transportation.  She felt as if she had done a good part of the marathon herself.  We were glad to see her when she arrived at the door.  It was a good Shabbat to be together.