Tourists

During today’s walk through the Mission District, I was reminded of a Yehuda Amichai poem.

Tourists
Visits of condolence is all we get from them.
They squat at the Holocaust Memorial,
They put on grave faces at the Western Wall
And they laugh behind heavy curtains
In their hotels.
They have their pictures taken
Together with our famous dead
At Rachel’s Tomb and Herzl’s Tomb
And on Ammunition Hill.
They weep over our sweet boys
And lust after our tough girls
And hang up their underwear
To dry quickly
In cool, blue bathrooms.

Once I sat on the steps by a gate at David’s Tower,
I placed my two heavy baskets at my side. A group of tourists
was standing around their guide and I became their target marker.
“You see that man with the baskets? Just right of his head there’s an arch
from the Roman period. Just right of his head.”
“But he’s moving, he’s moving!”
I said to myself: redemption will come only if their guide tells them,
“You see that arch from the Roman period? It’s not important: but next to it,
left and down a bit, there sits a man who’s bought fruit and vegetables for his family.”

Except in this case, the story really is the building. Built in 1908, this Historic Landmark was once the home of B’nai David Temple. Today, it has been divided into individual apartments with much of the original architecture intact. Including a mikvah that is currently used as a storage closet.

There has been a Jewish presence in San Francisco dating back to Gold Rush days. Though it remains a vibrant community, it is remarkable to imagine people living in what used to be sacred prayer space. Don’t they find it odd to have part of a balcony in their living rooms?