Here We Beat Our Rugs Out The Window
LEIBOWITZ, WENDY
HERE WE BEAT OUR RUGS OUT THE WINDOW And other revelations of a night guard at Haifa University WENDY LEIBOWTTZ "Remember-don't just check the bags, check the people," the head of security at...
...I don't know...
...HERE WE BEAT OUR RUGS OUT THE WINDOW And other revelations of a night guard at Haifa University WENDY LEIBOWTTZ "Remember-don't just check the bags, check the people," the head of security at Haifa University told me...
...An Arab student drifted in, automatically opening his briefcase for me to glance curiously inside: notebooks, a Hebrew textbook, clipboard, pens, sandwich...
...This is part of my Israeli education, I suppose...
...If you can't find it, why do you think / can...
...They say Russians and people from totalitarian countries are able to adjust to that aspect of Israel because they assume that the system, if it can't be avoided, is an opponent that must be wrestled...
...Was Rabbi Chaim actually Yeshayahu Leibowitz, the illustrious left-wing Orthodox philosopher...
...Excuse me," I said to the lady at the information desk, "but I think there's a problem with Friedman's statistics book, Number QA276.54F...
...I couldn't remember...
...She shook her head and clucked disdainfully at the check...
...Instead, I innocently reported later than everyone else for my post and got stuck with the Main Entrance, Evening Watch...
...America has faded from my conscious memory...
...My Israeli flatmate, Danny, insists that we beat the rugs out the window every week...
...After a few more people crossed my path (knapsacks, Army duffels, elegant purses, Sportsacs, briefcases, one paper bag), I had mastered the three ways to check a bag: squeeze it from the bottom for heavy items that don't feel like books, peek inside to spy anything suspicious (what do suspicious things look like...
...The book is never on the shelf...
...No sign of anyone...
...I took my seat by the main entrance to the university...
...No, Bracha and her ilk would not gain entry to this building during my watch...
...I never win at the bank...
...I was exhausted...
...I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU...
...I hope all of the Israeli bank tellers who have treated me in a similar fashion will appear at my door, desperate to get inside...
...Is there any other spot on earth where Rabbi Chaim would wish a night guard "pleasant dreams" on duty...
...Do you folkdance at the Technion...
...He went that way," I called to them...
...Two years in Israel and I'm still a step behind...
...I know that in the States we have wall-to-wall carpeting that can't be beaten out the window very easily, because our windows are too small...
...We just don't beat our rugs out the window...
...Finally, one Friday night, it started to rain...
...This always happens when I talk to Danny...
...Three hours...
...one asked me in passing...
...This is very Middle Eastern and picturesque and he even has a rug beater (like an enormous fly swatter) for the purpose, but beating rugs is very physical work...
...Thank you," I said...
...Anyone who folkdances can come into the building carrying all kinds of explosives and suspicious objects while I'm on duty...
...Certainly a woman at an information desk is by no means obligated to help you, or even be sympathetic...
...Excuse me-you can't take your weapon into the building," I said apologetically to a young, bespectacled, soaking wet soldier carrying a Galil machine gun...
...Well, I think it may have been stolen...
...What I hadn't learned was to report early to the security office to pick out a quiet, deserted building, preferably one that closed early...
...You lose on bank charges, a bad rate of exchange-much more than any interest you'd get...
...The cantor stopped services and announced, "Praise God...
...I was all alone...
...Today in the library, for example...
...They walked away with disgusted "Why-don't-guards-ever-know-anything" expressions-an expression I had often worn myself...
...This is not at all picturesque...
...It would be a way to get back at all the bureaucrats and administrators who say "It can't be done" whenever they feel like it...
...Months passed, but not a drop fell...
...In the end, as always, I had to do it her way, withdrawing money from a closed account and forfeiting the interest...
...Her most recent article in moment, "Teaching Hebrew In Sandusky," appeared in December 1984...
...Two and a half more hours...
...They were talking politics...
...Today I'd spent one hour cleaning the three-room apartment I call "home...
...What was Rabbi Chaim doing at the university at this hour...
...I'm about to get interest on my closed account and if I withdraw any money I forfeit the interest...
...Don't yell at me...
...mere presence by the door...
...or just glance at the bag and trust that a dangerous person looks like a dangerous person and would be deterred by my Wendy Leibowitz is an American immigrant to Israel, now enrolled in a graduate program in sociology at Haifa University...
...In an effort to cut utility costs, the building was too dimly lit even to read...
...I gave them a warm smile and felt a new burst of energy...
...Haifa University, a 29-floor skyscraper sticking straight up like a bookend on top of Mount Carmel, commands a spectacular view during the daytime: The glistening bay and the sight of Akko shining white in the distance are quite distracting during class...
...How silly...
...It's forbidden to take the book out of the library, it's not on the shelf, no one is using it...
...I've been looking for a book in the reserve section for two weeks...
...I retreated, feeling as if I'd been socked in the stomach...
...It's not fair...
...What do you want me to do about it...
...Yet for a brief moment the capricious exercise of power beckoned...
...My presence seemed symbolic at best...
...I started awake, to find Yeshayahu Leibowitz and a group of his admirers smiling at me in amused understanding...
...I'm too tired to remember...
...Why does everything have to be a fight...
...Americans must have filthy rugs...
...I yelled...
...Then we have to put all the rugs back again, under the furniture and lamps, and I'm sure something will break soon...
...There was nothing to do but sit and think...
...Sitting by the door staring at the rain, I tried desperately not to fall asleep by concentrating on how we cleaned rugs in America...
...Their great tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim, passed away, and his congregation was convinced that the instant Rabbi Chaim reached Paradise he would be able to use his influence to bring rain...
...He asks me about pop stars, salaries, car mileages-in vain...
...Look them straight in the eye as you feel around the bag and watch their reaction...
...Could I have kept the soldier out of the building if I'd wanted to...
...Especially Bracha, who today refused to cash a traveler's check...
...A flash of lightning illuminated an ancient man wearing a black scullcap, stooped under the weight of his umbrella as he crossed the street...
...Just cash the check, please...
...Don't I know you...
...I suffer from an American assumption that the system is supposed to work for you...
...If we pull out of Lebanon too quickly the Syrians will roll in right behind us, to fill the vacuum...
...So tiring, this constant wrangling...
...She turned the page of the newspaper triumphantly...
...I just want to cash a traveler's check...
...Now, how do you say "vacuum cleaner" in Hebrew...
...in Israel operations seem structured to fight you...
...Are guards supposed to be this scared...
...What was I doing here...
...They make Israel so hard to love sometimes...
...In that case, it's not in the library...
...You know how much money you lose on the exchange, Wendy...
...If anything happened I'd be the first person to run...
...You don't know how much money you're losing...
...I wished I could hear him speak...
...Rabbi Chaim hurried through the door past me, shaking the rain off his umbrella and scowling...
...Tell me what he says," I say wistfully...
...Is there any way to find out if one of the employees has seen it lately, or reshelved it-" "Look, the book must be in the library...
...This last approach, recommended by the head of security, did seem to be the most effortless and efficient...
...My English has deteriorated to the point where it is at least one-fourth Hebrew, and my Hebrew is still poor enough so that something foreign like a vacuum cleaner, which does not exist in my Israeli reality, does not exist in my vocabulary...
...the evening mist was turning to drizzle...
...A vacuum cleaner...
...Why don't you want to listen to me...
...A Moroccan once told me of a long drought in Morocco, during which Jews fervently prayed for rain...
...Several students rushed in, some opening their dripping bags for my inspection, others just waving as they rushed by...
...One more hour...
...the lady said without looking up from her newspaper...
...That's why you're no good at it, then...
...I came to hear Leibowitz...
...Their footsteps faded away and I sat in the dim light, listening to the rain, thinking of home...
...Already I'd learned that I couldn't take exams unless I completed three hours of guard duty...
...Of course...
...So tiring...
...I've been looking for it for two weeks...
...Where's Yeshayahu Leibowitz speaking...
...Shmirah tovah-Ha\e a good watch...
...You know, Danny," I told him today, "in the United States we don't beat our rugs out the window...
...Do guards say "thank you...
...Yes...
...The rugs are heavy and I always manage to drop one, and then have to descend four flights of stairs to the courtyard, in full view of the neighbors, to pick it up out of the bushes, dusty and grassy...
...The drought continued despite their prayers...
...If that lady shows up at this door, soaking wet and shivering with cold, she will only get in over my dead body...
...Why don't you deposit the check in an open account and withdraw money from your closed account...
...Two students came through the door, lifting their sopping knapsacks for me to look at...
...Rabbi Chaim has just arrived...
...There is only one book for a class of 75 students and exams are approaching...
...Besides, looking inside people's bags isn't that interesting: People basically carry the same equipment with only minor variations, such as the professor who happened to have packed his laundry (blue underwear) in his briefcase...
...Three damn hours...
...Then how do you clean them...
...But it was dark and foggy now...
...a bank teller, lacking a certain form, will force you to handle your money in a way that is convenient to her: Life is a contest between you and them...
...Sleeping on guard duty, eh...
...Good nighl-chalomot paz," Leibowitz wished me, passing through the door into the night...
Vol. 10 • April 1985 • No. 4
