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Mahane Yehuda Market, Jerusalem
“You must roam the streets of your hometown as if it were a foreign city”
“hutz la aretz” (“overseas”) – Dan Toren
An Israeli rock musician named Dan Toren wrote this lovely sentence 15 years ago. It’s a difficult thing to do, walking the streets of the city you’ve lived in your entire life as a tourist. But I will do my best.
I’m on my way to the Mahane Yehuda marketplace, Jerusalem’s big, bustling center of commerce. It’s situated between two central streets in downtown Jerusalem, the streets of Yaffo and Agripas. It’s one of Israel’s largest markets, and features some of the best produce this country can offer…
I’m walking up Agripas Street, which turned partially into an integral street of the market. Its spice shops, florists, bakeries and groceries feature everything from local olives pickled with lemons to dried banana blossoms from the Philippines.
This street is a sweet assault on your senses. The sidewalks are very narrow, partly overtaken by the stores, especially on the side of Agripas which enters the marketplace. The stalls offer discounts towards the end of the day on baked goods, and 3 packets of cheap chocolate for 10 shekels.
The air now is nippy, rather cold – clear air with a deceptive winter sun, and bites you a little at the extremities. It’s a bit past 4 PM now, and the sun that may have given a little warmth 2 hours ago is starting to recede downwards in the west. It’s about 11 degrees Celcius, pretty warm for the middle of January.
One of the lovely - yet hidden – details you would notice upon looking are the names of the streets: Etz ha Hayim, the biblical “tree of life” which grew in the Garden of Eden. Smaller streets and alleys branch out from it: Ha shaked (the almond), ha shazif (the plum), ha egoz (the nut), Ha toot (the strawberry)… every alley is named after a different fruit. The signs call them “streets”, but they are more like alleys.
Winter in Israel is colored gray and green. Vivid green plants and herbs grow like crazy after the rain, and so are the alleys of the market. You walk by gorgeous herbs, succulent scallions, green vegetables like artichokes… and much more. All this greenery is accented by the beautiful orange of juicy oranges and persimmons, and the vibrant red of sweet strawberries.
Half-melodious shouts are invented like a bunch of coro singers: “Bananes! Bananes! 5 Shekels a kilo!” Spanish has infiltrated Hebrew especially in Jerusalem, through the Ladino – the ancient Spanish of Sephardic Jews.
However, this market is no longer just fruit and vegetable stands, nor just simple grill restaurants. The charm of this marketplace is the blend of old and new, the contrast between upscale and simple. The ethnic stores of the Ethiopian and Indian Diaspora; Yemenite spices and grains across the street from a delicatessen offering the best French cheese and lovely Israeli wine from vineyards grown in the mountains of the desert. Just a few steps away from a unique clothing boutique (with an ethnic flare), smells from a kosher Indian restaurant invite you to step in.
Walking the streets of the city as if it were a foreign town is valid in Jerusalem especially since this city is very, very big. Even a veteran Jerusalemite will have a hard time knowing all of its parts. That is why it’s such a delight to re-discover the Mahane Yehuda Market after years I haven’t been there.
All of those smells, and flavors, and colors make you feel alive!
If you’re going to the market, please don’t stick to the larger streets. The spirit of the market lies deeper inside it, within the alleys…. I walk into “Ha-Egoz” alley.
The smells of spices and legumes are in the air, cinnamon with anise and something else, all toasted. Amidst all of this spice I curiously pause by a small shop full of juices and potions, seasonings… a rather organized chaos wafting of a wonderful fresh citrus perfume. This is the small shop of Uzi-elli, an older gentleman of Yemenite descent who looks a good decade younger than his real age. He is known in Israel as “The Herbal Medicine Man”.
The origin of this wonderful citrus smell is the Yemenite Etrog fruit – also known as “Citrus Medica” – on which he bases many of his juices and potions. This fruit, as well as other medicine herbs, is grown in his organic orchard.
Uzi is a unique person. He recites the qualities and properties of each of his products with his eyes closed, not unlike the way Yemenite children recite the torah by memory to their Mori, their rabbi.
The knowledge of plants has been passed on in his family from father to son for 3 generations. It is an ancient type of folk medicine which has been used successfully for 300 years. Uzi has blended this knowledge with his own experience of 18 years as a healer, and with knowledge of the famous Rambam – known in the west as Maimonides. Uzi Elli diagnoses his clients’ needs (which he calls “patients”) energetically by the look of the eyes, and the palms of the hands.
I asked Uzi-Elli what brought him to the Mahane Yehuda Marketplace. He tells me that he and his family have sold their products in shopping malls all over Israel. The problem was that when one produces herbal medicine, it needs to be consumed fresh, and thus any surplus he had from his products were inevitably less effective. He didn’t settle for less than the ultimate effectiveness – The second problem was that along with surpluses of certain products, other products were hits and ran out very quickly. And so with shortages of certain things, and a surplus of others, Uzi decided to settle in this market and built a vast (and loyal) clientele. Uzi tells me that approximately 80,000 people from all walks of life visit this market every week, which is far better than any shopping mall one can think of.
“Now”, Uzi says, “If there is anything I need for my patients, it’s just a few steps away!”
The Yemenite Etrog that Uzi uses is well known and widely used in herbal medicine all over the world, from China to Peru. One of his best-sellers is Etrog Spray, an extract made of the fruit’s peel. It is a kind of a serum made to nourish and rejuvenate the skin. I have tried it, and it is definitely a hit. Uzi-Elli stresses that all of his products, and especially the cosmetics, must have an immediate impact; As opposed to most commercial cosmetics which promise impact within weeks, if not months. I can say that the skin on my hands and face has never looked this bright and clear.
Other best-sellers are a series of products made for the family-oriented. An herbal liquor to induce fertility and re-ignite passion (made for a married couple), Etrog juice for pregnant women – Uzi explains it is a tonic for the womb and for the heart, and he also says it helps the children to be born “beautiful and sweet-smelling”. The final product is a juice/nectar which helps nursing women to produce plenty of milk.
Uzi is an herbalist, and another thing I tried was an extract of a natural treasure from Latin America – chili pepper!
He crowns the chili “The King of Plants”, and says that a person who takes one drop of this extract will live long and well. Chili peppers are known to cleanse the blood, fight various diseases and pains, and purify the body. This fiery extract is lethal in the wrong hands. Just 1 drop in a glass of water turns it into capsicum absolute. One sip was definitely all I could take – and I *really* like spicy! Uzi also adds that if you take this extract regularly like this (1 drop in a glass of water), your sweat and skin become unattractive to mosquitoes. No wonder! It’s estimated at 250,000 Scoville units – as hot as an average habanero chili!
I end up buying a ½ liter one of his juices, one that is called “etrogat”, the combination of etrog juice and various herbs. It’s sweet, tangy, and just a touch bitter – and the herbs give it a lovely shade of chartreuse green.
Another one of my favorite alleys is “Ha Shazif”. It’s more upscale, and contains a lovely small coffee shop and a delicatessen with a small yet choice selection of boutique wines from Israel. If you haven’t tasted Israeli wine yet, you are in for a treat! There are very few places in the world which grow wine grapes in the middle of the desert. The flavor and aroma of the soil are unique. I hope to tell you more about the wine in Israel in one of the next articles.
It’s getting dark, the skies are a lovely sapphire blue close to 6 PM, and the air has gotten significantly colder. I’d better head back home.
The color of the winter in Israel is Green. So are the buses. It’s nice and warm inside… I take a seat, and the green etrogat juice in the bottle is winking at me, hoping for a fresh, healthy new year.
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