Only In Israel #2: Holy Vandals

On a typical NYC subway car you can find loads of graffiti whether is from high school students that want everyone to know they “were here,” or from college students posting political messages. (Think Lisa Simpson’s “U.S. Out Of EVERYWHERE!” sticker.)

Israel too is not immune from this phenomenon. What is different, of course, is the nature of the messages that are being portrayed. For example a few weeks ago I noticed someone posted these stickers all over the benches in the GRA Shul in Jerusalem’s Shaarie Chessed neighborhood. It’s a quote from Gemarah Berachos 17A.

Here’s what the sticker says:

“It was said of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai that no man ever greeted him first, not even the non-Jew in the marketplace.” And what about you?

Some one penned in a response on one of the stickers “we too want to!”



This week I spotted these stickers all over the place even on street lampposts!

The truth is I haven’t found people not saying “good shabbos” to one another to be such a big problem in Eretz Yisrael… though these stickers might serve better in a certain borough in New York.

Still it’s pretty incredible that even the vandalism is holy here!