On day 5 we woke up before sunrise and made our way towards the Ganges. As we walked through the streets in the early morning I saw streets that looked nothing like the night before. They were calm and quiet. There were tons of people curled up in blankets on the side of the road sleeping…at one point we were stopped and I looked to my left and saw a boy probably a few years younger than me wake up. He had the same groggy look I probably had on my face that morning when I heard my alarm go off…the only difference is that he had been sleeping on the cold concrete and was woken up by people like us walking by. I've seen beggars and homeless people before and I've attempted to deal with the emotions that come with these observations, but this time it was different. I couldn't stop thinking about how similar I and this boy were. I couldn't stop thinking about how my whole life I've been lucky enough to have a warm bed every night and a full stomach and why? Simply because I was lucky to be born into my home. Unfortunately for this boy, completely out of his control, he was born onto the streets where he's forced to sleep on the ground and ask for money so that he may stay alive. My tour guide gave us a serious talk on beggars as soon as we got to Delhi a few days before. He explained that while he is a professional tour guide, these people are professional beggars and they exploit our emotions with kids and sad faces. He told us that we must not encourage this type of behavior and instead should ignore them and encourage them to go out and find work. I found myself very torn by this statement when I saw things like innocent children waking up on the streets for no reason other than complete chance that was predetermined completely out of their control the moment they were conceived. Sure, they can go out and change the course of their lives…but when you put yourself in their shoes, it doesn't sound that easy, especially given the huge population and limited job market.
We got to the Ganges and got on a boat. The Ganges river is considered to be the most holy place and like I've mentioned before, if one bathes in it they are considered pure. This is also the place that every Hindu likely wishes to be placed after death. In fact, many come to Varanassi to die so that they will be placed in the Ganges after death. One interesting thing my guide told me was that there are three types of people that do not get cremated and placed in the river. These people are monks (because they are already so pure), children under the age of 7 (because they are so young and innocent and again therefore pure), and pregnant women (they are made pure through the unborn child inside of them). On the Ganges, there are crematoriums right there by the river where the bodies are cremated and later placed in the river. So, this river is already subjected to the intense pollution that we see in all of India, and in addition to that it has the remains of millions. So, to say the least, this river is one of the most unsanitary bodies of water you can find. As we sailed down the river we saw tons and tons of people getting in and doing ritualistic bathing. We saw little kids with their mothers jumping in the water and getting cleaned.
When we finished watching the sun-rise and seeing the morning activities of the "Holy river" we made our way back to the hotel for breakfast. After 3 days of being with a large group, and especially after my experience the night before, I knew I wanted to go off on my own again that morning. So, the group set out for some sites and myself, and two friends- Jeremy and Shelley hopped into a took-took.
We told the drive to take us to a local area near the gaat (the gaat are the stairs that border the Ganges river). We got out of the took took and found ourselves in a small alley way lined with lots of shops. We walked through the alley towards the gaat and saw lots of small temples. When we did get to the gaat we saw a larger temple. We decided to take off our shoes and go inside. This temple was HUGE. Some temples are for one in particular god…this one lots and lots of gods. We walked around and a man even taught us how to pray. He gave us a milky liquid that we poured on statues of the gods. I later learned that this was to signify offerings to the gods. He also made us repeat after him as we said what I took to be prayers to the gods. We walked around the temple for a while and once again I saw people praying in some of the most unique forms of prayer I have ever seen.
We exited the temple and walked along the gaat. As we did we noticed a sign in Hebrew! The sign explained that there was a Chabad house and basically that anyone who could read the sign was welcome to come to the house. Chabad is a sect of Judaism that is all over the world. This sect tends to open their home to all Jews, especially in countries where there are not a lot of Jews and there tend to be a lot of travelers. Shelley, Jeremy and I all happened to be Jewish so we decided we needed to check this out. We took a picture of the sign with the address and started asking around. One thing I learned about the Indian people is that they are extremely hospitable. We asked a group of young guys if they knew were it was and they said that they did and that they would take us there. I assumed it would be a quick walk since they offered to take us. Instead, I found myself walking through back alleys and areas that I'm pretty sure foreigners don't typically go. I was hearing my parents voices in my heads and was thankful that we had a guy with us. Eventually we got out of the alleys and were on a big busy road. I try to be trusting and to not expect the worst out of people, but I did sigh a sigh of relief once we got to this busy road. After nearly an hour of walking through the hot sun, we reached Ravindra Puri Lane 13. The sign said to walk to the end of the lane. As we turned onto the lane I looked at Shelley and Jeremy and said "guys, if there's no one or nothing there let's not be disappointed, okay?" They agreed. We said thank you to our guides that led us there…they didn't ask for money or anything, they just smiled and said, "of course!" and were on their way.
As we walked to the end of the lane we saw a home with a Chabad sign on the front. We knocked on the gate but there was no response, so we opened it up and walked up the stairs to an open room. When we got to the top of the stairs I saw a little boy running around with his yamicka on. We made it! We knocked lightly and saw an older woman standing in the room. She hardly even looked at us and just motioned for us to come in…as if she weren't surprised at all. Aviva is from Rehovot, Israel. She didn't speak the best English so lucky for me I got to practice some Hebrew. She told me that she'd be living with her husband and kids in India for 4 years as the only Jews in Varanassi. She also told me that every Shabbat they open their home to any Jewish travelers that wish to come. It happened to be a Friday afternoon so she was busy getting ready for dinner. There was another guy in the house, a couple years older than us. His name was also Jeremy and he was originally from Cleveland, Ohio but had moved to Israel 3 years ago and was doing his "post army travel". Of course in true Jewish American fashion he and I made connections between lots of mutual friends within the first five minutes of meeting each other. We laughed, said typical, and kept talking. I asked Aviva why she had moved to India and she said something very interesting, because I think Jews should have a home all around the world. This way people like yourself have a home in India while you're here.
Aviva told us that she was expecting about 30 people for dinner that evening, and we were so bummed to be leaving Varanasi that afternoon because I'm sure it was a great Shabbat dinner. We stayed at her home for another hour or so and helped her prepare for the Shabbat in different ways. When it came time for us to leave she looked at me, smiled, and said you have committed a mitzvah today by helping me prepare for the Shabbat.
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