Jerusalem has the most amazing ER ever. I was out with a diagnosis and prescription in about 20 min. Seriously. Aparently, if I had asked anyone, they would have told me to go there. B"H accidents happen; I went on a whim when I saw it behind the central bus station.
A few hours earlier, valiantly attempting to fend for myself, I took a cab to one of the worst parts of tel aviv, was told that I would have to pay 1000 shekels ($300) upfront and probably wouldn't get treated, told to go across the street to the clinic, told at the clinic that I need to open a file at the ER and make an appointment, and was told that bus shmonim v'arba would take me to hatachana hamerkazit (I was so proud of myself for conducting that entire conversation b'ivrit :)
Oh, and I was looking to spend money at an ER because I had a mass behind my ear. Turns out I really do understand how to send waves through my body at the molecular level: I had an ingrown toenail that got infected during the intensive. Didn't think it was worth mentioning before, but yeah, it looked like a lollipop. Doc was amused when he came back with a prescription for a juicy lymph node and I excitedly took off a shoe.
The best was definitely the part where I ended up in a hareidi shopping mall. Every shop was tsnius, every restaurant was kosher, there was even a Beit Knesset across from the sushi joint (don't quote me on the sushi part. I don't really remember what it was but sushi sounds cool). Thank G-d I was dressed appropriately! I don't know whether the security guard at the hospital would have thought to warn me if I had been wearing pants (it was actually cold out so the cardigan might not have been an issue) but I'm glad I didn't have to find out.
Speaking of tsnius (oh right, I was picking up antibiotics at the nearest pharmacy, which is why I was in the hareidi mall), I felt very different about "playing dress up" today. Rather than thinking of "skirts and sleeves" as being something I wore out of respect, it became something I was doing to help someone else keep a challenging mitzvah. Vise versa, if someone chooses to go see a dance performance, the decision to take the risk is theirs, not mine.
Punchline: I would not go into a hareidi mall and put on a dance performance (but I would still go in if I needed a pharmacy, or a tsnius dress I couldn't find on Yaffa). Sounds obvious, nachon? If I keep my stumbling blocks far away from the blind, I expect that the blind won't stumble over them. On the other hand, do I have an obligation to help blind men who choose to see?
B'seder. I'm going to go sleep on that achshav, and pray for patience as I, my new friend and her rav forge ahead with the excavation.
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