The Indecent Proposal

So I had a great time in Tzfat this past weekend. It was my first time there, and I was amazed by its beauty. But I had a rather unusual experience with a certain ultra-orthodox gentleman...

On Friday night, I was walking over to a local family's house for Shabbat dinner, but I got a little lost. It was only 7 pm, but the streets were totally deserted. Tzfat is super religious, especially the part that I was in, so almost everyone was either in synangogue or in their homes for dinner. Since I got a little lost, I stopped a black hatter (ie-ultra, ultra-orthodox man) to ask for directions, which he was kind enough to give me. But then he started hitting on me!

He asked me if I had a shidduch, because he was looking for one, and he thought that I seemed like a very nice girl! Now for those of you who don't know, people in the orthodox community don't date. They get set up by a matchmaker with an appropriate member of the opposite sex, and if they like each other after a few meetings (no, I'm not exaggerating) then they get married. So basically, this guy was asking me if I was interested in marrying him! After a two second conversation! At first I wasn't even sure if I understood him correctly, because we were talking in Hebrew, and לשדך is not a word that I use commonly. And my usual technique, when I'm talking Hebrew and don't understand something, is to nod and say yes. So I'm very happy that I didn't do that this time.

Once I caught on to his meaning, I said no, but thank you very much, to which he replied that he was a very nice man and a תלמיד חכם, a learned scholar. But even that didn't do it for me. So I started to walk away, and for about 5 seconds he followed me, which was enough time for me to get alarmed and worried about the deserted area that we were in. Luckily, nothing happened, and he left, probably to find some other nice Jewish girl to pick up. And I was left slightly relieved and wondering what my life would be like if I accepted his tempting offer...