A man with a cane

 

"Where do you want me???"

... the first words out of Eldad's mouth when he saw me approaching him and his friends, as they sat in front of English Cake on Jaffa for their daily meet-up. 

I'd taken some pictures of him a couple of months earlier and had posted them here. Now I wanted to tell him how warmly people had responded to his pictures, his story and his dazzling charisma.

Upon my approach, he jumped up and generously offered to pose again.

So, he's back in my Jerusalem street style photos. This time in a more subdued outfit, (the last time he was accessorized in bright orangey-red) and carrying a very interesting cane from his vast collection of canes, which he has been carrying since the age 10 - for effect and not out of necessity.

The story of this particular cane is interesting...

Eldad has had a long career in construction, architecture and design. At one point, a client for whom he was doing a renovation found an old cane in his attic, and offered it to him. The cane was ancient, made of olive wood. The head on the cane has a swollen cheek and a scarf tied around its face - primitive Jerusalem dental care, from a hundred years ago. When someone had a toothache, they would get their tooth pulled. Following that, they would tie a scarf around the head to help bring down the swelling. (Aren't you glad you live in modern times? I am.)

Eldad initially refused the cane because it was clearly an item of valuable. His client, in return, threatened to destroy the cane if Eldad wouldn't take it.

And that's how it came into his possession.

He painted one eye blue, "against the evil eye".

Primitive dental care documented by carving into an olive wood cane