Sunday, January 19, 2020

The waiting room at the Dental Imaging Centre is small but reasonably cheerful, painted bright white and a muted yellow-green. An embellished photo of Jerusalem hangs behind the counter. The Western Wall is speckled with flecks of gold. Signs on other surfaces praise Rabbi Nachman. One offers books from his Breslov sect for sale. The boss wears a Chabad yarmulke. As I sit down, a text comes to my phone: "Waiting for your turn? Click this link for children's games and information about dental health." A customer and two workers, the man in black and white and a wide-brimmed hat and the women in colorful kerchiefs, discuss their sects' stances toward television. One's allows it. One’s bans it. The third's allows religious broadcasts, National Geographic, and kosher cooking shows. They speak among themselves and with me in Hebrew, but when another customer, a black man with a North American accent, comes in, they switch to English. They know him from before. He sits down next to me. We silently flip through magazines as we wait for them to take our X-rays.