Everyone knows them as the Jews with the "payot", the sidelocks, the black suit and "shtreimel" - the hat - and the "tzitzit", knotted fringes hanging from the trousers that are usually attached to the "tallit", the prayer shawl. Furthermore everyone associates money, jewelry shops and, as some may call it, unusual prayers with them.

Take 1:

The first personal encounter I had with an orthodox was on the plane to Tel Aviv. I had reserved the windowseat to enjoy the view during take-off and landing and to my advantage, the middle seat was free, which meant 5 hours of comfortable seating and relaxed sleeping. The aisle seat was occupied by an orthodox Jew travelling by himself, as it turned out later, on his way home to Jerusalem from a wedding in London. He seemed very friendly, asking me where I'm from and what I'm planning to do in Israel and so on. I noticed that the man was very afraid of flying, constantly whispering prayers and winding the locks around his ear. I also noticed that he checked the label on all the contents of his kosher meal, probably making sure that there was no mix-up that could be fatal to him. Somehow though, it made him appear sympathetic, a man who has strong believes that lead him through life, things that he can hold on to, that are immutable. However, after the fifteenth time he asked me if the time and distance indicated in French and Dutch on the screens were now 2 minutes and 30 kilometers less, my inner center for calmness and indifference started to turn into a raging temper. Nevertheless, I decided to answer his question and quickly fall asleep to avoid any further repetition. That worked out pretty well... until we landed and the man asked if he could shortly use my phone to inform his wife of his arrival, so that she could go to sleep carefree. I handed him the phone thinking this was going to be "Hi! Yeah, fine, I've landed, see you soon!" but it actually turned out to be more like "Hi! Yeah, fine, I've landed. What??... Oh, food is ready in the kitchen, nice thanks. How are the kids? Oh, that's great, I knew they would do good on the exams. How's your mom?... Oh, okay great, well remember to still do this and that before you go to bed. Yes, of course, no problem... Yes, yes, okay see you soon. Love you!", which I didn't really notice, as I was watching the extraction tunnel being moved into place, meanwhile making sure nobody steals my backpack. Unfortunately, the length of the call cost me a large amount of money, which fit the prejudice that orthodox Jews are known to be avaricious.

Take 2:
On the third day in Tverya, my aunt sent me to collect a package from the post office, equipping me with all the necessary documents and money. A corner away from the building, amidst all the blaring horns and worn out engines rattling through the streets, I realised that there was freakishly loud orthodox music coming from the direction I was heading. It turned out to originate from a portable speaker on wheels belonging to an orthodox Jew, who was sitting right in front of the office dozing in the hot midday sun. Without giving it more thought, I entered the building to find an endlessly long queue patiently waiting for me! To my surprise, one of the few seats was still empty...that was until I arrived and conquered it. I waited and waited - in the meantime an orthodox Jew and a regular Israeli commenced an argument about the music, the former had said to one of his companions that it was "ha kivun ha nachon" (the right way) to which the latter could absolutely not agree. He stated that it was wrong to try and convince people to join orthodox Judaism by loudly blasting the typical music for everyone to hear, to which the other had nothing more to say then: "It's not like he's forcing earplugs into your ears!". I found that pretty ignorant to be honest, as I was slowly feeling a headache build up and I hadn't even been here for long. When it was finally my turn, I kindly offered my booth to the old lady who came in after me, as I was still young and full of energy, meaning I could wait. The woman happily accepted and in that instant another booth opened. One of the present orthodox Jews stepped over to me and said: "Did you just notice that? You gave to someone and received back. It's a sign!!", while discreetly pointing to the sky. For the further duration of my business in the post office, I thought about what he had said, concluding that on the one hand, it was again an act of convincing the unorthodox to join the religion, but on the other hand it could have been a nice gesture of saying "If you give something in life, you will get it back at some point!", which was an interesting way of regarding the spirituality of life. After I had received the package and my documents, I was about to leave, when I overheard the post office clerk say that this music had been going on since 8am and "se ose li hor ba osen" (it was, literal translation:" making a hole in her ear!"). So I took it onto myself to walk up to the sleeping guy to ask him to turn it down as people were slowly going in to brain overload.
He looked at me like I was an alien, turned it down and went back to sleep!

All in all, since my arrival, I've met kind and not so kind orthodox Jews, but they all had something in common. There were all physically intrusive, trying to promote their religious views, but psychologically on a totally different wavelength. No wonder the modern Isralei citizen can't find a organized way to share a living space with them, especially when the space in Israel is so limited.