Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #31, Good Deal in "Supersol Deal," Givat Shaul

This is a continuation in my ongoing series about public toilets in Jerusalem. See #30, #29, #28, #27, #26, #25, #24,  #23, #22, #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, #16, #15a, #15, #14, #13, #12, #11, #10, #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, Saved by The First Station aka #4a, #4, #3, #2 and #1.

One night after attending a funeral in Har Hamenuchot Givat Shaul, I needed a WC 00 ASAP. Actually there are public toilets at the cemetery, but since I had a ride out, and the public transportation is infrequent at best...

My companion and I found ourselves on the main drag of Givat Shaul, by all the stores, offices and restaurants. We walked quite a distance looking for a restaurant open for dinner besides a public toilet. The usually bustling street looked more like Brigadoon as the mist covers before its long hibernation.

Getting rather desperate, I entered open the branch of Supersol Deal, since I have discovered that all the supermarkets in Jerusalem have public toilets. Most are hidden, like this one is, in the back storage area. Even though there were a few signs, I asked an employee, since I didn't want to waste time.


As I approached the welcome facilities, I saw a worker washing the floor. He asked that I wait until he finished, so I wouldn't slip on the wet floor.

The fact that the area smelled clean helped me wait patiently. I was happy to see that the public toilet, which no doubt is for the staff as well as the public, had paper and soap. It was in better shape than many restaurant loos.

I told the worker that I'd be writing it up and giving them high marks.

I did feel a bit guilty about using the facilities without purchasing anything. Unlike many (or most) restaurants, never has a supermarket told me that their restrooms are for paying customers only, nor do they charge an entrance fee.

If you have any locations, recommendations, warnings concerning public toilets, please let me know in the comments.

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #17, At Least It was Clean

This is a continuation in my ongoing series about public toilets in Jerusalem. See #16,  #15,  #14, #13, #12, #11, #10, #9,  #8, #7,  #6,  #5, Saved by The First Station aka #4a, #4, #3, #2 and #1

The other day I had to leave from my home in Shiloh to get to Matan, and thank Gd I ended up with a fantastic ride that took me not too far away from there with plenty of time to walk. But as you can guess I had to find a public toilet, which isn't all that easy in a residential neighborhood, especially very early in the morning.

As lovely and holy as Jerusalem may be, it can be a very confusing place to walk around in. It's very "suburban" with winding streets and no easy way to know where you're going or how to get any place, especially deep in the Old Katamon neighborhood with its tall trees which block the low buildings. I couldn't find any landmarks to help me out. I was pretty sure that I wasn't far from Shai Agnon Street and the small supermarket I'd been to a number of times after staying at my daughter's who lives near there. So, I tried to get assistance from "Google Maps." But for some strange reason, I couldn't follow their instructions and "estimated time to arrival" always kept getting longer rather than shorter. So I typed in a different location, and the same thing happened. And then it happened a third time! Am I the only person who can't follow their directions? But suddenly I saw a street name that looked familiar. It davka goes to the very street I had originally searched for, Shai Agnon. And after just a couple of minutes of walking, I saw the supermarket just across the street!

I walked in and cased the joint looking for the usual easy to follow signs to a WC, but there weren't any. Nu, that was strange, since supermarkets are supposed to have some public facilities.

Then I walked over to a female employee to ask. She told me that they were downstairs.

"How do I find the stairs?" I asked, since I hadn't noticed any when walking around.
"Near the Dairy Section, through the storage room." She politely replied.

It's not a large supermarket, so I easily found my way. And since I had worked for almost six years in Yafiz-Rami Levy, Sha'ar Binyamin, I've gotten pretty used to walking through supermarket storage areas.

Even though there aren't any signs, I did find the public toilet pretty easily. It has the same awful superficial aesthetic ambiance of many other Jerusalem supermarkets. But in this case, it was sparkling clean and didn't smell at all! That was a great relief.

The bottom line is that the toilet is usable and far superior to many others, but the downside is that it isn't handicapped accessible. I presume that it suits whatever bylaws there are for employees, but customers may find it problematic. There is a bank next to the supermarket, but that wasn't open early in the morning.

From there I had a lovely and relaxed walk to Matan. I know the way and didn't need Google Maps, thank Gd!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #14, Mega Yuck!

This is a continuation in my ongoing series about public toilets in Jerusalem. See #13, #12, #11, #10, #9,  #8, #7,  #6,  #5, Saved by The First Station aka #4a, #4, #3, #2 and #1

MEGA B'IR מגה בעיר is one of Israel's supermarket chains. According to the news, it has been struggling financially of late, but that's still no excuse not to have toilet paper in the WCs public restrooms. A few days ago, I was near their Arnona-Derech Hebron branch and rather desperately needed "facilities," which are called שירותים Sherutim, Services, in Hebrew. There is also a "TEREM," Medical Emergency Center nearby, but I wasn't in the mood for getting past a medical receptionist by saying:

"At my age needing a toilet is an emergency."

I've discovered and reported that quite a few of the Supermarket chains here in Israel have perfectly proper and well-kept, well-supplied public toilets, so in this fancy neighborhood I was pretty confident that the "services" would be acceptable.

Actually, I was very optimistic, because at the entrance I quickly noticed the sign they had pointing the way to the WCs. I didn't have to waste any time asking workers. I quickly followed directions, plus an additional sign to the very back of the store. I should have been wary when I found myself walking through the same sort of clear heavy plastic "curtains" that they have in the Shaar Binyamin Rami Levy to the "workers only" area. But I was too much in a rush to turn back.


I entered an area with three doors, each to a toilet. One was labeled "Handicapped," one said MEN and the other nothing. None were lit inside, and none had toilet paper. I entered the "unlabeled" stall and a discovered a suspiciously wet floor, but it was too late to turn back. Luckily I had some tissues in my pocket. And I must admit that it didn't smell.

Surprisingly, one of the soap dispensers was actually full. That was a relief! But, you guessed it, there weren't any paper towels.

If any of you frequent that supermarket, I'd appreciate updates. But in the meantime, unless I hear of serious improvements, I'll have to check out the TEREM nextdoor.

PS There's also a Superpharm nearby. Do they have public toilets?

Closest Shopping Mall Near Shiloh

on the road to Eli from Shiloh

Actually, if we in Shiloh want to go shop in a mall, we don't even have to go as far as Sha'ar Binyamin or Ariel.  Five minutes away, there's a mall, ok, they haven't totally completed it and most of the stores are still empty, in Eli.

My neighbor and I had decided to check out the newly built supermarket there and took a "road trip" one morning.  We weren't quite sure where it was, so we followed the signs.

Eli is much larger than Shiloh, and its population is much more varied. They accept everyone who wants to move there and can find a home, while Shiloh only accepts those who are Torah observant.  Eli also has a very large and thriving young dati le'umi, "national religious" community, because many students and graduates of the Bnai David Mechina, pre-army yeshiva end up making Eli their home.

The old Eli shopping area is pretty empty, because the supermarket and pizza/coffee house moved to the new building.  See the difference!

Eli Markol supermarket entrance

I was happy and surprised to see that my Shiloh neighbors had opened a branch of their "Dvarim Yaffim" store in the new mall.  They have wonderful clothes at reasonable prices.  One thing I and many of my neighbors know is that Dina keeps stock of all of the basic "layette" supplies one needs for a new baby. Considering that many people don't like to buy baby clothes before the birth and hospital stays are relatively short, you need a store very nearby to set up for a newborn, especially a firstborn.

But we went to Eli to see the supermarket!  It's also owned by someone from Shiloh who entered the grocery business locally, possibly even before Eli was established.  He also now owns the supermarket in Ofra, besides Shiloh and Eli.

As are the other two stores, which I frequent regularly, it's orderly and clean, besides being very well stocked.  Prices are very reasonable for a small private chain.  Some things were less than at Rami Levy.

The Eli branch is the only one with a green grocer, fresh furit and vegetable section.  There's also a butcher, fresh poultry department only open Wednesdays-Friday.

The pizza/coffee shop was closed when we visited.  Even though "breakfast" was on the menu.

There's a also an attractive well-stocked housewares store that seems to have almost everything one could need.  That's important with all of the people moving into Eli recently.

Eli, terraced apartments under construction