No matter the color, culture or country, men worldwide have a thing for peeing in public.
But as the Israeli city of Lod, near Tel Aviv, proves — even in the most dire urination situations, a quick dose of Jewish guilt can make almost any man wait for the nearest toilet.
It seems as if the walls of Lod City Hall had become a particularly popular — and problematic — place for local men to relieve themselves.
Lod public officials were unsure what to do — but it turns out they had the good fortune to receive a dose of divine intervention.
A city hall employee decided the walls needed some sprucing up — and decided to festoon them (above) with pics of important rabbis and religious symbols; from icons such as Rabbis Maimonides and Nahmanides, to pictures of silver candlesticks, Passover bowls, candles over Jerusalem, and Rachel’s Tomb.
All are sacred symbols to Jews — even the non-religious.
So sacred, in fact, that their mere presence has put an end to any wall-peeing since almost the moment the pics appeared.
“Ever since one of the workers here put the rabbis’ pictures on the wall, people stopped urinating on it,” said Daniel Ben Saadon, head of the Lod religious council. “There are clubs and cafes nearby that attract youths that used to urinating on the wall. Thank heavens this phenomenon has disappeared.”
A local kid — and potential urinator — explained that in this working-class and observant town, even the hardest-core thugs would never dis the rebbes.
Even in an emergency-urination situation, none of his crew would ever use the wall as a toilet.
“Heaven forbid,” the kids says. “Near the rabbis watching you? Even criminals respect the rabbis, that’s how it is here, there is respect for religious clerics.”
We do the same thing in India. Religious symbols on walls to prevent men from peeing. But sometimes it still doesn’t work.