The Many Faces of Israel

Just when I think I know what Israel looks like, I travel to some new corner of this unbelievably tiny country and discover some new facet of its incredibly varied landscape.  I love those moments!

Today the Ulpan had its last day trip, this time to the furthest reaches of the country.  We left the kibbutz shortly after 6:00 AM and drove north, stopping once for a picnic breakfast before arriving in Metula, the northernmost moshavah (like a moshav but even more closely resembling a small town).  In Metula, which is essentially nestled in the borders of Lebanon.  Not necessarily the most comfortable situation, but at least they've got border patrol to help make sure no unsavory people wander into their pretty moshav (and I'm not talking about the Lebanese - there are unsavory Israelis, too).

Nahal Hatzbani

We spent very little time there before heading to Nahal Snir, also called Nahal Hatzbani (the latter is the Arabic name) where we hiked along and through the river on a short path.  I think it took us less than a couple hours but it was fun and absolutely beautiful, yet again.  This time the river was much larger and stronger than the ones I've been on previously, and had a number of small waterfalls feeding it from the sides. This was the kind of place I would love to see with a little more solitude.  Maybe someday...

Jordan River

After taking a dip in the river at the end of the trail, we went back to the bus, changed quickly so as not to drench the seats, then made the short drive to the Jordan River for kayaking.  With the exception of one itty-bitty little fall of about a meter, the river was wide and calm and rather forgiving when most of us had no idea how to paddle the large rafts.  I'll admit, I thought my paddling skills were pretty decent considering my experience paddling canoes from my camp days, but a raft is not a canoe and four people in a boat is different than two.  Alas, we did get turned around a couple times.

Upon reaching the finish line we piled out of our rafts and kayaks and enjoyed a lunch buffet of salads and fresh pizza cooked on-site.  Our Ulpan director is all about surprises and we were all content with this day's tasty surprise.  So we sufficiently stuffed our faces, changed into dryer clothes, then got on the bus and fell asleep for the three-hour ride back home.

The New and the Old - Tel Aviv and Yafo

In case I hadn't already figured it out, I have firmly come to the conclusion that it is impossible to see even a single Israeli city in one day, let alone two, even if it is meticulously planned out and run by expert Israeli tour guides.  On Tuesday we had our third tiyul - trip - this time to Tel Aviv and the neighboring city of Yafo (Jaffa - like the oranges).  We went to Independence Hall, saw many "firsts" of the area and the country (first kiosk, first train station, first Jewish neighborhoods, first movie theater, etc.), went to Yafo and walked through the Old City, saw remains of an Egyptian tomb (Egyptian dude moved to Yafo a long long time ago), learned about Greek, Jewish, Christian, and Arab influences on the city, ate at Doctor Shakshouka (awesome!), shopped in the Shuk HaPishpeshim (flee market), saw Rabin Square in Tel Aviv and learned about assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, then got on the bus and came back to the kibbutz.

Whew.

Here are some of the basics that you should know about Tel Aviv and Yafo:  Tel Aviv is the second largest city in Israel but is the most cosmopolitan.  Similarly, though Jerusalem is the capital city, Tel Aviv is the artistic and economic center of Israel.  It is home to skyscrapers, beach-front hotels, markets and malls, theaters and concert halls, corporate offices, R&D centers, and a vibrant 24/7 social atmosphere for Israelis and tourists alike.  It was built on the outskirts of Yafo (Jaffa, in its common English transliteration), a predominantly Arab city, and today Tel Aviv and Yafo are part of a single municipality.  Tel Aviv-Yafo population: 404,000 (5% of the total Israeli population).  Population of greater Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area: 3,206,400 (about 42% of the total Israeli population).

Forefront: Old
Background: New

Tel Aviv's name has an interesting etymology combining the old and new in a couple of different ways.  The name was chosen in homage of Theodore Herzl's book Altneuland - "Old New Land" (Herzl was the founder of modern Zionism and a primary figure in Israel's modern history).  When the book was translated to Hebrew, the translator opted for a more symbolic rather than direct translation of the title and chose the name of a city that also happens to be mentioned in the Bible.  The name itself is difficult to translate to English because although "Aviv" is simply "spring," a "tel" is a formation that is unique to Israel.  It is a hill that has developed from the recurring construction and destruction of civilizations built one on top of the other - new on top of old - in layers.  Thus it was a fitting title for the translation of Herzl's book because the antiquity of ancient civilizations is juxtaposed against the youthful revival of spring.

Tel Aviv and Yafo are almost complete opposites in a variety of ways including history, religion, and architecture.  While Tel Aviv is a bustling metropolis, Yafo maintains its old winding alleyways and stone buildings, vast flea market (another skirt and pants for 75 shekel!  Woo!), and slightly slower-paced life.  Yafo also has a strong Arab population as it has for much of its history.  History, too, is a significant difference between the two cities; Tel Aviv was founded in 1909, but stories of Yafo go back to antiquity in both the Bible and Greek mythology.

I could talk a lot more about the tiyul, but I have to admit that while I do enjoy Yafo, yesterday's trip wasn't quite as enjoyable for me as our two previous ones.  Yes, Tel Aviv has a lot to offer (like the Victor Wooten concert I went to on Monday night), but I'm not much of a city girl and I prefer the art galleries and winding stone roads of Yafo.  And I can't quite put my finger on it, but for some reason I have something against touristy destinations and the tour groups of foreigners that frequent them.  Nevermind the fact that I am a tourist and was part of a tour group yesterday, nevermind that I love Israeli tour guides, and let's forget entirely that were it not for tourists, non-Hebrew speaking Anglophones wouldn't be able to go to restaurants around the country.  Yes, I realize I'm being a big ol' hypocrite, but I suppose I'd just rather be surrounded by the natives than people like me.

Still, despite the plethora of tourists and the inevitable "sheeple" (sheep + people) feeling I get whenever I'm in a tour group, I really did have an enjoyable time.  Like I said, lunch was amazing, I bargained for some more Israeli clothes, and I got to see and learn about one of Israel's most interesting cities.  All in all, a pretty good trip.  :)


P.S.: The Photos page has been updated with a link to the album featuring my pictures from our trip.  Enjoy!

Day trip to the North, Part II: Druzi Dancing

NOTE: Check the Photos page!  Link to pictures from Monday's day trip!

After our long and slightly arduous hike, we returned to the bus and drove up a mountainside to the village of Usfiya to learn about the Druzim (plural for Druze), a religious and cultural minority in Israel.  Though their roots are Arabic (having began in Egypt), Israeli Druzim do not consider themselves Arabic, and today an astounding percentage of the Druzi population are active in the Israeli military, protecting and defending their country as zealously as a Jewish Israeli, if not moreso.  In fact, many Druzim serve in the highest ranks of the Israeli military and air force.

We were welcomed at a Druzi man's home where he gave us a glimpse at the life and belief system of the Druzim.  Among the interesting details:

1.  Druzim do not accept converts.
2.  There is a belief in reincarnation (human to human).
3.  There are secular and religious Druzim, and among the religious they lead very strict lifestyles.  There seems to be little to no middle ground between the two lifestyles.
4.  Women are highly respected and honored within the religion/culture.  In fact, according to our host, some men are even jealous of the status of women among them.

After a very brief talk, giant platters of food were brought out and musicians (a lutist and drummer) set up their equipment.  We ate with the sounds of Arabic music in our ears, and once the food was cleared we were encouraged to get up and dance.  With so many Latin Americans among us, we didn't need to be told twice!

Despite the feeling that the experience - the talk, the food, the music, the dancing - was well-rehearsed and oft-used, we greatly enjoyed ourselves and left wishing we had learned more.  But there was no time for that since it was time for the requisite shopping trip!

Off to another Druzi village we went where we were let loose along a short street lined with touristy Druzi shops.  The shopkeepers were kind but aggressive, eager to make a sale to these wide-eyed, unsuspecting foreigners.  A bunch of students with shekels burning in their pockets?  The shopkeepers needn't have feared.

I also learned the secret to haggling:  Don't say anything.  At one point I entered a shop which had a wide selection of Israeli/Arab clothing.  To one side of me were the wrap skirts I love so much, and to the other side was none other than the pants I love!  Of course I was going to buy something, and a girl who worked at the shop stood there staring at me as I picked through the colors and patterns.  I'm sure she was impatiently thinking "Pick something, already!" and occasionally she commented on the price: "One for 40 shekel, three for 100."  A little while later, after I'd commented a little on this skirt or another, she said "I'll give you one for 35.  Take one."  When I expressed interest in the 35 shekel pants, she eventually lowered it to 25 without me even offering another price.  Apparently if you just have more patience than the other person, they'll keep lowering the price just to get you out of the store!

In the end, I bought a skirt and a pair of pants for 55 shekel (down from 75!).  I'm happy :)

Day trip to the North, Part I: Another trip, another mountain

Yesterday the Ulpan had its second tiyul (trip) and this time we ventured north to the Carmel Mountains where we toured a historical immigrant detainment camp, hiked up and around a mountain, briefly peered into a cave, dined and danced in a Druzi village, then had our requisite hour of shopping in the Druzi shook (because your trip is not complete unless you've done some shopping).

Machaneh Ma'apilim - Illegal Immigrant Detainment Camp
In 1939, the British decided they could not possibly accept all the Eastern European Jews who wanted to immigrate to the Palestinian Mandate.  As such they granted certificates for legal immigration to very few of the many thousands who sought refuge and new life in Palestine.  That didn't keep people from coming, though, and those who made it there without a British-sanctioned certificate were moved immediately to detainment camps in Cypress and places like Machaneh Ma'apilim in Atlit, a northern town directly on the sea.

Though Machaneh Ma'apilim was built before World War II fully began and certainly before anyone knew anything about death camps, it bears a strikingly terrifying resemblance to Nazi concentration camps.  With barracks, watchtowers, barbed wire fences, and a large "Disinfection" building, there was little to distinguish this place from the terror many of the immigrants had left behind in Europe towards the end of the war.  Quite simply, it was built with efficiency in mind - after all, how do you absorb hundreds of new people, get them and their clothes clean from parasites, and get them into barracks as quickly as possible?

Most of the people who arrived in Palestine did so by way of large ships of all sorts which had been converted to transport immigrants.  An example of such a boat had been brought to the current Machaneh and converted into an entire multimedia presentation for visitors, providing an idea of the cramped and uncomfortable conditions full of terrified runaways hoping for a brighter future in this land of Zion, of Jews.

How horrible, then, that the moment they arrived they were immediately imprisoned?

Most people were detained less than a year and eventually found freedom in the country.  Their struggle is a significant part of Israel's history as about one fifth of Israel's Jewish population in that generation had gone through one of these camps.  It is absolutely astounding, though, to see in the films the sheer determination apparent in these people's faces, the pride they had in making their way to a country with hopes that it would become their own.

Har Carmel - Mount Carmel Hike
"It'll be a nice, easy walk," Ilan told us. "No rush, very nice," he said.

Psh.  Yeah right.  Apparently not all of us climb mountains on a regular basis, but this was not exactly a "nice, easy walk" by our standards.

There are many hiking trails throughout the Carmel mountains, and I should have known when we arrived and I saw the many coach buses lined up at the base of the trail that we were not going to have the area to ourselves.  The hike started out calm enough though I found it difficult to keep up with the group after stopping frequently to take pictures of the flowers and scenery.  We soon happened upon another group hiking together, then another, and another.  As it became a little more crowded, the terrain also became much more challenging to traverse.  Our legs got a workout as we climbed over jagged land and down rocky slopes.

I really should send a Thank You note to the orthopedic surgeon who repaired my knee last year.

Just before reaching the base on the other side, some of us chose to peak into one of the  many caves along that stretch of mountains.  It might have been a little neater had we not been completely surrounded by a huge group of third-graders on a field trip, but seeing as it was my first time spelunking it was still fascinating!  The cave wasn't very deep, but it was tall, moist, and completely black within.  I can't believe I forgot my flashlight on the bus!

In between carefully watching my step and making sure I was still with my group (and hadn't accidentally mingled with any of the other non-English-speaking groups around us), I managed to take in a great deal of the nof, view.  From the mountain you could see the Mediterranean Sea to the West, majestically azure and calm on this fresh, spring day.  Fields and towns lay nestled between the sea and the mountains, quiet and content.  The mountain itself featured a wide variety of flowers, small and unassuming individually but strikingly beautiful as a mass, as if painting the hillside.  Looking at all the flowers, I almost missed the dead, blackened trees around me.

Last December, there was a huge forest fire that raged through the Carmel mountains, the biggest fire in Israel's history.  It destroyed over 10,000 acres of forest and killed over 40 people.  It was devastating and terrifying and prompted responses of aid worldwide.  Yet despite the fact that the cause of the fire was likely human error and disregard, forest fires are part of the natural circle, as evidenced by the way Spring found its way into and among the charred remains.  Flowers and grass are growing well amidst the black bark of undefinable trees as a testament to Nature's strength and perseverance.  As one person in our group put it, "Nature wins."

Yerushalaym Shel Zahav

Yesterday we were taken on a trip to Jerusalem where we went to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Independence Park, Ben Yehudah Street, the Time Elevator, the Old City, the Kotel (Western Wall), and the excavated tunnels under the Muslim Quarter where you can see more of the wall, plus cisterns (including one that still holds runoff and rain water) and the stone of the mountain itself.

To describe the whole day would take too long and I'm sure some of you have many other things to do today, so I'll try to make this short.  So let a short (by my standards) description of each location suffice for now.  I'm sure I'll return to them later and will, at that time, write more.

Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial:  While there is a museum on site, it is important to remember that the Holocaust Museum is not the only notable structure in this sprawling complex.  Yad Vashem is more a collection of memorials and resources including the Garden of the Righteous, the Children's Memorial, and the largest Holocaust Archive in the world, open to the public.  We had very little time there, but even if we had had more than two hours we would not have been able to see everything there.  I've been there once before and even though everything in the museum was the same it was all just as heart-wrenching, poignant, terrifying, and magnificent as before.  It helped that we had a personal guide who turned the entire museum into a narrative, and managed to do it all in little over an hour.  That, in and of itself, was a feat.

Independence Park:  It was a park, and as far as I could tell there was nothing uniquely special about it.  We had lunch there and I took some pictures, all of which will be up later when the Internet connection is a little more reliable.

Ben Yehudah Street:  You're familiar with State Street in Madison?  Well, imagine that, but in Israel.  It's not hard to navigate since nearly all the signs are in English, and you don't have to worry about those pesky cars driving through your walkway (a.k.a. the street).  You do, however, have to be on the lookout for speeding bicyclists.  If you missed the Kippa shop back there where you really really wanted to buy that awesome New York Giants kippa, fret not, because look, there's another one up there.  And another.  And another.  Right next to the Judaica shop which we've already seen four times.  It's like State Street in more ways than one.  Anywho, we spent some time there, I bought a scarf, and my friend and I searched every jewelry store for a particular bracelet she wanted.  No luck.

The Time Elevator:  This is a kitschy amusement aimed at school children and tourists, but with a historical and educated bent.  It's an attempt to present the entirety of Jerusalem's 3,000 year old history in 24 minutes. I can't necessarily say I learned a whole lot there, but it was a fun experience.  The only things missing were the 3D glasses and Smell-O-Vision.  I enjoyed it more for the technical and visual creativity than for the poorly-presented history, but like I said, it was an experience.

Old City: Up until 1860, the entirety of Jerusalem remained within the two-thousand-year-old walls of ancient Jerusalem.  Finally, people were paid to start living in neighborhoods outside the safety of the walls, and thus began Jerusalem as we know it today.  Inside the walls, there is a fascinating juxtaposition between the new and the old.  The streets are made of cobble stones and bricks, all the buildings are made of the unique, white Jerusalem stone (a form of limestone found on those mountains), and there are neon signs above the doors advertising Bonkers Bagels and Rova Pizza.  Still, there is no mistaking its age, nor its significance in the Jewish world.  Why else would I have heard so many languages other than Hebrew spoken by religious Jews throughout the narrow streets?

HaKotel (The Western Wall):  Before I go into an inevitably long emotional narrative, let me first explain what this thing is to which Jews worldwide flock.  To my non-Jewish friends, yes, it is a wall.  A big, giant, thick wall at the Temple Mount.  But this is not the only part of the Wall remaining.  There are great expanses that are just as easy to access, to touch, to pray at, if you are so motivated.  But it is this point along the Wall that has gained so much significance because it was the closest portion to where the Jewish Temple stood.  "But wait, isn't the Wall part of the temple?"  No!  I thought it was, too, until my first trip to the Kotel in 2009 when I learned that this holy place is simply the remains of the wall of the platform on which the temple stood, and even at that there were a few walls in between.  So quite frankly, 2000 years ago this expanse of white brick was the edge of a grand stage, not the main event itself.  But, like any Summerfest concert, you'll try to get as close to the lead guitarist as possible without being carried off by the guards.  Usually, the edge of the stage is about as far as you'll make it.

I am not going to say the Wall itself has any mystical powers.  I'm not even going to say that touching the stones somehow made me closer to G-d.  It is, after all, a wall.  But surrounding me at that wall were complete strangers who, oddly enough, are family.  Each person, praying individually, laughing or crying as their emotions dictated, was part of my extended family.  All the people who had touched those stones before, turning them darker and smoother with the passage of time, were also part of my family.  And all the millions of hands that will touch those hallowed stones after me will also be from the same mishpacha.  It's not that my own experience was so significant but that it was part of a larger collective experience: that of the Jewish people.  Being there was like being woven into a large blanket with different strands of color all around me.  The warmth of the blanket enveloped me as I became part of it (conflicting metaphors, I know - but isn't Judaism and religion in general a paradox?).  Being at the Wall is, for the Jewish people, the single most important statement in any culture, society, ethnicity, or family:  I am not alone.

The Tunnels:  Alright, now for the not-so-emotional stuff.  Like I said, the Wall is merely a small portion of a much larger expanse of wall remaining from the Western side of the platform on the Temple Mount.  Just as the Pyramids in Egypt are mind-boggling, so too is this wall.  Allow me to say HOLY HUGE BRICKS, BATMAN!  A project like this would be an outstanding endeavor today with all our machinery and technology.  I can't even imagine how it would be realistic 2,000 years ago.  And I'm not the only one: there is one particular OUTRAGEOUSLY LARGE stone in the wall, seen from underground, that is estimated to weigh 12 tons.  Even archeologists have yet to figure out exactly how that one got there.

We walked through the underground tunnels where I was exceedingly thankful for my [lack of] height, and we saw artifacts from the time of King Harod, and even a working cistern.  Pretty cool, eh?  No, not cool.  Outstanding.
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So that was yesterday.  Awesome, powerful, emotional, fun, and exhausting.  I'll admit, I was thankful for the relative calm today.

P.S.  I really should have taken that Translation course in the French Department at school - speed-interpreting is fatiguant, especially when you don't know all the words.