Israel 6.28.08

One thing that has struck me so far is how close everything is. As we were driving up route 6, the Meditteranean Sea and teh cities on it were to our left. To our right was the West Bank. We could have gotten out of the bus and walked right in. We asked Ido, our guide, what would happen if we did and he said we would be picked up immediately by Israeli police.

We saw the wall that was built to protect Israel from the West Bank. It was right there, fairly tall with barbed wire on top. It does not run continuously, only in places where it would be close enough for Palestinian fire to hit Israeli targets. At its narrowest point, Israel is only 9 miles across.

Our guide told us that since giving up Gaza, violence coming out of Gaza is much worse. Hamas will not make any peace agreements and have fired rockets into Israel. Right now there is a hesitant kind of cease-fire.

Shabbat in Israel has a very different feeling. It is both quiet and festive, because everyone is observing it on some level, even if that level is going to the beach for the day. You don't feel like you are missin gout on something. ALmost all shops are closed and the raods are almost empty. Everyone is home early Friday night, spending time with family. Later in the night, many people were out walking along the cliffs or in town. Some cafes were open, because Haifa is a more secular city. I learned that in Israel, being secular is basically the same as being Conservative, or possibly reform, in America. There are Jews in Israel who do not practice any aspect of Judaism, but I don't know what they would call themselves. Basically, you are either Orthodox or you are secular.

This morning, I slept strangly until 9:00 AM, with a bus departure at 9:30. I rushed around, made it on time, but had to skip breakfast. We picked up Lotem (who works at Leo Beck) and drove about half an hour northwest of Haifa. There we went to some kind of Carmelite Order Christian place, which was beautiful, but made us all curious about why we were there. Apparently, this was a place wehre the prophet Eliha did some great work that undermined the power of the Phoenicians, who were assholes. Elijah had 450 Phoenician prophets build altars to and put dead oxen on them and pray to their god to make a fire happen. No fire came. He had Israelites pour water all over his altar, prayed to God, adn the wet wood burst into flame. This apparently happened where we were, and he may have possibly hidden in some caves there as well. There was also a statue, possibly of him (It said Elias) with an upraised sword, standing with one foot on a prostrate man. There was a cross involved, so I was somewhat skeptical.

We learned about a city that in English is called Armageddon. This is, of course, wehre the final battle between Good and Evil will supposedly take place. We could see the city. Apparently, the leader of Evil will be called Gog, so look out for that.

I was surprised by how much farmland there is in Israel. It is a mostly agricultural place, although it is such a small, dry country. There is also, of course, a lot of high-tech industry there.

On the roofs of many buildings are solar panels that are attached to water tanks. This heats the water for people to use, so they don't have to use electricity for this. And yet, recycycling is new in Israel, and there is litter everywhere.

We drove through a Droos city. The Droos are a branch of Islam that is persecuted by the rest of the Muslim world. Nobody knows much about their practice or beliefs, except that it involves reincarnation. The Droos live in Israel wehre they are safer. There are even Droos members of the Israeli government. Traditional Droos men have moustaches and skullcaps and wear MC Hammer pants. Traditional Droos women wear all black, but do not have to cover wrists and ankles, and wear white scarves over their hair.

After lunch, we headed to the B'Hai gardnes. It is considered the holiest place in the B'hai faith, whcih came out of Iran in the 1840s. It is somehow connected to Islam, but I don't know exactly how. Interstingly, there are only 30 followers of B'hai allowed it live in Israel at any given time, because it is a missionary religion, and missionaries are not allowed to live in Israel. The holy site is in Israel because its leader saw Mount Carmel when he was imprisoned in Lebanon and it gave him hope.

The gardens are beautiful, very formal. It reminded me of Versailles or gardens at The Elms. Very elaborate. There was a minor scandal when we were there because the guards determined that Lorena's skirt was too short, although other women were in shorter shorts, or equally short skirts. Lorena and Ido were outraged. Lorena ultimately had to wrap her pareo around herself in order to go in.

After the gardens we went to the beach. It was not what I expected. It was like Venice Beach in that there were restaurants, shops, and arades along a paved area that ran parallel to the water. What was different was that most people on the beach were seated at tables and chairs and were waited on by a waitress who served beer. Everyone smoked and threw their cigarette butts in the sand. So, you are thinking, "Hmmm...OK, it's an outdoor bar at the beach. I get it." But then amongst the crowded bar tables were children playing in the sand, digging through the cigarette butts. They played happily. A favorite sight was an adolescent boy poking at a dead jellyfish with an empty Heinekin bottle.

We were surprised at how many people threw other trash in the sand. The people were awesomely tacky. Many speedos, many leathery women in gaudy bikinis, smoking and drinking. A group of older people pulled their bar chairs to the water's edge so they could stick their legs in the sea while sipping their beer.

The sea was considered somewhat dangerous that day, so you could only swim in small areas. It wasn't dangerous to those of us from the Atlantic, so we felt tough, scoffing at the waist-high bathwater. But then we started to notice how salty it was when our skin started to sting, and soon had to get out. Israelis may drown more easily, but there is a reason why they are so fearlessly leathery.

We later met Lotem for education and Havdallah. We continued our discussions about what being in Israel meant to us. This time we decorated boxes to reflect some of our thoughts and feelings. I decorated my box to reflect my own desire to find a place for myself here, and for my heart to open up and connect with the land of Israel.

Earlier in the day, we shared our feelings and interpretations of this place, using images from another artist. I chose an image of Israel as a fragile seedling, because it is a young country with little support from the rest of the world. Thsi also connects to my own sense of myself as a Jew, because I am so young Jewishly and I do feel a sense of fragility or uncertainty, or a lack of confidence in myself Jewishly. I haven't always felt this way, but I do feel less connected Jewishly than I have in the past. I think I want and need to spend more time and energy being observant, or at least somewhat more observant than I am now. Dating someone non-Jewish does make a difference, I have learned, because it's a piece that someone who has no religion doesn't really get. I feel kind of apologetic about it sometimes, even though it is such an important part of who I am; to me, raising Jewish children is a non-negotiable.

We did Havdallah overlooking Haifa and the sea, which was beautiful. It was wonderful to be doing this Jewish ritual in public, and nobody stared or thought we were strange, or wondered what we were doing.

After dinner we all went out. Lotem likes this Irish pub, so we went there. We laughed, coming from Boston. We had drinks and tried fried Mars bars, which were delicious. I liked getting to know people on the trip better and had terrific conversations. My default is often to spend time by myself to work, think, write, and reflect. A goal that I have this time is to say yes to whatever is suggested, and to participate. I have plenty of time in my life to spend alone, and this is a time for me to connect, not only with my Jewish identity, but also with who I am in other ways.