Leaving Tel Aviv

It’s been some time since I last blogged, my kids have been visiting and I discovered an interesting phenomenon; when you are traveling with another person, you spend much less time thinking about blogging. When I was by myself and saw something interesting, I thought, “that would make a great blog entry.” But when I’m with my kids, I immediately share the insight with them and they were quick to say, “Dad that’s a really stupid idea.” Now that they are gone, I am left with only my blog to share all this dumb thoughts.

I am off to live in Jerusalem for September with a really wonderful person who has promised to show me the city, both its spiritual core as well as its seamy underbelly. Before I leave, here is a quick update on a few Tel Aviv highlights.

Posters announcing the triathlon decorate the Roman ruins.

Triathlon in Caesarea: A friend took me up to the city of Caesarea to watch her 13 year old nephew run in a triathlon event. Caesarea, as its name implies, is a Roman ruins which around 10 BC was one of the great port cities of antiquity; it was also the place of the first Roman Centurion’s conversion to Christianity, a momentous event which led to the revised rule that in order to be a Christian one did not have to be either circumcised or keep kosher (See Acts 10.) It is also the place where presumably the Holy Grail was discovered by the Crusaders in 1101 after which the city was repeatedly occupied and sacked by invading armies.

First leg of the race is swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.

The triathlon hosted about 1200 participants from all over Israel and it was truly an exhilarating experience. First of all, the course began with a swim out into the Mediterranean, then a bike ride up and down the coast, followed by a run through the ancient Roman ruins. Every piece of the course was dripping in beautiful scenery and archaeological wonders. Second, I couldn’t get over the fact, as I have said ad nauseum, that everyone was Jewish! There were plenty of beautiful Israeli bodies from 10 to about 70 years old. Finally, there were the over-involved parents fully equipped with cameras, water bottles and non-stop shouting of words of encouragement in Hebrew. Of course as a Dad who has spent many, many hours at such events, especially crew and racquetball, this was almost the most exciting experience I have had in Israel. Oh, by the way, the boy I came to see, Itamar Alster, was 8^th in his age group which even added to the excitement.

White Night: Every summer Tel Aviv turns night into day with a festival called White Night. Activities are planned all night everywhere in the City and probably a hundred thousand people hit the streets for dancing, eating and entertaining. I walked from about 1a.m. to 4a.m. from my apartment to up and down the beach. It was packed with revelers. I think the first thing that hit me was “camaraderie”, the feeling that this city has a distinctive personality and that everyone who lived in it not only shared in the vision of that personality, but contributed a little of themselves to forming that personality. The events were not gaudy, corny, trite, or staged. Secondly, there was the diversity, music of course was central, but there were so many events like puppet shows for kids, rock concerts for teens and classical music productions for adults. The atmosphere was safe, life-affirming and of course all of this was taking place in the middle of the night.

Dancing performances took place all along the beach

Opera in the Park: On Thursday night, the start of the Israeli weekend, about 15,000 people gathered on the lawn of the huge HaYarkon Park to hear the Israel Opera sing La Traviata. It was breathtaking. There was a long half hour walk to the field where everyone was picnicking, wine-drinking and stretching out on blankets. I went with a high-school friend who was visiting and unfortunately didn’t prepare any opera accessories, including the failure to bring my camera or something comfortable to sit on. The opera, of course, was in Italian, the libretto in Hebrew and the lead woman who was spectacular spent the whole time wailing and throwing herself from one side of the huge stage to the other. She was either dying from a mysterious illness or from being love sick, I couldn’t remember the story line, but in any case the sound system more than made up for my inability to follow the plot. As with the White Night event, and every other event in Tel Aviv, the esprit de corps was overwhelming. Thousands and thousands of opera lovers, many on their cell phones, (but speaking softly,), the moon and Jupiter high in the sky, the towering Tel Aviv skyline, it was an indescribable cultural event. And when it was over, people were courteous and picked up their litter. What a country! The evening was only marred by the lack of public transportation home and after waiting almost an hour for a bus, the crowd got pretty surly and people were throwing themselves into the path of the few moving taxis. I was generally being my mellow California self, but my friend who was from New Jersey, took the initiative to chase down a bus, while knocking over a few elderly Opera goers.

Opera solos were part of the White Night events.

Ultra Conservative Watch: I’ve started collecting kooky stories about the Ultra Conservatives in Israel, especially Jerusalem. One article complains about the secular Jews who are going around cutting down the “wires” that define where an “Ultras” can travel on Saturday. For the uninformed, the orthodox Rabbis install a continuous wire around their neighborhood and a devotee is allowed to travel and “carry” their bags within the confines of the “wire” without technically doing any forbidden “work.” If the wire is broken, then supposedly, the Ultras cannot leave the house. As you may have guessed, a common prank has emerged where some of the “seculars” are going around cutting the wires, just so the Ultras can’t leave their houses. This is a huge issue and commentators have raised the possibility of “civil war” if the police don’t get involved.

Another story claims that the Ultra manager of a large building complex was not allowed to shake women’s hands because they might be unclean. Can you guess why this might be so? Since a woman is considered “unclean” before/during/after her period, there is a remote possibility, even in post-menopausal women, that menstrual blood is on her hands and thus, one can never be too careful about shaking a strange woman’s hands. This prohibition applies to Ultras even in professional business situations.