Side Trip to Petra

My son, daughter and I went to Petra, here is Eli's report.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

After our departure from the Kibbutz, we took a bus down to the port city of Eilat. This city, at the very southernmost tip of Israel, owns a small portion of coastline on the Red Sea. The borders of Egypt and Jordan are only a few miles on either side and Saudi Arabia is only 40 miles down the road.

My sister, the only one brave enough for the Red Sea.

We were only in Eilat long enough for two lemonades and a quick evaluation of our currency situation, but we spent it down at the beach watching big oil tankers come in to dock and bikini-clad Israelis smoking their cigarettes go out to sea. With its towering hotels framed by desert mountains and billboards galore, it reminded us all of Las Vegas. And on that note we flagged a taxi to take us to the Jordanian border.

The border crossing was quiet. Supposedly it is packed at 8am as people commute to work, but by 11 the station was isolated. At the passport window, a radio in the back played Phantom Planet's song "California." We pondered whether they play homeland anthems for everyone.

The history of the relationship between Israel and Jordan has been a tumultuous one, but since the signing of a peace treaty in 1994, it has been relatively stable. Because of Israel's geography, its language, and other more quirky characteristics of the country and its people, it has given me a taste of the foreign. Its culture is strange to me, but it is still a very Western place and after only a short period of time (especially in Tel Aviv), you can forget that you are in the distant Middle East. Entering the Arab nation of Jordan, it hit me that I might be leaving my comfort zone.

We are one of those families that despises the classification of the word tourist. If it's possible we desperately avoid going to "touristy places" and eating at "touristy restaurants." Several times on this trip, I have wondered the streets of a foreign city for much longer than necessary because I would be mortified to pull out and unfold a large map in public, thus exposing myself as just another lost American. However, on our trip through Jordan, we decided to bite the bullet and hire a travel agency to book transportation and beds for us. We didn't really have to worry about standing out as foreigners though. The brightness of our white skin and the bulge of our fanny packs could have stood out to even a blind local.

Our first stop was the ancient city of Petra. First settled by the Nabataeans in the 7th century B.C., this region was the center of the global spice trade for centuries. The walking tour of the site starts with a stroll at the bottom of a dry gorge. The walls, tall as skyscrapers, still have carvings from the ancient civilizations that called this their holy city.

Now, the most famous feature of the "rose-red city" is "The Treasury." If you have ever seen the third Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, then, one, congratulations on having great movie taste, and, two, you will for sure recognize this amazing structure built straight from the rock face.

Future Album Cover

Camels, just chilling.

We stayed a night in a hotel in the town just outside the archaeological site. The next day, we drove to Amman, the capital and biggest city of Jordan. 80% of the country is desert, so that is what we saw on this drive, until we reached the outskirts of Amman. The city is very busy with lots of cars, which all use their horns as if they were turning signals. Although the parts of the city that we saw were far from third-world status, there appeared to be many positive signs of development. Immediately outside our hotel window, they were building what will be the tallest building on Amman's skyline.

Watch out King Abdallah, there's another monarch in town.

Side Trip to Golan Heights

My son and I went to the Golan Heights, here is his report.

The Golan

My dad and I just got back from a two-day trip to the Golan, a region in the northeastern corner of Israel. This area was captured by the Jews only four decades ago in the Six Day War and its ownership has been a matter of conflict with neighboring Syria ever since (Its Wikipedia page is even disputed). We had booked a tour in a small bus that carried us around to a handful of different cities and sights, from our home in Tel Aviv to a Kibbutz at the most northern reaches of Israel where would spend the night. Then, today we hit another set of points on the way back.

Our first stop was in the city of Nazareth (yes, of "Jesus of Nazareth" fame). This was also our first stop that had made an important appearance in the New Testament. It would not be our last, as it seems JC had booked the same tour with Israeli World Tour Group just two millennia ago, hitting all the same locations. For every place where the Bible says anyone committed any deed, there is a church built on top of that place, and in some places there are two or three churches that all claim to be built on top of that place. Not only that, but every church is not the original church, because every few centuries it gets knocked down in a war, so they pool money from Christians all over the world to build a new church on the ruins of the old.

Here in Nazareth, there is a well at which Mary was getting some water when she was told by the angel Gabe that she was pregnant with God's kid. So, inside this giant church there is a hole cut in the ground and there is the well. Christians from the Argentina to Zimbabwe are snapping pictures, praying, and buying postcards.

Next door is another church. This is where Joseph had his carpentry workshop. I think it was underground in a cave because we kept looking down this hole in the ground. I'm not sure really why he would have built furniture underground, but our tour guide just kept saying, "In the Christian tradition, Joseph worked in this cave...," like he was not going to admit its truth, but he wanted to explain why billions of people still thought it was true, even though it might look completely ridiculous to the heathens in the group. This church was called St. Joseph's. My dad and I wondered what Joseph had done to become a saint. We agreed that any guy who believes his virgin wife when she comes home and says she is going to have a baby, but it's okay because it's God's, was probably a saint.

We then stopped at a series of churches at places where Jesus had committed miracles, like the church of the stone where he stood to make bread and fishes for an entire community and the church outside the old synagogue where he brought back to life the daughter of a Roman soldier. It wasn't even lunchtime before I was getting warn out by the deadly combination of piety and humidity. I would say, however, one very interesting aspect of all these sites is that they never just represent one group, but really each site is an amalgamation of at least three. Some places will have a mosque built on top of a church built on top of a Roman palace built on top of a synagogue. (And to think it's heavy that the Bay St. shopping mall is built on top of an Ohlone Shellmound!) Also, this means that at every gift shop you can see menorahs and crucifixes sitting next to each other on the shelf. If only, religious harmony could exist as well in people as it does in trinkets.


It is hot as hell (bite your tongue!) and I'm wondering why so much blood has been shed for this land while California sits miles away at a cool 70 degrees 365 days a year. But as we head further north, the golden brown of the desert that has been the theme color for every inch of this country starts to turn green. In the winter, they say it snows here. Tell that to my dehydrated camel. We drove through the Hula Valley, which looks a lot like Napa with big orchards stretching to the hills.

The word peaceful might have floated in my head just as we drove up to the town where we would spend the night, but it was only fleeting. We stopped at a memorial for some of the first Jewish soldiers to die fighting the Arabs for this land in the 1920's. Only steps away was a smaller, more makeshift memorial for Israeli paratroopers who had been hit by a rocket on this spot just two years ago in the Second Lebanese War. There were a group of soldiers that had stopped by in there trucks to look. This was a very real example of how constant and immediate the fighting still is in this country.

We were just a few kilometers from the border of Lebanon. Since going to Eilat a week and a half ago, I had now successfully traveled the entire length of Israel.

We spent the night at a hotel run by a Kibbutz called Kfar Gil'adi. This was one of those privatized kibbutzim, for sure. No commies here. Indoor pool, TV in every room, and an amazing buffet shown here:
On our trip back we surveyed the area known specifically as the Golan Heights. Until 1967, Syrian troops used to shoot down at Jews in the valley from its strategically significant higher ground. Once it became part of Israel, Jews began to quickly settle and cultivate the region. There are rumors that the Israelis might give this region back to Syria in exchange for a peaceful border (similar to the one in Jordan), which would provide tourism for both countries through easy passage, as well as other considerations. However, there are cities like Katzrin, which was constructed completely within that short time period and already has about 8,000 people and very well could be Lafayette. The Israelis can build civilization like no other. My dad tells me that the Chinese have even hired them to start building cities from scratch in China. You could have a plot of barren land, but give it to the Israelis and it will have a shopping mall and a post office in no time. The reason for building like this is obvious. They are trying to settle the land to show that is Jewish. In some respects it is very good. I like visiting clean, well-organized cities, and their efficient use of the land's resources is incredible. However, this makes it very hard, when say, you might have to give the land back to another country in order to sign a peace agreement. This is true all over this country. Everywhere I go, I am surprised, yet very comforted by the Jewish cities. It is all very Western. But I can't help thinking that there is a back end to this. Is someone losing out, where the Israelis keep winning?

Side Trip to Jericho

My son, Eli, and I took a side trip to the West Bank, here was his report.

Through the Walls of Jericho

There are no walls around Jericho anymore. I probably would have known that if I had read The Bible. In fact, it seems quite isolated. From a distance it might seem to be just a tight community whose only predators are the rocks of the desert.

To get there, we hopped on a small bus at the bus station just outside the walls of Jerusalem's famous Old City. The signs inside this bus show the swooping script of Arabic words, not Hebrew's blocky characters, but that change doesn't really mean anything if you can't read either language. Only 15 minutes after leaving the city center, we had reached a Palestinian village that might be called a suburb. The streets are more clearly lined with trash here. On the side of the road, a dumpster's contents slowly burn. We are only here to transfer, but the driver of our service taxi is waiting to fill up with a few more passengers. Meanwhile, we sat in the car without air conditioning, while outside several men chain smoke their cigarettes in the shade, draped over plastic chairs. It is probably getting close to 100 degrees.

The city of Jericho is completely controlled by the Palestinian Authority. There is an Israeli military post about a mile outside the city's border, monitoring the road in and out. Other than that, however, the city's security and well-being are lead from within. Only a small percentage of the West Bank has this set-up, a step towards autonomy.
Supposedly, Jericho is the oldest continuously-inhabited city on Earth, with records dating back 11,000 years. Today it has 20,000 residents.

When you are in a new and strange place, your eyes may strain to focus on anything that can spark a feeling of familiarity. Pulling into Jericho's main square, my eyes almost fell out of their sockets. A Palestinian kid riding a bicycle towards us was wearing a navy blue shirt with the gold, script lettering of CAL on the front. In a second he was gone, like maybe I hadn't even seen it.

We circled the entire town center and appeared to be the only tourists. It was a pretty regular market day it seemed. Parts of pigs hanging from butcher shop windows, boxes of plastic toys lining curbs, falafel boiling in large pans of oil. We stopped to eat at what looked like the nicest restaurant in town, which meant slight air-conditioning and tables off the street. Our waiter was a young guy about my age who spoke a sprinkling of key English words and smiled a lot. Our food was plentiful and very cheap and we made sure to leave a good tip. When we were leaving, our new friend shook my hand and asked where we were from and then if I maybe knew 50 Cent Rapper. I told him yes and that next time I would see him in California. He laughed and smiled at us as we left and then returned to work.

My dad and I discussed what it takes for a guy like that to get to America. I suppose the best case scenario is he has a relative who has already made it and maybe can send money or a job opportunity back home, but you'd probably have to be one in a million to get hooked up like that. I think maybe if he worked hard enough at the biggest business in town or a hotel, maybe he could afford to travel, if he could get through the roadblocks, much less all the red tape. Learning English is a must.

After another half-hour game of see how long the Americans sit in the taxi before they realize its much hotter inside than out, we were heading to the city limits. An Israeli guard took our passports and peeked inside the car and we were off, speeding at 140 kilometers per hour back towards Jerusalem.

I think what I learned from my brief foray into the West Bank was not that the Palestinians were living in hovels or prisons, or that they were being forced by Israeli soldiers to walk in straight lines and speak only when spoken to, but rather that their oppression takes more abstract forms. When you see the upscale malls and bustling intersections of any big Israeli city it is hard to imagine anyone utilizing the land any better. However, the Palestinian land issue is not a matter of who would use the area more efficiently or who would keep it cleaner, it is a matter of basic freedom. When the Palestinians are forced to live behind a wall or a fence, its more visible impact is the destruction of economic opportunities for individuals and the community, but its less obvious result lies only within the minds of its people. By telling someone to move away from their home and live in a confined space, you are refusing them the ability even to imagine a life beyond borders. After spending the last 4 weeks traveling halfway across the world, seeing a larger array of cultures than I ever have in my life, I realized how much I take this for granted. It pains me to think that this waiter, no matter how hard he may work, will be tied to the ground by some faceless exterior force. I have enjoyed my stay in Israel immensely and by meeting people and seeing the country top to bottom, many of my political preconceptions have changed for the better, but as long as Israel remains an occupying nation, I have no choice but to see it as an oppressor, a barrier to some kid's simple dreams.

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.

FOOD TRIPS

Sorry to have spaced out on my blog. My foot is sore from walking so much and that means I’ve kind of settled into a routine of just going to favorite places, not much insight there. Also I have been J-dating with, as my daughter insists, women my own age. I haven’t quite figured out how to present that in a blog. Suffice it to say, if a women in Israel is my age, born sometime in the 1940’s, then there is definitely going to be a complex story to tell and there have been many. Also, I am starting to form my ideas about this place and its politics; also trying to figure out how to write about that. See the Commentary below for my first efforts.

Today, I’d like to talk a little about food. For those of you who know me, I’m not a “food person”, but I can play one when traveling. I read once that there are 4 great food cuisines in the world: French/Italian/Chinese/Moroccan (sic?) I think that last one was a place holder for “Middle Eastern.” (Kind of simplistic, huh) I imagined Israel as being the one place in the world where you could get a great pastrami sandwich on rye on every street corner. That doesn’t seem to be the case. I have found only two Eastern European restaurants where I can get a good matzo ball soup. Btw: Matzo (and its food derivatives) is kind of like eggnog in America, it is usually saved for one time of the year, Passover. People are a little offended when I tell them that in the States I eat matzo all year round. But if you are looking for Middle Eastern food, you are in the right place.

A popular juice bar, at about 2 am on a Thursday night.

Tel Aviv supposedly has the most sidewalk cafes of any major city in the world, I don’t know if that is true, but clearly they are everywhere. And they are generally filled 24 hours a day, from the beach to the “slums.” Israelis eat on the street, unlike Americans. Pita pockets are carried in one hand, cell phones in another, a cigarette in a another, a water bottle in still another. There are juice bars and ice cream parlors everywhere and because it is so hot, people hydrate constantly. Food seems to cost about the same as the States, only the income is about 40% less, so Israelis think food is expensive and I think it is just about right. I can walk a block to a great all night food kiosk and get a cheese omelet, orange juice, couple slices of bread and 5 little dishes of different salads, egg, tuna, tabuli, feta, and a chopped salad for 28 shekels ($8.75). Then I can sit on a park bench, with wireless internet connection, and at midnight watch a steady stream of beautiful young people stroll by, many walking their dogs. What a country!

Arab/Israeli Restaurant: My first landlady in Israel, who is just a gem of a person, took me and an old friend to an Arab/Israeli restaurant sitting on the beach in Jaffa. The Arab/Israelis are an interesting anomaly here and were generally left over from the 1948 wars, when others left, they stayed. Clearly, they are second class citizens, I don’t think they have to go into the military; they speak Arabic, sometimes wear traditional Moslem attire, can vote, have a couple of representatives in the Knesset, and are thought to have dual loyalties to both Israel and Palestinians. There was a poll that asked if given the choice would they want to stay in Israel or go live in a Palestinian State on the West Bank and supposedly they voted 80+% to stay in Israel. Another poll found that a majority of Jewish Israelis think they are stupid and dirty and they are regularly denied jobs and access to bars and restaurants. Alas, one more miserable, unresolvable issue to have to deal with.

In any case, the restaurant was great! Initially the waiter brought out about 20 little bowls of all kinds of appetizers. I don’t remember all the names, but they were colorful, tasty, and filling. Everytime one of the little dishes was emptied, a replacement was immediately provided. There was fresh, hot Arab bread. Then I had about 15 shrimp in garlic sauce. We were too full to even have desert but the table behind us did and it was covered with all kinds of sweets and a big hookah for smoking some kind of mint herbal mixture. Oh, did I mention that the sun was setting over the Mediterranean as we finished eating.

The appetizers to the meal covered the entire table top.

Dizengoff Food Court: Yet another food extravaganza is held every Thursday and Friday on the first floor of the huge Dizengoff Mall in the center of the city. About 30 vendors set up food concessions which attract thousands of shoppers. About half the food is eaten right there and the rest taken home probably for a Shabbos dinner. There are simply “miles” of rice, lamb, baked potato, falafel, pasta, fresh pita bread, chicken, soups, and bean dishes. There is so much food and so many people, even the pictures don’t do justice to the scene. Every week I go and pretty much buy the same thing, sorry, I’m not a food experimenter. I get 3 lamb kabobs, 4 minced chicken balls in a chicken broth, 3 pieces of baklava, a baked potato with cheese and beans, a container of candied cashews and a pint of spiced rice. The cost is about 100 shekels ($30) and lasts me the entire weekend. When I die, I would like some of my ashes to be sprinkled over this food market and the rest over the semi-nude beach next to the Hilton Hotel.

A view from the balcony looking down and a close up of the many different booths and kinds of food.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY

I have hesitated to give any commentary, because all the issues are so complex that it is almost impossible to pick a place to start and make an argument in isolation from all the other factors. What complicates this process even more is that one day I read a book or meet a person who convinces me of a position and the next day I read a different book or meet a different person and suddenly I’m on the other side of the argument from the previous day. In any case here are two articles which I found very helpful and for which I think I have a general sympathy. The author, Tony Judt, is Jewish, teaches at NYU, and his field is European History. He has been a critic of Israel and both of these articles, as well as Judt himself, have been viciously attacked by the Israel lobby. The intensity of the attacks on him is to me a good sign that he is getting closer to the truth of the matter at hand.

There are a lot of sculptures of old men thinking deep thoughts, given the complexity of the issues facing Israel that seems like a good metaphor.

1. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16671
This article was written in 2003 and it expresses my feeling that Israel is really a very racist state. Of course it seems like a tolerable kind of racism because its comes from Jews, a race that is usually on the wrong end of the racist sword. Jewish racism in Israel is very complicated, because it is not generally directed against Jews from Africa (Ethiopia) or from Arab countries (Yemen/Morocco/Iraq) or even Afro-American (consider the very popular basketball stars.) It, of course, is virulently anti Moslem.

2. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/711997.html
This article was written in 2007 and traces the change in Israel from a moral and popular David fighting Goliath into the present role as occupier and repressor of the Palestinians. It predicts that with the failure of the Iraq War, the US will eventually reevaluate its role towards Israel and that will have a significant effect on the future of Israel. The outlook is generally bleak as Judt anticipates that Americas love affair with Israel will end just as the Palestinian problem reaches crisis proportions.

Yad Vashem (Holocaust) Memorial

I spent a day at the Yad Vashem (Holocaust) Memorial in Jerusalem and I wouldn’t ever presume to suggest any insights that are more profound than the thousands, (millions) that have been made by people much more perceptive than I am.

The first thought that came to my mind was if one is going to perpetuate a genocide, it would be wise not to pick one of the most literate groups in Europe. I know all the arguments about the “holocaust industry” and I think it was Spike Lee who once said if you are going to make an Oscar winning movie, don’t release it at the same time as a Holocaust movie. I’m not much of an authority on other genocides, but there can’t be anything as deeply documented as the Holocaust which leads to both its uniqueness as well as criticism from survivors of other genocide. Another thought that came to me was that if you really want to piss off Israel and the Jewish people, just try making a few comments (ala Ahmadinejad) that maybe the Holocaust was overrated. This is automatic grounds for starting WWIII. The furor over the cartoon of Mohammed is nothing compared to this blasphemy. Wasn’t there a US Senator who said that Bush’s reaction to 9/11 should have been to bomb the Ka'bah in Mecca? Finally, it is obvious that this Memorial is not a tourist trap, there are no trinkets as at the Bethlehem manger scene or hawking of wares near the Wailing Wall, this is serious business, with not a piece of litter or a commercial sign anywhere to be seen.

A haunting sculpture called something like "Trail to the Gas Chambers."

The most impressive exhibit for me was the Valley of the Communities. Located on the far end of the Memorial, about a 30 minute walk, was a 2.5 acre expanse of 107 huge bedrock cubes with the names of 5,000 Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust. It went on forever and I even gave up about 80% of the way, I was too tired to continue. I was also the only person in the exhibit and felt dwarfed by the stones and frequently got both lost and overwhelmed.

Valley of Communities: Miles of cut rock squares arranges in a maze with the names of lost communities including my grandfather's home of Vilna.

The Cattle Car Memorial was hidden from view and suddenly jumped out at me. It is an authentic car retrieved from Poland and is suspended over a valley on a train track that ends hanging in space. There is a personal inscription on the wall that describes the experience inside the car. The solitary quality of the car combined with its sudden appearance in the forest was overwhelming.

Cattle Car Memorial: a powerful image hanging over a ledge

The Hall of Names contains the archives of the names of every Jew who perished as best as can be determined. The walls are covered from ceiling to floor with thousands of binders containing certified “Pages of Testimony.” A computerized database has been set up to record every single person who is known to have died and one is reminded that millions of names are still missing. What is most breathtaking is just the sheer size of the effort that has been made to keep track.

Even though I visited the Children’s Memorial first, I was really too numb to feel its effect. It is estimated that 1.5 children were killed and their names are continuously being read as one walks through the darkened memorial. The central column has several burning candles which strike many mirrors and then reverberate all around the chamber. It is too heavy to even contemplate.

Children Memorial: This is the view which surrounds one in the darken chamber of the memorial.

The Monument to the Jewish Soldiers and Partisans was very interesting and I didn’t realize it formed a Jewish star until I loaded it on my computer. The claim is that 1.5 million Jews fought the Nazis as Allied soldiers, partisans in the resistant movements and in the ghettos. It is a lesser known story, since the common belief is that the Jewish offered little resistance, so I found this memorial especially interesting.

Monument to Soldiers/Partisans: a very interesting and subtle design

Finally, the Hall of Remembrance is simply overwhelming. It is laid out chronologically and every square inch of it from top to bottom was covered with items of historical and personal importance. At the end of the very long “tunnel” of exhibits is a spectacular view of Jerusalem.

The view of Jerusalem at the end of the tunnel coming out of the Hall of Remembrance.

It’s unnecessary for me to comment more on the importance of the Holocaust to the Israeli psyche, even to my psyche. My first memory of going to Temple in Aurora, Illinois (circa 1948, age 4) was putting a quarter into a blue box and being told that a tree would be planted in my name in Israel, one for each person killed in the Holocaust. I don’t know who came up with that image or mantra, I don’t know what ever happened to my quarter, I would be shocked to learn that no tree was planted; it would probably be more shocking than coming to the conclusion as a teenager that there was no God.

Just to complete the intense images of my visit, afterwards I went with my friend, actually my Aurora West High School debate partner, to the Jerusalem Mall near the train station. This is an ultra-modern, high end Israeli mall that was busy with shoppers. To travel from the depths of the Holocaust Memorial to the heights of the Jerusalem Mall, while I might add passing through the scene of the recent bulldozer attack, was a most bizarre experience to say the least.

Current Events:

Iran v Israel: I was having breakfast with a woman who causally said to me, “Did you hear that Israel bombed Iran?” I said, “Oh, my God, when did that happen?” and she said “Yesterday.” I said, “I’m a news junky and check the internet every 15 minutes, but didn’t see any report.” See say, “I think it was a secret!” As you can imagine the papers are filled with Iran talk 24/7. When I tell people that I have Iranian friends they are absolutely shocked. I have to say, that while all the opinions about Iran are negative, there doesn’t seem to be any one voice speaking. One government minister says, Iran should be bombed, but by the US and not Israel, another says, there is less than a one-month window to bomb, another says the bombing plans have already been written up and practiced to perfection. My Iranian friends, if I still have any, tell me everyone is bluffing and specifically the Iranians do not want any trouble. I, of course, am at the bottom of the information food chain, but it seems to me that the Israelis are really up for this fight. If they are bluffing, they are very good at it and it feels like they would be honored to be chosen by the U.S. to pull the trigger. There was an interesting analysis on the French news channel that said the Israelis are trying to bring the Arabs together in an anti-Persian coalition, based on the belief that Arabs hate Iranians more than they hate Israel. Thus a settlement with Syria, some agreement with Abbas on the West Bank, plus stoking anti-Shite/Persian feelings in Jordan/Egypt/Saudi Arabia would tip the balance against Iran. I thought that was interesting strategy.

Local dispute: One of the prisoner exchanges is for the “remains” of Dalal Mughrabi, a famous Palestinian female martyr who blew up 36 people in 1978. She is a huge heroine to the Palestinians; everyone knows the story and schools are named after her. The Israelis are giving the remains to Hezbollah on the sole condition that she be buried in Lebanon so there cannot be cause for celebration in the West Bank. This has pitted Fatah against Hezbollah. Should this be off great interest to you, I’ll keep you posted on how the conflict is resolved.

There is a new pro-Republican political button in Israel: McKen: LoBama (“ken” means “yes” and “lo” means “no” in Hebrew) I think you have to be here to get the full effect.

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The Charm of the Petite Bourgeoisie

Breaking News: I just saw on TV that a bulldozer driver ran into a bus in Jerusalem. This happened right in front of a store where I bought the best "pigs in a blanket" croissants. I'm not sure it is really "pigs" but they do taste great and now I think I might look for them at another bakery.

Whenever I took walks in a new place with my Dad, he always had one timeless, unanswerable question. “How do these people make money?” While he never left the U.S. as best as I know, we did often go to Chicago when I was little and then later New York. We would walk in the Lower Eastside past miles and miles of little tiny storefronts, poorly lit, with some momma/poppa characters sitting at a counter; shelves of stuff (in Yiddish we call it “hazeri”) and never any customers and if there was a customer, they weren’t buying anything and if they were buying something it was only an insignificant thing. My Dad would stop, look inside and say to me, “How do these people make money.” I assume every dad has some kind of repetitious question they keep asking in front of the kids and when their kids get older that question rattles around in their heads. As my kids can tell you, my less profound question has always been, “Why do women wear those uncomfortable shoes.”

So, while my Dad’s question is not mine, as I’ve traveled around it usually does occur to me that there are lots and lots of little shops and I can’t help wondering how they survive. This phenomena is of course world-wide, Mexico City immediately comes to mind, but there is no place that raises petite bourgeois store ownership to as high a cultural and ethnic level as Tel Aviv and I assume also Jerusalem. The historic Jewish tendency to small-time peddling is expressed in so many ways and has so many levels of quality on the streets here. There is of course schlock (junk), rows and rows of clothing places filled with Chinese garments, but then there are also the specialty stores with just books or spices, and even high level fashion stores with designer clothes. Of course, at the very top of this food chain are the malls, which are just huge and fully equipment as in any modern Western city. For lack of a better expression, the bourgeois materialism is just overwhelming, so much for the Zionist socialist ideal of the early 1900's.

Two different books stores, crammed to the ceiling with used books, there is no obvious organization and only the owners seemed to know where anything was and the prices were negotiated on the spot from scratch.

Still, the question persists. How do you equip these places, big and small with all this expensive inventory and yet I almost never see anyone in these stores and when I do they are just looking and very seldom buying something. I just don’t get it and apparently neither did my Dad. Note: In later years I was told that many of the shops in New York were owned by the mafia and used as a front to launder money, I don't know if that is true, but it does answer my Dad's question nicely.

On the top is an enormous modern mall which was largely empty on the day I was there and on the bottom is the very fashionable Hamedina Square which has about 50 exclusive shops. I saw very few customers but the saleswomen were gorgeous and they were ALWAYS outside on the street smoking their cigarettes and looking incredibly bored in their designer clothes.

In the News

I just read an article in the paper about a small town Kiryat Gat in which the city government has produced a video called, “Sleeping with the Enemy” and a representative of it’s Anti-Assimilation Department goes to the schools and tells girls that they must not date Israeli Bedouin men (who are legally Israeli citizens) because ALL those men want to do is get the girls pregnant and then abandon them. The city representative claims this is a “phenomena that is happening everywhere” and is caused by “exploitative Arab men.” Now you know why the radical Christian right in the U.S. feels so comfortable with the radical Jewish right in Israel. But in defense of moderates in Israel, there were over 147 comments AGAINST the article and only a handful for it. The “against” letters were excellent and expressed shock and outrage, one says, “holy smokes, who are these people” and points out that a program like this directed to teens is so “clueless” it will undoubted increase the dating of Bedouins. Others said this was how the Nazi’s talked. One interesting response pointed out that under Islamic law, if a Moslem man dated/married an Israeli women and converted he could be put to death. The bizarre article and the overwhelming negative response just shows how much polarization there is in this society.

I don't know what this sign means, but it was huge and caught my attention