My Trip to Israel

[Sir Joseph]

I'll start here and either edit or add when I have time.

The trip started out OK. My flight was very empty and I had three seats all to myself. At the airport, I had to wait two hours for my grandmother's flight so that my sister could only make one trip and I was able to surprise my niece who had no idea I was coming.
While waiting for my grandmother, I felt faint and weak and while her flight's luggage was going round and round, I ran to and from the bathroom barfing.
Anyway, at my sister's house was my one of my niece's who was shocked to see me. Then I was sick again and the next day I felt better.
One thing that really struck me was the sky. I kept looking up and seeing stars and more stars. The views are really amazing. My sister's backyard has a view of the suburb and of a nice prairie until a mountain. That is until they finish developing the land to make more houses. Where my sister lives is one of the only places in Israel where the real estate prices never dropped during the economic downturn.
I did my “pilgrimage” to the Western Wall and after that visited the Jerusalem Archeology Park and Southern Wall Excavations. This was just amazing. Since it faced the south, the Muslims never really destroyed it in thousands of years so there is much detail still intact. There are mosaics still in place and some of the actual steps leading up to the temple are still in place. It was of course eerie hearing the Muslim prayer guy calling the Muslims to pray and seeing within 30 feet of where I was one of the UNRWA buildings.

And this being Israel, my sister was going to have to go to the school and help clean because the workers were on strike. As I was leaving I heard that the schools were going to be padlocked. As we were driving to the airport, I noticed all the street lamps were off in solidarity with the workers. The strike has been going on for some time and the courts do nothing to stop it.
I’m in middle of uploading my pictures so I’ll post some ASAP.

[ethics]

Great stuff, and glad to have you back. I always find the small stuff out of people's diaries, the most interesting. :) For example, the mention of the clarity of the stars. With lack of street lamps and skyscrapers like we have in NYC, there's very little glare effect and I am sure you can see forever in to an Israeli night sky. When I was there, I was too young to appreciate small things like that, focused too much on the "bigger" things.

[Sir Joseph]

I know. One of the things for me, was the ability to eat almost ANYWHERE. My sister told me the first thing she did after moving was eating at a restaurant in a mall. Something like that is pretty much unheard of in NY or NJ if you keep kosher.
I wasn't able to take pictures of the drive into Jerusalem but it's amazing as well. All along the road are rusted army vehicles that tried to get up to Jerusalem in 1948. The view of Jerusalem as you approach is pretty amazing. While walking the streets there you never know when you'll walk past a historic site. It's very conducive to "Jerusalem Syndrome."

[ethics]

Hehe, see, more great details. I didn't keep Kosher so that small tidbit would have been lost upon me.

[Sir Joseph]

One very minor important detail is to remember to turn on the "dud" if you want to use hot water after sunset. Most houses have solor panels heating up the water but it will only stay hot for a little past dark.

[ethics]

One very minor important detail is to remember to turn on the "dud" if you want to use hot water after sunset. Most houses have solor panels heating up the water but it will only stay hot for a little past dark.
Now THIS I knew. Actually, we were so impressed with water being heated by the sun that we incorporated the same system back in the very early eighties on our home in Freeport (LI). We saved thousands of dollars in heating oil this way.

[joseftu]

The other side of the ready availability of Kosher food is that, if you're in Israel during Pesach, it's almost impossible to go out to eat! :( Even most Arab-run restaurants were closed, and even in the tourist hotels, forget about getting a beer.

But, Sir J, I'm interested to hear about your more personal reactions (if you're willing to share). I know it may be different for you--we're of different generations, and different connections to our Judaism--but for me, being in Israel gave me a completely new and different feeling about being a Jew.

Just to be in a place where everyone (almost everyone) is Jewish, where I'm not a minority, where even the government and the culture assume Judaism, really was a wake-up call. I didn't realize before visiting Israel just how much of my day-to-day feeling about my own Judaism, my own identity, was a reaction to living in a culture that is non-Jewish (and frequently anti-Jewish).

I also was struck, spending time with my cousins and their friends, that my idea of what it means to be a Jewish man is very different from what a Jewish man can be in Israel. The whole Woody Allen/Philip Roth/Nebbishy nerd image is a stereotype, and it doesn't really apply to me--but in Israel I realized how much some hints of that image get automatically absorbed when you grow up as a Jew in America.

In Israel, seeing my cousins and other Jewish men as confident, strong, even arrogant, and ARMED, really made me see how different a person I could have been if I had grown up in Israel.

It's one of the reasons (there are many) why Israel is so important. It lets us have at least one place in the world where Jews can be strong and proud to be Jews--<b>automatically</b>, without even thinking about it, not in reaction or opposition to a dominant culture.

I'm sort of rambling here. It's hard to express what I mean. But I do wonder if it's just me. This was your first trip, Sir J? Or not? I'm glad to hear about the stars and hot water...but the writing teacher in me wants more than a travelogue--going to Israel as an American Jew <b>feels</b> different from going to France or the Virgin Islands, or Mexico. Doesn't it?

Anyhow, welcome back! I'm glad you had a safe trip, and sorry to hear about the puking! :)

[ethics]

You are not rambling, Joe, and the image, that whole feel is what I took with me for the rest of my life as someone who identifies with the Jewish culture and the crusader for the cause. The meek Jew was never me and I always wondered how people in France and Denmark (among many other countries) allowed themselves the prison of not wearing their yulmakes--forget tsitsils and be confronted because of their Magen Davids, etc...

[Sir Joseph]

This was my eighth or ninth time going. The last time I went, I believe I got goose bumps as I walked down the bus in Jerusalem's bus station.
And I did go with my brother-in-law to the shooting range when he was getting tested using a scope on his M-16, my sister only has an M-1. They're both in the Volunteer brigade of the Border Patrol. According to my sister, more than a third of Israel's police force is volunteer.
Wherever you go, whichever place you visit, you know that it's famous. My sister lives in a city that is mentioned several dozen ?? times in the Bible. There's no need to be walk around as a Jew like in America, because like you mentioned, even the criminals are Jewish, the government is Jewish, on Saturday the place just shuts down. There's no need to worry about losing your job when leaving early on Friday.
I guess what I'm trying to say that yes, of course it feels different. Visiting the Wall and the Excavation really brings out the emotions in you.
Of course there's also reality. There are no Constitutional Rights in Israel. Wherever you go, you will be scrutinized. Entering the mall, the cops opened the car doors to look inside. Enter the bus station, your bags are checked. Your accent is scrutinized by cops to see if you're an Arab.
But it doesn't make a dent, I'm Jewish and this is Israel. It's mine. It's my ancestors, and it's the past come alive. And yes, they are arrogant, cut one off and he'll come after you. But then again, they're more than willing to lend a hand if you need it.
I just wanted to add that this trip was more a family visit than a touring trip. I was there for less than a week and a good chunk of it was just spent watching TV, and playing, with my nieces and nephew.

[joseftu]

Those emotions are very powerful, aren't they? I can't wait to take my daughter there.

It's one of the few places other than New York where I would even consider living.

[Sir Joseph]

While there, I bumped into several Birthright groups. I'm thinking of moving there, too.

[cdw]

Here I am about to welcome you back and you are thinking of moving....
glad you had a wonderful trip!

[LissaKay]

Sir Joe ... I hope you don't mind ... I copied the pictures from your album and uploaded them to my web server so my colleague Noga could see them. She is terribly homesick and just found out that her planned trip back to Israel this spring has to be put off indefinitely. Seeing those pictures of home really brightened her day.

[Sir Joseph]

Cool, no problem at all.

[Robert Harris]

Many years ago, in the 1970s, I spent a week at a place in Abique, N,M, (sp?) near where Georgia O'Keefe lived. One evening after dinner I was laying on the grass outside with a couple of friends smoking some good stuff. When I looked up at the sky I couldn't believe it -- where did all those stars come from? Wow. #What a show. Had never seen a sky like that before and never have since, spending my whole life in big cities.. It really is impressive...

[cdw]

Hey Joe...
What is the Cardo? And what is the ritual bath?

[Sir Joseph]

The Cardo was the main street of Jerusalem during the Roman era. It was lined with shops on either side. Now it is also a shopping joint mostly with tourist type shops. At the end of the Cardo, the Arab shuk begins.
The ritual bath, or mikvah, is just that. It "cleanses" you. Before you entered the Temple you had to be "clean." Around the excavation sites are dozens of these ritual baths.

Here's a link to some site about the Cardo.
http://www.bibleplaces.com/cardo.htm

[cdw]

Thank you... I will check it out later.