Here is a disturbing perspective, but accurate
“Unfortunately, Israel is the only country in the West in which there is not yet full freedom of religion for Jews. We are paying a heavy price for the Orthodox monopoly.” Yizhar Hess, Jerusalem Post, April 17, 2009.

Top Things to Do and See
During my four plus months in Israel, primarily in Jerusalem, the things that I have enjoyed or learned from the most have been:

1. The Mehane Yehuda market
   Mehane Yehuda market
   
2. Walking around the Old City. The three-hour “free tour” every day at 11:00 a.m. was a good way to get oriented, learn a bit of history and see the main sites. It really isn’t free, the guide expected a tip.
   Jewish Quarter Old City
   
3. Walking through East Jerusalem and Me’a She’arim.Security fence/wall East Jerusalem
   
4. Looking at the Old City from the viewpoint on Mt. Scopus or the Mount of Olives
   Chris at Hebrew University Mt. Scopus overlook
   
5. Touring of the City of David
   
6. Looking at the Dead Sea scrolls and related artifacts at the Israel Museum
   
7. Eating a falafal on the street. The one I liked the best is at the Southern entrance to the Mehane Yehuda Market on Agripas street.
   
8. Eating humous and chicken kababs at Abu Shukre in Abu Gosh.
   
9. Visiting Petra in Jordan
   Petra
   
10. Walking along the beach in Tel AvivTel Aviv beach sunset
    
11. Visiting Massada and floating in the Dead SeaNoah floating in the Dead Sea
    
12. Taking the free (really free) Saturday morning walking tours sponsored by the Municipality.
    

For those of you who have been here, what would be on your list?

Me’a She’arim vs. East Jerusalem

One of several signs at the entrance to the Me'a She'arim neighborhood.

There are three ways to travel from my apartment to Jerusalem’s Old City or the Central City: walk through East Jerusalem, walk through Me’a She’arim, or take the bus. East Jerusalem is a set of Arab neighborhoods and Me’a She’arim is an ultra-Orthodox (Heredi) Jewish neighborhood (see my earlier blog entry “General impressions of Jerusalem”).

The web site of the U.S. State Department has a set of warnings for traveling in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza (http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_922.html). At one point the State Department advised U.S. citizens to avoid East Jerusalem. I commonly hear people in Jerusalem talk about avoiding East Jerusalem, it is spoken of in the same way as inner-city neighborhoods (e.g. the South Side of Chicago, the South Bronx, East L.A.). Currently the State Department advises “American citizens should take into consideration that public buses, trains, and their respective terminals are ‘off-limits’ to U.S. Government personnel.” In theory this leaves one route for traveling into the city, walking through Me’a She’arim. The reality however is that I feel most vigilant, most apprehensive, and most unsafe when walking through Me’a She’arim.

Nearly 200 years old, Me’a She’arim s the second oldest neighborhood outside the old city. It is populated by Heredi Jews who belong to one of many (over 100) Chasidic sects. At the edges of the neighborhood are signs advising women about to enter to wear “modest clothes." In the center of the neighborhood, where the first homes were built are additional signs requesting tour groups to not enter. Frankly I’m conflicted about the right of the neighborhood residents to make these requests or demands. On one hand these are public streets and no other neighborhood in Jerusalem has such restrictions. On the other hand, I’m not sure that I would want tourists frequenting my neighborhood and treating me like a novelty.

Entrance gate to oldest part of Me'a She'arim

Close up of warning sign in Me'a Sharim. Click on the picture to read the warning.

More central to my point though is how it feels to walk through Me’a She’arim as opposed to East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem is clearly an Arab neighborhood, there are often no sidewalks, the streets are in disrepair, there are primarily Arab men on the street and it is crowded. That is not to say women and youth are absent from the street, only that the majority of those on the street are men. While the residents look at me as I walk through, every shopkeeper has been cordial and ingratiating. When I first arrived, because of the State Department warnings and others’ comments I felt apprehensive walking through East Jerusalem. However, now I am as comfortable in East Jerusalem as I am in almost any other neighborhood.

Me’a She’arim has sidewalks and paved streets, in the oldest parts of the neighborhood many of these streets are quite narrow. In the late afternoon the streets are crowded with men wearing traditional dress (the clothing for men varies depending on the sect to which they belong) and women pushing strollers along with a gaggle of children. The children often stare at me as I walk by. I interpret the children’s affect as either scared or hostile. Men avoid eye contact and sometimes shield their eyes from me, as if I was walking nude through the neighborhood. I make a conscious attempt to stay out of people’s way and to avoid looking at the women. I feel, look and am treated as an outsider in Me’a She’arim. I'll also add that both my wife and daughter had stronger reactions to Me'a She'arim than I did, neither wanted to walk through even the edges of the neighborhood whereas they had no qualms about traversing East Jerusalem.

Sign on Yeshiva in Me'a She'arim. Notice the sentence in English above the word "Jerusalem"

Traveling with Family (part two)

Passover warning sign at the entrance to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City

Close up of Dome of the Rock

This is a country where 80 to 90 percent of the people age 18-20 are in military uniform. It is apparent on the streets and at every checkpoint. The Israeli military is a bit more casual than the US military, at least in terms of outward appearance and demeanor. For example, on the bus one day I stood next to a female soldier carrying an automatic weapon about 2/3 her size. In contrast to her green uniform she was carrying a pink backpack, one of the zipper pulls was a pink teddy bear. I’ve also seen soldiers with their pants pulled way down exposing their boxers as is common among American males. At the checkpoints the soldiers usually appear quite relaxed, with the kind of banter between young men and young women you might expect anywhere – except these young adults are all in uniform.

Soldiers on patrol in Jerusalem

Among the other sights seen on our travels were signs in the Golan warning of mine fields. This wasn’t on the current border, but rather some miles in from the current lines. We also saw two United Nations posts with vehicles patrolling the Lebanon-Israel and the Syria-Israel boarder. Near the border are several war memorials, one Mt. Bental, is a former Syrian bunker and site of a large tank battle during the 1973 war.

Remains of army tank below Mt. Bental

The recent wars and on-going terrorist attacks lead to a high level of vigilance and scrutiny in this country. This was exemplified in crossing the border between Israel and Jordan. Crossing into Jordan our guide simply collected the group of passports, had them stamped and we were on our way. While there were armed soldiers at the border, they simply smiled at us as we passed. On the way back into Israel the reception was much different. A soldier at the border examined our passports. A few people were stopped at this point for closer inspection. Next we queued up to have our backpacks x-rayed and to pass through a metal detector. No one could go to the restroom with a backpack. The final step was to answer questions by the border police and, if our answers were acceptable, have our passport stamped.

Jordan border

Miscellaneous thoughts:

Was Maktesh Ramon was the home of the Ramons?

Observed on a menu: Chicken with rise or potato.

Heard on a recent tour:
Guide: One of the successes in Israel is the common language.
Israeli Tourist: Yes, Russian.

Travels with Family (part one)

Over the past few weeks we have traveled to many parts of Israel –North, South, East and West. We have peered into five countries and traveled into one. We visited Israel of the Bible, Israel of the Crusaders, and Israel the modern state.

Tsfat Israel

In the North we spent a couple of nights in Tsfat, an ancient mountain city with connections to the Kabbalah movement. Tsfat feels like a medieval city with twisting narrow stone streets lined with stone buildings. The city is also an odd mix of artists, Heredi, new age Kabbalah followers, with a healthy share of Ethiopian and Russian immigrants. This is in a city of less than 30,000 people. While part of a day wandering around Tsfat was enough for me, the city was a gateway to the Northern part of Israel – the upper Galilee and the Gloan.

I was surprised to learn that the Galilee is home to a number of Crusader castles. While I associate castles with Europe, the Crusaders of the 11th century built a number of large fortresses on a natural travel route near the Jordan River.From the road we saw Nimrod’s castle, near Israel’s ski area and highest peak Mt. Hermon, Walking around Belvoir castle, south of Tiberias we were able to see the how these massive structures were constructed and defended.

Belvior Castle in Northern Israel

Noah at Belvior Castle

Nimrod's Castle in Northern Israel

March in Northern Israel is when all the wild flowers bloom. I have limited ability to remember names of flowers, but I can appreciate the natural beauty –bright yellow, red, blue, green.Complementing the wild flowers were acres and acres of agriculture. I have seen the products in the market –dates, peppers, garlic, olives, melons, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, pomelos, strawberries and many other fruits and vegetables. Clearly one of the successes of the state of Israel is the development of a productive agricultural industry. These aren’t the farms of the Midwest United States but rather greenhouses and orchards.

Wild flowers near Mt. Gilboa

Farms in Northern Israel

Cyclaman flowers in the Sorek Valley

Smoke Rises Over the City

At Maktessh Ramon

I walked out of the apartment yesterday and there was the noticeable smell of smoke in the air. It was similar to what happens in Alaska during the early summer when there are forest fires. What was all this smoke from? A forest fire seemed unlikely in the desert, could it be a large house fire, burning tires near the security fence (wall) – I’ve seen that form of protest before-- or worse yet, a terrorist attack?

As I road across town on the bus it became clear that the smoke was from small crowds of people burning the last of their leavened products (hametz) in preparation for Passover.

Preparing for Passover in Jerusalem

For the past week I have seen evidence of Passover preparation. Grocery store shelves have increasingly had labels indicating which products are kosher for Passover. People have been walking on the streets toting new brooms, mops and other cleaning products. At the bus stop people have had boxes of new small kitchen appliances. Restaurant owners have been outside scrubbing tables and chairs. This is Spring cleaning Jewish style.

I can also report that boxed matzah in Israel is as tasteless as boxed matzah in the United States. Over the next week I’m going to try and find freshly made matzah to see if that has any better taste.

Hannah & Noah South of Hebron

Hannah & Noah South of Hebron

Ash and Sandstorms

First glimpse of Treasury building through the narrow canyon
While Mt. Readout, about 100 miles southwest of our home in Anchorage, was spewing ash into the upper atmosphere, we were on a bus traveling through a sandstorm in Southern Jordan. If a snowstorm can is a white-out, ash fall-out is a grey-out then a sandstorm is a brown out. Fortunately I wasn’t driving so I didn’t have to cope with the reduced visibility on the road. The sandstorm left my throat feeling very dry, my lips tasted of sand and my eyes had bits of sand in the corners. My skin had a grainy coating. The sandstorm lasted about an hour, but it followed us to Eilat so that we experienced it later again that same night.


We (Chris, Hannah, Noah and myself) had spent the day walking through the carved sandstone of Petra, Jordan. Many people are familiar with Petra from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. While the Treasury building featured in the Indiana Jones movie is the first spectacular carving encountered after the 3 km hike down the narrow winding canyon, it is neither the largest nor the most elaborately carved facade. In Petra the two thousand year-old rock carvings amplify the geographic and geologic features exponentially. The only human-made site I’ve been to that is somewhat similar to Petra is Mesa Verde in Southwestern Colorado. However Petra is larger, older, and more detailed than Mesa Verde.

Treasury Building

Hebrew

We have been traveling across Israel, so it has been some time since I have posted a blog entry. Look for more entries over the next few days...

I am use to students conversing with each other before, after and even during class. The other day ago (the term my son used as a young boy instead of “yesterday”) my students were engaged in conversations where I had no idea what was going on. My students were conversing in Hebrew.

I had knowledge of Hebrew letters from my Bar Mitzvah 38 years ago, however my ability to read Hebrew has declined significantly. Since that time I have picked up a few words from attending Jewish events and religious observances. I worked with the Rosetta Stone program prior to coming to Israel as well as during my first month here. For the past month I have been attending a twice a week Hebrew course, referred to here as an Ulpan. Immersion in Israel has improved my Hebrew, my vocabulary has increased and I have learned to read Hebrew script. Unlike in the United States, script is found on signs, therefore knowledge of script is important.

The morning greeting is Boker Tov (good morning). This created some confusion with Chris when she first heard Hannah using this greeting. Chris had broken her toe a few days prior to coming to Israel. When Hannah said "boker tov!" to the security person Chris thought she was telling the man that her mother had broken her toe.

When we decided to take a road trip I purchased a book of detailed maps of Israel, only available in Hebrew. The maps were helpful, but my reading ability and the speed of the car were not in sync. I’d often be well past a road sign before I was able to sound out the letters and find the corresponding street on the map. This made for slow navigating and several U-turns. All in all we didn’t get terribly lost.

One wrong turn South of Hebron resulted in an hour-long delay at a checkpoint. We were at a roundabout, the checkpoint to the left and the signage was a bit unclear (at least to me). We circled the roundabout and entered the parking area to look at the maps. When we figured out that our road was the one that went through the checkpoint we turned around and stopped at the roadblock. A series of questions ensued, passports were exchanged and we were asked to pull into the parking area. Where are you from? What are you doing in Israel? Where are you headed? Has anyone given you anything to carry? How do you open the hood of the car? (I really don’t know). Where are you headed? What are you doing in Israel? We removed all our bags from the car and carried them into the security office. The bags were x-rayed and we walked through metal detectors. Several soldiers looked through the car as well as a dog. After about an hour we were sent on our way.

At the checkpoint we met a Palestinian man on his way to Be’er Sheva. He offered to lead us to a good Middle Eastern restaurant in the city. A nice meal of humos, pita, and salad followed.

Purim, St. Patrick's Day, and Halloween

Moshav Tal Shachar in the Sorek Valley

There are two English language daily newspapers in Israel, The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz. I typically read The Jerusalem Post, while it is the more conservative newspaper, it has items of local interest. The Friday newspaper is required reading since it contains the events for the coming week as well as feature magazines. The paper isn’t published on Saturdays. Think of the Friday paper as equivalent to the Sunday newspaper in the United States.

In last Friday’s newspaper there was an advertisement for the Blue Hole, a local bar. At the top of the advertisement was the text: “Purim vs. St. Patrick’s Day.” The advertisement then went on to describe events taking place in the bar for these two holidays.

Purim Old City

Purim (the Jewish holiday which “commemorates the miraculous deliverance of the Jews of Persia as told in the Scroll of Esther” from: http://www.csuohio.edu/artgallery/2000-2001/JewishRitualArt/essays/glossary.htm) seems to have morphed into Israel’s version of Halloween. For the past week we have seen children and adults dressed in costumes parading around the city. There is also a custom here where people exchange baskets of edible items (candy, wine, bread – anything as long as there are two items and both are edible). School was open on Sunday (remember the work week here is Sunday through Thursday) for half-a-day so children could attend in costume. Monday through Wednesday schools were closed, on Wednesday the university as well as governmental offices were closed, most businesses appeared to be open.

Purim in the Old City

Purim in Jerusalem

The costumes ranged from store bought – power rangers, superman, batman – to home made – playing cards, Buzz Lightyear, angels. Since there are many people on the street in Jerusalem who dress in ritual or traditional garb, at times I had difficulty discerning whether an individual was celebrating Purim or simply on the way to work. (“Hey, was that guy a monk with a fez or was that someone in a Purim costume?” “Hey, was that a real angel or someone in a Purim costume?”)

Purim in Jerusalem

How many people are in costumes?


You are forgiven

The vendors in the Old City are very smart and will try to entice tourists in any way possible. We were walking up one of the streets, in front of us was a group of American tourists. A vendor hawking post cards said to the tourists, “Obama!” The woman in front of me said, “I didn’t vote for him but…” “You are forgiven!” I said as I walked by without stopping. It seemed like an appropriate comment for the Old City.

Randy at Moshav Tal Shachar in the Sorek Valley

Existential Threat

I read in the newspaper the other day that North Korea is about to test one of their long-range missiles. According to reports, North Korea’s long-range missiles are capable of hitting Alaska. Perhaps Governor Palin, when she is watching Russia from her front porch also keeps an eye on North Korea. For most Alaskans I think the perception of threat from a North Korean missile attack is somewhere between remote and nonexistent.

I also read in the newspaper that five missiles were fired from the Gaza Strip on Saturday, one was fired on Friday, and at least three were fired on Thursday. There may have also been some mortar fire and a rocket or two in the North.

People talk and write about the existential threat facing Israel. When I first heard this phrase I thought it referred to some vague amorphous threat against the country. However now I understand this to mean that groups to the North (Hezbulla), South (Hamas), and East (Iran) that have expressed a desire to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

If we were talking about a person, we can rationalize and intellectualize this existential threat as a natural part of life. You live and then you die. For a country however, death is unexpected. While many countries have ceased to exist throughout history this has occurred relatively infrequently during my lifetime.

In Israel the existential threat is also interpreted to be anti-Semitic. Clearly some of the threats against the country are explicitly anti-Semitic. In addition, the logic in Israel is that since this is the only Jewish state in the world, threats against the State are inherently anti-Semitic. Certainly the history of the Jewish people contributes to this perception. (The next two photographs convey part of this history -- one from Yad Vashem and one from Massada).

Massada looking North at the Dead Sea

Hannah & Ruth at Yad Vashem

I’m still uncertain as to whether I accept that logic. I do know that over the past two-months I have become increasingly Zionistic. I’m dyed in blue and white (the colors of the flag) but I do see and feel the need for this country to exist.

Feeding a Camel

Guns

“I’m sorry I don’t speak Hebrew.”
“Do you have a gun?”

I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that question before, especially upon entering a university lecture hall.

Guns are inescapable in this country. Soldiers, in and out of uniform carry them. Chaperones accompanying school groups carry them. Security guards at the entrance to most public buildings (e.g. grocery stores, restaurants, post-offices, universities, etc.) carry them.

So why aren’t there more deaths from firearms in Israel? The conservative Cato institute points out that obtaining a license to possess a gun is relatively easy in Israel, yet “rates of homicide...are low despite rates of home firearm ownership that are at least as high as those in the United States." (Cato Institute: http://www.cato.org/ pub_display.php?pub_id=4706)

The Centers for Disease Control compared the United States to 25 other industrialized countries in rates of firearm death for children less than 15 years old, “The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children aged less than 15 years was nearly 12 times higher than among children in the other 25 countries combined...The firearm-related homicide rate in the United States was nearly 16 times higher than that in all of the other countries combined…the firearm-related suicide rate was nearly 11 times higher…and the unintentional firearm-related death rate was nine times higher.” (MMWR, February 07, 1997, 46(05), 101-105). A table in this article indicates that when the 25 countries are ranked on these combined rates, Israel is number four. Between Israel and the United States are Northern Ireland and Finland.

Availability of weapons does not seem to account for the differences between Israel and the United States. Given my experience in traffic, there does not seem to be an appreciable difference in the patience of Israelis (at least Israeli drivers) and drivers in the United States. So what accounts for these differences?

My suspicion has to do with cultural limits or norms. There seems to be a line regarding the use of guns that most Israelis will not cross, even when under the daily stress of modern life. I’m not sure if this is related to religion.

I find the widespread availability of guns coupled with the low rates of gun fatalities to be intriguing. It also would seem to run counter to some stereotypes of Israelis found in the media.

Pictures from Haifa

A two hour bus ride to the third largest city in Israel, near the northern border with Lebanon. For now here are some pictures of Haifa.

Randy in Haifa

Hannah in Haifa

Looking up at the Baha'i Gardens

Looking down the Baha'i Gardens

Inside the Baha'i Gardens