Post 3 from OHDS Israel Trip.
April 12, 2016
If anywhere in the world were going to have a powerful Holocaust museum, it would have to be Jerusalem. And what a powerful museum it is indeed. While it is one time of many I have visited such a place, it is always worth the reminder of what atrocities human beings are capable. Also worth noting is the dark brutalist architecture of solid, jagged concrete. Undoubtedly the most impressive however was the memorial to the 1.5 million children murdered. It consisted of 5 lit candles in a pitch black room with thousands of mirrors scattering the light to infinite directions. You walk stumbling and nearly blind as, over a loudspeaker, a heavily accented woman says the names of those killed, their ages, and where they were from. It was very moving.
After pizza we headed south. In the 1930’s & 40’s Israel was still under British mandate. During this time Israeli Jews knew they were going to have to fight for their land once the British mandate ended, but were forbidden to make or import arms and ammo. A small group built a secret bunker underneath a kibbutz where they manufactured ammunition (guns were easier to get).
It was an entire production. A thin staircase was hidden under a laundry machine on an electrical lift, which also helped mask the sounds of the machinery below. The main hole to the bunker where we entered was under a heavy brick oven on a track. The twenty-something workers even kept it secret from the others on the kibbutz, and the laundry room and bakery served nearby British soldiers right under their noses.
Our next stop was a small neighborhood where the kids met with their 3rd grade teacher who moved back to Israel, Mora Shiri, and her family. They took us on a walk to the nearby farm where students played with the friendly cows. Cut forward to the end of our trip, and this one instance caused many students to be held behind at US customs because they marked “Yes” on the “Have you been in contact with any livestock abroad”.
Then we went to a local park where they met with other students their age. We had a delicious BBQ dinner with more local Israeli kids at the family’s house. Finally we ended our day at a new hotel on an artsy kibbutz with cute bungalow rooms.
April 13, 2016
Breakfast at this kibbutz was simply awesome. Delicious cheeses, olives, veggies, sauces, spices; I will miss Israeli breakfast.
Today was planned to be very fun! Camel riding, visiting the Dead Sea, and Masada ruins. However, a massive rainstorm appeared. We should have felt lucky, a rainstorm here in the desert is a rare sight indeed, but given everything we had to cancel today, we were pretty bummed, but made the best of it.
We made our way to the tomb of the first Prime Minister of Israel, but got simply dumped on when we left the bus. After changing clothes we got stuck at a flash flood across the road where we waited for a bit so students could take pictures and take pictures with a nearby solitary, wet donkey.
Next stop was Mitzpe Ramon, a stunning, massive geologic crater in the desert. We learned about Ilan Ramon; one of the astronauts who died in the NASA Columbus accident. The first Israeli in space, but never got to come back to earth. The rain let up enough for us to hike a bit outside. The view from the top of the crater was gorgeous.
Next we got to hike in the crater, which was also gorgeous. We had some serene time of silence for meditation, prayer, journal writing, or wandering. Very peaceful.
We headed back to the hostel for a great dinner and a small farewell party; tonight would be our last night all together before students go separate ways to observe Shabbat with family in Israel. We especially said goodbye to Schlomzion, our fantastic guide who would be leaving earlier tomorrow for her brother’s wedding. Students shared how much they love the trip, and performed skits of their favorite parts. Our skit involved Didi playing the part of the Torah that Josh handed to me to bring to the altar. It was a fun activity.
April 14, 2016
We headed back north after one last delicious Israeli breakfast. The students got to explore a neat outdoor, hands-on, science museum with some fascinating exhibits. I was so proud of my students as they were able to answer our tour guides questions about Physics: energy, friction, air resistance, etc!
Afterwards we had a truly unique experience at another museum. It was called “A Conversation in the Dark”. For one hour every student went on a journey through a stimulus-filled maze, 100% blind, like “can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face” blind. Our visually impaired guide guided us through rooms made to simulate cities, a home, a boat ride, a market. The museum truly made you experience what it is like to lose all of your vision, and how to manage interacting with the world; easier than you’d think actually; the brain is so effective at painting a vivid picture even with the loss of one sense. The 1-hour experience ended with a cafeteria where you could order food, sit down, and have a very honest conversation with our blind guide about his life with visual impairment. Quite and eye-opening experience!
Our last few hours together were at the beach in Tel Aviv, splashing around in the water, followed by a final dinner in the park with another former teacher at OHDS who moved back to Israel.
We said our goodbyes to a few of our group who were picked up by family, then after an hour trip to Jerusalem, I said goodbye to everybody. I hopped in a taxi and headed to a Jerusalem suburb to meet Yossi, and his incredibly welcoming Russian family, and another Couchsurfer at his place, Ben. Yossi, Ben, and I had a few beers, made plans for the weekend, and I crashed early.
April 15, 2016
Yossi, his father, Ben, and I hopped in the car after an egg breakfast and headed to the Dead Sea! Markers along the rode kept telling you how far below sea level you were driving, until the final 429 metres (1,407 ft.), the lowest point on earth.
The first spot we visited was nearly void of people; some piping hot mud pits of spring water. It was a surreal experience playing with the ultra-gooey mud, rubbing it on your skin, and soaking in pockets of sulfuric geothermal activity. It was also nice finally having an Israeli beer! Goldstar is a pretty standard, cheap Israeli beer, but refreshing on a hot day!
Next we headed to a local’s spot. From a tent blasted house and reggae music, and about half the people were naked, covered in drying, caking mud. Now this felt like home in California! If only the SF Bay Area had a Dead Sea nearby, I cannot imagine how packed it would get every day. People would just live there.
It was six hour of pure, soaking, floating, and mud-covered bliss. There was even a fresh water hot spring waterfall to rinse off all the salt and mud. This place is such a paradise. But all good things must come to an end, and we headed back to the house. Due to constant slathering of 50 SPF sunblock, I managed not to get sunburned. Amazing that I pulled that one off.
After showers we headed to the Arab side of Jerusalem for some chicken followed by fried, cheesy, Arabic sweet cake. A totally different experience of Jerusalem. The sun takes a lot out of you, so we headed back to the apartment. All the families around us at the apartment complex were in full Shabbat-mode. Singing, candle lighting. Lots of excitement to the setting Friday sun.
April 16, 2016
For a few reasons Ben and I decided to walk from the apartment to the Old City, which my feet would later regret. The first reason is that is is Shabbat Saturday and we wanted to be respectful in our Jewish neighborhood. The second reason is it was good exercise, and the third that we were too cheap to take a taxi, and Yossi had other plans today so couldn’t drive us.
The three mile hike took us through parts of Jerusalem that belonged entirely to the Ultra-Orthodox and Chassidim who were walking the city with families. Most fascinating were the change in apparel from street to street. The first neighborhood the men wore all black suits with the fedoras, but none of the men had payot (curly sideburns) and the women were dressed multi-colored, but conservatively. The next neighborhood the men had the same suits and black fedoras but all had long curly payot, and the women with mix-matched dark colors. The next area the Orthodox men had tall, furry hats and tan trench coats, with long payot and the women in solid dark colors. One street to the next and the fashion changed entirely.
Speaking of payot, it got me thinking. If Jesus was Jewish and Jerusalem the city he went to Synagogue on high holidays, did he have payot? What about wearing a kippah? or tzitzit (tassels dangling from the hips)? Until today, this is something I have never even considered.
No one provided us a solid explanation for the phenomenon of distinct fashion from neighborhood to neighborhood other than mentioning how “tribal” Jerusalem can be; that many groups stick largely to their own group and area of the city without much intermingling. If you live in a certain area, you dress a certain way, and go to a specific synagogue. So different from the strong sense of individualism back home. Very interesting to see.
Finally we got to the old city through the Damascus gate in the Arab quarter. The gate lead us through twisting alleyways packed with people, smells of spices and meats, and vendors hawking their goods and wares. We finally came to an Evangelical German church which charged a small fee to climb the narrow, curly staircase to get terrific views of the city. Always my favorite first thing to do in a new place to gather one’s bearings.
Next we headed straight to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The church is the holiest of places in Christian Theology, but in the nature of Jerusalem’s “tribalism”, the church is cut into pieces by different denominations of Christianity. An Armenian section, Syriac section, Catholic section, Eastern Orthodox, etc.
At the very entrance was a piece of stone that people were bowing to, touching with hands and various cloths and objects (I assume to bless them), and rubbing their faces all over (similar to the Western Wall). I learned that a priest in 1288, during the first Crusade, decided that this stone was where Jesus body was prepared for burial. Not sure how they figured that one out a millennium later. It was added in 1810 during one of the many reconstructions of the church.
The church was originally built in the 4th century on where is was believed Jesus was crucified and buried in a tomb. The church was added to and re-built many times during the last few thousands of years, especially as Jerusalem was taken and re-taken during the Crusades. Tourists from all over the world clamored to visit all the holiest sites of Christendom. Incense, flames, and chanting under a building with epic architecture and art; a terrific experience for people watching and taking some perfect pictures.
The rest of the day we just wandered for hours just taking in all the sites and experiencing all the people bustling around. We followed tour groups as they explored sites such as the room of Jesus’ supposed last supper, and a church built where Mary took a nap.
We visited the Western Wall again, and it was especially quiet today because most Jewish families are together for shabbat. Remember from an earlier blog where I mentioned a guy vigorously rubbing his face all over the wall? A week later, same spot, still rubbing his face vigorously. Dedication.
We tried to make it to the top of the temple mount there the Dome of the Rock is, but they make it difficult for tourists, and none were let up today.
The city is a labyrinth of twists and turns, with something exciting and unique around every corner. The Arab, Armenian, Christian, and Jewish quarters equally fascinating in their own unique ways. It was a terrific way to end my trip to Israel.
In the bazaar I made a last few final purchases to finish off the little currency I had left. I tried my hand again at haggling for some trinkets, I talked the guy down lower than 50% of asking, but still think he got the better deal. One shop in the Arab quarter gave a phenomenal deal on some spices I knew Jessica would love, so I had to get some.
We made the 3-mile trek back to Yossi’s place, my feet wanting to murder me the entire time. The streets even more bustling with Jewish families walking around during Shabbat. Ben and I got lost a couple of times and had to duck around corners to use our phone GPS’s or else people would give us glares, or shout “it is Shabbat!” in Hebrew as happened one time we were being careless. But we made it. I packed, showered, relaxed, and when the time came, Yossi’s family took my to the meeting place to catch a bus to the airport.
The only thing really worth mentioning was at the Tel Aviv airport how I was asked a ton of questions since I was apparently suspicious as a complete gentile chaperoning a group of Orthodox Jewish kids. I assume for legal reasons, the intelligence agent couldn’t outright ask me if I was Jewish, but she asked a number of questions like “do you speak any Hebrew words?”, “did you learn any Hebrew growing up?”, sure l’chaim, mazel tov, shalom! “are you affiliated with any groups”, nope. Then Bat Sheva had to answer 5 minutes of questions about me to make sure I wasn’t just some creep. I suppose I have to give them credit of being due diligent with the one piece of the puzzle that didn’t seem to fit with the group. I wasn’t offended, and eventually they let me through after a thorough X-ray of my bag.
The flight was uneventful, 3 movies and a nap. US customs was only an issue for the students who aren’t American, and those who marked yes to “Have you come in contact with livestock while abroad”. Katy even got a nice thorough shoe-cleaning in case she stepped in cow dung and was carrying a parasite back.
We were greeted by welcoming families and the journey came to an end with lots of hugs!
So that concludes my Israel trip. Country number 36 down! Hope you all enjoyed the blog!
See more pictures at my Flickr page.
Dave and Jess Travel Blog. 