Oh, Jerusalem

Met our guide Hughie today. He is a really nice man about my age. He lives in a moshav up in the north and has 7 children. I think he has more information in his head then google has on the computer. He grew up in Jamaica NY and knew he wanted to make aliyah from the time he was 8 years old.

Some interesting facts: Israel is building the first railroad in the middle east. It will go from Jaffa to Jerusalem. Where it normally takes two hours to get to Jerusalem, once the train is finished, it will take you 27 minutes to get to Jerusalem. On the way to Jerusalem, you can see a huge garbage dump that is being tranformed into an ecological sight. Right by that area is Ramallah and Lud. Ramallah is where my friend Azzy grew up.

We also learned about the water shortage in the middle east and how the Israelis developed the first drip irrigaton system in the world. There are tubes all over the fields and also where there are flowers and trees. Instead of using sprinklers which waste water and also burn the leaves on the plants, they developed these tubes that release a certain amount of water in the soil, enough to water the plants. The tubes can also release fertilizer specific to that plant.

On the way to Jerusalem, Hughie pointed out how on the right side of the highway there were many trees that were planted over the last 60 years by the Israelis and from the Jewish National Fund which you can buy a tree to be planted in Israel. On the left side it is a lot more barren and this is because it where the borders of Lebanon used to be. Since the 1967 war, that has begun to change. He also talked about the war of the roads in 1947 where there were surges on the roads by the Arabs to prevent the Israelis to get to Jerusalem. Talked more about the British Mandate.

We also passed the oldest jewish cemetary in the world.

Upon entering Jerusalem, which was incredibly different from when we were there for Marc's barmitzvah ( about 14 years ago) there was a suspension bridge that was built in the shape of a harp to represent King David's harp. Hughie also said we should read about the story of Saul and we would see that he clearly had a mental illness and he guesse it was bipolar disorder.

He said that most people think that Tel Aviv is the biggest city but actually Jerusalem is with a population of 750,000 people and Tel Aviv 450,000. He also said that Tel mean old and Aviv means Spring or new and that Tel AViv represents the old to the new.

We drove to the area in Jerusalem where you overlook many of the Arab homes. He showed us the Israeli homes that were facing the Arab homes and showed how the Jewish homes had very tiny windows because there were snipers that would shoot up at the Israeli homes. They also built some walls to protect them from gunfire. There are still many ARab settlements surrounding the Old City which are quite beautiful and there are many areas where the Jews and ARabs live together as neighbors.

We then went to Theorore Herzl museum. That was an incredible museum. It talked about he Dreyfuss and how the antisemitism at that time was the impetus for Herzl to find a jewish homeland. He had a dream and he said "if you can dream it you can will it". He was passionate about finding a place for the jews to go so that they did not have to face the antisemitism they were experiencing all over Europe. REalize that this took place in the late 1800's early 1900's BEFORE the holocaust. For ten years, Herzl tried hard to obtain the Jewish state. He spoke to the Turks and I am blanking out who else he spoke to about helping to obtain his dream of a jewish state. Everyone rejected him. England finally said that they would help but the jewish state would have to be in Africa. Herzl rejected this because his dream was to be near the holy temple in Jerusalem.

We then continued on to Yad Vashem which is the Holocaust Museum. That was incredibly emotional. It was very interesting to me how many of the jews in Europe were assimilating to German society Yet when the time came when the economay was at an all time low and Hitler came into power promising the people roads and cars, and the development of this pure aryan race, the Jews once again became the scape goat and were blamed for many of Europes problems. I was amazed that even in their despair, the jews continued to observe their holidays even when there wasn't any food or prayer books or candle sticks etc. They did all they could to preserve their faith and I admire so many of them who even in the face of despair, humility and degradation, continued to remain steadfast to their religion and culture.

I also learned of the 20,000 righteous gentiles (there are more that we don't even know about) that risked their lives to save the Jews. The stories of these people help to give you a sense of hope and pride in the human race even amidst the horror of the Nazis. There are trees that are planted all around Yad Vashem in honor and in memory of all of the righteous gentiles. Israel grants these people three things: They give them a free trip to Israel to plant a tree and to receive a special medal. The Israelis also give them the ability to move to Israel if ever they need a place to live. There actually have been some people who have experienced prejudice and hate in their own country and since these people were instrumental in helping the Jews to safety during WW II, Israel has found a place for them to live in Israel.

Started off the morning with a delicious Israeli breakfast of yogurt, fruit, safed cheese which is unbelievable and fresh Israeli salads. Spent a relaxing day at the pool. It is really so different to be in a country where the majority of people are jewish and so everything closes down on Saturday because of shabbat. The pool was packed with people who were just relaxing for the sabbath. It was a very pleasant day and a good day to relax before the upcoming tour days.

We took a taxi this evening to Tel Aviv to meet my son Michael's friend Gregory who made aliyah a couple of years ago. We have known Gregory since he was a little pittsela. He is in the Israeli army and was off this weekend. He took a bus north to Tel Aviv and we spent all evening eating dinner and talking. It was so pleasant. It was a pleasure to be with him. He has grown up to be an incredibly handsome, confident young man. He shared many stories about being in the army. Got back home to our apartment and getting ready for tomorrow where we will be spending the day in Jerusalem. Lila tov.

First night in Tel Aviv

Just came back from a wonderful evening in Tel Aviv. Paula and Azzy and Paula's cousin Naava and her family went to the beach in Tel Aviv for a Kabbalat Shabbat.(That is a sabbath service on the beach). There were no words that can convey the feelings I had standing there at the service overlooking the Meditteranean. The service consisted of a little musical ensemble of a violin, flute, drums and some other instruments and a singer. My mom sat on a chair and was so happy to sit there and to listen to them singing the jewish prayers. I took a walk to the side and stood at the water and listened to the Israeli music and watched the sunset and watched the waves of the ocean. It was a moment in time that I will never forget and that touched my soul in ways that are hard to express. It is those moments that I feel close to G-d. It is those moments that I feel very blessed.....

We landed!!!

We had a fairly uneventful flight accept for a few funny moments. Most of you know that I am not a great flyer. So imagine walking with my mom to the plane and she pulls out a tape recorder that she is using to record our visit. As she is walking down the plank to the plane I hear her saying, " and now we are entering the plane and we will be trapped!!!". So I look at her and start laughing with a bit of anxiety attached to the laughter and I say to her "Mom, you have to stop saying things like that". She turns off the recorder and just laughs. We finally sit down in our seats with hundreds of other people and I am sitting in between my mom and a 23 year old guy who also is not a great flyer and who has never flown out of the US before. He was visiting his Israeli girlfriend who he hadn't seen in 8 months. Of course my sons are now saying that he will be coming over for dinner next week. Anyway, mom turns to me and says how the heck do they get this plane up in the air when it is so heavy. OK, so I am still laughing and starting to have a slow panic but I was very proud of my self and kept calm. We take off and my mom says out loud so everyone can hear "what is that I smoke I smell?" That was it. I turned to her and told her to stop already and the smoke is from the take off.
The next 10 hours were hard and boring and I brought all these things that I thought I was going to do. DAvid, sort of like when we took that little boat ride on our little dingy and I brought everything imaginable to read and write. Well, being squished and tired, all I did was watch tv adn play backgammon on the tv. YOu are right Brian, the video games were fun. Anyway, we landed safely. We found a cab. Our driver was this Jewish guy who was hysterical. He spoke fluent yiddish and had a great time chatting with my mom. He had come to Israel from Germany in 1949. He was very funny and very nice and of course he had to show us pictures of all of his grand children. Anyway, I am going to take a nap and will write again later. L'hitraot and Shalom.