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Published: December 27th 2009
The Western Wall and Dome of the Rock
Yes, I know I already put pictures of each of these, but now you get to see them together. Because they're that close.This blog entry is brought to you by Daniel Shaw (dad), who convinced me last night to write another entry, because apparently it's been too long between installments. I'm starting to feel like a primetime TV drama. But maybe this is an anxiously-awaited installment, because people at home are very curious about Israel. What probably won't surprise you is that I've had more ideological and philosophical experiences here than in my escapades elsewhere. Of course, I have some little adventures to tell about, too, but most of this entry will probably be me reflecting about what I've seen and heard and been told here and my reactions to it. Which is partly why I've put off writing this entry. Because it's not as fun to hear about political and social issues as it is to hear about Madeline's super-fun-action-packed-adventures-and-silly-stories. So here's what I'm going to do: the first paragraph will be silly and interesting travel stories and the second will be blah-blah-blah. So if you don't have any interest in my Israel-provoked thoughts and ramblings, feel free to skip that part. I understand. And really, I'll never even know what you read so it won't hurt my feelings. And the rambling
The Old City
brought to you by the Ottoman empire is mostly for me, anyway. Oh, and one more thing. I have the luxury of my own laptop (lent to me by Ada and her family) so I put up a few more photos. Enjoy!
STORIES: On my way out of Madrid there was a giant snow storm all over Western Europe and about 300 flights out of Madrid were delayed or canceled. I got off way easy because my flight to Prague was only 4 hours delayed and I even made my connection to Tel Aviv. By the time I got to Jerusalem I had been traveling for about 30 hours. I got some sleep here and there but I took a nice 5 hour nap when I got to the friends of Uncle Gary's (thanks Uncle G!). That same day Sharone took me to see a little bit of the Old City. I saw the Western Wall, which gave me goosebumps. Behind it you can see the Dome of the Rock. It's amazing that these two locations - one sacred to the Jews, the other sacred to the Muslims - are literally right next to each other. But then again, that's typical of Israel, and especially Jerusalem.
the shuk!
yum yum yum It has been unseasonably warm here, which I enjoyed by wearing a sleeveless shirt all day. That is until I realized that I was the only one I'd seen all day with sleeves above their elbows. I think part of it was due to weather (for people here it's "cold"), but I also felt something more. See paragrpah 2. At least I had the sense to go into the Old City better covered. The shuks are crazy. In a good way. I think. If I though the markets of Europe were exotic compared to the US the shuks are even more so. You can see it from the pictures, but it's just this chaos of booths and people buying things and looking at things and it's absolutely nothing like our mechanically-run grocery stores. In the shuk in the Old City I saw these caramel-colored little ball foods, and I decided on a whim to try them. Score! I still have no idea that they were, but they tasted like sugar and fried dough, but in classier, more Israeli way. The shuks are also like a maze, once you walk in, unless you know what you're doing, you're lucky to get
out. I've seen some really pretty parks and gardens, although I have to say that's my favorite part of any city. I bought my first Israeli falafel. It was out of this world. I went to the Knesset (the Israeli parliment/legislature) and sat in the public gallery. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was eerie to think of all the political decisions that get made their and their implications. I went to Kabblat Shabbat services at a modern Orthodox synagogue. I didn't recognize all of the melodies, but it was a great experience, with lots of singing. But it did make me miss Shir Tikvah, my synagogue at home. There were armed guards outside the super market. That's normal here. I made popcorn on the stove in a pot with Vered, the family's daughter. We put date honey and cinnamon and cloves on it. Yummy! I realized when I was uploading the photos that I didn't take any pictures of her or her family, but I'll be seeing them again, so I guess that's fine. Here in Reut there is a park with what is essentially an outdoor weight room - you know those physical activity stations
The Old City
from far away (the Haas Promenade) they have at some parks or along some walking/running trails? It's one of those, but deluxe. I got to explore it some today, but the sun was going down, so I'm going to do a nice workout there tomorrow. Oh, and the food is amazing here. I loved the farm-fresh cooking in Italy, but here it's a different kind of delicious.
RAMBLINGS: First off, I can't say I now have definite opinions about Israel and Israeli Jews and all the conflicts that have been going on here for the past 60 or 2000 years. But I can say that being here has made me think about it. A lot. And I have been exposed to a lot of other people's opinions. I can't say I've gotten a satisfactory cross-section yet, but I'm working on it. For example, this story: It is common for the vendors in the shuk to call to you to come in to their shops and take a look. Usually I just ignore them and keep walking, because I'm just walking through and marveling at the shuk, with no intention to buy anything. But one guy was really insistent. "I just want to talk to you,
ruins of the first temple
I stood here for a while thinking about how many wars have been fought for these rocks. you don't have to buy anything", he told me. Maybe at the beginning of this trip I would have kept walking, I don't know. But now I usually make the other choice: why not? I have everything to gain from it. So I went in and talked to him for a while. He asked about where I was from and what I was doing. I asked him the same questions. What religion was I? Jewish, yes. What religion was he? Muslim, but he wasn't extremely observant, he admitted. I also asked him what he thought of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said that it was a hard thing to have to live with, and that he just wanted peace, and for it to be over. He said that he doesn't like any kind of government, because they have so much power but rarely do what the people need from them. But in the end, he said, you get used to it.... Living in the US, I was fairly ignorant to how much anti-Israel sentiments there are in the rest of the world, including western Europe. In Italy one woman told me, "I don't know why you want to go to Israel.
I saw a documentary on it. The whole country is a desert. And you know why? Because there's so much hate there." In Spain, some people told me that Israel is the last place they would visit. The only way they could seem to understand my going was because I'm a Jew. But I heard many outraged accounts of how badly the Palestinian people are treated, about the imbalance of power, and the misery they live in. I even read some articles written by an Israeli journalist (translated into Spanish of course) about the harsh conditions in which the Palestinian people live. I believe it, and it made me sad to know. And I don't judge these people for having opinions. After all, it's a very human thing. But it made me sad to see how readily they judged this country never having been here and experienced it first hand. I even got into a discussion with a friend in Spain about at what point people have the right to judge, since you can't travel to every place in the world, but you can still have an opinion about them. So as you can see these roads of contemplation can
sprawl
Arab neighborhoods seen from the ramparts of the Old City lead to slippery places. That is why it is not easy to work through all these thoughts. But I think it is important. Upon arriving in Israel, I got many versions of the Israeli story: people on the left and on the right; people who thought Israel should cede land for peace and people who thought the country should hold a harder line with the Palestinians. So what do I think? I don't, not yet. The only opinion I can seem to form is that the conflict here is very complicated. Like a Chinese finger trap, but even more so. The more you pull, the more stuck you get, and the more you suffer. Except in this finger trap there doesn't seem to be that easy solution of just relaxing and smushing the thing together and slipping your fingers out. Some people would disagree with me. I've met some of them. They say, "the people there just need to live as equals." Maybe I need to have more hope, but it seems like if the solution were that simple, someone would have already figured it out. What I see and hear and experience here is that there is suffering on
both sides. Don't ask me or try to convince me which side suffers more, because I don't know, and I don't plan on trying to have an opinion about that. What I see is that the everyday people have gotten used to the conflict. They accept the situation as it is, realizing that the solution is not simple, and likely will not be found soon. One person told me she wouldn't be surprised if the conflict went on for another 200 unresolved. That is what makes me sad. Because despite media portrayals of the Palestinians as terrorists or of the Israelis as bullies, I refuse to believe either. I think it is two groups of people who each have something that is very important to them, and one that they are attached to with a strength that we can't completely understand as outsiders. Unfortunately, that something is the same thing, the same land. So is one of them right and the other wrong? I don't think it's that simple. I think both sides have done things that are hurtful and that upset me. But like I said before, I also think both sides suffer a lot. The best I can
think to do is ask the people here their stories and opinions, and listen with empathy and compassion. In the meantime, I have also experienced many good and happy things. The entire country of Israel is not a minefield. I am aware of the fact that I have mostly been in safe Israeli neighborhoods. That is another dilemma of this trip: to be stopped by fear (it could be well-founded or not) or to risk a little bit of safety in order to have a deeper experience. For example, I was told by basically every Israeli who I asked here not to go into the Muslim quarter of the Old City or into the arab neighborhoods. This made me really sad, because I don't like to write things off on principle like that. Plus, the Muslim people I know in the states are beautiful and kind people, who have given me no reason to avoid a Muslim neighborhood. I am aware that here it is a little bit of a different story, but the problem is I don't know how much. Thus, my dilemma. If these neighborhoods are really as dangerous and unrecommendable as people say they are, I don't
Merry Christmas from the land of Jesus!
Yes, there are some people in Israel who celebrate Christmas. want to go in alone. But what if they're fine? I don't know what to think. I went into the Muslim quarter of the Old City a little bit one day, blending in with a group of lost tourists for safety. I guess most other tourists don't go in the Muslim quarter much, either. The difference was pretty notable: almost no tourists, just normal people. Poorer-looking neighborhoods. But nothing bad happened. I plan to venture further into that quarter on my next visit to Jerusalem. So I guess that's the fear factor. As I mentioned with the guards outside the supermarket, security is tighter here than in the states. Although with a history of 6 wars (8 counting the Intifadahs) in 6 decades and suicide bombings it doesn't seem as strange. Okay, more thing. If you are still reading this, you are probably my dad. If not, congratulations for making it this far. I'm even sick of hearing myself write/think about this. So I talked about judgements from outside of Israel. But I have also perceived some judgements from the inside. For example, that first day when I went walking around in a sleeveless shirt? Yeah, maybe it was just
walls of the Old City
be afraid, be very afraid that the people here are used to hotter temperatures, but I definitely sensed discomfort from some of the people who saw me. Here in Israel although there are many secular Jews, the Orthodox branch dictates a lot of the religious rules, as far as I understand. After all it is a Jewish state. But since in the US the Orthodox are more of a minority among Jews, I forget that like the observant sects of almost any religion, modesty in dress is very important for Orthodox Jews. And so maybe that has something to do with it. The bigger discrimination I encountered (it's funny to say that - coming from my own religion) was due to being a reform Jew, and having a non-Jewish parent. To give a sense of context, there is no such thing as civil marriage in Israel. Each religion has authority over marriage of its constituents. And in Judaism, the authority is the Orthodox branch. So, for example, a reform Rabbi is not technically allowed to perform a marriage ceremony (Reform Jews are actually considered by some people not to be Jews at all). If you want to get married as a Jew, you have to
do it in an Orthodox ceremony. I was confused, because there are so many secular Jews in Israel. So what happens to them? Well, they go out of the country, mainly to Greece, to get married. But even they marry other Jews. So apparently having a non-Jewish parent is something that people are not used to, and not used to accepting. It is more common here to have a interracial marriage than interfaith, which is kind of the opposite of in the US. So again, I faced people who judge of principal, without knowing what it is like, for example, to be raised by a mixed-faith couple. And this is coming from my own religion. It made me appreciate Reform Judaism a lot. So will I come back from Israel a more observant Jew? I don't know. But I have to say I'm not so keen on this interfaith-marriage-not-being-okay idea. Maybe if I'd been raised in a family with two Jewish parents I'd think differently. But my parents have been amazing and I love them, and I don't really feel like religion has a lot to do with that. So where does this all lead me? Probably to more questions.
SNOW!
Travesia skiing - Minnesota, but with mountains Someone here told me that you can't be a Jew in Israel and be ambivalent about your Judaism. But I really don't feel like I have to make a drastic decision or change. Right now all I can do is observe, maybe try to organize some of these thoughts rattling around in my head, and go to bed exhausted. If you're still reading this thanks for bearing with me, and I hope this entry has given you back something for your trouble. If not, maybe the pictures will make up for it.
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Daniel Shaw
non-member comment
Careful what you ask for ...
Wow! Enough material for 3 or 4 blogs. Smart to separate the normal tour from reflections, but all good reading. I love that you are keeping an open mind, taking in lots of POV. I can't think of a better American ambassador.