My impressions and thoughts from our 2019 trip to Israel.
Why go again? We were there as tourists six years ago and had a fantastically interesting and educational trip then.
This time, our 12-year-old grandchild Leah was to have a Bat Mitzvah on a kibbutz in Israel.
We made it into an 11-day trip.
First, a fast trip on a direct train from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem. A trip that would take an hour and a half by car, took 19 minutes at over 200 km/h; Progress.
We had an Airbnb only a block away from the Jaffa gate, one of a few entrances to the walled city of Jerusalem.
It doesn’t matter what religion you adhere to, if any, this is walking on historical ground. Several “cultures” have lived there for thousands of years.
The tourist guides are all full of historical facts.
Our first view of the West Wall was from atop a nearby building.
The dome of the mosque is where the original Jewish temple was, 2,000 year ago.
We were a mixed group with me the sole man. I entered on the left side, the women all went to the much smaller right side in this photo.
I witnessed several small groups of men, celebrating the Bar Mitzvahs of some 12 or 13-year-old boys.
Rose and I meandered around the inner city for hours, watching the people and visiting both an Arabic/Moslem and a Jewish market, both greatly different in character.
A Hasidic Jew in his traditional dress at the market
Security is paramount in Israel, surrounded by warring nations.
We witnessed how two young men, low 20s in age were taken to the side. Their Paper ID’s and backpacks were crudely inspected and they both had to stand spread-eagled while searched for …?
The police found nothing, and the young men continued on their way, seemingly unaffected by this 20-min ordeal.
The Israeli Jews don’t have a happy relationship with the Hasidic Jews, they are seen as parasites who don’t want to do service in the military or even, many of them, work.
They marry young and it was common to see an emaciated young woman, barely 18, with the mandatory wig on her head, pushing a baby carriage. When 25, they were equally thin and often pregnant with several more children in tow.
It was striking to see how white and tender the Hasidic men’s hands looked. Many have never worked but only spent their time studying the Torah.
The multi-culturalism was striking. Hebrew, English Arabic were common with a fair sprinkling of Russian as well.
We met several young persons who had made Aliyah from the USA to Israel.
One was a 22-year-old Hasidic Jew from New Jersey. He spoke very poor English because he had, in spite of living in the USA all his life, only learned English in the last couple of years. His first language was not Hebrew, as spoken in Israel, but Yiddish, commonly spoken only by the Hasidic Jews, all over the world.
One was a 22-year-old Hasidic Jew from New Jersey. He spoke very poor English because he had, in spite of living in the USA all his life, only learned English in the last couple of years. His first language was not Hebrew, as spoken in Israel, but Yiddish, commonly spoken only by the Hasidic Jews, all over the world.
The contrasts of many cultures are striking. Israel is, and has always been, a city of many peoples. Some girls wore the skimpiest of skimpy outfits, others were covered from head to toe in black clothes. Same for the men, everything from torn jeans to full black suits, seemingly regardless of their ages.
It was time for Purim, a time for all to dress up gaudily.
Cell-phones were ubiquitous, just like everywhere else. If a question came up in a discussion, the person you spoke to would instantly look up more facts on their smartphone. Not all spoke fluent English but would quickly translate the missing words on their phone.
The food is mostly of middle eastern type, often quite spicy. For obvious reasons, restaurants were labeled either Kosher or Halal, some carried both designations. No pork was offered, of course, but lots of mutton was on the menu.
On more than one occasion, the menu was multi-lingual, but just because it had printed English, didn’t mean that the wait staff spoke much English, especially outside the large cities. One of our members had very specific food desires and we had more than one, rather funny, discussion about what she wanted. She always succeeded in the end even if the odd dish had to be returned.
We all liked this dessert, guranteed fresh.
Fortunately, I had brought my own portable GPS with a recent Israeli map to use for our drives. The one in the rental car was all in Hebrew. We could set the spoken words to English but not the input texts.
One of our guides had proudly pointed out how much rain Israel gets, as much a London, England, on an annual basis. The clouds tried to give us all of that in a couple of days.
Traveling the highways was an exercise, just getting out of Jerusalem proper took an hour. The very frequent high-speed train may have taken a bit of traffic off the highway, but it was still busy.
Next stop, two hours away was on a kibbutz. We were near Nazareth. Again, you almost felt like you could navigate by the names in the bible.
Our kibbutz, with about 400 families, was surrounded by a quite imposing fence with only one vehicle entrance, guarded during the day and electronically controlled after-hours.
About half the members were of the old school, living a communal life, but all in their own houses. The other half all had work outside the kibbutz and commuted by car.
Our Airbnb was a large sprawling home with a grand view of a valley and a mountain chain in the background. It was not very warm outside, and we quite enjoyed the warmth from the fireplace. It had its flue snaking through the house, warming it all, softly.
Songbirds were enjoying the spring-time weather, but the nights were totally quiet.
True to form, there was a Mosque in the valley. It used unbelievably powerful speakers to call for prayers five times a day.
Above it, high up on the mountain top was another imposing building, a Christian retreat. It had no loudspeakers.
Walking the nearby forested area, we were accompanied by a large dog. He just came with us. He was nice company.
He visited the mud-pool and then shook himself off well, to Leah's consternation.
He visited the mud-pool and then shook himself off well, to Leah's consternation.
On Friday night we were invited to Shabbat dinner at one of the neighbouring homes. What dog met us at the entrance, but the same large dog? He greeted us with a wagging tail and a few licks, we were now part of his family too.
I have been to many Shabbat dinners in USA and Canada, but this one was different.
The family had five children, from three to 16 years of age. First, the whole family and we, the guests, gathered in the living room for communal singing, accompanied by a guitar.
The dinner was all vegetarian, not to be too extravagant.
As you all know, wine is mandatory at this occasion. The little children were only allowed to dip their finger and lick the wine. It was hilarious to see how they all colluded to finish off the wine. Kids are kids.
The next day was Saturday, the day of Leah’s Bat Mitzvah.
The night before she had been very nervous about her ability to carry this out.
She performed splendidly. Over 100 persons from the Kibbutz community filled the Synagogue. It was full to capacity and more.
It was, as it should be, a happy occasion when the rabbi asked her:
“Are you prepared to leave your childhood behind? “
Leah:
“No, not yet, I am too young for that.”
“Too late, you are an adult now.
Leah performed as a true star and chanted her Torah portion in Hebrew beautifully.
The one-hour ceremony was, of course, in a mixture of Hebrew and English. There were many in presence that didn’t speak English.
The pressure was off, and all congratulated Leah on her new status in life.
After four pleasant days on the kibbutz, we proceeded to Tel Aviv via Haifa, the major port city of Israel.
We took in the mandatory high look-out view of the Mediterranean and the city and spent the rest of the day walking the old city. Was it older? Of course, it was old and certainly had winding streets and many interesting shops an eateries.
The beaches of Tel Aviv were much anticipated by Leah and she got her fill. It was windy and the water was cold.
Rose and I toured the various ethnic neighbourhoods and I took many photographs.
One highlight was a visit to the Children's Museum. Here we were to experience what it is like to be blind.
We spent 70 minutes in total darkness touring a city and a park, even traveling in a boat, with only a stick for guidance, learning what it is like to not see.
That was a real "eyeopener" for us all.
Again, as I may have said before, the country of Israel may be most interesting of all; You walk on history, you feel the history and you are close, very close to Judaism in its many forms, Christianity and Islam, all liberally displayed all around you, often only a few steps apart.
If you would like to see more photographs, press on this link.
