Day 10 - The end!

Qumran

Our last day in Israel was a busy one, filled with lots of very famous sites. The first we went to was Qumran, which is where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. On our way there, I saw my first desert. Pretty much blew my mind.

When we got there, we learned about the community of men who lived there and worked in copying the scrolls. The photo below shows one of the caves where the scrolls were found.

Masada

Where do you even begin with the story of Masada? Masada is a site in the middle of the desert where Herod (“The Builder King”) decided he wanted to build a fortress/city on top of a mountain. And I really mean a mountain. We took a cable car to get there. This climb put Lehigh to shame (though I do think APG should look into getting cable cars to run from Brodhead to the UC for me next year :P ).

After somehow miraculously building this fortress, it gets taken over by a group of Jewish extremists. Their reign doesn’t last long, though, because two years later, Masada is surrounded by Roman forces. They built a giant ramp up one side of the mountain to the fortress and used a battering ram to break in. Legend has it that when they got there, they found that everything was set on fire and that all the inhabitants had committed a mass suicide. There is very little evidence of this, though, so it is often treated as a myth.

I included the photo above just to give more of an idea of the type of terrain that Masada was built on.

Dead Sea

I would argue that going to the Dead Sea was probably the most touristy thing we did in Israel. It was also super fun. We covered ourselves in mud, floated in the Dead Sea (yes, you really float!), and then took sulfur baths. Not a whole ton to say about it, but I’m very glad I experienced it. Never in my life did I think I would swim in the Dead Sea before I even got to the Pacific. :P

Dinner in Abu Ghosh

On our way to the airport, we went back through Jerusalem and had dinner at Abu Ghosh, which is the oldest Muslim neighborhood in Jerusalem. Way back in the day, the neighborhood acted as a giant toll booth, charging everyone who passed through on their way to Jerusalem from Jaffa. Dinner itself was great—lots of different things to choose from, and officially my last felafel and hummus in Israel. I also had chicken and tried a bit of lamb. Perhaps most of all, I miss the awesome pita/breads they have at every meal.

The End

And so ends my trip to Israel. We had our flight back to Newark from Ben-Gurion, and after a slight delay all went as planned. I slept for the majority of the flight, which probably explains why my jet lag was never that bad at home after the first day (a few mornings waking up at 5am, but it wasn’t awful).

I think it’s only fitting to end my official account of my trip with this guy…

Day 9

Tour of Old Jaffa

Our tour of Old Jaffa was guided by two members of a coexistence group in Jaffa, emphasizing to us that Jaffa is one of six cities in Israel where Muslims and Jews live together peacefully. Our guides were a Jewish Israeli woman and an Arab Muslim Israeli man. We started the tour at this clock tower and then continued through the city…

The tour was good and bad. Other than the specific history of Jaffa, there wasn’t much that I felt really added to my understanding of the various conflicts between Arabs and Israelis, Muslims and Jews, etc. On the other hand, I loved the tour, because we got to walk around a beautiful town in fabulous weather. We went to a gorgeous park, and I definitely have to admit on toning out the tour for a while and just enjoying the scenery.

African Refugee Development Center

Despite everything, seeing all the religious sites, the tours, trips into the West Bank, etc., I think the most eye opening experience I had throughout the whole trip was our tour with the African Refugee Development Center. Our guide Nick took us around what seemed like an entire city of refugees within an area of Tel Aviv. This park is where most refugees spend their first few nights to a few weeks in Tel Aviv—Nick said on any given night you can find approximately 200 homeless refugees sleeping in the park.

The level of poverty in this area was something I had never seen first-hand before, and I can’t even imagine living it. It was a rather jarring experience that left most of us very uncomfortable. One adult on our trip misplaced that discomfort, suggesting that it was due to being surrounded by so many black people. I tried to explain that it had absolutely nothing to do with the race of the refugees and everything to do with being hit pretty hard with a reality check of our own privilege. The refugees in this town came to Tel Aviv as a place to seek safety and start anew after fleeing their home countries—we came on a class trip.

Nahalat Binyamin Market

After seeing such incredible poverty, it was hard to swallow the fact that we were immediately heading to a market where we would purchase food other people prepared for us and shop casually for souvenirs to bring home. Of course, we managed just fine by checking off our ARDC in it’s little experience box and moving on with our lives. We got lunch and shopped a bit. After a few hours, Alissa, Rachel, and I started to walk home. After a bit, Rachel hopped in a taxi and headed to her aunt’s house for Shabbat, and Alissa and I proceeded to get lost… but not lost enough to not make it home safely. Saw some stray kitties on the way, so I was happy enough.

When we got home, it was time to pack. Last night in Tel Aviv and then off for more adventures and a plane ride home the next day.

Day 8

Independence Hall

Our first stop in Tel Aviv was, appropriately, Independence Hall. Israel declared its independence in this building on May 14, 1948. Although they chose this building because it was safe (slightly underground, high windows, and large enough to fit the crowd), it was fitting for a number of other reasons. Not only was this building at the time the Tel Aviv Museum, but it was originally the home of the very first mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir Dizengoff. While we were there, we heard an audio recording (translated by a guide) of Ben-Gurion declaring the independence of the State of Israel.

After leaving Independence Hall, we walked up the street a bit while we waited for our bus, and Seth gave a dramatic account of the story of Esther, which is where Purim comes from. From there, we went to Rabin Square and the Rabin Center.

Rabin Center

Rabin Square is the Square where Yitzhak Rabin, former Prime Minister of Israel, was assassinated on November 4, 1995, which just so happens to have also been my 6th birthday. At the square, they have metal plaques in the ground marking where Rabin, the gunman, and Rabin’s guards stood when he was shot. The shooter was a radical right-wing Israeli who opposed the Oslo Accords, a document Rabin supported aiming to make peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The wall memorial below preserves graffiti in the square honoring Rabin’s memory and the need for peace.

The Rabin Center itself is a museum, honoring Rabin, different historical events and efforts during his life, and also commemorating world-wide events which helped to put the Israeli history in context. The museum was interesting and well-organized, but it was a bit of an information-overload for someone like myself with a very limited knowledge-base of the history of Israel. The guide also rushed us through, but I won’t complain about that at all because it helped us get to lunch sooner. My body does not approve of eating lunch much past noon.

After lunch, though, we had my favorite session at the Rabin Center, which was a meeting with Dalia Rabin—Yitzhak Rabin’s daughter. Dalia has to be one of the most amazing women. She’s literally done everything, including working as a lawyer, a member of Knesset, and the Deputy Minister of Defense. Dalia said that while her father was alive, he did well keeping his family out of the public eye and never pushed her to follow in his footsteps, but after his assassination, she thought it was important to get involved in politics. Although she isn’t directly involved in politics anymore, it’s obvious that she still has strong opinions. When asked about the current Israeli leadership, she said she didn’t want to talk about it because we should be able to assume what her opinion is—obviously not a very good one. She currently directs the Rabin Center, in order to most directly ensure that her father’s memory is honored properly.

Gay Center

Seemingly changing the entire vein of the day’s outing, we ended our explorations of Tel Aviv at the Gay Center. While you might ask what this has to do with interreligious dialogue, my answer would be “quite a bit.” As we all know from American politics, religions have lots to say about homosexuality, and in response, the LGBT community has to talk a lot about religion. We also learned about a group they run specifically for religious Jews in the LGBT community. Some of their holiday services, for example, draw upwards of a few hundred people.

Day 7

On our 7th day we got up early to pack the buses. We were officially leaving Jerusalem. We had lots of traveling to do before we finally made it to Tel Aviv, though.

Kibbutz

The first thing we did was meet our guide for the morning, Yatir. Yatir took us to Ein Shemer, a kibbutz. Kibbutzim are collective communities in Israel, traditionally agriculturally based. In theory, all the people were supposed to work to better the community, and all the profits were pooled. They explained that in the past, children were brought up in a special center and wouldn’t even sleep in their parents’ homes. Of course, they don’t work quite like that anymore, but the community effort is still visible. Ein Shemer is an Eco-friendly greenhouse, full of interesting water displays, plants, and experiments. Below is an image of a water system someone at the kibbutz created to create fake rain in order to oxygenate the water for the fish.

While there, we also talked to an Arab-Israeli girl named Esra who is a law student at a local college. She spoke for a while about her pro-Israeli perspective, but she honestly didn’t impress me. She admitted that she felt no connection to Palestinian Arabs, which I found interesting. I would think that because of the conflict she would want to try to connect with those roots in order to be able to hear the whole story, but she didn’t seem interested in that at all. She did talk about peace and about how peace would benefit both Israeli and Palestinian people, but it wasn’t anything that I felt I hadn’t heard before. She also talked for a really long time, which gave us barely any time to ask her questions. I wish we could have asked more clarifying questions, because then maybe I would have felt like it was worth it to talk with her.

Capernaum

From there, we went to see the church at Tabgha where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, and then we continued on to Capernaum. In Capernaum, we saw the ruins of an ancient synagogue where they think Jesus and the apostles prayed before going to St. Peter’s house, where Jesus is said to have healed (Simon) Peter’s mother in law.

Below is an image of the floor of the church built over top of the ruins of St. Peter’s house. The church was built on what I would describe as a kind of stilts, so there is space between the ruins and the church. Here, you can see how on the inside of the church you can see through the glass floor to the ruins of the house underneath.

At this same stop, we were able to see the Sea of Galilee. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Mount of Beatitudes

From Capernaum, we took a short drive to the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus is said to have given the famous Sermon on the Mount. The church itself was beautiful, and behind was a wonderful lookout over the Sea of Galilee again. It was such a beautiful day, so it was nice that we got to spend a lot of it walking around outside. It was also very relaxing, though, because when we weren’t outside, we were on the bus, and chances are if you looked at me I’d have been sleeping. I listened to a lot of music and rested during all of our driving, and it really helped revive me.

Tel Aviv

Of course, to end a nice day, there always has to be some insanity. We got to our hotel in Tel Aviv, got our keys, and headed to our rooms. We were neighbors with Barkai again, so we walked with him to where we thought our room should be. He found his room… and we were at the end of a hallway. Where was our room? It was in the stairwell. Yes, the stairwell. It turns out the hotel was overbooked, and we ended up sleeping in the “safe room” (read: bomb shelter). Fun features included a collapsible shower, glow in the dark paint outlining all doors, windows, and outlets, and a ladder up to an escape hatch that opened into Jess, Carolina, and Rebecca’s room.

Day 6

Sabeel Center

The Sabeel Center is “An ecumenical center in Jerusalem for Palestinian Liberation Theology which seeks to make the Gospel contextually relevant.” Omar, the representative from the Sabeel Center who we got to talk to, was able to give us the Arab Christian perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unfortunately, I found this to be one of the less interesting outings we had. Omar wasn’t especially engaging, and I honestly don’t remember a lot of the details of what he talked about. The main theme of his talk was the importance of nonviolence and of actually practicing nonviolence. He mentioned that with their youth groups, instead of sitting around talking about nonviolence, they will try to find a way to put it into practice. The other thing I found more interesting about his talk was his insight about housing demolitions. Although I doubt I’ll ever understand the full complexity of the issue, the general problem is that the Israeli government demolishes homes built by Palestinians in occupied areas. This happens because the Israeli government refuses to give building permits to Palestinian people, and then the Palestinian people build the houses anyway because they need places to live. The Israeli government then has these “illegal” houses demolished, and the cycle starts again. This seems like more trouble than it is worth, but it also seems like an effective tactic of the Israeli government to dehumanize and break down the Palestinian people.

Supreme Court

We then went to the Supreme Court, which was a very interesting building. The picture below is an outdoor courtyard, but I wish I had more pictures of the inside.

Inside, there is a library, and the floors of the library segregated depending on your role in the judicial process. For example, lawyers and judges wouldn’t be allowed on the same floor because they don’t want people to talk about cases or influence any opinions. The higher up you go on the floors, the more importance/experience the people have. The first floor is for lawyers, the second floor is for judges, and the third floor is (I’m pretty sure) for retired judges. This emphasizes the hierarchy of knowledge.

I’m also going to steal a bit of info from Jess Manno’s blog because she summed up the system so well…

“The Israeli judicial branch operates as follows: Across the country there are 32 magistrate courts, then 6 district courts, then the supreme court (with 15 justices, governed by a chief justice-which is essentially the one with most seniority). There are NO JURIES, as they wanted their court system to be fully professional and NOT to have people judged by their peers. Courts hear civil and criminal cases and whether you start at magistrate or district depends on the level of sentence that could result if you are guilty. If you start in magistrate you can only appeal to district and if you start in district you can only appeal to supreme. HERE IS THE KICKER… there are no real requirements on being a supreme court justice-you don’t even really need to be a lawyer-you just have to be knowledgeable in law. You have to be at least 18 and be qualified. You could petition in, be recommended or any other avenue then you go throw an interview process.”

City of David

Following the Supreme Court we went to the City of David. We saw a very disorienting 3D movie, but then got to travel through some underground tunnels! Yael gave an explanation about how they built the tunnels under the city to direct the flow of water into the city. We hiked down through the tunnels and then back up the mountain on stairs (reminded me of Lehigh!) that offered beautiful views of Gethsemane and Mount of Olives.

Coming out of the side of the mountain and looking across the valley to a modern city…

Awesome, old olive tree…

One of my favorite views of the entire trip…

Encounter

We ended the night with a group called Encounter, which was by far the most engaging group we had come to talk to us in our night sessions. Encounter brings American Jews to Israel to see the “less popular” sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The leader of the group, Rebecca, said that she was shocked when she learned about the experiences of Palestinian people under Israeli occupation, because she had never heard that side of the story before. She has made it her job to expose that side of the story to American Jews who are leaders of different organizations—she called them “grass tops” because it’s not as much of a bottom-up approach as grass roots organizations, but she’s not targeting policy makers either. Through this experience, these American Jews have the opportunity to listen to the stories of Palestinian people and even participate in a home-stay with a Palestinian family. It’s less about dialogue and more about listening, which I think is really interesting and probably helps the Jewish people focus more on what they are hearing than any rebuttals they may be tempted to make.

I think they were also one of my favorite groups because they never seemed like they were trying to preach to us. They told us what they were all about, were super interested in answering our questions, and shared some really personal information about their goals and their experiences in Encounter.

Day 5

Bethlehem

First thing in the morning (7:30AM!), we traveled to the little town of Bethlehem.

Bethlehem is designated as an A area of the West Bank, meaning that Israeli citizens are not allowed to enter under any circumstances because it is completely under Palestinian control. It is separated from Israeli territory by one of the checkpoints and the separation barrier/security wall. Because of this, we had to drop off Yael and Barkai at a bus stop before we went into Bethlehem. Once we got in, we picked up a Palestinian guide who stayed with us throughout the rest of our time in Bethlehem.

Visit with the Mayor

The reason we had to leave so early was because we had an early morning meeting scheduled with the Mayor of Bethlehem, Victor Batarseh. Mayor Batarseh gave us a general overview of the history of Bethlehem and focused more on the conditions of Bethlehem today. The unemployment rate is really high, mostly because the majority of the jobs are in West Jerusalem, and the Palestinians would need work permits to go into Jerusalem. The Israeli government in Jerusalem often refuses to offer these permits, so Bethlehem citizens can’t get jobs there.

In addition to serving us tea, the mayor also gave us stoles with the Palestinian flag on them.

The best part of our meeting with the mayor was actually the informal speech his office’s public relations assistant, Carmen, gave about her personal life. She’s 24, and she told us about growing up in times of Israeli occupation of Bethlehem. There was a period where the Israeli army enforced a curfew 24/7 for 40 consecutive days. Once a week the Palestinian residents would be allowed out of their homes for an hour to grocery shop, but that’s it. One time, Carmen’s family was stuck in traffic on their way home after shopping, and they ended up being followed the rest of their way home by a tank. Multiple times throughout her life and sometimes still now she feels that her life is in danger. It was really moving, and we all agreed that she seemed to be the first person who spoke to us completely genuinely about their personal experience.

Church of the Nativity

After we left the Bethlehem Municipality, our guide took us to the Church of the Nativity, which is exactly what it sounds like: It is the church designating the place where Jesus was born. The church itself was huge, and the guide said it is the oldest church in Israel. When the Persian’s went through Israel systematically destroying churches, they stopped at the facade of the Church of the Nativity and decided to leave this church alone. The guide said that they stopped because the front of the building showed an image of the three wise men, who happened to be Persian.

The main focuses in the church are the areas designating the specific birthplace of Jesus and the manger. Here’s a picture of me touching the place where they claim Jesus was born.

There are also really awesome columns in the main area of the church where it seems like pews would have been. They are from the original structure from the 4th century. Also from the original structure are remnants of a beautiful mosaic floor.

After the church, we got back on the bus and went to a really awkward, touristy gift shop. On our way there, though, we saw some awesome street art/graffiti.

Dome of the Rock/Western Wall

After leaving Bethlehem, we drove back to the Old City and went in through a different gate. We saw a whole bunch of kids and families celebrating bar mitzvahs within the city walls. We had to wait in line for a decent amount of time, but we finally got through security and got in to the area of the Temple Mount, which is the holiest of holy places according to the traditional Jewish beliefs. In both the first and the second temples that were built on that site, there were rooms where only the highest priest of the Kohein (group of high priests stemming from the tribe of Levi) was able to go. This was so well enforced that back in the day when he would go into the room they would tie a rope around his ankle so if anything happened they could pull him out without going into the room. Strict Orthodox and Ultra Orthodox Jews will still not go on the Temple Mount for fear of walking in this holy place, which is basically considered their version of a mortal sin.

We also saw Al Aqsa mosque, which is the third holiest site to the Islamic religion (after Mecca and Medina). Right across a courtyard from this beautiful mosque is the Dome of the Rock, which according to Jewish tradition marks the site of the binding of Isaac. According to Islamic tradition, though, the rock is the spot from which Muhammad ascended to Heaven. It’s really a remarkable building. The dome is actually plate in real gold, and the blue stone is all very intricate and perfect mosaic.

After seeing the Dome of the Rock, we went to get lunch at a place inside the city. We got a family style lunch of felafel, pita, humus, and a variety of other sauces and dips. Everything was delicious and we stuffed ourselves silly. I also got lemonade with mint for a drink, and that was really yummy too. Definitely something I will do at home.

After lunch, we went to the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. This is one of the remaining structures of the Second Temple, and it has become a site for pilgrims to go and pray. It is especially holy for Jewish people because they believe the spirit of God remains here despite the destruction of the temple. It isn’t as big as I think I had imaged it, but it was certainly a powerful experience. We all touched the wall and put notes with wishes written on them into the cracks of the wall, which is a custom similar to lighting a candle for a prayer intention. It’s also notable that the wall is divided in terms of who can pray where. Women have a smaller section of the way to pray at, separated from the men’s section by a wooden fence.

Knesset

After leaving the Old City, we drove back to the government center and got a tour of the Knesset, which is the Israeli parliament. We got a tour of the building, and we also got to sit in for a few minutes on some of the members of the Knesset having a rather heated discussion in Hebrew that I didn’t understand at all. They were deliberating some sort of bill or ordinance, but I’m not sure how they could vote on anything because there were only 5 people there.

Parents’ Circle Forum

In the evening after dinner, we had two members of the Parents’ Circle Forum come to talk to us. This organization gets together parents and families of people who have been killed because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian woman who came lost her brother, who she had parented as they grew up, to a random shooting, and the Israeli man who came lost his daughter when she was 14 to a suicide bomber. It was incredible how close these two people were, despite their differences, drawn together by their mutual loss. They called each other brother and sister and were very supportive of one another throughout their conversations with us. If nothing else did, this brought home how clearly Israeli and Palestinian people can come together as individuals, knowing that peace and nonviolence are not only preferable but also possible.

Day 4

Morning Bus Tour

We started our tour bus ride with Eldad from Ir Amim, a non-profit organization that advances the Jewish Israeli agenda by trying to help Palestinians. Unfortunately, this was supposed to be a geopolitical tour of Jerusalem and parts of Israel. This didn't really work because it was crazy foggy, not good for a scenic overlook tour of the city. When we did finally get into an area where it is good to see others, this can be very good.

Later on, we went to an overlook from which we could see the Dome of the Rock, King Herod's mountain grave, and El Azaria (the area where Jesus went to raise Lazarus from the dead). It was quite the impressive view, but it still wasn't very clear. He also took us through Palestinian towns where Israelis aren't able to go freely due to the conflict. The difference between Israeli areas and Palestinian areas is huge. While Israeli towns have nice houses and sidewalks and good city services, Palestinian towns are very dilapidated, not taken care of, and generally unsafe. The reason for this is that Palestinian's are considered "permanent residents" rather than "citizens" of Israel, and their towns are severely neglected by the municipalities.

After the tour with Eldad from Ir Amim, we went to lunch at the Burger Bar. At Burger Bar, I just got a classic burger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and pesto. It was delicious, and I loved it. The one problem with Burger Bar was that before I left to get back on the bus, I wanted to use the bathroom. The actual problem, though, was that the bathroom didn't have a light. Another girl on the trip guarded the door for me so I could go to the bathroom with the door cracked open. Awkward.

Old City

On our way to the Old City, we briefly saw from a distance Gethsemane, Mount Olives, and the Dome of the Rock. We also passed Herod's Gate into the city, but we went in Lion's Gate into the Muslim quarters. As we were walking through the Muslim quarters, we passed the place where they claim Mary was born.

The same place is also thought to be where the pools of Bethesda were.

We went in through this entry because it leads right to the start of the stations of the cross along Via Dolorosa. We walked the stations, which was neat, but most of them were just marked with a plaque and/or an image of some sort. We ended the stations in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church was huge and beautiful. We saw (according to current belief, at least) where Jesus' cross was, the rock his body was prepared on, and the tomb where he was buried. The rock in the glass in the picture is part of the rock Jesus' cross was. Under the altar, you could reach into a hole they claim is the exact place the cross was positioned.

I lit a prayer candle for my family, and kept going with the group. We looked all around the church, and saw the tent-like structure covering the opening to the tomb of Jesus, and got to go into another tomb that was similar. We also saw lots of chapels including two Ethiopian chapels and a larger Armenian chapel, all of which are contained within the Holy Sepulchre.

After leaving the church, we walked through the little streets and alleys again, and we came across these lovely fellows. Nothing makes me feel safe like an 18 year old with an M-16.

ICCI

When we got back to the hotel, we got to decompress for a bit before we had a group of speakers come to talk to us. They were from an organization called ICCI, which stands for the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel. The people who came were the director of the organization and four students who had participated in ICCI's programs. After talking to us about their experiences in the groups (ranging from participant to facilitator, from programs with middle school age students to programs will college-aged students, traveling all over the world) they came to join us at dinner. I enjoyed this informal conversation much more, and got to talk with a girl named Tal who had gone with an ICCI program to Japan.

Oddballs

After that dinner, we decided we were sick of the hotel food and ordered Dominoes. Yes, I ordered Dominoes in Israel. Don't judge. :]