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 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.