Day 1 of trip
And it was night and it was day, the first day...
I was fortunate enough to be born in a time when air travel was considered a luxury and very exciting, so despite my fifty years of air travel experience, I still get excited about airplanes and flying, especially overseas though clearly customer service is a nonexistent term - two of our people, Mike and Mindy, were forced to buy extra one way tickets from Krakow to Vienna tho no one else who was flying their exact same itinerary was (different ticket agents read the rules in different ways).
We had a Boeing 777 to Chicago and it still stuns me that these things get off the ground. The United flight was absolutely jammed - and a slight delay because of Chicago area weather. O'Hare is as chaotic as it has always been - but all in all, fairly easy to navigate. We got to the LOT boarding gate in the International terminal with an hour to spare and everyones bags made it as well (of course, only Rabbi Derby's bags did not arrive, but that happened to Rabbi Levy on the trip last year so it is obviously the curse of the rabbi).
The non-stop to Krakow was on a Boeing 767 and had almost 100 Jewish teens from the Denver area but it was nonetheless a fairly uneventful flight - everyone slept a little, just enough to get them through the rest of Tuesday. Given the big delays I had seen all week for this flight, the fact that we were only 45 minutes late was not too bad. The routing was so interesting...you always think that getting from point A to point B is best done via a straight line but you forget the earth's curvature when you fly so we headed almost due north from Chicago, just south of Baffin Bay, then over Greenland and north of Scotland before swinging in over southern Sweden and then Poland.
As I had suspected early on, the group traveling through Munich missed their flight, but one of the women in that group is an experienced traveler and when she realized they would be late, it was arranged to change everyone's reservation to the next flight, so at the end of the day, all their bags made it and they were only two hours behind us.
I had arranged for a taxi to the hotel, and it was a van big enough for all of us (Rabbi Derby had arrived a half hour before us so he was there waiting for us in Krakow) so we got to the hotel just before 4 pm. The hotel is very clean, nice (it has the only bowling alley in all of Krakow!) but not big on amenities. The staff speaks English and is very helpful. Rabbi Derby went back to the airport to get the late arrivals, and I took the first group - now about eight - over to the Galicia Museum in the old Jewish quarter. I had arranged for a tour and we were met by the museum administrator who took us around for about an hour. The museum is only three years old and is the brainchild of a British photographer, Chris Schwartz, who wanted to record the results of the Holocaust in modern times, which blended in well with the trip's theme. The museum is mostly a display of his photos taken over the last 13 years showing what places from the Jewish past in the Galicia looks like today. The striking part is, of course, that almost no Jews remain in Poland today - though they have no way of counting in any case. The estimate is that there are maybe 200 practicing Jews in Krakow, a town larger than San Francisco, I think. But his photos are just terrific - and a great opening for our trip. There are just hundreds and hundreds of old buildings, still sitting, sixty years after the close of WW2, just empty because no one knows what to do with them (obviously there are no Jews around left to claim title).
Mr. Schwartz came down to meet us after the tour, and at that time, Rabbi Derby and the late people arrived at the museum, so they got a quick tour and joined us in conversation with the photographer. It was at this time that Rabbi Derby's assistant called to tell us the tragic news about Mike Jackman (our incoming Board president was killed Monday in a solo accident on Mt Tamalpais); he shared the news with me and he decided to hold the news until later. We went back to the tour and continued on. Besides the obvious questions about life in pre-Holocaust days, we asked about current life - and it was his opinion that the Poles then, as now, were not that anti-Semitic.
As proof, he has no guard in front of his museum, and there is no police presence anywhere in the Jewish quarter (contrast that to Paris or London or even New York). So we will see.
We left the museum about 7:15 and went to one of the several squares in the Jewish quarter. Krakow was untouched in WW2, unlike Warsaw, so many of the old buildings are still here. We are going to the Old Town area later today but from what we saw in the Jewish quarter, this is just a charming European city. We were able to find a place to eat where all of us could sit, and our fellow travelers and congregants Bernie and Yetta Robinson and their son Dan, who had arrived on Sunday, met us. So we were 18 for dinner - nice place - of course, no kosher restaurants in the town, just "Jewish food" but the place we went to had more of an international flavor. Rabbi Derby is not thrilled with the lack of suitable establishments but the ground rules are that when we eat as a group, we eat dairy, fish or vegetarian so no one had a problem (even though pork is the national food here and I am sure lard is the cooking oil of choice). We will probably hit the Jewish themed restaurant tonight. Prices seem moderate to me - not too low or high especially for a larger tourist town in Europe during high season. There are lots of remnants of Jewish life in this part of town, and we will explore them more today.
We walked back to the hotel - maybe 15 minutes from central part of the Jewish quarter...Joan Fierberg twisted her ankle a bit on the cobblestones but that was the only casualty. We sat for a few minutes while we each gave a thirty second pitch on why we were on the trip. Then Lavey talked about what we were going to do in the next few days, and also shared the news about Mike. Of course, the overall reaction was the same as our congregation's - shock. All of us really want to be with our community - especially Rabbi Derby - but it just ain't gonna happen so we will deal with it from here. We all hit the bed around 11 or so.
The weather is near perfect - mid 80's day, 10-15 degrees less at night. I forgot to say that the place we ate last night allowed us to sit "al fresco" on the square so we could watch life go by - just great.
I slept well but not too long and so it is almost 7 am now and we will get up and going out the door by 8:30. Will write later today (the hotel has free Internet in lobby).
Love to all.
Bruce
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Day 2
Today was a schlep.
Our guide was a late arrival from Prague so I had to call him at 8:15 to get him going. All of us had gorged on the huge hotel breakfast buffet so we were ready to roll. Unfortunately, he (Shalmi) wasn't, so when he finally was ready, we just found a room and had what I thought was going to be a short intro about the tour. It turned out to be almost an hour long and while he is certainly very knowledgable, it just went on and on. When we finally were ready, we walked over to the Jewish Quarter, our Polish guide in tow (the law apparantly requires us to have a local guide) and started looking around. This poor young girl (the Polish guide) was useless - as I had suspected she would be - I guess she has a good union. She said and did almost nothing all day. We toured a couple of old synagogues - of the seven in town, only one is in use. We ended up going to two in the morning including the "in use" one, and it was certainly fascinating to see what life was like and especially to see all of the intellegensia buried in this one small place. I know Lavey was enthralled. Shalmi is a very good educator - he is a former Holocaust educator at Yad Vashem. Then we went over to the "Alte" (Old) synagogue dating from the early 1500's. It is a museum now but lots of interesting stuff. It led us to a discussion, again, about memory - selective memory and eventually to a debate on what we want on the walls of our new building. We did lunch on our own - which was perfect - the mamzers in Israel wanted to charge us $15 for a kosher lunch (which I have now discovered is basically re-warmed airline food) so everyone bought what they wanted for under $5.
After lunch, we walked over to a recently remodeled synagogue (thanks to Ron Lauder) which has the look and feel of Doheny in Budapest. I don't remember everything because I actually drifted off for about ten minutes during Shalmi's presentation.
Then we went across the Vistula to see where the Jews were taken when the Nazis came (the ghetto). Of course, the usual horrific stories. THe last stop was Schindler's factory, probaby a five minute walk from the former main ghetto square. Oddly enough, it looks just like the movie set, in part because it actually was the movie set. It gave us a good chance to talk about our collective memories of the Holocaust - how Israeli educators had for years only talked about the resistance, about the Warsaw uprising, and left out much mention of what actually happened. Spielberg did the opposite...took a true story and made it look like Hollywood - which is better?
There was an incredible amount of walking and many tired people so we finally ended around 6, came back to the hotel, and most of us went to the Old City area for dinner. The Old City in Krakow, centered around the market square, is an incredibly lively place - tourists and school kids in the day, tourists and locals pushing for space and tables at night. Tons of places to eat so we got a nice meal, then found a great pastry/ice cream shop for a nightcap. All of this, of course, in al fresco dining in seventy degree weather at 10-11 pm and lights flooding the square's old beautiful buildings.
One other thing that I must comment on: if there was ever a time during the Communist rule when Poland was a drab and sad place, those days are long gone. People are young and happy and working and friendly - very surprising frankly. I am not sure you would have found this even five years ago.
Ok bed time. More tomorrow - after Auschwitz
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Day 3 - the day you dread and hope never comes.
Good sleep, then up around 6:30, checked computer, ate and packed. I was just about the leave the room when I realized I could not find my wallet, with passport, money and credit cards. I looked and looked, and could just not find it. By this time, of course, everyone was ready to go, so I sent the group on their way, and a guide (luckily, a supervisor who had arrived from Warsaw the night before but who was joining us later, Magda by name) and we went over to the American Consulate. A very long story short, in three hours, I had a brand new passport. Unbelievable. I got to the bus station and within five minues, I was on a bus for the 1:15 hour ride to Auschwitz, where the group was headed. Of course, all my money is gone and Aaron and Harriet stopped the credit cards but to be honest, when you are prepared and calm, problems can be handled.
An interesting aside was that when we got to the consulate, there were maybe 50-75 people just standing around out front, all waiting for something to happen that would get them in to see someone about getting a US visa. Magda said this is a daily sight, and that most people are refused. It seems that many Poles get a visa, a round trip air ticket to the US, and then disappear when they get to America. Can you imagine - tens of thousands of illegal Eastern European immigrants wandering the streets of America! But hey, at least they're white. (By the way, the consul was a punk baby kid from Chicago, younger than Aaron - saw my occupation and asked if I could help in sister in Queens find a home in Berkeley - I think yes was the right answer, don't you?)
Bus ride from downtown Krakow to Osweicism/Auschwitz uneventful - a $2.50 bus ride vs. a $100 cab ride. Got there a little late so missed a part of the Auschwitz tour but I did see much of it - honestly, I was much more affected by the next stop at Birkenau, for a couple of reasons. First, the place is enormous. I can't get over the physical enormity of the place - it is just so huge. Second, as we were going over, I ran in to Marty Zack, the oldest son of Howard and Diane Zack of our shul, which is good turnabout since Howard had run in to Aaron in the Negev several years ago. Rabbi Derby and I gave him a big hug. Third, as we started the tour of Birkenau, we ran in to a large contingent of uniformed IDF officers - not dressed as schleppers are they are in Israel but in semi-dress uniforms. A couple of people who know more about Israelis than I do said that this is an unusual sight - they would never be dressed that way in Israel. All branches of the services were represented but some isignias had been removed (e.g., intelligence service). I'm sure this had to be coordinated with the Polish government - foreign military, esp. Israeli military, walking around in uniform in Poland. It precipitated a good discussion about Holocaust curriculum in Israel - how the founders refused to allow much of the Holocaust story to be told in the first years of statehood, focusing instead on the "brave resistance". The Eichman trail started to change the curriculum.
Anyway, seeing the kids with Marty (a national Camp Ramah group) and the IDF was a double blessing at that sacred place - Am Yisrael Chai. Rabbi Derby gave a brief drash, and everyone who wanted spoke about their feelings at the moment at that place. Very moving, for sure. We finished with Kaddish.
Hard to know what to say about that place - in truth, there's nothing to say, only lessons to be learned and never forgotten. Aaron had written to me after my notes from yesterday about his rememberance of his visit to Poland - I think the place has changed, and Lavey has a very different take on the March of the Living. Suffice it to say that all is not as it appears, and the Poles we spoke to are adamant that there was little voluntary cooperation between Poles and the Nazis.
We left around 4:30, drove back to Krakow, picked up another bus driver and Magda, and drove on to Tarnow. I can't resist a comment about the driving I have seen so far in Poland - first,everyone is incredibly polite. Always yield right of way to peds, other cars, just very polite.... and I never heard a horn at any time or in any place (that will change in Israel). Second, the roads have not changed from the days of the Austro-Hungarian empire...terrible. The speed limit is 70K (this on the two lane E40, a supposedly European highway). The Poles have a lot to do before becoming a full EU member.
Tarnow was charming - very nice place for dinner. But it was quite late, almost 9 pm because of the slow going. There's no Jewish life anymore in Tarnow - none. The last Jew died ten years ago. But there is a fine relic - a large stone Bema in a city park. So after dinner, about 10:30 we walked a couple of blocks just to see it before heading to the hotel....and unbelievably, when we got there, we found the place lit up and a klezmer band going full tilt to an audience of at least 100, maybe more. This, in a city of no Jews. None of the band members were Jewish but the music was authentic klezmer. And people were just digging it. Stunning and one of those authentic, spontaneous things that makes travel what it is. I just cannot imagine how this came about in this small town in the middle of nowhere.
We finally left for Rzeszow (prounced "ZHEE - shouf", naturally) and got in close to midnight. Nice modern high rise - but we are all spent and need to rest up for tomorrow. I might add that there were lots of good discussions on the bus about what we saw and did and many people are keeping journals so it will be interesting to see what everyone else thinks.
Weather by the way is great - a few raindrops at Birkenau but otherwise overcast and mid seventies.
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Day 4
Woke about 6:30 again - felt ok. Walked around the area of the hotel in light mist with Noah Flower. Nothing remarkable to my eyes about Rzescow - tho Polish Airlines has just started a weekly non stop flight from New York to Rzeszow, so something must be happening here. Nice modern hotel with typical heavy buffet, meat, cheese, fruit, bread. More than enough to get the day started.
Left at 9 for Lancut (pronounced Wine-soot) which is home to a very famous castle and a restored synagogue, We did not go in the castle but did have a good discussion about the role of the Jews in the area during the 17th and 18th century. We are headed east in to the heart of Galcia, and Lavey and the guides talked about Jewish life in those days - first as the middle class intermediaries between the royalty and the peasants, and then as peasants themselves. It was the basis for the Zionist ideal, of working the land in order to find God. The synagogue is now a museum of course - no Jews left here. I took lots of pictures - because it was such a fascinating place. Many prayers we alll recognized were hand written on the walls, and each portion sponsored by a shul member. Trading money for plaques seems to not be a new custom. Lots of good imagery - hope to share photos.
Left about 11, headed east. The countryside is totally green - rain is regular here all summer I guess. Wonderful rolling landscape - reminds me of Sonoma a lot tho oddly, much of the land seems untilled to me. And absolutely no signs at all of livestock of any sort. In fact, not much in the way of animal life at all, even in towns. Still good weather.
We have two drivers, a guide from Israel, who is a very knowledgable person, and Magda, our local guide. So we are paying for all four plus the bus from now until Wednesday. It is just crazy; for example, here we are driving through Poland and Ukraine, and no one talks about what we are seeing, what things are like, what the issues are.
All that, plus it is clear that the drivers do not know exactly where they are going and how things work. I've done my own homework and it seems at times that I know more than they do. It lends great credence to my belief that we are really being ripped off by the tour company. For example, we were not able to do lunch because Magda and Shalmi planned poorly, and were unprepared but that did not stop her from getting some food for herself and the drivers in Lancut. That made everyone feel good.
We got to the Ukraine border about 1:15 and though this may seem a strange thing to say, we got through in remarkably quick time, only an hour and a quarter. As we approached the border, there were very long lines for trucks, and only a little shorter for cars. The way things were going, I think it will take 5-7 hours for some of the trucks to make it through. The only problem was with me of course - I had a passport with no entry visa, so the
stupid border patrol guy asks Magda in Polish if I parachuted in. She told him to look at the issue date and so he looked, and then moved on.
Well, Ukraine is not Poland - tho it might be as Poland was 20 years ago. Horse drawn carts on the road, drab people and clothing, animals wandering everywhere - goats, cows, chickens. And the roads are flat-out terrible. But there are churches everywhere - Catholic and Russian Orthodox, with their onions.
Arrived in Lviv at the hotel at 5:30 - a little rest and then off to Shabbat services. Services were held at the site of the former "Golden Rose" synagogue a few blocks away. There is nothing there now, of course, except the old building and this character who fancies himself a Hassid (and dresses the part). There were a few old men, a few old women, and us, all separated by a mechitzah. We had paid the Hassid to prepare a kosher meal, so after the service, we ate (the mechitzah was taken away). Full course meal - salad with gefilte fish, soup, small piece of chicken with boiled potato, fruit, cake. But it was really late when we got home. The hotel computer was down and I was so tired I went to bed and fell asleep immediately.
I think all of realized, privately, that the Shabbat service we attended started at exactly the same time the service of Mike Jackman did. Like me, I am sure a lot us wished we were there. But you can be assured that the service was on our minds.
One quick impression about Lviv - certainly a historic old city, but not drab or dirty. I remember the first time I went to Budapest in 1968 - maybe it was just the time of year. But people here dress well, there are lots of consumer goods, and at least here, many people seem as if they have a purpose to what they are doing. I am sure there is a large gray or black market, but there are also four McDonald's restaurants in the area so this seems to me to be a land of great opportunity.
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Day 5 - Shabbat
We slept in a little today, and decided to do our own service, without a Torah, of course. We got a little room in the hotel (which by the way is quite nice with good amenities - robe, cloth sandals - and some English speaking staff) and did about an hour of service. Lavey took the drash from the red heifer to the "ashes" around us...that the priests used to ashes of death to purify people (odd concept, surely) while we look to do the same in this land. We also spoke for a few minutes about Mike Jackman.
Afterwards, we did a walking tour of Lviv, nothing extensive but enough. The local guide is very good, and there are still evident remnants of Jewish life - signs and building markings where Jews lived, and a plaque on a building where Sholom Aleichem lived for a year. I think the most interesting thing is that the Jews here, at least many of them, thought of this as their home, not some far away place like Israel. They had all of the institutions we do today, a million newspapers of every political spectrum and their own
successful (usually) ways of life, just like we do. And then in 1941 it was gone. It is so easy to imagine Jewish life in this town 100 years ago - when more than 25% of the populace was Jewish.
We then went back to the same place we had dinner last night for lunch - for kosher food. They overfed us again - very nice. Then we split up - some went back to the hotel, some went on a continuation of the walking tour, and some, like me, just went out on their own, just walking around a little. Again, like yesterday, I am really amazed how hip and lively the townspeople seem to be. I am sure the country side is different, but a lot of people in the town seem quite like any city in the US (only the buildings are old).
I took a little nap, then about 13 of us went out for dinner in a very nice local restaurant. I had schnitzel, risotto, french fries, and ice tea, for under $11. The food prices seem very cheap - but maybe there is no upper class to eat in these places. Again, the typical European town - we got to the restaurant at 8 but it did not really start filling up until about 10. Walked around a little more and now to bed- we have an early day tomorrow. I am sorry to leave this town - I think there is a lot to see here - perhaps a lot more, if you like to look at old churches.
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Day 7 (there is no Day 6 log)
The hotel in Rivne is an experience no one will soon forget. It is a real throwback to the Russian times...it was so bad, that everyone laughed. No hot water for most people, "towels" that were more like dishclothes. And no one dared take a shower. And the people and buildings were in another time from the day before in Lvov...just totally different. Dan and Noah had gone out the night before to a techno concert - they said the kids were just like Americans and only the music was a little dated. But it will certainly be interesting to see how this group of young people react to changes, living in the small interconnected world that they do.
The road from Rivne to Kiev is among the best in Ukraine - four lanes, sometimes a divider but nevertheless awful. The "pavement" is so bad that I think the bus will never recover. And people tether their animals - goats and cows mostly, some horses - to chains by the side of the road so you have to be careful not to hit them. And of course, there are no freeway bypasses so you drive through every small town along the way. So tho we left around 8:30, we did not arrive to Berdichev to almost 12:15, and we were met by the Chabad rabbi assigned to the place, and he took us to the old cemetery. In a word, this place is immense. Berdichev had 38,000 Jews before the war started, now perhaps 300. Chabad has a presence and they are doing what they can. The cemetery is generally unkempt.
But at Levi Yitzhak's grave site there is a little house, locked, and so it was opened and we all went inside. There,
covered by a plain slab, was the grave of the great tzaddik and Lavey's ancestor, going back 8 generations. Lavey had dreamed of this moment for more than 50 years, and it was a focal point for the trip for my planning. It was certainly an unbelievable moment in time - and then we sat for an hour with Lavey and taught the teachings of his ancestor. It was like being transported to a different time - how the Chasids taught pleasure as a way to find God, how the Chasid movement of the Baal Shem Tov operated and what those times were like...it was mostly over my head but is was magical being there, watching Lavey teach. He was just so in to it, and he knew the material so well. Occasionally, he would say "as my ancestor here would say" and then he would point to the grave... As I said, it was magical and I am sure he will write something about it.
We went to see a couple of small old synagogues, one still in use, and then went for lunch to the Chabad rabbi's house. He's a young kid, born in Brooklyn but moved to Israel at an early age. A wife was found for him, and the rebbe sent them to Ukraine. The wife cannot be more than 30, and she has #4 in the oven. More importantly to me, the meal they served us was simply the best we have had on the trip - fruit salad, garnishes, soup, meat, chicken, schnitzel, cake...all kosher of course. Just a fabulous cook.
By 7, we had reached Kiev, a town of 3 million plus on the Dnieper. The hotel is first class, very full and busy. We are walking tonight, and I am sending this from an Internet cafe. In short, we are floored by what we have found. Here, at 10 pm, thousands of people are walking on the street, on very broad boulevards, just walking or eating or shopping. Major intersections do not allow pedestrians to cross...there are underground passageways so traffic flows well. The city was rebuilt after the war, so there are lots of modern, huge Soviet architecture buildings. But monuments are everywhere (we have a photo in front of Comrade Lenin's statue). The shops are full of high end consumer goods, the kind you would find on Fifth Avenue or in Union Square. We are all just stunned. The weather is just perfect and the women dress incredibly well (maybe because it is so late the old ones are off to bed already) and leave little to the imagination.
This day has been quite an emotional one, and educational. Tomorrow is our last full day here but I think this is a city I could certainly spend time in.
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Day 8
Last full day in Kiev. Weather still good though by the nightfall, we had a brief shower so it is humid but it never got hot.
First stop was Babi Yar. Kiev has now grown so that the monument is within town limits. The area of course was a ravine that was turned in to a killing pit, first for Jews (30,000 in the matter of a few days) then prisoners, et al. The story is well known but we had a long and emotional discussion about how Jews self-identify, that so many Jews view themselves through the eyes of
the Shoah. A friend once told me that every Jew he met had told him their connection to the Shoah within five minutes of meeting him. Lavey is keen on having us identify ourselves in other ways - through tzedakah, through Torah, through tikkun olam. And our days have been so full of ups and downs - full of pain in visiting Shoah sites and joy in visiting sites where Jews once lived full lives as we do now.
Lavey told this incredible story I have never heard him tell...at this first job as a day school principal, he had called a parent him to tell her that she should remove her son from the school because he did not want to be there. Upon hearing this, the woman rose, and smacked her kid as hard as she could across the face then turned to Lavey and said: "I don't give a shit about your fucking synagogue...six million Jews died in the Holocaust and I want him to know God damn well why."
The question, obviously, is: why don't Jews identify themselves as students of Torah, as doers of tikkun olam, as heirs to a glorious past instead of only self-identifying as victims of the Shoah?
We left Babi Yar and went to tour the local active synagogue. Nothing special but nice to see. A block away is the house where Sholom Aleichem lived, so we went there and read some of his works including some of his thoughts on Kiev. After lunch, we went to visit a local community center run via JDC funds. Lots of good works going on there - the kids are recruited from a couple of local Jewish days schools, and the agency runs 7 days camps in the Carpathians. It was actually quite moving. We headed back to the hotel, and
then went to dinner back to the synagogue to try and meet with some local Jewish college students, but they were delyed by a rainstorm so we never saw them.
I am leaving out some details here but will try to fill in later.
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Day 9
We slept in a little today and last night's rain had cleared out so it was again a nice day. We had heard horror stories about the trip to the airport so we left extra early, around 9:30. It took us less than an hour to get there. Boryispol Airport in Kiev is a real piece of work - here's how it works. You cannot go through the first security gate until your plane is called, usually two hours before departure. So if you are there early, as we were, you basically have to sit around the very tiny and totally overcrowded main lobby waiting for your flight to be called, which is what we had to do. What a zoo! People everywhere just hanging around and waiting. Very little security BTW. Finally, they called us about 11:45 so we checked our bags, went through passport control and got to the gate.
Behold - we were in a new world. Large, open and very uncrowded gate area, very nice, totally the opposite of what we had experience below. They finally called our plane and off we went...almost. When the messiah comes, I hope He makes the Satmars go last so they have to wait for the rest of us just as we have had to wait for them all our lives. This bunch of jerks would not board the shuttle bus to the plane with the rest of us so we had to wait until everyone had got on the plane and then they came, and then they would not sit down. We were fueled and packed and ready to go on time but left 45 minutes because of there jerks. Aerosvit Airlines turned out to be not too bad - Boeing 737, totally full. Flew over Turkey and Cyprus before landing about a half hour late at the two year old airport facility in Tel Aviv. I must say, even on my 8th visit, it is still a great feeling to arrive in Eretz Israel.
Got our bags, met the guide, picked up two more women who had flown in from the US just before us via Continental and off we went to the south end of Tel Aviv near the Jaffa port. It is hotter than hell here...terrible heat wave, and of course, quite humid in Tel Aviv in any case. It has been over 100 in most of the country the last few days, over 120 in Eilat. Hopefully this will break soon.
We checked in to Dan Panorama, typical seaside high rise resort that overcharges for everything (no free Wifi but they will rent you WiFiaccess for $15 per 24 hours. Gonifs! So I am using an internet cate for $3 per hour. Had an absolutely fabulous dinner at Magadna, a nearby restaurant - would highly recommend. So now we will walk back to hotel and to a long night's rest.
I have a lot of work to do on what happened yesterday because there was lots of activity and there were lots of things that made us pause for thought. There is a good article in The Nation about Zionism and the last week has certainly educated me a lot about what Zionism is - but unfortunately, it raises more issues and questions than I can reasonably answer. Lavey and I talked about this on the way to the airport, and I think he is as befuddled about this as I am. It's just something we cannot figure out without a lot
more study. E.G., was Zionism a response by secular Jews to the religiousity of the Chassidic movement of the late 19th century (i.e., a more religious brand of Judaism, not the kind of Chassidism that Chabad is now) and is Israel the response to that quest for secularism - after all, many secularists turned leftward politically so while the Nazi attack on the Jews was certainly
anti-religious bias, it was probably also an attack on the opponents of facism (i.e., the communists which was a movement heavily participated in by Jews). And, the founders of Israel were very much into the collectives - named kibbutzim - and had very little religious background. So there is lots to figure out.
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Day 10
Before I start, I have to tell a funny story I forgot to mention yesterday. Two people joined us yesterday for the Israel part, both of them flying in from SF. One is an eighty-something grandmother, Jeannette Berger, who has a daughter and grandson on this trip. The other is a Catholic nun, Judy Donovan, who is close to our community and wanted to make the trip. So I had arranged for them to travel together to the airport. When they got to SFO, Judy, to her horror, discovered that Jeannette, fearing that she would have no food for days, had emptied her refrigerator and brought tons of food along, including peanut butter and an eight inch serrated knife to cut bread. Obviously, neither the peanut butter nor the knife made it on board, but Judy realized that it's tough to cross a Jewish grandmother.
So today was really hot again. As hot as I have seen it or heard it here. So we mostly stayed in, spending time visiting the Diaspora Museum first. As most of you, this place has really fallen on hard time - very boring, stale. But after the tour, we met with Shlomi Ravid, the new director, and we had a vigorous discussion about his mission (he is just new to the post). He wants to change the mission of the museum to talk about Jewish "peoplehood" whatever that means. To me, it means that you can still be Jewish and live outside of Israel (as you might remember, the whole theme of the current museum is that the Jewry has been returned to the Promised Land). I think now that after ten days, our group is really focusing on the Zionist response to Chassidism, i.e., the piety and religiosity of the 17th and 18th centuries. By the end of the 19th century, Herzl was asking how the Jewish problem could
be dealt with, and the Enlightenment movement (Haskalah I think in Hebrew) was quite anti-religious and promoted Jewish strength. Some answers took the route, as I have said before, to communism, but some took the Jews to Israel to work the land. But I think now that this question of how you can be Jewish and not be an Israeli will be one that is discussed at length for some time.
After lunch, we went to the Tel Aviv Art Museum. A young woman gave us a very nice presentation on Jewish art, particularly art in the museum there. It is a very nice facility with some nice stuff, and in particular a new exhibit just ending on Mark Rothko. There was also a very nice photo exhibit on three sisters who survived the Holocaust.
The last stop for the day was at the old Jewish cemetery near the beach in Tel Aviv. This was the first cemetery in the new Jewish world of reclaimed Israel, and since so many were not religious, it is totally different from European cemeteries we saw last week in that few had Mogen Davids, and the wording was in Hebrew not Yiddish. A lot of interesting people are there - Bialik, Ehad ha'Am, the first mayor of Tel Aviv (Dizengoff), Moshe Sharrett (second PM of Israel) and some painters and artists. Very interesting place - but it was outside and very hot so we got back to the hotel and most of us went to Jaffa (music, fireworks) or just walked around town.
So those were the high points of this day.
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Day 11
This is the eighth trip I have made to Israel. Still, the highlight of any trip is the day you enter Jerusalem. In every respect, this was by far the most emotional day I have had so far, in large part because it was the day we went up to Jerusalem.
We left the hotel relatively early, and the bus driver made good time then took the back road through Ein Kerem to Yad Vashem. I was anxious to see the new building but we spent the first hour and a half at the Valley of the Communities and doing some walking around outside. I have a different perspective now on the Valley of the Communities as many of the cities names we saw inscribed on the stones were ones we had visited or driven through. One cannot go through this magificent monument without being almost overwhelmed by the enormity of the lost communities - not the individuals but the communities, the lost cultures, the lost newspapers, the lost ways of life. As most of you know, Yad Vashem was really not designed to be a memorial as much as it was an expression of how Israelis saw the Holocaust. The museum in Washington is much more a memorial, I think, than Yad Vashem.
The new part of the complex was every bit as spectacular as it was touted to be. It is certainly a day tour - just too much to see in a three hour visit. I went straight to the 8th room, where the exhibit focused on life in the camps and the death marches. I am glad I went there first, and skipped the other parts. I was there about 45 minutes, watching and reading everything. Of course, much of the time was spent transfixed in front of the small exhibit about the Helmsbrecth death march which my mother was a part of. Words cannot describe how I felt - and I must admit, at one point, tears did come. It is one thing to talk about a death march but quite another to see it come alive in pictures in front of you. It was so interesting to see that much of the original source material had come from Bernard Robinson, another army soldier, like my dad, who also married a woman who was on the same death march.
Bernard had made it his life's work to find out about each and every girl on the march, and then had donated much of his research to Yad Vashem. I had the honor of meeting him twice, and I know he would be so proud to see that his work is now being seen by millions each year. Still, the horror of what my mother went through is quite unimaginable, and I think my brother and I will make some effort to see if we can talk to her about this at some greater length.
We left there about 2:30 and went to the Dan Panorama to check in. I thought it was too early to settle in so I dropped the bags and cajoled most of the group to join me at Machne Yehuda. Fortunately, being the Friday with the most daylight hours of the year, the market was in full swing. I went straight to Marzipan to see Sarah's sweetheart Itzy, and the place, of course, was jammed. So I said a quick hello, asked after his family, and then bought a bunch of stuff and left. I will see him next Friday too. He said he is sending some stuff to Chicago now and wants to branch out.
Machne Yehuda, the open air market, is crazy all the time but the hour before closing on Erev Shabbat is certainly the most frenetic. Vendors are standing in the middle of the street with their wares, trying to get rid of their perishables and so knowledgable Jerusalemites are madly scrambling for bargains. I think the group got a huge kick out of it.
We made it back to the hotel, and then changed for Shabbat. We went to Agron Street because it is so close to the hotel, and tho is has a well deserved reputation as being a little stolid (average age of members is 80?), the influx of summer visitors and new UJ students made for a large attendance and good ruach (joy). Of course, we live in a very small world, so everyone saw
someone they knew (I saw Jim Lebeau an old family friend now an executive with the Masorti Conservative movement - he was accompaned by Jerome Epstein, a former movement head). One couple ran in to the rabbi (now retired) who married them 40 years ago. And of course, Lavey knew a few folks. So the students did a little of the service and the rest was done by the new young rabbi the shul has - seems good, tho his talk on the parshah in part was critical of the movement's translation of a part of the Torah - he said the authors of Eytz Chaim did not translate a portion right and messed up the context. Brave talk, I thought, with Epstein sitting right there.
Anyway, we went back to the hotel for a large dinner. Finally, it was late but I could not bear to be in Jerusalem on Shabbat and not go to the Kotel. So I told folks I was going there after dinner and about 8 people joined me. The night was perfect - warm, a little breeze, and lots of lights. We went in to the Old City via the Zion Gate, and of course the view of the Kotel, the Dome of the Rock, Mt of Olives and East Jerusalem from that vantage point, on a night with a full moon, was glorious.
This is, as I said, the 8th time I had been to Israel, and I try to go to the Kotel as often as I can. I always do it for me. Oddly, when I got to the wall, and touched the stones, the first thought/feeling I had was that I was here for those I had just visited in Eastern Europe who could not come; I was bearing witness for them, I was at the Wall for those who could not be there. That was the first time I had ever felt that way, a positive sign, I thought later, that maybe I had learned something in Eastern Europe.
On the way back to the hotel at midnight, I called my parents to say Good Shabbos, and to tell my mom that I loved her, and perhaps understood a little bit more.
Shabbat Shalom
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Day 12 - Shabbat
Nothing beats being in Jerusalem for Shabbat....whatever persuasion. We went to Shir Hadashah this morning for services. It was so ironic. They meet in a community center, in a room like a gym. In fact, maybe it is a gym. The place is terrible, there are holes in the wall, one air conditioner made horrible sounds then died towards the end of the service, and worst of all, there were
eight -- EIGHT!! -- steel pillars inside the "sanctuary" holding up the roof (inside joke to CKS bldg committee members). And yet...as I said to Rabbi Derby, if this place is such a dump, why is the community so vibrant? In fact, the question really is, what attributes constitute a community - a good rabbi, a beautiful building? In the case of Shir Hadashah, that's not the answer - they have neither. Like most things from the trip, it raises more questions than it answers.
Services were like last night - ran in to lots of people we knew. Lavey, of course, knew a lot. I ran in to Laura Geller, one of the first woman rabbis in the reform movemment and an old family friend who I had seen just last month when she did the funeral service for my sister-in-law's dad. She invited us to join her group tomorrow for an evening with Stuart Schoffman talking about ISraeli films. Should be interesting.
Went back to the hotel for a quick rest, then left for Christian Quarter with a small group, including Sister Judy. We meandered around a bit, ending up at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I have been there a lot as I find the place fascinating but I still have yet to figure it out. I showed Judy a couple of high points, but honestly, it was as foreign to her as the Great Synagogue is to me. She said it reminded her more of a Latin American church, where reverence to a specific icon is a big deal. We just sat in front of the traditional spot where the tomb is where Jesus was buried and of course, there were hundreds of people waiting to get in, two at a time. You cannot help but be impressed with the reverence and devotion that these pilgrims have as they approach this place, a place where they have dreamed of coming to for all their lives. You might remember that the first icon you see when you walk in the door is the slab that Jesus was supposed to have been laid on when he was taken from the cross. People would come and rub and kiss
the slab, and rub things on it for good luck. Just fascinating psychology.
When we left, the group split and I took Judy and Steve Fierberg on a tour of the Christian Quarter's streets, filled to the brim with shoppers and gawkers.
We walked to the Damascus Gate and then to the Church of the Flagellation near Lions Gate in the Moslem Quarter, where the Via Dolorosa starts. I think it was really interesting for Judy - it certainly was for me. We met the rest of the group at 5, and the group took a walking tour around the walls of the Old City. I left the group and went to get ready to meet my friends Rabbi Gary Greenebaum and his wife Tamara. I met them at 7:30 at the Hartman Institute - they were there, along with groups from several other cities, as a part of Hartman's ongoing video conferencing project, a Sunday conversation with David Hartman broadcast once a month, worldwide, as a video conference. We had dinner, then a movie about kibbutz life in 1974. Stuart Schoffman, who had been a scholar in residence one year at Kol SHofar, led a group discussion about the film which was interesting but very long so I did not get back to the hotel until late.
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Sunday July 1, Day Thirteen
Up way too early today though of course, Sunday is the first day of the work week in Israel. Driving habits seem not to have changed much in town... Israelis still use their horns liberally and are the worst drivers in the world.
We started at the Dung Gate...there is a new tunnel that starts at Jaffa Gate that takes you out right to the foot of French Hill, so you save a lot of traffic time. We turned right in to East Jerusalem, past Damascus Gate and Lions Gate, the Kidron Valley, the cemeteries,and the Church of the Gesthamene. We entered the Old City through Dung Gate, then spent time at the Southern Wall excavations and the Davidson Center. I had seen this all at least three times, so I was not too much in to it. A small group of young people was conducting a service near Robinson's Arch which was great, but it is still really bothersome that this compromise still prohibits all Jews from praying collectively at the main prayer section. I might have mentioned this but you can now go to the Temple Mount via the "non-believer" gate for a few hours in the morning, tho apparently you cannot go in to the Dome of the Rock or the Mosque.
We ended up at the Kotel for about half an hour, as it was the first formal group visit. It was very crowded, about noon, as I think some ceremony had just taken place. Still, it's always good to go to and see the Kotel.
Once every trip, Harriet and I have one event or incident which is totally spontaneous and quite amazing. So that moment happened next. As I have said, we've been wheeling Jeannetee Berger around in a wheel chair to make her comfortable but as we got to the bottom of the stairs to go up the long staircase to the Cardo area (those of you who have been there know the place I mean), we were faced with a very long climb and the prospect of carrying the wheelchair up those stairs. Just as we started, a group of about 30 IDF kids came bouncing down the stairs, with all their trappings (guns, packs) obviously going to the wall. As they saw our predicament, they stopped and four of kids grabbed one end of the wheelchair, with Jeannette still on it, and carried her all the way up the stairs, lickety split. Just a beautiful moment.
We split for lunch and shopping - Cardo, by the way, still way too expensive - never shop there. At 2:30, we went to the home of a woman who made aliyah 25 years ago, got a small apartment just off the main square in the Old City (just behind Hurva) and has married and raised four kids there. I did not stay for most of the conversation - but I am told it was a real eye opener. She was not particularly religious or overly right wing - but made it clear she has no use for Arabs and that all hope for peace is gone. You might quiz others who stayed as to how the conversation went.
I had left early to meet my friend Gary and we just wandered around the Old City a bit, and then walked up Jaffa Road. Finally made it back to hotel around 6; found out Jeannette had to go to the hospital where she got 8 stitches in her arm for a scrape she got at the Southern Excavation. She seems fine but a little tired.
Last event of the day was certainly the stunner. A new cultural center has been opened by a foundation, in a new building just north of the Jewish Agency bldg at Harav Avida and King George Sts. called Bet Avi Chai. We met up with
Laura Geller's westside LA shul and saw a series of four mini documentaries by an Israeli filmmaker with comments by...Stuart Schoffman (again). The woman does documentary films - we saw one that was an interview with a very young
girl, 19-20, who served in two positions during her military service (some years ago). One part of her service was to strip search Palestinians at the Allenby Bridge crossing, and her second tour was as a secretary to some military big wig. It was an odd film because the first part of her tour involved totally dehumanizing and humiliating Palestinians, and the second tour involved her being sexually harrassed by her commanding officer. In typically Israeli military fashion, she was told not to make a big deal of this because it would hurt the officer's career and family (today of course, Katsav resigned - maybe times are changing).
Another film clip dealt with how Mizrachi Jews are treated (as second class citizens)...and so forth. So they were films by an Israeli Jew that were critical of Israeli society. And boy, did these Westside LA Jews let her have it. I thought they would kill her. They had no understanding or tolerance for her criticism of Israel - I mean, they were just vicious to her (small
world, of course- one couple are very close friends of Steve and Rita Harowitz, and one guy is Mark Kaplan's brother). But we just could not get over the attack these folks launched against this woman, even tho the woman admitted that all documentarians have a political agenda (e.g., Michael Moore's "documentary" on the US health system was just released this weekend). I have not had time to really digest this attack but it was just amazing.
Anyway, late night schwarma on Ben Yehuda and then to bed.
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Days 14 and 15
Monday July 2 & Tuesday July 3
I am combining two days for expediency's sake.
Monday morning started with a trip to Mt Herzl. There is a small museum there which has a small show about Herzl's life. The guide asked me about it, and I told him I thought it was pretty stupid and way too amateurish for this day and age. He said the show was meant more for Birthright kids who know nothing about Herzl. He also said that the museums get no money from the government so lots of things are outdated (e.g. not only Herzl but Diaspora as well). We did a bit of walking afterwards, to Herzl's grave and then to tour the graves of other leaders who are buried there (e.g. Rabin, Golda Meir) and others not so famous (e.g., Hannah Senesh). If you 've never been there it is a pretty somber but impressive place.
We drove over to Hazon Veshaya, a soup kitchen about a mile west of Mea Shearim. It was our Tikkun Olam time. We were sort of dreading it because the last time we did this, it was make work, and a waste of time. This was different. This place feeds 9000 people a day throughout the country, and we helped prepare meals and serve meals to the needy of the area. So we got in and peeled potatoes and then went to serve meals to the needy who were waiting.
The next hour or so was just horrible. These poor people were so desperate, literally shoving and yelling to be fed in a small cramped and overcrowded room. Most were Russian or Eastern Europeans but some Mizrachi as well. It is hard to describe the scene - people clamboring for the food, some polite, others not. And worse, many people simply took the food and then dumped it in to some sort of Tupperware container so they could take it home. What they did not want, they left. The waste of food was awful too but a great feeling of anger and rage rose inside of me as I watched this scene unfold, as I am sure it does every day. What kind of government makes it citizens go through this? What kind of society treats immigrants (some of whom are obviously Holocaust survivors) this way? The food was certainly good, plentiful and well prepared but the scene was just terrible - we met later with the director, a terrific guy who showed us an excellent pitch video (as opposed to the juvenile presentation at Herzl). He talked about the services they provided - how the government cannot or will not help, how social service agencies have to do so much to take up the slack for the government's overspending on schools for the Orthodox and guns for the military. It is just such a shanda...I was really angry. So sad to see these Jewish elderly treated in this manner.
The rest of the day was free until dinner. Some people shopped, some went to the hotel to rest. Tip for the future: never ever shop in the Cardo unless you want to overspend money in the most expensive shops in town.
At 6:30 we went across the street for dinner at Little Italy with our adoped family, the Torochovs. The girls are now 7, 8 and 9 and if possible, are cuter and more adorable then ever. Many people took pictures and we will share them. Really, these three are just adorable and cute. I talked briefly with Roberta Bernstein, their Project Atzum social worker, who came with them about the future. She said they are fine for the short term but she has concerns for the long term. I know Miri Goldfein is working on this and I trust her 100%. Still, I pray things go well for them (BTW, Roberta also told the group that their new place in Ramot is terrific, and that they have us to thank for this). It was a really uplifting experience.
About ten of us went over to the Kotel about 10 and took a tunnel tour. Tho I had been there twice, I went again because the place is just so fascinating. Of course, we could not go out on the Via Dolorosa and had to double back, but I just love being in places like that and really look forward to seeing it again and again.
The next morning, we were up early and out the door (BTW, the consensus of the group was that we would not stay at the Dan again - service is too spotty and customer service is an unknown word.
Drove towards TA and then up Route 6 to Jezreel Valley, where we went to Beit HaShita, the Institute for Holidays. There, a very energetic elderly man named Buja kept us enchanted for an hour with stories about Jewish holidays. This place, on a kibbutz, was started by a nephew of David Ben Gurion, and is dedicated to understanding how the kibbutz movement has reinvented the Jewish calendar. More importantly, he said the mission of the institute is to bring the holidays and the meaning behind them to the kibbutz movement, which is notoriously anti religious. In that way, he opined, the kibbutz movement, which is need of revitalization, may able to transform itself before it totally dies out. We then drove to Degania, the first kibbutz at the south end of the Kinneret. It was founded on true communistic ideals - a true collective. It was founded in 1912 and now has about 300 members - in a nice setting.
We had a nice talk about the movement and where it may be going. After a quick lunch there, we drove to Kfar Blum to check in to the kibbutz's hotel (after the women demanded that we stop at Naot Mordechai for a shopping spree at the Na'ot Shoe Factory) which is, as some may know, a really high end resort hotel. We then met a SF Jewish Federation staffer and went to Kiryat Shimoneh where our federation supports a number of programs. The one we visited was a drop in teen center for at risk kids. We talked to the staff
and to some kids and unfortunately, it was the same old story - no government support and social agencies filling in and getting funding as best they can. These kids, of course, have lots of issues - mostly to do with their position
in life (lots of Russian and immigrant families get sent to the area) and the imminent and real threat of shelling from Hezbollah). These folks try hard but have a really hard job. I might add that I specifically told the group that we were there to visit only - no tzedakah. Our federation, like many others, just does nothing to involve synagogue communities in their programs so I have no reason to think we should do anything to help them out as we do our own tzedekah. Now, if the federation had said: we'll pay for you to go up north for a day, and visit some programs, and then solicited us, I would have no problem with that. But I know our own leadership is frustrated with the federation folks who seemed to have no interest in whether we came here or not.
Anyway, the last stop was Dag Al HaDan, a great fish restaurant in a great setting (the river Dan runs through the place, and lots of waterfowl are around) where we enjoyed a nice meal al fresco.
So finally off to bed - tommorow is a half day at Tzfat (Safed) and then on to Petra, Jordan.
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Day 16 - Morning
I have a few minutes before we leave for Tzfat and wanted to comment on Kfar Blum, the hotel at the kibbutz we are staying. As I may have mentioned, we have been disappointed with the two Dan hotels we have stayed at, not because the rooms are bad (they are small but quite adequate and clean) but because of the lack of American-style customer service. I've just schalked this up to
the "ugly American" syndrome, but Kfar Blum is a shining example of the fact that Israelis can do it right if they want to. This is just a lovely place to be...and even the weather is cooperating. The staff is pleasant and very helpful and if needs arise, they are quick to help and cheerful. The food at breakfast was good, and there is even an in-house baker. I've just really enjoyed it. Just wish we could have stayed here four days and the Dan Panorama one.
Just another quick story. There is a group staying here on a bar mitzvah tour. Their travel agent, believe it or not, can be reached at www.protexiaextra.com.il....great name.
So listen to the tour they set up for this poor kid's "big day". 6/28: Bar Mitzvah at Kotel followed by big party. 6/29: Beit Shean, swim in Kinneret or Kangeroo farm visit, on to Kfar Blum, then Shabbat. 6/30: Shabbat then lunch. Mincha is followed by walking tour along Jordan. 7/1: Tel Dan,Golan Heights, picking fruit on Golan kibbutz, then kayaking along the Jordan 7/2: Manara cliff, Sfed, jeep tour of Golan 7/3: Kunetra, Bental overlook, Katzrin, winery tour. 7/4: Leave for Ceaseria and return to Jerusalem (King David Hotel). All I can say is, I've obviously short-changed my sons (I also would love to have 5 minutes with the parents for a brief solicitation for the building project).
Day 16 - Later
After we left the hotel at Kfar Blum, we travelled to Zefat (Safed, Tzfat). This is a town I can go back to again and again, like the Kotel, though the town is certainly turning more and more "black hat" (there are also signs of immigrants). We did a quick tour of three synagogues there (as you know, the Kabbalist movement was founded here) which date back to the Jewish immigration at the end of the 15th century. Most of the town is not that old due to earthquakes and the 1948 war, but it is an artists colony and there are still lots of great places to see and visit. After an hour, we went to visit the artist David Friedman, who used his art to explain Kabbalah. I had heard him before, and it was a fascinating talk. We then did a quick lunch at the home of a local caterer, and headed off for the Jordan River Crossing into Jordan.
We hit the border at 3:30 - absolutely no one there - it took us a long time to get across so we did not leave until 5:30 - I blame the Israelis more than the Jordanians, who were nothing but helpful and polite. Five hours later (including a 20 minute rest stop), we were in Petra. I must say that the first part of the drive, along the Jordan River Valley, was quite depressing - only two lanes and it went through every town - it was stereotypical Middle East. Lots of men sitting around, dirty, animals everywhere. Nothing looked clean and the homes looked half built. But after we started the climb out of the valley up towards Amman, things improved remarkably. Near Amman, the road switched to four lanes and quite well paved and it stayed that way all the way down to the Petra turnoff. It was mostly like our own freeways, except that it ran through towns where the driver slowed only a little. I should add that the guide and driver are accompanied by a member of the "Tourist Police" who rides the bus too. I guess he is there for our protection but neither he nor the driver speak English. The guide, Waleed, is very good - quite knowledgable and excellent English. He said that there are only six million people in all of Jordan, almost all of the Bedouins - he himself has 13 siblings and 267 first and second cousins. It does help to explain the Middle East a little more. It turned dark around 8 so we drive the last half of the route in darkness - the sky is brilliant with stars, and we can already tell, even in the darkness, that town we are in, Wadi Mousa (Valley of Moses) is a very pretty place. The hotel seems quite nice, one of seven five star hotels in the area, and they had a beautiful buffet dinner set up for us. We ate quickly and went to bed, because we are to be up for a 7 am departure for the Petra site. It is four hours of touring in the lower city, then a climb of 845 steps to the Upper City so we need a quick rest.
Happy birthday to the USA
Day 16 - Supplemental
I forgot to elaborate on the condition of the homes, etc. as we climbed out of the Jordan River Valley. I said the roads improved but the homes, people, everything really, all improved....it became a totally different country, especially as we hit the southern edge of Amman near the airport and continued south. Maybe the Jordan River Valley is just a very poor area.
I should also add that the town we are in, Wadi Mousa, has about 15,000 people, and we have already heard, in our short time here, two sets of fireworks going off as people celebrate weddings.
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Day 17
One of the problems with writing stuff late at night is that sometimes I forget things. I remembered, too late for yesterday, a cute story from our visit with David Friedman, the artist, in Safed. David has a guest book, and he showed us an entry from two days earlier; it read: "Hi to my rabbi. Signed, Marty Zack"
Anyway, Petra today. The group was anxious to see as much as possible, so we left around 7 and took the short ride to the Petra visitors center. I will write in a moment about what we saw, but I must say how proud I was today of all of our group. It was hot (not overly hot but very warm when not in the shade) and we were there for about nine hours, walking up and down for about six miles on dirt and stone roads. Almost no one ate lunch. And there were no complaints - to the contrary, everyone said how much they appreciated this option being added to the trip. It was a real testament to the wonderful people on this trip.
I also wanted to add a word about the Jordanians we encountered. Obviously, everyone knew we were Americans, and maybe even that we were Jewish, but uniformly, people were friendly and nice and helpful. It's as if there had never been hostilies between Jordan and Israel. I was frankly surprised, but pleasantly so. Maybe Clinton was right (and this is the part that Bush doesn't get)... opening up the world to globization and strenghtening third world economies is a better way to go, rather than forcing democracy on cultures that do not want it.
Anyway, Petra. I know everyone's first questions will be: tell me about Petra. What did you do and see? How was it? The answer, unfortunately, is not simple. What the Nabotean traders did there two thousand years ago is almost indescribable. Essentially, they carved the soft sandstone in to intricate temples and monuments, and these monuments have lasted over the millenia. Using words like awesome and unbelievable describes nothing - but that is how we felt, especially coming down the narrow channel which empties in to the plaza in front of The Treasury. A few people have taken some great pictures which I hope they share with you, but in short, the area was a stopover on the trade routes (The Spice Route) for years, about two thousand years ago, so many buildings date back to that era, tho few were used in the last 1700 years for those purposes. More recently, Bedouin tribes used the area to bury their dead simply by carving caves in the stone and inserting the bodies, and the buildings were used as temples or altars. Due to earthquakes and flooding, many caves and buildings have disappeared but there is an effort to find them and open them up (see last month's Smithsonian on the work Brown University is doing). For example, at the Treasury, they have already discovered another level and they are starting excavation, and they will probably find an alter in the middle of the plaza in front of the Treasury (if you have never seen a picture of The Treasury, watch the last Indiana Jones film). But there is much more. After the Treasury, the road winds about another mile, past more temples and caves (the royal temple is by far the most incredible of the edifices) and stops at the foot of the climb to The Monastery. For those who do not want to walk, there are horse drawn carriages from the entry to the Treasury, and then donkeys to take you to the just-mentioned spot at the foot of the climb. The carriages are not recommended. From the base of the climb, donkeys take those who do not want to climb 845 steps straight up, to most of the way to the Monastery. Harrowing and breathtaking. A short walk brings you to the Monastery, so named because after the Christians came in the fourth century, it was turned in to a monastery. It is by far the largest of the edifices in Petra, and going a little more west, there are panoramic views well into Israel. It is just a spectacular site. Then, of course, is the climb back down and the 45 minute walk back to the entrance (one way in, same way out). It is hot and dusty and worth every penny.
As a side note, Petra seems like a thriving community that leans heavily on tourism. For example, tonight, for only $150, you can get a ticket to see a hip rapper named Usher at the local amphitheatre.
So back to the hotel around 5 for a little sleep or swim then dinner at 7.
We are up early tomorrow and off to the Arava border crossing.
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Friday July 6
Early wake up in Petra, then about 1:45 to the Arava border crossing at Eilat. Again, very good roads in Jordan but there are military and
police checkpoints at random places so you cannot just zip down the road. Anyway, border crossing was very easy... as you get down to Aqaba on the Jordan side, you can see all of Eilat as well as the Taba area in Egypt- three countries. Drove up the Negev past Dead Sea Works, the resorts, Masada and Ein Gedi and arrived in Jerusalem almost exactly in five hours, which included two stops (one for lunch). Checked in to Jerusalem Tower - well located but pretty small rooms - ok for couple or one, but not great for two singles. But the price was right. Hurried over to Machne Yehuda to see what Marzipan had left and picked up flowers too. Back to hotel, then Zsu and Avner, with Eitan, picked me up (Zsu is my first cousin's oldest child who made aliyah and married an Israeli). We got to the Ben Dor residence in Ein Kerem just after seven but did not eat until nine. The usual Ben Dor gathering...all three children and their spouses, plus kids plus Ammon's cousin and her husband Amos, who was just appointed Israeli ambassador to China. So it was a long and interesting night - plus we celebrated Eitan's second birthday. The only concern I had with Eitan was that for a two year old, he said absolutely nothing. So they drove me back to the hotel and I went to sleep.
Shabbat was a relatively easy day - went to Agron St for shul - Rabbi Frank was gone and so Rabbi Feder talked - boy is he right wing. Jim Lebeau showed me through the new building very quick - quite nice and cheap rates if you can get a room there. Then a little afternoon walk, little dinner and out to airport.
