Day 25: Friday, May 16, Shiloh

Today we hit Shiloh. Since Shabbat starts at sundown on Friday, this was a short day. While driving there we passed a guy riding on a donkey. I saw a lot of that over the course of the trip. They guide them by hitting them on one year or the other with a stick.

Mosaics from a long-abandoned Greek Orthodox church in Shiloh.

Shiloh is where the tabernacle stood for several hundred years before David moved it in preparation for the temple building. It was also where Eli was sitting when a runner brought the news that the Ark of the Covenant had been captured in battle by the Philistines. Jewish tradition teaches that the runner was Saul, who later became king.

The current synagogue in Shiloh is modeled after the tabernacle. It has a big altar outside attached to the synagogue on which they perform a lot of marriages. I said I couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to be married outside on an altar, and a guy on the trip quipped that “when you marry, you realize the true meaning of sacrifice.”

In the course of conversations Mickey talked about a British general (Orde Wingate) who trained Jewish settlers in the guerilla warfare tactics later used against the British. Wingate, a gentile who supported Zionist Israelis, consciously created and trained Israeli units, knowing that their tactics would be used against the British. These arguably treasonous actions made him one of Mickey’s heroes. Talk also turned to fighter aircraft plans sold to China. Israel wanted to develop its own aircraft and actually got U.S. aid money to do so; a combination of factors (Israel’s inability to build enough to lower the per-unit cost, pressure from American defense industry, etc.) led Israel to cancel the project. They sold the plans – which included top-secret U.S. technology – to China, and the end result is the J-10 that China officially revealed in 2006.

We had lunch in Ariel. It is heavily populated by Russian Jews; Mickey said that about 25 orthodox families evicted from a settlement in Gaza joined the Russians because the Russian Jews were completely non-religious. The families were basically Jewish missionaries to other Jews.

A fuel-efficient means of transportation.

Many people here live in trailer homes. They are officially not permanent buildings and therefore can get around some laws preventing permanent buildings in contested areas. People frequently park the trailer and then brick over the outside, making it look permanent.

Our tour coordinator had fallen on his knee and was talking about it with Mickey at dinner. Mickey said something about checking his mezuzah (the thing that Jews put on their doorframe; see Deut 6:9). What I got was an intro to Jewish mysticism. The response was something like, “I’m not superstitious, but the mezuzah really does affect things.” Apparently he was having issues one time and found out that his mezuzah wasn’t kosher because the letters had worn down, and when he replaced it his problems went away.

Day 24: Thursday, May 15, Beit El and Sartaba Mountain

Outside the cities the army does double duty as the police. Here, they moderate between parties in a fender-bender.

Today we visited Beit El and then climbed Sartaba Mountain. At Beit El we visited what is essentially a pirate radio station. The Israeli government controls all radio stations, and the founders of this station complained that the only thing on the government stations was American music and government-filtered news. Our host there complained that the government was “trying to force American culture down our throats.” (This is coming from a guy who was born and spent a good portion of his life in America.) They set up a radio station on a ship outside Israel’s territorial waters next to another guy who had done the same thing, but was on the opposite side – i.e. the other guy was for any peace deal with the Arabs, whereas these guys were very nationalistic and pro-settler. There was a lot more history to the radio station, but basically it sounded like the government did harass and at times physically intimidate the station. Of course, the station says that they were always legal. They now are an internet-only station (both a Hebrew and English station), but they have a building with about 20 employees. We spoke with another guy who was the director of programming for the American station. He was born in Haifa, but grew up in NJ and finished law school in NYC before moving to Israel when he was 26.

He said there were three reasons the radio station existed, the first of which was “to bring the Jews home.” He said that Jews who believed they were coming just to “have our own space” didn’t get it, and that it is more than that. What I can’t convey was the earnestness this guy had when talking about Israel as a different sort of place where you felt God’s presence. In Q/A I asked him the same American foreign policy questions I had asked the previous night. He said the same thing, that America should mind its own business. He also advocated a self-reliant Israel, basically saying that America’s aid hurts Israel my giving it a mindset that it can’t survive on its own and is entitled to aid. He admitted that it would be difficult for Israel to go it alone, but he still wanted that. (That doesn’t mean he wants to abandon ties with the U.S., but he said that the U.S. and Israel should see each other as business partners and pay for military aid, etc.) I asked him about Jewish political donors in the U.S., most of whom advocate aid to Israel. He said that “American Jews think that they help by being political movers in the U.S., but that era is over.” He described having Jews scattered as being like a body split up.

He also said that the Israeli income tax brackets range from 35-50%. For comparison, our top tax bracket is 35%.

A typical landscape in parts of Samaria. It's pretty dry and barren.

I realized today that we’re getting a “Ron Paul Tour” of Israel – Mickey is very passionate about settling and spends half of his time knocking his own government for stopping settlement. He advocates passive resistance to government evictions of settlers, and is saddened by the fact that very few soldiers object to evicting settlers. He is furious at Ariel Sharon, because Sharon was pro-settler during the election and then agree to have land-for-peace negotiations. Mickey complains that he should have at least held new elections to give people a chance to vote with the knowledge that he would make such a deal. He also complains that many immigrants are from Russia or Eastern Europe, don’t have a democratic background, and thus obey the government blindly. He wants more Western immigrants who expect government to obey their will, not the other way around.

Mickey said that Israel is “Western in way of life, but not in its philosophy.” The more I see here, the more I agree with that.

Someone else on the bus said that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, but I said that Tel Aviv is the capital. It turns out that we’re both right, sort of. Jerusalem has been the capital ever since Israel captured it, and the Knesset is there. However, since Jerusalem is was not in the 1948 borders of Israel approved by the UN, almost all nations (including the U.S.) recognize Tel Aviv as the capital and have their embassies there.

The Israeli Knesset has 120 representatives. There are only national elections (i.e. you don’t have a local representative). Seats are awarded using this method that is too complicated for me to explain here. Arabs hold about 10 of the 120 seats. If that leaves you scratching your head, it is because there are some Arab Israelis (as in Israeli citizens who are Arab). After the 1948 war, Israel declared everyone in its borders to be an Israeli citizen. Arabs who hadn’t fled were given citizenship. Everyone who fled became a refugee. Israeli citizenship is hereditary, so every Arab who is an Israeli citizen today either lived through the 1948 war or is a descendent of one. No new Arabs are given citizenship. Today the Israeli citizens live about as well as Jewish Israelis. The big difference is that they are not required to serve in the Israeli army, though they may do so if they volunteer.

That afternoon we climbed up a mountain called Sartaba. The plan was to drive to a saddle in the mountain and then hike the rest of the way up. At this point we had one of those big 80-person buses for 20 of us. Combine that with the narrow switchback roads and the drive was no easy task. At one point the driver cut a corner too much and one wheel went off the pavement and lost traction. As he tried to move us around and get traction, Mickey commented that he was surprised we were having trouble since “I normally bring bulletproof buses up here; they are much heavier and don’t have any trouble, so we should be fine.” We knew we were staying in the West Bank, but that is when we realized just how odd it was for us to be going the places we were going as tourists. Earlier that morning our radio station tour guide had finished his talk by telling us that he was impressed by our courageous and our willingness to go to dangerous areas (Beit El) where many Israelis didn’t even go. I was very glad to know that we weren’t getting the “glossy flier” tour of Israel, but I think many parents had images of a burned-out bus in their mind by the end of the day.

I saw two scorpions on the way up, but otherwise the landscape was barren save the thorny low-lying shrubs. The view was great. The valleys below channeled the wind up the mountain at whistling speeds, and you could walk ten steps from one peaceful side of the ridge to the other and be assaulted by the winds. At the top was an abandoned Maccabeean outpost. This had once been one of a number of relay stations for a signal flame (think of Gondor in the 3^rd LOTR). The official calendar was kept in Jerusalem, and at the beginning of every new moon (if I remember correctly) a flame was put up in Jerusalem and relayed to other towns. Several feast dates were tied to lunar months. Later the Samarians would put up fake flames to throw off the Israelis, so they had to resort to manual relays ala the Pony Express. For this reason certain feasts are celebrated on one day in Jerusalem and two days elsewhere in memory of the fact that other places didn’t always know when they

should celebrate the feast or got word late. I picked up a couple of pottery shards. Could they be 2200 years old?

Some of the view from the top, with the Maccabeean fortress next to me.

It was also our first introduction to Israeli water cisterns. The Maccabees had dug channels in the mountaintop that led to caverns. Rainwater would follow the channels and fill up the cisterns, providing water during dry times.

I definitely enjoyed the hike. The landscape was barren, the wind was strong, and the view was great. For some reason I like all three, and I always like a hike. On the way down I bounced from rock to rock with an alacrity that would make my little brother John proud.

Day 24: Wednesday, May 14, Samaria area

A Palestinian house.

Israel is a whole different world. I have the same feeling I had when I had just gotten to China. Get ready for a lot of unfiltered and unsorted info and impressions.

Lots of houses have flat roofs with rebar sticking out the top. Many people build houses this way so that they can add additional floors later. Even most finished houses have flat roofs.

At the first place we stopped there was a lone soldier on guard duty looking into the valley below. He had a small camo tent for shade, but otherwise his job was just to stare into the valley. It seemed terribly boring, hot, and miserable. Perhaps that is a reason many people volunteer for competitive elite units – I would crawl through some extra mud to have a different duty. I later talked to two soldiers and got a different impression – see below.

We stopped at a synagogue for a rest stop and our guide used the opportunity to explain something on a wall. It said (in Hebrew) that there are three places in the world that are indisputably Jewish because Jews paid for them. It also had a sign in Hebrew with Jonathan Pollard’s face and mailing address in prison. It was a sign urging Jews to write him and try to get him out of jail.

Another Palestinian house.

Mickey was pointing out a settlement and said that when the liberal government was elected in the 90’s and declared a stop to all new buildings in settlements, it said that people could continue with any building with a poured foundation. The rabbi in this settlement declared that since building the settlement was God’s work, the work could continue on Shabbat. They ended up with a “settlement” of a lot of foundations, and when the inspector came he certified that the foundations were there and the building caught up with itself later. Mickey was quite happy with this story. Mickey frequently says “we” in stories, and I quickly realized that “we” does not refer to Israelis. I asked him and he said that “we” refers to a nucleus of settlers.

He is also open about Israel being a socialist country. After a while you realize that every Israeli who talks about the government talks about red tape and socialism.

Mickey said that if Jordan were to take over, Mickey and his settlers would be peaceful Jordanian citizens (assuming peace in return). I’m not sure if this was a heartfelt sentiment – we want to live in our land regardless of who controls it – or just a platitude given that the odds of living peacefully among Arabs is basically nil at the moment and therefore he can safely say that without having to ever live it out. I would lean toward the former, however.

Part of the reason for that assumption is Mickey’s explanation of Israel’s land takeover policy. After the 1967 war (the “Six Day War”) in which Israel almost doubled in size, Israel did not take over everything by right of conquest. It nationalized only the land that had previously been national land of the previous owner (i.e. Jordanian government land). They later nationalized all land that was both 1) unclaimed and 2) uncultivated. If any Arab was cultivating land to which he couldn’t produce a title, they went ahead and left him with the land.

I asked Mickey what he would call himself and he called himself “modern orthodox.” He is very religious, but he isn’t Hasidic (also called “ultra orthodox”). (I’m not sure what an “old orthodox” would be, and I don’t think modern orthodox is an official title.) I found out that I know only the bare bones basics of Judaism, and in asking him questions I sometimes get replies like, “Believe and you will have no questions; don’t believe and you will have no answers” – one of his favorite sayings, according to him.

Today as we were driving through an intersection I saw four Israeli soldiers searching a car. They had four Arabs out of the car and facing a dirt wall. They had stripped the car to the metal, and the interior upholstery was in a pile next to the car.

Refugee camp in the densely-populated triangle.

I saw my first refugee camp today from the top of a hill. It came as a surprise. The camp was a very densely populated section in the middle of a sparsely populated valley. I knew that these refugee camps have become full-blown permanent communities. What I wasn’t expecting was that they would be cooped up in the middle of what is otherwise a pretty open space. In talking to Mickey about the camp, he made the point that no one else has refugee camps from 60 years ago. (Israel celebrated its 60th anniversary just a few days before we arrived, and these refugees are all from the 1948 war.) There are no refugee camps in France, the Philippines, China, Poland, or even Russia. Only here. “Refugees” is a misnomer, because it brings images of temporarily displaced people sleeping wherever they can and having lost all of their possessions – which is exactly what they want you to think. The truth is much different. It isn’t a lack of space that prevents them from moving out or even Israel, but from my understanding it is the PLO/Palestinian Authority and other Arab nations. No one wants to absorb angry and poor citizens, and as long as they stay in the camps they are useful political pawns.

Another picture of a refugee camp. The street divides the refugee camp on the right from the regular Palestinians on the left. Note that the refugee camp is composed entirely of permanent buildings.

Tonight we had a BBQ dinner at the house of our tour organizer. He invited other English-speaking members of his community to join him, and it was great. I met a lot of interesting people and had some great conversations, but here are some highlights from my Q/A with Danny:
-Do Israelis mostly split politically along religious lines? No. He and several others (all orthodox) said they wouldn’t vote for religious parties because those parties just want to use their position to shower money on their organizations.
-What is the religious/secular split in the country? It was estimated to be 40/60.
-What is the feeling between the groups? Secular Jews don’t like religious Jews, mostly because they see religious Judaism as infringing on their life. Buses in Jerusalem don’t run on Shabbat, for example. Tel Aviv is almost totally secular, whereas Jerusalem is highly religious. Settlements also tend to be religious.

I then said, “Since you’re on the receiving end of American foreign policy, what do you think of that foreign policy?” His wife overheard the question and said, “In one word: crap,” then walked away. Danny prefaced his answer by saying, “You have to start by realizing that no Western country wants Israel to exist.” That was news to me, so I asked him why. He named two reasons: 1) Anti-Semitism, which he said is still a big force, and 2) oil. He explained that Western countries rely on oil, Arabs control oil, and thus Western countries are stuck between Israel and angering the Arabs and would rather just make the problem (Israel) disappear. He said America is always being the big bully and interfering with the affairs of other countries and almost always messes things up. He recommended I watch a movie called Ugly American, which he thought was spot on, and also cited Southeast Asian countries that would have been “better off under communism than what we provided for them.” I have to agree that America has a mixed record in our international interventions during the last century, but I have to disagree with Danny and say that our record isn’t 100% bad.

So what should our foreign policy be? “Don’t interfere.” I asked him if he just meant that we shouldn’t interfere politically, or if we also shouldn’t “interfere” by giving Israel both money and arms/supplies. In other words, would he be happy if we treated Israel like any other country – say, Germany. He didn’t answer the question but responded that “America doesn’t give anything to Israel. Do you realize that America gives Israel arms, we improve them ,and then we give that technology back to the U.S.? It’s a quid pro quo.” He also asserted that the U.S. doesn’t give any money to Israel, just loans that it holds over Israel’s head to control Israel. He cited the Johnson administration’s demand during the 1967 war that Israel stop its movements toward Damascus and Cario, both of which it might well have captured had the war continued a little longer. Honestly I was quite surprised by the ferocity of the “stupid America can’t get anything right” sentiment from an Israeli, particularly coming from someone who spent a lot of his life in America.

A soldier who was also present was much more moderate and, I thought, thoughtful – though Danny has already had a lot of years to think through his position. He agreed that America shouldn’t interfere, but also recognizes that Israel might not be able to survive without American support and that money never comes without strings attached.

At this point Danny disagreed and a very interesting argument ensued. Danny said that “you can’t look at Israeli history logically” and that there is no logical reason that Israel should have survived this long. The soldier was surprised and said what about X, Y, and Z reasons we beat the Arabs in the Yom Kippur War? Danny said it just depended on the way you look at it. It was summed up by a story Danny told: five soldiers were hiding behind a rock and survived despite the bullets whizzing past them. When asked how the survived, three said that they got lucky and took cover while two said they survived by God’s protection. Who was right? Danny basically argued for blind faith. It was a quick (2 minute) exchange, but it revealed a lot about divisions between Israelis.

A different soldier (in a different conversation and without knowledge of the previous conversation) had told me that huge U.S. influence is a myth perpetuated by politicians because it gives them an “out” when they do something unpopular.

In comparing notes with the rest of the family that night, I found out that everyone had interesting conversations. My dad had talked with a lady who was complaining about the weakening dollar. My dad expressed surprise, because a stronger Israeli shekel should help her. It turns out that she and her husband are living in Israel on their American Social Security checks.

I learned more about Mickey today. He was living in Toronto when his half-brother came through for a visit. While there, he wrote a letter to the editor of Toronto’s newspaper regarding a play that he hadn’t gone to see. It had something to do with Jews, and Mickey’s brother signed the letter with the title, “President of [some Israeli youth organization].” The organization didn’t even exist in Toronto, but the brother correctly guessed that it would bring interest in the group. He moved on, and Mickey was left to field calls. He got interested and read some Jaborinsky books recommended by his brother and became a zealous Zionist. Mickey moved to Israel when he was 16 (he’s now about 60), had four kids (two of which live in kibbutz), and has been one of the first people to move into several settlements. He and a group tried to settle in Samaria and were removed by the military seven times. The 8th time they were allowed to stay, so 30 families ended up in Samaria. He was quite proud of that accomplishment.

In talking about the kibbutz, Mickey said that the original communistic kibbutz had a bond of common religion or (in non-religious kibbutz) the common bond of Zionist politics. Almost all kibbutz are now privatized (i.e. things are not held in common) because kids born in kibbutz didn’t want the communism. Mickey basically said that the original kibbutzniks (as he called them) chose to be there, but the kids did not and therefore objected to the forced redistribution of their earnings. He praised the early kibbutz by saying you “had no economic worries. Sometimes you were poor, but you were all poor, so you didn’t feel so poor.” I wish redistributionist American politicians would be that honest.

Day 23: Tuesday, May 13, Transit

Today we just traveled. At five minutes into Tuesday we left on a sleeper train for Rome. I will admit that I had little kid excitement, since this was my first time on a sleeper train. The setup was two bunk beds (four beds) per room. It was a very good design – individual lights, belts falling from the ceiling to keep upper-bunk passengers from rolling out, a fold-out table, etc. You got a pillow, a “taco sheet,” and a kit like you get on international flights. The room had pretty good noise insulation. They knocked on our door 15 minutes before our arrival. We arrived in Rome just before 7am and switched to a commuter train to the airport.

At the airport we were looking for the El Al check-in desk and found it at the very end in its own room and behind two guards with automatic rifles. After answering a lot of questions our checked luggage was opened and scanned with those bomb-sniffing swabs. We then went through regular airport security and into the waiting area. (They didn’t check the carry-ons at all, however, so I guess they thought airport security was sufficient for those.) In the waiting area there were a lot of Hasidic Jews -- ultra-orthodox, or the guys in the black hats and long suits. My first taste of Israel.

My last taste of Italy was, interestingly, a Dolce & Gabana Underwear store. It was there by my gate and so it was my last sight in Italy. It was appropriate considering the large number we had seen.

So here’s the deal on Israel: my whole family is here and we’re going on an organized tour. It’s the only tour portion of my trip, and it will be a nice break to have someone else doing the planning/guiding. At the same time, I’m wondering how much I’ll lose in terms of freedom and interaction with locals.

Our El Al meal had a big kosher certificate that was much more detailed than I expected. When we got to Israel we met our tour organizer and were free for the rest of the day; we went in search of a snack and ended up at a schnitzel place across the street. A guy who travels to the U.S. regularly told us that he drives 5km to get schnitzel at this place. That may not sound like much until you realize that some parts of Israel are only 60km wide.

At dinner, our organizer unfolded a long pamphlet and said that orthodox Jews had to say this long prayer before they ate bread, and that some people got lazy and just didn’t eat bread with their meal because of it. We also briefly met our guide, and the first thing that came to mind was that he has a Medici nose. I’ve been in Italy for a while.

Our elevator says it is a “Shabbat [Sabbath] elevator” and that it only stops on odd-numbered floors on Shabbat. I don’t know how that makes it kosher.

I can see the Mediterranean out my window one direction and the rest of Tel Aviv out the other. My first impression is that it is surprisingly run down. It has a feel that is familiar but I can’t put my finger on it – I originally typed “it feels Arabian” but that isn’t quite right. Anyway, people just don’t seem to care about exteriors, and the buildings look like they were all built in the 1950’s with no updates or overhauls since. They could use powerwashings, for example. There are also solar water heaters on the top of every building, which makes a lot of sense here.

Israel. It’s a touchy subject.

I learned a ton in Israel, and you’ll hear about some of it through these posts. As I was processing everything (including opposing views) I realized that I should reiterate a disclaimer, since Israel is a touchy subject and I’m not sure where my audience is coming from. A lot of times I will relate what I was told by Israelis, Arabs, or others. Repeating that information does not mean that I necessarily agree with their facts (since those are sometimes disputed, or only certain facts are given) or their conclusions/explanations. I will sometimes add my (as of that point) current opinion or other facts/info I know. The realities in Israel are rarely what you might think from media reports. My opinions are shifting because of this trip, and I’ll add the disclaimer that I heard much more from certain viewpoints. Basically, don't write me off -- if you disagree, let's discuss it.

Another note: I wrote some things while in Israel and now I am adding/fleshing out. That means my tenses might change sometimes (I am/I did) and sometimes I might write something using information that I learned later in the trip and that you haven't read. Bear with me.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

I'm home as of Monday. I do hope to get around to posting -- mostly because I want to record thoughts/observations for myself before they fade -- but it will probably take some time. Check over the next few weeks.

I'll give you a spoiler, though. As my brother and I waited to get our checked bags at IAH, someone's bag got stuck in the conveyor belt and shut it down. It was a laminated plastic bag that didn't look like checked luggage material, i.e. pretty flimsy. Sure enough, when they tried to pull it the bag proceeded to rip. Suddenly there was a sound like rain and out poured.... pinto beans. They eventually cut the bag out, but not before a good quantity of pinto beans spilled onto the conveyor belt. These weren't even in a pinto bean bag inside the other laminated bag, i.e. they looked like they had been bought in bulk and put directly in the shipping bag. Who checks a bag of pinto beans from Paris to Houston? I'll never know the answer to my question because no one claimed them -- probably because a) it was then embarrassing and b) it would have been a nightmare to try to carry loose pinto beans in a now-ruined bag.

We cut corners and saved money on our trip by eating PB&J a lot, but bringing pinto beans on your vacation takes cheap to a whole new level...

Uh, yeah, I've been delinquent

I'm in Budapest right now. It will all get posted here someday, but probably not until after I get home. Israel was like drinking from a fire hose, and Budapest has been great, as well. Lots of stories, some great pictures, and a lot of good memories.