February 19, 2009 from Stan:
Day in Tel Aviv and touring with Ilan Hamel, Chairman of the Dept. of Pathology, Tel Aviv University Medical School. We took the #480 bus to Tel Aviv, Arlozorov Station and then walked around the corner to Mordechai Namir Street and took the #27 bus to Tel Aviv University. Walked through the beautiful campus with many sculptures and flowers. While waiting for the bus we wanted to verify that the #27 was the correct bus so I asked a man with a briefcase, “Are you a professor going to the university?” He replied, “No, but are you. But I am going to the university and you can come with me.” He told us he was an illustrator for the “Jerusalem Report” magazine and also for many books. His name is Avi Katz and is well known, especially as an illustrator of children’s books. Two days later at dinner with our friends, Don and Barbara Rush, Barbara mentioned that an illustrator was coming to her home in a few days from Tel Aviv to discuss illustrating one of the children’s books she is writing. Guess the illustrator! It’s a small world here.
Ilan took us on a tour of his laboratories. We saw a confocal laser microscope, which can take pictures of a living cell layer by layer, even getting to see the individual structures of the nucleus. The entire department is state of the art with some very exciting research going on.
Our first stop was Apollonia National Park on the Mediterranean halfway between Tel Aviv and Netanya. Apollonia, then called Arsuf, was first settled by the Phoenicians at the end of the sixth century BCE. One of their main products was a rare and valuable blue dye made from snails. The Greeks in the fourth century BCE re-named it after the god Apollo. The historian Josephus mentioned in ~150 BCE that Appolonia was ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty of the Maccabee (think Chanukah) family. The town went through Roman then Byzantine then Islamic rule. The Muslims re-named it back to the original Arsuf. The Crusaders conquered it and ownership for the next century and one half alternated between Muslims and Crusaders until Mameluke Sultan Bibars destroyed it in 1265. The city was abandoned until it is excavated.
We then drove to Zichron Ya’acov one of the earliest Jewish agricultural settlements of modern times on land was purchased in1880 by Baron Rothschild to begin the re-building of a Jewish homeland. The town was built on top of a small mountain for security. The original main street is now a lovely pedestrian mall with many shops and restaurants including the Tishbi Winery and Restaurant where we had a delightful lunch and some fine wine.
Down the block are the Aaronsohn House and N.I.L.I. Museum, which tells an incredible story of a family’s ingenuity, bravery, and longing for freedom. The Aaronsohn family by 1915 had become relatively well to do and educated. The children studied in French universities. Their oldest son Aaron Aaronsohn became a well-known agronomist after discovering the location of wild wheat. He cross-bred the wild wheat and made many useful advances in wheat production and then set up agricultural stations across Palestine with the help of the Ottoman Empire which since 1516 ruled Palestine and the entire Middle-East.
In 1915, during World War I and a locust infestation that caused widespread famine in Palestine, the Turks, fighting with the Germans, instituted an extra tax on Jews and required a new loyalty oath. Thirty thousand Jews could not pay the tax or would not take the loyalty oath and were exiled. Aware of the Armenian genocide (that they witnessed first hand), the Aaronsohn family decided that rule under the British would be better than rule of the Turks and decided to spy for the British. At this time Aaron was travelling all over Palestine and could observe the movements of the Turkish Army and document water sources. The British reluctantly accepted their offer of information and sent a boat (ship?) every once in a while to get the information. After some success with this method of transferring information, the British boat came no longer due to the presence of German submarines. Two members of this small spy network decided to walk to Egypt to deliver their information. On the way Bedouins in the Sinai Desert attacked them and killed Avshalom Feinberg; the other man although wounded arrived in Cairo.
Incredibly when Israel captured the Sinai in the 1967 War, their effort to find his grave was successful as Bedouins still knew where the “Jew Grave” was. A date tree grew at the spot where it had sprouted from dates he carried in his pocket. His personal effects were identified and his remains received full honors and military burial in Israel on Mount Herzl. A love poem in Hebrew, written to his fiancée Rivka Aaronsohn, is on display in the Aaronsohn house.
Meanwhile, the family did not know if the two had gotten through to Egypt. Aaron went to Egypt by way of London and delivered current information to the British. The British sent sacks of silver and gold coin to help support the starving remaining Jewish Palestinians. Unfortunately the gold coins were stamped with a 1915 date. When the Turks discovered such coins in the market, they realized there must be a spy network. A British carrier pigeon landed in a Turkish military post and focused Turkish attention on the Aaronsohns. They arrested Sara Aaronsohn (one of Aaron’s 5 siblings) and two others and tortured them. None revealed the spy network or the location of the secret tunnel in the Aaronsohn home, which contained names and other information. After three days of torture, Sara convinced the Turks to let her go home to choose fresh clothes to die in. As soon as she entered the house, she reached into a hidden compartment by the door and pulled out a gun and shot herself. The two others were hanged.
The tour of the house showed the secret compartment that held the gun and the secret tunnel under the floor. It was quite moving to see these and realize the bravery of these Jews. Also on display are letters from the British Army stating how helpful their information was in conquering Palestine from the Turks. There was a major battle in Gaza with large number of British casualties. Capturing the rest of the country produced few casualties because of information from their group named N.I.L.I. an abbreviation for: “The glory of Israel will not lie or repent,” I Samuel 15:29.
After this inspiring experience we went to Recanati Winery in the Heffer Valley. After a wonderful tasting, (thanks to our designated driver Ilan ) of many wines we bought a Reserve petite syrah/ zinfandel blend. Naturally cheese and bread were next and we went to Jacob’s Dairy Farm, which has the biggest herd in Israel and makes a number of fine cheeses. We bought two kinds and a challah. In a half hour we were back at Tel Aviv University where we said good-bye to Ilan and accidentally took his cheese as well as our own. Then we boarded the #27 bus towards downtown Tel Aviv to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. By mistake we got off three miles ahead of time so had a pleasant evening walk. Of course, the bus driver made the error and called out Museum for us. But alas it was the wrong museum. The “right” museum was open late for a concert that Roberta insisted we attend. Neither she nor I realized that Ensemble Nikel of Israel along with Ensemble Mosaic of Germany were playing world premieres of works of the 23rd century—in other words, the music was very far-out. Fortunately before the concert and during intermission we were able to view the museum’s many wonderful paintings of Picasso, Chagall, Monet, Renoir, and many other impressionists. In 50 minutes on the #380 bus we were back in Jerusalem
All in all, it was an incredibly interesting day.
Friday, February 20, 2009 Stan:
We took a 4-hour tour of Jerusalem sponsored by Ir-Amim or in English ‘A Family of Peoples ( or Nations)’. We found this organization his week from my friend Ela Greenberg just got a job with them the week before. She is the daughter of my advisor at Michigan who made aliya, married an Israeli, and got her Ph.D. in History recently from Hebrew University. Last year I was invited to their home for dinner and meet her lawyer husband and 2 cute girls. They are on the left side of Israeli politics and send their daughter to a school composed equally Jews and Muslims and each learns the language of the other. Things go well at the school until teen-age years when the Jewish parents pull their kids out for social reasons. The goal of Ir Amin organization is to pave the way for a peaceful spilt of Jerusalem when the 2 state solution comes about. Realistic joke/saying heard today concerning this issue. “Hopefully the Jews and Arabs will live in peace in Gds lifetime!”
A Jewish Israeli guide took about 25 tourists from all over and 2 Israelis through many parts of Jewish Jerusalem where new communities have built in the last 10 years including Gilo and Har Nof on the south. These are very nice with all the street and community facilities. Har Nof is very close to Bethlehem in fact. We then drove into Arab Jerusalem where trash was all over except the trash bins, there were few sidewalks, and the area looked bad, but certainly no worse than slums in large US cities. There is a large shortage of schools in the Arab areas but no willingness of the Arabs to provide land for schools since land ownership is very (and more ) important to the Arab culture than their kids education. Israel has built many new schools but not nearly enough. One such girl school is supposed to produce some of the best students in all Israel. But the emphasis on education is just not there. One reason that the government does not spend the same money on Arab areas of East Jerusalem is that the Arabs refuse to vote for city elections and thus have no representation in city government. Interestingly they do vote in national elections and have about 12% of the Knesset. Some Arab Knesset members have actually spoken about the overthrow of the Jewish State and have even spied for the Hamas & Hezbolla. Several years ago one such Arab Knesset member was caught spying and left/exiled/ escaped (?) to Lebanon where incredibly he is still getting his Israel pension. Only in Israel!
Back to the tour, we drove along the wall separating certain areas of Jerusalem from others. The apparent illogic of some of the wall placement was pointed out. The overall wall is 60% complete and the result is no suicide attacks since it went up. Whether this is the only reasons such attacks have stopped can not be proven but it is extremely important to recall that 1000 Israelis and some Americans were murdered in the second Intifada. Making the conversion to the US, that would be the equivalent of 50,000 killed in a few years. NO government would do nothing in response to such an lethal attack.
Both the Israelis and the Arab are now fighting a demographic battle to see who can have the most kids, who can build the most homes in greater Jerusalem that has grown tremendously by annexation. The wall tries to keep Arabs communities on the outside and include inside new Jewish communities as much as possible. However there is one area that has Arabs living on the west side on northern side and Jews living on the eastern side of this finger like projection in the north but both inside the wall. Some Arab areas were upper middle to well to do and other area very poor and not well kept. Jews have purchased some tracts of land in previously Arab sections despite the Palestinian Authority law prohibiting any sale of land to Jews. Some sales have gone thru initial sale to buyers in the Caribbean and then to the Jews, other sales included a one way ticket out of the country for the Arab owner. One sale went bad with the Arab seller ending up in the truck of car after being tortured. Unfortunately, he didn’t plan the sale properly. Nevertheless some substantial complexes of apartments have been completed or are in progress with Jews living among Arabs.
How all this will play out if a settlement to split Jerusalem is anyone’s guess. We then drove to the one refugee camp in Israel in Jerusalem which actually looks like a slum section of a city with no tents are any thing temporary only 3-4 story apartment buildings but with unfinished concert walls. The area, supported to some degree by the UN, is flanked on each side of this large hillside by rather nice areas with large high rise apartments. The fact hat this center refugee area is still there since 1948 is a big blot on the Jordanians who ruled this land from1949 to1967 and the Israelis since then.
Vast land to the east has been annexed to Jerusalem and now has several communities Ma’ale Adomim and Kfar Adumim, all designed to increase the percentage of Jews in the new greater Jerusalem. All these new communities do provide a security belt around the city.
The key numbers are that until 1967 Jerusalem had only 60,000 Palestinians and in 1948 the population was 250000 for the entire city with 75% Jewish. Thus with the amazing growth since 1967 to the present 800,000 total with 35% (?) or 280,000 Arab is a result of Jerusalem becoming the real and permanent capitol of Israel and the tremendous expansion of tourism resulting in this large influx of Palestinians into the area for economic reasons. If and how the city could be divided between two countries who are not at complete peace with each other similar to the US and Canada, is very hard to imagine despite all the peace talks going on (in my humble opinion). But one can only hope and pray that leaders on both sides can be found that could orchestrate a change in societies so that peace could be derived.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
February 12-16, 2009
February 15, 2009, from Roberta
Thursday we took the 386 bus from Jerusalem to Masada. The route was partly along the west shore of the Dead Sea (or Salt Sea as it is called here) which divides Israel from Jordan. It is a long narrow blue body of water, which is 23%, salt and may be the lowest point on earth. We passed orchards of date palms growing in an area of desolate gold colored cliffs. On the west side of the highway are cliffs of Quibran , the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. It’s about a 2 hour walk to the caves—we didn’t do it.
The bus stopped at the Ein Gedi Hostel, the Ein Gedi Kibbutz (wh/ also has a guesthouse) and the Ein Gedi Spa—that’s three different stops. We spoke to an 83 year old man who makes the trip to the Spa once a week. He brings a lunch. He likes the sulfur baths—stays in for 30 minutes although a sign tells him 15 minutes are the maximum. Then he gets out and rests on a lounge for a while. He repeats this cycle several times, has lunch, and gets the 4:30 bus back to Jerusalem.
The bus ride to Masada took one and a half-hours. We checked in at the hostel/guest house at the foot of Masada. The room wasn’t ready so we left luggage there and took lunch and water with us. We stopped at the museum wh/ is a very fine mixture of historical detail, artifacts, and statuary depicting life at Masada when it was Herod the Great’s palace and during the siege of 70 CE when families committed suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. There are 2 ways to get to the top, by funicular or by foot up a steep mountain. We took the funicular up but walked down the Snake Trail—all-700 steps and hilly trails. Temperature was temperate, about 70 degrees F—in summer it is very hot. Many areas have been excavated.
For a long time no one knew where Masada was. From sea level it looks like every other flat-topped mountain. A youth group hiked it in 1940. Archeologist Yigal Yadin worked there when he wasn’t working as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Excavations include two Herodian palaces, a synagogue, ritual bath, living quarters for common folk, a dove cote, step wells, storage rooms, many walls of fortification, and even more. The views of the Dead Sea and desert below are breath taking. You can see the stonewalled outlines of the eight Roman camps below, the siege wall and the ramp the Roman Army built to eventually capture the fortress from Jewish rebels around 74 CE. Rather than be captured by the Romans, the 954 rebels committed suicide. The Romanized-Jewish historian, Josephus Flavius, was with the Romans and wrote an account based on what he saw as well as interviews with two women and five children who did not commit suicide.
The next morning we caught the #384 bus to Arad, a city of 20,000 inhabitants, altitude 2000 feet around where the Judean and Negev Deserts meet. Arad has many industries ie cosmetics, towels, Motorola, etc. The high school has 1000 students. Arad also had a hostel; these are modern, scenic buildings; rooms sleep two to six people and each room has its own bathroom and shower. Breakfast is included (this is a wonderful big meal in Israel). Cost is around $100 for two people for the bed and breakfast. Fortunately we arrived early as registration closes from noon to 4pm—perhaps in hot weather this is a siesta time—it wasn’t clear.
Arad is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Numbers 21) as a Canaanite city which took Israelite prisoners and was then defeated by Moses and the ancient Israelites. There is an excavated Tel, which goes back 6000 years; the Canaanites abandoned it for 1500 years and then re-settled there around 2500 BCE. Part of the excavation includes a temple like the ones in Jerusalem and Shechem. King David ordered these destroyed so he could concentrate religious power in Jerusalem. However the one in Arad was not destroyed but buried under earth. We did not get to see it this trip; I would like to return but it’s not exactly part of a central route.
At the suggestion of the hostel hostess we walked to the Arad Glass Museum where the founding artist, Gidon Friedman, showed us how to view his work; his wife ran the gift shop. Works by other artists could also be seen. Mr. Friedman developed his own technique after travels where he saw glasswork, which he did not want to emulate. He spent five years building a kiln-like structure and developing his technique. In the bed of the kiln, he makes a mold of powder. He then puts sheet glass over the mold, closes and heats the kiln. The glass takes the shape of the mold. His work is very beautiful and interesting especially the depth effect he gets from glass. It had been a long walk to the Glass Museum; Mrs. Friedman got us a ride to central Arad with a local family—parents and 15-year-old daughter. One of the great things about small towns is that personal things like this happen.
Friday night we attended services at the Masorti synagogue—there were only thirteen people there. The Haredim were walking to their own synagogue dressed in large round black fur hats (Shtremels), fitted black satin coats to their knees, knee pants and long black socks. There is such variety in Israel, even in this small city in the middle of the desert.
The next day we went on a 4-wheel drive jeep tour of the desert with Oded Hamm, a desert guide and Werner’s cousin’s son. We, or rather he, drove along wadis (dry river beds—arroyos) and cross-country over rocky terrain. We saw many Bedouin encampments with sheep, goats, and camels grazing. Two teenage boys on a donkey were herding camels. This desert has hills, canyons, rocks and boulders. The land is colored golden in the distance. The Judean and Negev Deserts meet here.
An array of white snail shells indicated the burrow of a gerbil rodent. When it rains the snails come out to reproduce (they’re androgynous) and the rodents come out to feed. They leave their “tracks”.
Near a bush called “meluach” or salt plant lives another type of gerbil called the fat sand rat. The US Navy in Egypt studied the animal in a laboratory. The gerbils did not thrive on laboratory food—they developed diabetes and died. However they thrived when they fed on the salt plant (whose leaves do taste salty). Evidently this gerbil has unusual kidneys wh/ can handle the salt.
Instead of the bus to Tel Aviv, we got on a sherut, a 16-person van, to Tel Aviv—same price as a bus and non-stop. It took 1 hour 40 minutes. We caught the 405 to Jerusalem and were at the apartment in another hour.
Sat next to a young man from Darfor going from Arad to Tel Aviv. Israel
took him in and several thousand other Darfarians. He and his wife were expelled from their university in
Khartoum, Sudan, because of their origin. His wife, 2 children, parents,
and brothers live in Khartoum where they are probably safe. He sends
money to them each month but can't send directly from Israel so cuts a
deal with an Egyptian bank so it looks as if the money comes from Egypt.
His life must be very complicated.
February 15, 2009 from Stan. We met Rabbi Ephraim and Esther Zimand for dinner at Polly”s Restaurant on Bet Lechem and Yehuda Streets. A very nice fish/vegetarian kosher dinner. Polly’s is located next to a little hotel called Little House on Baka and is their breakfast room. Bet Lechem is a quaint street with many restaurants and miscellaneous shops.
February 16, 2009: Went to Begin Center for a lecture by former ambassador to USA , now professor, Moshe Arens, who spoke about his new book, “Flags Over the Ghetto” just published in Hebrew but soon to come out in English. He told the story of the role of the Betar movement in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Jabatinsky founded Betar in 1923 as a Zionist secular youth movement, which emphasized military training, love of Zion, alliyah, and self-defense. The history of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was written by the socialist Mapai party which governed Israel during its first twenty years and also by Leon Uris” classic novel, “Mila 18”. These two histories ignored Betar (which was not socialist) and emphasized the role of the ZOB group led by Mordechai Anilewitz which fought independently of Betar in the Warsaw Ghetto. The ZOB emphasized ambushes and Betar favored defensive positions. Very young men and women led each group as all the senior people of both groups had escaped earlier to the East. In the major battle of April 19, 1943, Betar raised three Zionist flags, which became the flag of Israel in 1948, on the tallest building in the ghetto. The Nazis reported in the Nuremberg trial that they saw the three flags. However nothing about the flags was made part of the history of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in the two sources mentioned. All the Jews died except for a very few who escaped through the sewers. This is a heroic story that Arens’ book completes.
The lecture was sponsored by the family of Izchak (Elitsur) Friedman as the fourth annual lecture in a series. Elitsur”s story is worth telling. Born 1920 in Czechoslovakia, joined Betar as a teenager, and by 1938 was in a leadership position. When the Nazis arrived in 1938, he fled to Hungary where he began organizing the movement of Jews to Palestine—this was made easier because by age 18 he spoke 10 languages. In 1939 he led a large group of Jews on barges on the Danube toward the Black Sea. After a difficult winter, being delayed by the frozen river, they finally arrived at the Black Sea. They sailed on the Sakarya to British mandated Palestine; Jabotinski’s son Ari commanded the ship. Elitsur was arrested by the British and served six months in a British prison camp. After release he became an Etzel commander, leading many operations against the British. He was captured again by the British and tricked them by using a false name; in fact, the British arrested every Izchak Friedman in Palestine, and sent them all to prison or to Eritrea, Africa. They didn’t know the Izchak Friedman they wanted was already in one of their prisons under the name of the man they thought he was.
He was honored as being wanted by the Nazis as a Czech and British spy and a Zionist agent; by the Czechs and the Hungarians as a British spy and Zionist agent; and by the British as a Zionist agent. He escaped from the British prison in 1947. After the sinking of the Altalena, Elitsur served as battalion commander of the Etzel forces in Jerusalem.
After Israel’s independence, he decided to continue his formal education. He received a Ph D in chemistry and rose to become Chairman of the Chemistry Department and then Dean of the Engineering and Science at Pratt Institute of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. What an incredible life—fighting the Nazis, helping Jews escape successfully, fighting the British, and then switching careers to academic research and teaching in chemistry! His son, Jonathan, spoke about his father and the Betar Movement before Dr. Aren’s lecture
.
Thursday we took the 386 bus from Jerusalem to Masada. The route was partly along the west shore of the Dead Sea (or Salt Sea as it is called here) which divides Israel from Jordan. It is a long narrow blue body of water, which is 23%, salt and may be the lowest point on earth. We passed orchards of date palms growing in an area of desolate gold colored cliffs. On the west side of the highway are cliffs of Quibran , the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. It’s about a 2 hour walk to the caves—we didn’t do it.
The bus stopped at the Ein Gedi Hostel, the Ein Gedi Kibbutz (wh/ also has a guesthouse) and the Ein Gedi Spa—that’s three different stops. We spoke to an 83 year old man who makes the trip to the Spa once a week. He brings a lunch. He likes the sulfur baths—stays in for 30 minutes although a sign tells him 15 minutes are the maximum. Then he gets out and rests on a lounge for a while. He repeats this cycle several times, has lunch, and gets the 4:30 bus back to Jerusalem.
The bus ride to Masada took one and a half-hours. We checked in at the hostel/guest house at the foot of Masada. The room wasn’t ready so we left luggage there and took lunch and water with us. We stopped at the museum wh/ is a very fine mixture of historical detail, artifacts, and statuary depicting life at Masada when it was Herod the Great’s palace and during the siege of 70 CE when families committed suicide rather than be captured by the Romans. There are 2 ways to get to the top, by funicular or by foot up a steep mountain. We took the funicular up but walked down the Snake Trail—all-700 steps and hilly trails. Temperature was temperate, about 70 degrees F—in summer it is very hot. Many areas have been excavated.
For a long time no one knew where Masada was. From sea level it looks like every other flat-topped mountain. A youth group hiked it in 1940. Archeologist Yigal Yadin worked there when he wasn’t working as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Excavations include two Herodian palaces, a synagogue, ritual bath, living quarters for common folk, a dove cote, step wells, storage rooms, many walls of fortification, and even more. The views of the Dead Sea and desert below are breath taking. You can see the stonewalled outlines of the eight Roman camps below, the siege wall and the ramp the Roman Army built to eventually capture the fortress from Jewish rebels around 74 CE. Rather than be captured by the Romans, the 954 rebels committed suicide. The Romanized-Jewish historian, Josephus Flavius, was with the Romans and wrote an account based on what he saw as well as interviews with two women and five children who did not commit suicide.
The next morning we caught the #384 bus to Arad, a city of 20,000 inhabitants, altitude 2000 feet around where the Judean and Negev Deserts meet. Arad has many industries ie cosmetics, towels, Motorola, etc. The high school has 1000 students. Arad also had a hostel; these are modern, scenic buildings; rooms sleep two to six people and each room has its own bathroom and shower. Breakfast is included (this is a wonderful big meal in Israel). Cost is around $100 for two people for the bed and breakfast. Fortunately we arrived early as registration closes from noon to 4pm—perhaps in hot weather this is a siesta time—it wasn’t clear.
Arad is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Numbers 21) as a Canaanite city which took Israelite prisoners and was then defeated by Moses and the ancient Israelites. There is an excavated Tel, which goes back 6000 years; the Canaanites abandoned it for 1500 years and then re-settled there around 2500 BCE. Part of the excavation includes a temple like the ones in Jerusalem and Shechem. King David ordered these destroyed so he could concentrate religious power in Jerusalem. However the one in Arad was not destroyed but buried under earth. We did not get to see it this trip; I would like to return but it’s not exactly part of a central route.
At the suggestion of the hostel hostess we walked to the Arad Glass Museum where the founding artist, Gidon Friedman, showed us how to view his work; his wife ran the gift shop. Works by other artists could also be seen. Mr. Friedman developed his own technique after travels where he saw glasswork, which he did not want to emulate. He spent five years building a kiln-like structure and developing his technique. In the bed of the kiln, he makes a mold of powder. He then puts sheet glass over the mold, closes and heats the kiln. The glass takes the shape of the mold. His work is very beautiful and interesting especially the depth effect he gets from glass. It had been a long walk to the Glass Museum; Mrs. Friedman got us a ride to central Arad with a local family—parents and 15-year-old daughter. One of the great things about small towns is that personal things like this happen.
Friday night we attended services at the Masorti synagogue—there were only thirteen people there. The Haredim were walking to their own synagogue dressed in large round black fur hats (Shtremels), fitted black satin coats to their knees, knee pants and long black socks. There is such variety in Israel, even in this small city in the middle of the desert.
The next day we went on a 4-wheel drive jeep tour of the desert with Oded Hamm, a desert guide and Werner’s cousin’s son. We, or rather he, drove along wadis (dry river beds—arroyos) and cross-country over rocky terrain. We saw many Bedouin encampments with sheep, goats, and camels grazing. Two teenage boys on a donkey were herding camels. This desert has hills, canyons, rocks and boulders. The land is colored golden in the distance. The Judean and Negev Deserts meet here.
An array of white snail shells indicated the burrow of a gerbil rodent. When it rains the snails come out to reproduce (they’re androgynous) and the rodents come out to feed. They leave their “tracks”.
Near a bush called “meluach” or salt plant lives another type of gerbil called the fat sand rat. The US Navy in Egypt studied the animal in a laboratory. The gerbils did not thrive on laboratory food—they developed diabetes and died. However they thrived when they fed on the salt plant (whose leaves do taste salty). Evidently this gerbil has unusual kidneys wh/ can handle the salt.
Instead of the bus to Tel Aviv, we got on a sherut, a 16-person van, to Tel Aviv—same price as a bus and non-stop. It took 1 hour 40 minutes. We caught the 405 to Jerusalem and were at the apartment in another hour.
Sat next to a young man from Darfor going from Arad to Tel Aviv. Israel
took him in and several thousand other Darfarians. He and his wife were expelled from their university in
Khartoum, Sudan, because of their origin. His wife, 2 children, parents,
and brothers live in Khartoum where they are probably safe. He sends
money to them each month but can't send directly from Israel so cuts a
deal with an Egyptian bank so it looks as if the money comes from Egypt.
His life must be very complicated.
February 15, 2009 from Stan. We met Rabbi Ephraim and Esther Zimand for dinner at Polly”s Restaurant on Bet Lechem and Yehuda Streets. A very nice fish/vegetarian kosher dinner. Polly’s is located next to a little hotel called Little House on Baka and is their breakfast room. Bet Lechem is a quaint street with many restaurants and miscellaneous shops.
February 16, 2009: Went to Begin Center for a lecture by former ambassador to USA , now professor, Moshe Arens, who spoke about his new book, “Flags Over the Ghetto” just published in Hebrew but soon to come out in English. He told the story of the role of the Betar movement in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Jabatinsky founded Betar in 1923 as a Zionist secular youth movement, which emphasized military training, love of Zion, alliyah, and self-defense. The history of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was written by the socialist Mapai party which governed Israel during its first twenty years and also by Leon Uris” classic novel, “Mila 18”. These two histories ignored Betar (which was not socialist) and emphasized the role of the ZOB group led by Mordechai Anilewitz which fought independently of Betar in the Warsaw Ghetto. The ZOB emphasized ambushes and Betar favored defensive positions. Very young men and women led each group as all the senior people of both groups had escaped earlier to the East. In the major battle of April 19, 1943, Betar raised three Zionist flags, which became the flag of Israel in 1948, on the tallest building in the ghetto. The Nazis reported in the Nuremberg trial that they saw the three flags. However nothing about the flags was made part of the history of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in the two sources mentioned. All the Jews died except for a very few who escaped through the sewers. This is a heroic story that Arens’ book completes.
The lecture was sponsored by the family of Izchak (Elitsur) Friedman as the fourth annual lecture in a series. Elitsur”s story is worth telling. Born 1920 in Czechoslovakia, joined Betar as a teenager, and by 1938 was in a leadership position. When the Nazis arrived in 1938, he fled to Hungary where he began organizing the movement of Jews to Palestine—this was made easier because by age 18 he spoke 10 languages. In 1939 he led a large group of Jews on barges on the Danube toward the Black Sea. After a difficult winter, being delayed by the frozen river, they finally arrived at the Black Sea. They sailed on the Sakarya to British mandated Palestine; Jabotinski’s son Ari commanded the ship. Elitsur was arrested by the British and served six months in a British prison camp. After release he became an Etzel commander, leading many operations against the British. He was captured again by the British and tricked them by using a false name; in fact, the British arrested every Izchak Friedman in Palestine, and sent them all to prison or to Eritrea, Africa. They didn’t know the Izchak Friedman they wanted was already in one of their prisons under the name of the man they thought he was.
He was honored as being wanted by the Nazis as a Czech and British spy and a Zionist agent; by the Czechs and the Hungarians as a British spy and Zionist agent; and by the British as a Zionist agent. He escaped from the British prison in 1947. After the sinking of the Altalena, Elitsur served as battalion commander of the Etzel forces in Jerusalem.
After Israel’s independence, he decided to continue his formal education. He received a Ph D in chemistry and rose to become Chairman of the Chemistry Department and then Dean of the Engineering and Science at Pratt Institute of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. What an incredible life—fighting the Nazis, helping Jews escape successfully, fighting the British, and then switching careers to academic research and teaching in chemistry! His son, Jonathan, spoke about his father and the Betar Movement before Dr. Aren’s lecture
.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Details of the Bruriah Story
Bruriah (Hebrew: ברוריה) is one of several woman quoted as a sage in the Talmud. She was the wife of the Tanna Rabbi Meir and the daughter of Rabbi Hananiah Ben Teradion, who is listed as one of the "Ten Martyrs." She is greatly admired for her breadth of knowledge in matters pertaining to both halachah and aggadah, and is said to have taught the rabbis 300 halachot on a single cloudy day (Tractate Pesachim 62b). Her parents were put to death by the Romans for teaching Torah, but she carried on their legacy.
Bruriah was very involved in the halachic discussions of her time, and even challenges her father on a matter of ritual purity (Tosefta Keilim Bava Kamma 4:9). Her comments there are praised by Rabbi Judah Ben Bava. In another instance, Rabbi Joshua praises her intervention in a debate between Rebbi Tarfon and the sages, saying "Bruriah has spoken correctly" (Tosefta Keilim Bava Metzia 1:3).
She was also renowned for her sharp wit and often caustic jibes. The Talmud (Tractate Eruvin 53b) relates that she once chastised Rabbi Jose, when he asked her "Which way to Lod?" claiming that he could have said the same thing in two words, "Where's Lod?" instead of four, and thereby keep to the Talmudic injunction not to speak to women unnecessarily.
In the Midrash on Psalms 118 it states that Bruriah taught her husband, Rabbi Meir, to pray for the repentance of the wicked, rather than for their destruction. According to the story, she once found Rabbi Meir praying that an annoying neighbor would die. Appalled by this, she responded to him by explaining the verse "Let the sinners be consumed from the earth, and the wicked shall be no more" (Psalms 104:35), that the verse actually states: "Let sin be consumed from the earth," adding that "the wicked shall be no more" because they have repented.
She is also described as having enormous inner strength. The Midrash on the Book of Proverbs tells that her two sons died suddenly on the Sabbath, but she hid the fact from her husband until she could tell him in a way that would comfort him. In response, Rabbi Meir quoted the verse, "A woman of valour, who can find?" (Proverbs 31:10).
In the Talmudic commentaries (e.g. Rashi on Tractate Avodah Zarah, 18b), a story explains how she died. According to the story, she mocked a Talmudic assertion that women were lightheaded. In order to prove her wrong, Rabbi Meir sent one of his students to seduce her. He succeeded, and Bruriah committed suicide (by strangling, according to Rashi) out of shame. Rabbi Meir, who never expected things to spiral out of control in this way, imposed exile on himself and left Palestine for Babylonia.
But Rabenu Nisim brings on a different explanation that is closer to the text. According to him, Rabbi Meir and Bruriah had to flee to Babylonia after the Romans executed her father, sold her mother to slavery and her sister to a brothel (to be rescued by Rabbi Meir) and were looking for her.
Bruriah was very involved in the halachic discussions of her time, and even challenges her father on a matter of ritual purity (Tosefta Keilim Bava Kamma 4:9). Her comments there are praised by Rabbi Judah Ben Bava. In another instance, Rabbi Joshua praises her intervention in a debate between Rebbi Tarfon and the sages, saying "Bruriah has spoken correctly" (Tosefta Keilim Bava Metzia 1:3).
She was also renowned for her sharp wit and often caustic jibes. The Talmud (Tractate Eruvin 53b) relates that she once chastised Rabbi Jose, when he asked her "Which way to Lod?" claiming that he could have said the same thing in two words, "Where's Lod?" instead of four, and thereby keep to the Talmudic injunction not to speak to women unnecessarily.
In the Midrash on Psalms 118 it states that Bruriah taught her husband, Rabbi Meir, to pray for the repentance of the wicked, rather than for their destruction. According to the story, she once found Rabbi Meir praying that an annoying neighbor would die. Appalled by this, she responded to him by explaining the verse "Let the sinners be consumed from the earth, and the wicked shall be no more" (Psalms 104:35), that the verse actually states: "Let sin be consumed from the earth," adding that "the wicked shall be no more" because they have repented.
She is also described as having enormous inner strength. The Midrash on the Book of Proverbs tells that her two sons died suddenly on the Sabbath, but she hid the fact from her husband until she could tell him in a way that would comfort him. In response, Rabbi Meir quoted the verse, "A woman of valour, who can find?" (Proverbs 31:10).
In the Talmudic commentaries (e.g. Rashi on Tractate Avodah Zarah, 18b), a story explains how she died. According to the story, she mocked a Talmudic assertion that women were lightheaded. In order to prove her wrong, Rabbi Meir sent one of his students to seduce her. He succeeded, and Bruriah committed suicide (by strangling, according to Rashi) out of shame. Rabbi Meir, who never expected things to spiral out of control in this way, imposed exile on himself and left Palestine for Babylonia.
But Rabenu Nisim brings on a different explanation that is closer to the text. According to him, Rabbi Meir and Bruriah had to flee to Babylonia after the Romans executed her father, sold her mother to slavery and her sister to a brothel (to be rescued by Rabbi Meir) and were looking for her.
Feb. 7 - Feb. 9 New Stuff
Feb. 7-Stan:
In evening went to a lecture at Pardes School by Rabbi Joshua Berman Lecturer at Bar Ilan University here in Jerusalem. He was launching his new book “Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought.” The thesis is that in many ways the Bible changed the view of the common man in way that was unique in all contemporary civilizations and in fact was unique until the American Revolution. He Bible created a society in which the average man had rights not found in any other society. These included limits to power of King, Vassal treaty rights, separation of religious power and political power, private ownership of the land not in Kings control. The idea of land owned by common people took a long time even to come to western Civilization. All people paid taxes for social purposes including assistance to the poor. Never heard before: New King would cancel all debts to get support and loyalty of common people. Rich people took a hit but equality restarted every new King. The day is rest was a major new idea based not on any observable natural time cycle like the day, month or year. And lastly, the Torah was so be read to the people and learned so all would know it in the original. The improvements in the alphabet meet that the word could spread for al to learnt and read, unlike the hieroglyphics where only a few could master it.
Feb. 8 Sunday-Stan:
Went to Tel Aviv by train with the #4 or 18 bus getting to Malka Train Station. Beautiful ride thru valleys with hills surrounding Jerusalem until reach Bet Shemesh. Trip 20 NIS takes 1.5 hour to Tel Aviv train/bus terminal. We walked to Bauhaus Center and the walked around the neighbor looking at many different styles of apartments built in 1930 and 1940 in the International Style as it properly is called. Tour the Cinema Hotel on Dizengoff Circle which was a movie house built in 1938 and very interesting to see how it was converted to a hotel yet preserving the Bauhaus outside and lobby. Then went to Ben Gurion’s home at saw his library of 10,000 books (my guess) in 5 languages. He was really well read!
Walked along Mediterranean promenade to Bialik home which was closed on Sunday, not correct in guidebook. Then took bus to Rabin’s memorial, which was very sad to see the spot where he was murdered while talking to a crowd along a busy wide street. We then walked to the very large Ha Medina circle with many Paris type fancy shops and ate outside at a nice café. Took #480 bus from Arlozorov terminal to Jerusalem in 50 minutes( 10NIS or half the train and half the time.)
Feb. 10 Monday –Stan:
Went to the free concert at the Jerusalem Theater with piano trio of all Russian musicians playing a great Debussy, a new piece “ A Happy Birthday to you Mr. Bach” by Briener, and Shubert. Then we saw a new Israeli movie ‘Burita’ which was about the 2000 year story in the Talmud where the famous and learned daughter of Rabbi Akiva was challenged by her untrusting husband by getting a friend of his to seduce his own wife. I will report the remainder of the story after I check it out. Today 2 lectures, one concert and one movie-A Great Day.
In evening went to a lecture at Pardes School by Rabbi Joshua Berman Lecturer at Bar Ilan University here in Jerusalem. He was launching his new book “Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought.” The thesis is that in many ways the Bible changed the view of the common man in way that was unique in all contemporary civilizations and in fact was unique until the American Revolution. He Bible created a society in which the average man had rights not found in any other society. These included limits to power of King, Vassal treaty rights, separation of religious power and political power, private ownership of the land not in Kings control. The idea of land owned by common people took a long time even to come to western Civilization. All people paid taxes for social purposes including assistance to the poor. Never heard before: New King would cancel all debts to get support and loyalty of common people. Rich people took a hit but equality restarted every new King. The day is rest was a major new idea based not on any observable natural time cycle like the day, month or year. And lastly, the Torah was so be read to the people and learned so all would know it in the original. The improvements in the alphabet meet that the word could spread for al to learnt and read, unlike the hieroglyphics where only a few could master it.
Feb. 8 Sunday-Stan:
Went to Tel Aviv by train with the #4 or 18 bus getting to Malka Train Station. Beautiful ride thru valleys with hills surrounding Jerusalem until reach Bet Shemesh. Trip 20 NIS takes 1.5 hour to Tel Aviv train/bus terminal. We walked to Bauhaus Center and the walked around the neighbor looking at many different styles of apartments built in 1930 and 1940 in the International Style as it properly is called. Tour the Cinema Hotel on Dizengoff Circle which was a movie house built in 1938 and very interesting to see how it was converted to a hotel yet preserving the Bauhaus outside and lobby. Then went to Ben Gurion’s home at saw his library of 10,000 books (my guess) in 5 languages. He was really well read!
Walked along Mediterranean promenade to Bialik home which was closed on Sunday, not correct in guidebook. Then took bus to Rabin’s memorial, which was very sad to see the spot where he was murdered while talking to a crowd along a busy wide street. We then walked to the very large Ha Medina circle with many Paris type fancy shops and ate outside at a nice café. Took #480 bus from Arlozorov terminal to Jerusalem in 50 minutes( 10NIS or half the train and half the time.)
Feb. 10 Monday –Stan:
Went to the free concert at the Jerusalem Theater with piano trio of all Russian musicians playing a great Debussy, a new piece “ A Happy Birthday to you Mr. Bach” by Briener, and Shubert. Then we saw a new Israeli movie ‘Burita’ which was about the 2000 year story in the Talmud where the famous and learned daughter of Rabbi Akiva was challenged by her untrusting husband by getting a friend of his to seduce his own wife. I will report the remainder of the story after I check it out. Today 2 lectures, one concert and one movie-A Great Day.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Feb 1 to Feb 6, 2009 -What a great week
Feb. 1 Sunday -Stan:
Tonight we went to a dance perform by the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company doing the artistic Director Rami Beter’s new work ‘60 Hz’. It was all about energy, I guess, and was too modern for me. The dancers very good, the props very creative, the lights blinding, and the music and sound very irritating. Roberta said as we left, “Do I owe you one.” I nodded yes.
Feb. 3 Tuesday -Stan
After 2 classes at the Conservative school we walked to the Italian Synagogue and Museum which was very beautiful with the reconstructed arc and bimah dating from the 18th Century taken from a city near Venice that lost all its Jews. The women sit up upstairs behind 200-year latticework. The museum had many beautiful ritual objects all made in Italy. One kituba (wedding contract), of many beautiful ones they had, was very different and had the word Diplomat with the name of a Jewish person and the Title of Emperor of Austria and Hungry across the top in very elaborate script. We asked the person at the desk if this was really a kituba and he came over and said sure, look at the info on the wall. We asked if someone else could look at this and luckily there was an Italian speaking person around who determined that this beautiful large certificate was from the Emperor in 1847 granting this Jew a rank of Count in thanks for donating money to the Emperor. They thanked us for pointing the error in the description and said they would correct the label immediately.
We then walked to the Bezelel Art School founded in 1906 when this area was way far from the protection of the Old City. But it had a large wall around the complex for safety. They had a short movie of the very far sighted founder and his very artistic kids and grandkids. The current art display of the students and staff was far out.
We returned at 4:30 ready for the next adventure in 15 minutes which was a concert at the Jerusalem Theater of a quartet playing Mozart and Schulman. The pianist Ian Fountain of England won the Rubenstein Competition in 1989 and was wonderful. Roberta did not come as she had to rest for her choir practice at 7:15. After the concert I had just enough time to come home, have a quick dinner, and go to lecture at 8 by Zornberg which was incredibly fascinating as usual on the Torah portion of the week. So, today had 3 lectures, 2 museum visits, and one concert. Whata great day and life!!
Feb. 4, Thursday -Stan:
We kook a tiyul (trip) with Pardes to The Valley of Jezreel in the mid north of the country. This area is associated with many events in the Torah including King Saul, The Prophet Deborah and her battle with Sisera, Gideon, and Ahab. The route was due east from Jerusalem on #1 thru the Judean desert where we saw many Bedouin encampments and then north on #90 around Jericho thru the Jordan Valley, which as recent as 1967 was empty except for the Bedouins. After 1967, the Israelis started farming here and now the area has many large farms but the area is very poor still. After crossing out of the ‘West Bank’ into Israel the farms are very large, well developed, and the villages and homes look nice. In 1920 when the Jews bought the land there was nothing but desert but they rapidly transformed it into productive land to the surprise of the Arabs. We visited the tomb of Joshua Hankin, in Ma’yan Harod National Park, who from 1890 to 1920’s purchased this land (at exorbitant prices) and other vast tracts of land all over then Palestine from owners local, in Turkey or Damascus for the Zionist movement. Some land was desert, some malarial swamps that none thought was worthwhile including many Zionist who he forced to pay for his purchases. Later all the land was covered to farms or cities and he was then revered as a foresighted pioneer who really helped the founding of the Jewish State.
In the Valley of Jezreel over 3,000, 000 trees have been planted since then changing the landscape dramatically. We drove to the top of Mount Gilboa, a prominent mountain in religious history. Gideon’s battle against the fierce Midianites (Judges 7:1) is a great story and his successful strategy as a real leader and military genius was repeated by others in the 1948 War of Independence. Mt. Gilboa was always a great escape place if need be against the Midianites or other invaders as the mountain was a defensible position. We when went to En-Dor where the battle took place (Psalms 83:10). Saul also went to En-Dor I (Samuel 28: 3) to get guidance for a diviner after just getting rid of them in Gilboa. He finds out that he and his sons will be killed in battle with the Philistines who had moved from the coast inland to get control of the valuable trade routes that passed thru this Valley of Jezreel from the west to the coast and the Coastal road down to Egypt. Instead of running away, he stays with his men to fight and is about to be captured, tortured and killed. Instead he commits suicide. A 1000 years later a sage said it was acceptable to commit suicide if one knows one is to be tortured and killed. Rabbi Grodner explained that the most famous of the suicides was Masada where 600(?) Jews all died at their own hand rather than be captured by the Romans in 74(?) CE. The Talmud, which discusses every facet of life, does not mention this giant suicide because they didn’t want to condone it as in general suicide is strictly against Jewish law. So the best way the rabbis could handle the issue was to not discuss Masada at all. After Philistines put Saul’s head on display in Bet Shean, the men of Jabesh Gilead, whom he had earlier helped defend against the Philistines, came in the night to retrieve his body and burned it and then fasted for 7 days out of respect (I Samuel 31: 1-13 for entire story of Saul’s death) and II Samuel 1:21 for another reference to Mt. Gilboa and Saul’s anointing as King here. Roberta & I climbed a tower on top of the Mt. to get an even grander view of the fertile fields below and the many villages & cities all round. One could even see Mt Meron with snow on top to the north.
We then visited Ein Harod associated with King Ahab and his wife Jezebel and their evil ways (I Kings 21:1-29). Other sources say Ahab was a great King but in the Torah he is no good as this chapter relates. The Tel Jezreel hasn’t revealed anything about their palace here as nothing apparently survived. But the view was great. Our last stop was the Kibbutz Ein Dor, which had a very fine Museum of Archaeology (www.eindormuseum.co.il). It was an old kibbutz and in the process of farming they discovered all the items in the museum ranging from pottery 10,000 years old to unbroken glass dishes of Roman times and many pieces between. We drove back the same way and the desert was beautiful as the sun set.
Feb 6. Friday. One Fabulous Day! -Stan :
Went to the Israel Museum to see the Blue-White special exhibit. Took #24 bus from Rachel Imenu and Emek Refraim right there. This exhibit which closes the next day had documents from the state of Israel’s history, such as the Declaration of Independence, all the proposals for a flag (the original Zionist flag won out over some pretty neat designs), Arafat’s letter to Rabin in 1993 stating full recognition of Israel, renounce violence, and changing the PLO charter to remove the destruction of Israel as a main part of the PLO constitution. Unfortunately none of this was done and a clue should have been the letter was in English not Hebrew or Arabic. They also had the dairy of Col. Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who died in the Columbia disaster. Incredibly his diary survived the fiery destruction and 2 months of Texas weather. The crime lab was able to show what was written, the Kiddush for Friday night he wrote from memory. Another moving exhibit was the recovery of the remains of a Jewish Palestinian soldier/poet working for the British during WWI who was killed by the Bedouins. In 1967, they were able to track his remains as the Bedouins passed the location down thru 50 years. Incredibly a date tree was growing right were he died from dates he was carrying in his pocket. He received a full military burial. Last was the first page of the lengthily manuscript written by Eichman while he was waiting trial and execution. He hoped a major German publisher would publish it, but Israel said no thanks.
We also spend time in the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are stored and exhibited. To me the most exciting item is the Aleppo Bible from 925CE written in Tiberias and used by Maimonides in 1150. The magnificent Torah is in book form hence a Codex and has full vowels put into the Torah, by the Masorites a splinter group of Jews who said we need to make sure we know the real word meant in the Torah since without vowels there could be ambiguity. This was not a problem if one was taught the word meaning from someone in an oral tradition going back to its origin, which was done. But as Jews dispersed this was not possible. Absolutely incredible and sad is that no bible in Hebrew is older than this one as all others were destroyed by a variety of forces. But the main incredible thing is the 925 Bible text is the same as the Jewish splinter group, the Essenes, wrote in the desert from about 100 BCE to 100 CE. Roberta mentioned something about lunch and I replied that we didn’t have time for lunch, this is a military operation. She was glad later after we saw the entire Blue and White exhibit.
We got the #9 bus back to center of town and walked back. After lunch, a 30 minute nap, we got ready to go Marcia and Dennis Gelpe’s for Shabbat dinner. We took a cab since buses had stopped running. Had a wonderful time with great food as Dennis had a kosher gourmet bakery in Minneapolis until they came here. Their daughter, Yafa, was ready to deliver her full size (or so it appears) twins any second. The son, Joey, is going to India for a vacation in few days. Marcia looks after Barnard grads in Jerusalem and Flo from Creve Coeur and Brith Shalom was there. 30ish Flo is probably the only person I know who hated her time in St. Louis as turning egalitarian religious, she was left out in the cold. Now she is very happy in Jerusalem. Since everyone is religious we planned to walk back so I prepared a complicated Google route and took notes for it (no printer). Luckily Flo was walking back so she took us back by the best route. For sure we would have gotten lost. It only took 1 hour for a very pleasant walk with the temp about 45F.
Tonight we went to a dance perform by the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company doing the artistic Director Rami Beter’s new work ‘60 Hz’. It was all about energy, I guess, and was too modern for me. The dancers very good, the props very creative, the lights blinding, and the music and sound very irritating. Roberta said as we left, “Do I owe you one.” I nodded yes.
Feb. 3 Tuesday -Stan
After 2 classes at the Conservative school we walked to the Italian Synagogue and Museum which was very beautiful with the reconstructed arc and bimah dating from the 18th Century taken from a city near Venice that lost all its Jews. The women sit up upstairs behind 200-year latticework. The museum had many beautiful ritual objects all made in Italy. One kituba (wedding contract), of many beautiful ones they had, was very different and had the word Diplomat with the name of a Jewish person and the Title of Emperor of Austria and Hungry across the top in very elaborate script. We asked the person at the desk if this was really a kituba and he came over and said sure, look at the info on the wall. We asked if someone else could look at this and luckily there was an Italian speaking person around who determined that this beautiful large certificate was from the Emperor in 1847 granting this Jew a rank of Count in thanks for donating money to the Emperor. They thanked us for pointing the error in the description and said they would correct the label immediately.
We then walked to the Bezelel Art School founded in 1906 when this area was way far from the protection of the Old City. But it had a large wall around the complex for safety. They had a short movie of the very far sighted founder and his very artistic kids and grandkids. The current art display of the students and staff was far out.
We returned at 4:30 ready for the next adventure in 15 minutes which was a concert at the Jerusalem Theater of a quartet playing Mozart and Schulman. The pianist Ian Fountain of England won the Rubenstein Competition in 1989 and was wonderful. Roberta did not come as she had to rest for her choir practice at 7:15. After the concert I had just enough time to come home, have a quick dinner, and go to lecture at 8 by Zornberg which was incredibly fascinating as usual on the Torah portion of the week. So, today had 3 lectures, 2 museum visits, and one concert. Whata great day and life!!
Feb. 4, Thursday -Stan:
We kook a tiyul (trip) with Pardes to The Valley of Jezreel in the mid north of the country. This area is associated with many events in the Torah including King Saul, The Prophet Deborah and her battle with Sisera, Gideon, and Ahab. The route was due east from Jerusalem on #1 thru the Judean desert where we saw many Bedouin encampments and then north on #90 around Jericho thru the Jordan Valley, which as recent as 1967 was empty except for the Bedouins. After 1967, the Israelis started farming here and now the area has many large farms but the area is very poor still. After crossing out of the ‘West Bank’ into Israel the farms are very large, well developed, and the villages and homes look nice. In 1920 when the Jews bought the land there was nothing but desert but they rapidly transformed it into productive land to the surprise of the Arabs. We visited the tomb of Joshua Hankin, in Ma’yan Harod National Park, who from 1890 to 1920’s purchased this land (at exorbitant prices) and other vast tracts of land all over then Palestine from owners local, in Turkey or Damascus for the Zionist movement. Some land was desert, some malarial swamps that none thought was worthwhile including many Zionist who he forced to pay for his purchases. Later all the land was covered to farms or cities and he was then revered as a foresighted pioneer who really helped the founding of the Jewish State.
In the Valley of Jezreel over 3,000, 000 trees have been planted since then changing the landscape dramatically. We drove to the top of Mount Gilboa, a prominent mountain in religious history. Gideon’s battle against the fierce Midianites (Judges 7:1) is a great story and his successful strategy as a real leader and military genius was repeated by others in the 1948 War of Independence. Mt. Gilboa was always a great escape place if need be against the Midianites or other invaders as the mountain was a defensible position. We when went to En-Dor where the battle took place (Psalms 83:10). Saul also went to En-Dor I (Samuel 28: 3) to get guidance for a diviner after just getting rid of them in Gilboa. He finds out that he and his sons will be killed in battle with the Philistines who had moved from the coast inland to get control of the valuable trade routes that passed thru this Valley of Jezreel from the west to the coast and the Coastal road down to Egypt. Instead of running away, he stays with his men to fight and is about to be captured, tortured and killed. Instead he commits suicide. A 1000 years later a sage said it was acceptable to commit suicide if one knows one is to be tortured and killed. Rabbi Grodner explained that the most famous of the suicides was Masada where 600(?) Jews all died at their own hand rather than be captured by the Romans in 74(?) CE. The Talmud, which discusses every facet of life, does not mention this giant suicide because they didn’t want to condone it as in general suicide is strictly against Jewish law. So the best way the rabbis could handle the issue was to not discuss Masada at all. After Philistines put Saul’s head on display in Bet Shean, the men of Jabesh Gilead, whom he had earlier helped defend against the Philistines, came in the night to retrieve his body and burned it and then fasted for 7 days out of respect (I Samuel 31: 1-13 for entire story of Saul’s death) and II Samuel 1:21 for another reference to Mt. Gilboa and Saul’s anointing as King here. Roberta & I climbed a tower on top of the Mt. to get an even grander view of the fertile fields below and the many villages & cities all round. One could even see Mt Meron with snow on top to the north.
We then visited Ein Harod associated with King Ahab and his wife Jezebel and their evil ways (I Kings 21:1-29). Other sources say Ahab was a great King but in the Torah he is no good as this chapter relates. The Tel Jezreel hasn’t revealed anything about their palace here as nothing apparently survived. But the view was great. Our last stop was the Kibbutz Ein Dor, which had a very fine Museum of Archaeology (www.eindormuseum.co.il). It was an old kibbutz and in the process of farming they discovered all the items in the museum ranging from pottery 10,000 years old to unbroken glass dishes of Roman times and many pieces between. We drove back the same way and the desert was beautiful as the sun set.
Feb 6. Friday. One Fabulous Day! -Stan :
Went to the Israel Museum to see the Blue-White special exhibit. Took #24 bus from Rachel Imenu and Emek Refraim right there. This exhibit which closes the next day had documents from the state of Israel’s history, such as the Declaration of Independence, all the proposals for a flag (the original Zionist flag won out over some pretty neat designs), Arafat’s letter to Rabin in 1993 stating full recognition of Israel, renounce violence, and changing the PLO charter to remove the destruction of Israel as a main part of the PLO constitution. Unfortunately none of this was done and a clue should have been the letter was in English not Hebrew or Arabic. They also had the dairy of Col. Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who died in the Columbia disaster. Incredibly his diary survived the fiery destruction and 2 months of Texas weather. The crime lab was able to show what was written, the Kiddush for Friday night he wrote from memory. Another moving exhibit was the recovery of the remains of a Jewish Palestinian soldier/poet working for the British during WWI who was killed by the Bedouins. In 1967, they were able to track his remains as the Bedouins passed the location down thru 50 years. Incredibly a date tree was growing right were he died from dates he was carrying in his pocket. He received a full military burial. Last was the first page of the lengthily manuscript written by Eichman while he was waiting trial and execution. He hoped a major German publisher would publish it, but Israel said no thanks.
We also spend time in the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are stored and exhibited. To me the most exciting item is the Aleppo Bible from 925CE written in Tiberias and used by Maimonides in 1150. The magnificent Torah is in book form hence a Codex and has full vowels put into the Torah, by the Masorites a splinter group of Jews who said we need to make sure we know the real word meant in the Torah since without vowels there could be ambiguity. This was not a problem if one was taught the word meaning from someone in an oral tradition going back to its origin, which was done. But as Jews dispersed this was not possible. Absolutely incredible and sad is that no bible in Hebrew is older than this one as all others were destroyed by a variety of forces. But the main incredible thing is the 925 Bible text is the same as the Jewish splinter group, the Essenes, wrote in the desert from about 100 BCE to 100 CE. Roberta mentioned something about lunch and I replied that we didn’t have time for lunch, this is a military operation. She was glad later after we saw the entire Blue and White exhibit.
We got the #9 bus back to center of town and walked back. After lunch, a 30 minute nap, we got ready to go Marcia and Dennis Gelpe’s for Shabbat dinner. We took a cab since buses had stopped running. Had a wonderful time with great food as Dennis had a kosher gourmet bakery in Minneapolis until they came here. Their daughter, Yafa, was ready to deliver her full size (or so it appears) twins any second. The son, Joey, is going to India for a vacation in few days. Marcia looks after Barnard grads in Jerusalem and Flo from Creve Coeur and Brith Shalom was there. 30ish Flo is probably the only person I know who hated her time in St. Louis as turning egalitarian religious, she was left out in the cold. Now she is very happy in Jerusalem. Since everyone is religious we planned to walk back so I prepared a complicated Google route and took notes for it (no printer). Luckily Flo was walking back so she took us back by the best route. For sure we would have gotten lost. It only took 1 hour for a very pleasant walk with the temp about 45F.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
January 24-30, 2009 from Stan
Jan. 24, Evening: Stan: We went to the ‘Off the Wall Comedy Basement’ on Ben Yehuda and King George in a real basement. There were two comedians and since this is Jerusalem both were Rabbis!! First was Rabbi David Kilimnick originally from Rochester, NY. His show is called, “after three years here, still can’t find a job or a wife.” He was funny talking about his father had spent $150000 on his rabbinical training and now he chose comedy as a career. What was funnier was that his father (also a Rabbi, but not stated) was in the audience. Second was Rabbi Morty Katz, from Australian and more recent Brooklyn who had 16 kids and had a very dry sense of humor. A great show.
Jan. 25: Stan: We went to a concert at the Jerusalem Theater only to find that the concert had been cancelled because the musicians were out on strike. So we went through display of costumes from the Jerusalem Theater over the last 40 years, which was in part of the lobby. Some of the gowns were quite impressive. It was fun to guess the play from the clothes. Lots of the plays were written by Israeli’s and may have not made to Broadway.
Jan. 30. Stan: We went on a 3.5 hour walk around the Old City with a company that does the tour for free only for tips. We covered all 4 quarters of the Old City. Very interesting but I will spare dear reader by relating only 3 items. The walls around the Old City were built in 1532, by Suleyman the Magnificent to protect the Jerusalem & Muslims from another Crusade. I guess he was too familiar with European history at that time.
The two architects/engineers who built this imposing structure were beheaded because Suyelman didn’t want them to build something equally grand for someone else. Or, he was mad as heck since they left Mt. Zion King David’s Tomb outside the walls. He was soon sorry of his deed that he had their short tombs placed near the entrance where they are to this day.
Second, there is a Christian man named Wendell Jones who has been searching for over 30 years for the Arc of the Covenant lost from the First Temple Destruction in 587 BCE. He has been digging in the desert with a band of followers. When Steve Spilberg came in the early 80’s heard about Wendell and decided it would make a great movie, which it certainly did although the name was changed to Indiana Jones. Interesting Wendell 2 kids converted to Judaism and are now Orthodox. Only in Israel.
Third, 2 weeks ago there was a fistfight in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre between Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Priests over which group has time to do certain religious ceremonies. In fact the church is locked each night and unlocked each morning by a Muslim who has had the key in his family for centuries since the Christian groups can’t agree even on the possession of the key
For Shabbat services I went to Shira Hadasha in the International Cultural Center for Youth on Emek Refayim just 1 block south of our street Cremieux. It is very modern Orthodox with separate seating but equal for men and women with a curtain down the center of the large room. Women lead the Kabbalat Shabbat service, which all sung with Carlebach tunes, which were wonderful. The singing was very loud, happy, and with clapping. Men lead the next service Mincha. On Shabbat morning women are called to the Torah, read from the Torah, and can recite Kaddish. Of course everything is in Hebrew. A very large and young congregation.
For Shabbat dinner we were invited to Allen and Rita Croft on 3 HaMeitz#6 in the German Colony. He was a professor at Amherst for many years in Biochemistry and Biophysics. Also present were Sol and Julia Green. Sol is very active at Pardes and is taking Rabbi Hartman’s class also. A wonderful time.
Jan. 31 Shabbat: Stan: We went to the Conservative Synagogue again. See Jan. 24 description. Cantor Ahuva Batz was incredible as usual and it is wonderful experience to hear pray and sing. She sends her love to Bob and Susie Raful and said she sits in the chair they donated.
We were invited for Shabbat lunch to Jeff and Yemima Finger’s at 6 Molcho #5 in Rachvia off Jabotinsky. Jeff is Roberta’s sister Steffi’s friend from way back when Jeff was getting a Ph.D. in computer science at Stanford and they both attended Israeli dance classes. Jeff told this funny story that after he made aliya to Israel he really wanted to get married so he went to a matchmaker (they still have them here). After 62 dates he decided to call it quits. His hard drive was getting full keeping track of all the info on each. Then he met his future wife just walking down the hall in his apartment building where they both lived. Just good luck around the corner. Yemima is very sweet and cute and their 2 year daughter Abigail is also cute. Most incredible she told about one of her grandparents who lived in a small town in Iran as a Muslim! In 1835-9 there was a blood libel in their small town and all the Jews either had to convert to Islam or be killed. The families outwardly were Muslim and secretly Jewish from then until they immigrated to Israel (I think in 1949) when they resumed their Judaism. For over 120 years this family hid their religion but maintained Judaism and are now very religious. Absolutely incredible!! She served a wonderful complete dinner with many different dishes unique to Jerusalem.
Had a delicious lunch--an onion dish something
like a quiche but no crust except its own crispiness on the bottom, grape leave
rolls, tomato and cucumber salad, avocado and pine nut salad with lemon
juice dressing, fried cauliflower, a potato dish with a yellow Indian spice which was neither curry mixture nor tumeric. salmon. Dessert was a fruit compote
and cake. Also had delicious challah from a bakery. He used to bake his
own challah but no longer as Jerusalem is the challah capitol of the
world.:
Jan. 25: Stan: We went to a concert at the Jerusalem Theater only to find that the concert had been cancelled because the musicians were out on strike. So we went through display of costumes from the Jerusalem Theater over the last 40 years, which was in part of the lobby. Some of the gowns were quite impressive. It was fun to guess the play from the clothes. Lots of the plays were written by Israeli’s and may have not made to Broadway.
Jan. 30. Stan: We went on a 3.5 hour walk around the Old City with a company that does the tour for free only for tips. We covered all 4 quarters of the Old City. Very interesting but I will spare dear reader by relating only 3 items. The walls around the Old City were built in 1532, by Suleyman the Magnificent to protect the Jerusalem & Muslims from another Crusade. I guess he was too familiar with European history at that time.
The two architects/engineers who built this imposing structure were beheaded because Suyelman didn’t want them to build something equally grand for someone else. Or, he was mad as heck since they left Mt. Zion King David’s Tomb outside the walls. He was soon sorry of his deed that he had their short tombs placed near the entrance where they are to this day.
Second, there is a Christian man named Wendell Jones who has been searching for over 30 years for the Arc of the Covenant lost from the First Temple Destruction in 587 BCE. He has been digging in the desert with a band of followers. When Steve Spilberg came in the early 80’s heard about Wendell and decided it would make a great movie, which it certainly did although the name was changed to Indiana Jones. Interesting Wendell 2 kids converted to Judaism and are now Orthodox. Only in Israel.
Third, 2 weeks ago there was a fistfight in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre between Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Priests over which group has time to do certain religious ceremonies. In fact the church is locked each night and unlocked each morning by a Muslim who has had the key in his family for centuries since the Christian groups can’t agree even on the possession of the key
For Shabbat services I went to Shira Hadasha in the International Cultural Center for Youth on Emek Refayim just 1 block south of our street Cremieux. It is very modern Orthodox with separate seating but equal for men and women with a curtain down the center of the large room. Women lead the Kabbalat Shabbat service, which all sung with Carlebach tunes, which were wonderful. The singing was very loud, happy, and with clapping. Men lead the next service Mincha. On Shabbat morning women are called to the Torah, read from the Torah, and can recite Kaddish. Of course everything is in Hebrew. A very large and young congregation.
For Shabbat dinner we were invited to Allen and Rita Croft on 3 HaMeitz#6 in the German Colony. He was a professor at Amherst for many years in Biochemistry and Biophysics. Also present were Sol and Julia Green. Sol is very active at Pardes and is taking Rabbi Hartman’s class also. A wonderful time.
Jan. 31 Shabbat: Stan: We went to the Conservative Synagogue again. See Jan. 24 description. Cantor Ahuva Batz was incredible as usual and it is wonderful experience to hear pray and sing. She sends her love to Bob and Susie Raful and said she sits in the chair they donated.
We were invited for Shabbat lunch to Jeff and Yemima Finger’s at 6 Molcho #5 in Rachvia off Jabotinsky. Jeff is Roberta’s sister Steffi’s friend from way back when Jeff was getting a Ph.D. in computer science at Stanford and they both attended Israeli dance classes. Jeff told this funny story that after he made aliya to Israel he really wanted to get married so he went to a matchmaker (they still have them here). After 62 dates he decided to call it quits. His hard drive was getting full keeping track of all the info on each. Then he met his future wife just walking down the hall in his apartment building where they both lived. Just good luck around the corner. Yemima is very sweet and cute and their 2 year daughter Abigail is also cute. Most incredible she told about one of her grandparents who lived in a small town in Iran as a Muslim! In 1835-9 there was a blood libel in their small town and all the Jews either had to convert to Islam or be killed. The families outwardly were Muslim and secretly Jewish from then until they immigrated to Israel (I think in 1949) when they resumed their Judaism. For over 120 years this family hid their religion but maintained Judaism and are now very religious. Absolutely incredible!! She served a wonderful complete dinner with many different dishes unique to Jerusalem.
Had a delicious lunch--an onion dish something
like a quiche but no crust except its own crispiness on the bottom, grape leave
rolls, tomato and cucumber salad, avocado and pine nut salad with lemon
juice dressing, fried cauliflower, a potato dish with a yellow Indian spice which was neither curry mixture nor tumeric. salmon. Dessert was a fruit compote
and cake. Also had delicious challah from a bakery. He used to bake his
own challah but no longer as Jerusalem is the challah capitol of the
world.:
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