Reflecting from the States

I'm home safely but wanted to get down a few events from my journal.

we visited Masada- which was bigger than i expected.  none of my pictures turned out well because it's almost as if you're so high up on the mountain you dont have a good view.  it's like seeing the bottom from the window of a plane.  Masada means fortress, and it is where Jews during the Jewish rebellion against the romans, came for refuge.  What i didnt know before was that this area of Masada had already been built by Herod the Great.  This guy ran all around Israel building all kinds of stuff (and basically killing, enslaving and being an all around jerkface).  He had built himself a luxurious palace on top of Masada.  complete with 3 bathhouses, fake streams, just for the image and a SWIMMING POOL.  This is pretty over the top considering it's in the middle of the dessert where money means more than shekels.  We're not sure if the Romans ever inhabilited his palace, or if it was built and deserted but there is no trace of a battle between that time and when the Jews showed up to live on this mountain.  They used it as refuge to escape the Romans who would force them to worship false idols and enslave them.  So in the yr 66 CE, this group took Masada, and converted the palace walls into living facilities, bakeries, leather maker quarters, synagogues and become self-sufficient from this mountain.  They lived there for 7 years, while the Romans destroyed all the Jews in Jerusalem and othe rplaces in Israel.  When they were discovered it took teh Romans 9 months to make it to the top of the Jewish fortress.  they had to build this ramp, using Jewish slaves.  Evidence was found of a speech given to the group by a Jewish soldier, convincing them that they must take their own lives rather than submit to worshiping idols and becoming slaves.  they drew lots, which were also found.  each stone had the name of  the 9 or 10 men on it that would be responsible for killing the group and each other.  In Judaism suicide is allowed for three reasons: 1. If you're going to be forced to commit incest, 2. if you're going to be forced to worship idols and 3. if you're going to be forced to murder
When the Romans found them there were a couple children and women left, who told the Romans what happened, and were kept as slaves.

Other interesting things we saw on our trip:
Homes of Druze.  This group of religious people can only be Druze if you're directly descended from Druze.  You cannot be converted, adn if your parents dont marry other Druze, you are not Druze and are isolated from the community.  They live in Israel and have fought alongside the Jews many times.  Their religion is al most an 'offshoot' of Islam.  They also believe in reincarnation.

View of Nazareth- this was amazing.  Usually on this trip we had to try to look at a pile of rocks to imagine what the city would have looked like 2,000 years ago.  in this case we had to look at a city of thousands and try to imagine it with only 200.  We hiked up Mt. Precipice to view the city and on the other side we viewed the Jezreel valley and Megido, where Armageddon is prophesied to take place in Revelations.  it was interesting to look onto one side and see the place where Jesus was born and the other side where the end of days is supposed to take place.  But the most amazing part of this section was the peace and quiet from this mountain.  the wind seemed magical up there.  the word Netzer is Hebrew for new chute.  on an olive tree, if you dont prune it chutes will come out of the roots.  to cultivate the tree and get good olives, you must cut the chutes.  there is analogy in Psalm 128 and Romans 11:17.  We also got to visit Megido, and some ancient archaological sites there as well.  It was there that one of the donors wigs blew off.

We visited Cana, the site where Jesus turned the water into wine for a wedding.  We learned that people typically got married on teh third day of the week because in Genesis on teh third day god said 'and it was good' twice.  At this site we visited a chapel and Jerry held a ceremony where coupls renewed their vows.  it was pretty special.  The surrounding city seemed to be a lot of shops where people tried to sell you creepy pictures of Jesus and Mary, where if you turned the picture slightly their eyes would open.  THey also sold 'Cana Wine', which was horrible prune juice type stuff.  i'm sure the wine Jesus made was top shelf and nothing like that stuff.  ick.

We visited a bomb shelter in Tiberius.  Where 40 people had to sleep, including children, during hte crisis in 2006.  At that time, there wasnt any plumbing or blankets or food, but the Fellowship has sponsored renovations on these shelters and there is now a toilet and places for people to sleep.

Mt. of Beatitudes
Overlooking the sea of Galilee, there is a church built there for people to pray and enjoy.  There are well maintained gardens and stone walkways.  in my journal i wrote, "Beautiful and amazing.  they read the sermon on teh mount but before they read it i was crying and couldnt stop.  Why is it so beautiful? I kept asking, Why is it so peaceful?  It felt like paradise"

Safed
We got to visit the ancient Jewish city, where the Qabbalah and Jewish mysticism was born and we heard many jewish miracle stories like one group who was worshipping in teh synagogue and right when they knelt over for prayer, shrapnel flew over their heads and landed in the mdidle of their shuel.  Becaues they'd bowed at that moment, no one was hurt.

Ride on Sea of Galilee
We got to eat a delicious lunch and take a boat ride on the sea of galilee.  But first we received extravagent entertainment:  Jerry had a woman with an interesting head wrap play some dramatic music that sounded like it was from a Western. She said "Thank you, International Fellowship of Christians and Jewish, please look to the sea!" We looked outside as the music was turned up and there on the boat was a large man, unenthusiastically holding an American flag and waving it.  Then she tried to lead us all into singing God Bless America.  Some were led.  And then came out two Jewish girls wearing white robes who did a dramatic slow dance to a song about Jesus.  I have all of this on tape.  i couldnt make any of this up if i tried.

the significance of the Menorah- there are seven branches for seven hebrew words which mean "Not by force, nor by might, but by my spirit"

Baptized at Jordan River
Here is what i have in my journal of this event:
"The water did, in fact, smell like poop.  And i felt strange putting on a white robe, but i also felt overcome by emotion.  And there were otters swimming in the water.  Otters!!!!!  there were also some huge minnow type fish that i told people were piranas.  When i went underwater the whold world was silent and when i came out, i did feel new.  Ever since i've been in the best mood.  i feel refreshed like the best version of myself.  Talking to Danny may have been part of it too."

Bus Problems
One day we had bus problems.  People were mad that the same people seemed to get to the bus first and claim seats in the front.  it became a race issue. the people in the back were black and the people in the front were white.  one lady was crying.  we made a mandatory rule for all people to sit in a different seat every day on the bus.

Beit Shan
This was an amazing archaological dig where we got to see AN ENTIRE CITY.  stores, toilets, houses, temples, everything you would need an a city, well preserved.  it was amazing.

We visited the Upper room, where some believe was where the last supper took place.  There was an engraving of a Pelican, because apparently Pelicans, if their children are starving, they serve their babies their own blood and their own flesh.

We had a full last day of our trip. 
We first visited a center that is funded by our organizations hard work.  It provides space, material and stipends to elderly people aged 65-90 who do not have enough food to pay for food and medicine. We give them a small amount of money, enough to be comfortable, also feed them lunches and breakfasts while they work. but most importantly, give them a pride in a job that they can do and show others.  These elderly make hand made greeting cards, wooden ornaments, clothing, jewelry, etc.  They are so skilled that our travel guide told us that she and many other Jews go to the sourvenir shop to purchase these items at least twice a year.  The quality is not that of someoen who works for charity but of  high professional standard.  We got the privelege of walking around the shops, watching these cute people work and admire their work.  Some were shy and didnt speak.  But many others held up their work with pride, or proved their English skills by asking us what part of the states we were from.  it was a wonderful experience.
From there we went to this AMAZING marketplace.  Now at this point i was out of film so i had to try to write everything that i saw.  On my journal this is what i have: "..stands of the freshest and most exotic fruits and vegetables, booths of fresh homemade cheeses in all different shapes, sizes, colors, small butcher stands, booths of hand-made candles, cookies, various breads, dried fruits, dried beans, dried spices, small home-made falafel stands, entire booths devoted to different olive salands, bootsh of plumbing materials, clothing, shawls, jewelry...ultra orthodox Rabbis talking on cell phones, young IDF soldiers carrying rifles, booths of donuts for the upcoming Hanukkah celebration..."

After the market we visited another project that our organization funds.  it's a very unual soup kitchen.  At this place, anyone can eat, whether they can pay or not.  Men in business suits eat, and then drop their money in a box at the back of the restaurant.  Many put no money in the box, if they can't afford to, or they might drop a note of thanks in, or a children's drawing, or an 'IOU' (and many later come and give money when they're back on their feet.)  This place also makes up to 1,800 sandwiches every night for children, and delivers them to schools.  the teachers put these sandwiches in the designated students lunches, while the children are not present so that others will not know that the child is poor.  Right now in Israel, 435,000 families live below the poverty line.  the poverty line is $24,000 for a family of four.

We then visited the Israeli museum which held art and history for Israel.  The most noteworthy piece being an exact replica, 1/50th of the size of the city of Jerusalem from what it would have looked like 70 AD.  What was amazing about seeing this model was that i thought everything was so large in person, but the model shows that what i saw was only a fraction of what was left.  the Western wall is just a supporting wall of an enough platform that held another story-- the sacred Temple.

Also at the Israeli museum we got to view the Dead Sea Scrolls.  I had tried to look into the dead sea scrolls previously and wasnt really sure what they were.   Previously we had gotten the opportunity to visit Qumran which is the archaological site of the dead sea scrolls. And at this museum we could see the scrolls themselves.  Basically, about 30 years before the time of Jesus, there was a group of Jews who were unhappy with how Judaism was being observed.  So this group, known to some as Yachad (light) or the Dead Sea Tribe, moved to these caves on the dead sea and practiced a somewhat new version.  they emphasized scribes, which are still very important to Judaism today.  All the bible is hand written very carefully.  In fact, amazingly the entire bible, other than the book of Esther was found at this site.  Some, obviously, have thousands of years, was damaged, but the book of Isaiah was complete, with nothing missing. What's also fascinating about this find, is that this is the oldest Isaiah found and has very little, if any variance from the Isaiah book we find today. In addition there were a 100 extra Psalms that are not included in the bible today.  in addition to scribes, this group obstained from all pleasure.  They wrote, mediated, prayed, and ate in silence.  These men believed they were given the true knowledge of the calendar so theirs is slightly variant on thh Jewish calendar.  These Jews also had a strong emphasis on mikvas (ritual baths Jews used).  They also have a unique prophecy about an end of days last battle, which is not something that you'll typically find in Judaism.  The style of this prediction is more in the style of what you could find in the New Testament. This group lived in these caves for about 40 years, and we're not sure what happened to them.  Their documents were buried, which could mean that when they left the site, they did not intend to come back.  Some think they could have possibly joined the Jews fighting on Masada, because a similar document was found on that site, but just a theory.  All of this archaological preservation was made possible because of the lack of humidity in Israel. 

We left the museum already exhausted and arrived at Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial.  this, as i expected, was so emotionally and spiritually draining.  we only had 2 hours to visit the entire museum, and that doesnt include the separate museum that honors the 1 million children killed.  After the visit the rabbi came and gave a solemn talk, sharing his thoughts, and then sang a melodic prayer in Hebrew.  We left a wreath from IFCJ in honor of the group of rebels in the ghettos that rose up and fought valliantly against the nazis.

From there i went to dinner, as if i was in the mood to eat, and then got on a bus to go home. 

My trip home was so much easier than my trip there.  Security didnt hassle me and i slept for 12 hours!!! I must have been tired.  There were no delays or problems with either flight.  And i'm now home, trying to get back to my schedule.

It was a wonderful trip, i was almost sad to leave.  Israel is a very unique place

I suck at blogs

ok, so obviously this whole blog idea wasnt a complete success.  every night i get back to the hotel, eat dinner and then stare at my computer and try to label all the pictures i have taken-- ("which 'Mt.' was THAT??).  After taking pictures for 12 hours, i forget what the morning pictures were of and what the significance was.  There are Roman, Greek, biblical (Jewish and Christian) and historical stories for every site and view. 
here are some general thoughts, not organized or structured in any particular way:

1.      Today an older woman in her 80s refused to leave a church.  This church was built on the land that holds a rock that people believe Jesus knelt before the night before his crucifixion.  Aside from physically removing her, we tried everything to get her to leave.  But at 10 am when it was time to go to the next site scheduled on the tour, she was too overcome to leave.  So we had to leave her.  At 10 am in Jerusalem there are hundreds of large buses just like ours, full of tourists who speak languages from all over the world.  Traffic is as thick as any other major metropolitan city.  This woman only speaks English and may or may not have known the name of her hotel, or even the general direction to get to it.

2.      There is another woman on the tour who speaks in tongues. (not the only one).  The other day I was sitting next to her when someone was giving a speech that she found especially moving or spiritual so she started to mutter the tongues.  Most of the people who speak in tongues don’t shout them out, they mutter them under their breath.  So I listened intently to what tongues she was speaking.  Was she speaking the language of angels? Was she speaking an antigue language from thousands of years ago?  I leaned in and heard her saying ‘YabbaDabbadabbadabba.  Yabba Dabba Dabba.’  And every time since then, this is the exact thing she mutters.  When we were visiting a church which is one of sites that many believe could possibly have been where Jesus carried the cross and was buried, we were all in an underground tomb.  We stood in a rocky cave listening to our tour guide give the history and theological theories that many have about the site.  It was then that she ripped the juiciest fart that has probably ever been in the thousand years the tomb has existed.  I don’t have a point. Just that this woman speaks in tongues that sound like Fred from the Flintstones and also rips farts.

3.      My mind and heart are racing, being torn in many different directions in response to all of the biblical history, political issues, personal spiritual changes, and cultural differences, (not only US vs Israeli, but among Judaism and Christianity and even the different denominations of Christianity itself).  In fact, my shoulders feel burdened with the responsibility of interpreting all of these concepts and figuring out where I belong and what the truth is.  what I do know is that Israel is a place that holds spirituality and religious value for most of the people who visit it.  If nothing else, the value is in the questions that individuals are forced to face.  Even if the individual doesnt need to think very hard to come up with an answer or is unable to answer at all. 

4.      I am disappointed that I have not eaten any tabouli.  I did eat the best baba ghanouj I’ve ever had today at a Jewish Kibbutz.

5.      There is a new Jewish movement going on where an older traditionally conservative rabbi is leading Jews to worship and praise through modern techno music.  I didn’t believe it until a van stopped at a stop light in Jerusalem and two rabbis got out and began dancing to techno music being blasted from the top of their van.  When the light changed, they got back into their van and drove away, music still blaring.  I really need to learn more and download some music.

6.      Western Wall- the western wall was not a spiritual experience for me at all.  But it was definitely one of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had.  The wall is split into two sections- male and female.  There is a wall dividing the two sections.  There are ALL kinds of people visiting the wall.  Many,  many languages are spoken and many variations of Judaism are practiced.  The western wall is the only standing wall of the temple that was destroyed thousands of years ago.  Jews go to pray and put their prayers in cracks in the wall.  I prayed for 6 personal requests from donors and my own personal prayers for friends and family.  but my prayers felt forced and I was distracted.  I had to fight my way just to reach the wall and be able to touch it.  and when I touched the wall I didn’t feel any magical spark, or any divine feeling.  I just felt like I was touching a wall and trying to pray even though one of our tour members was next to me weeping and shaking loudly.  Then when you’re done praying, you’re not supposed to turn your back to the wall.  Which means you have to walk backwards away from the wall.  Think about the logistics of that.  keep in mind there is a mob of people behind you and some of them are sitting in chairs.  I only did it for a couple minutes and gave up and turned around and walked normally.

7.      There are so many books I need to read.  And so little time for reading on this trip.  I didn’t read one page on the 10 hour trip I took here.  and I brought 4 books to read and haven’t opened but 2 of them.  and one of them was a guide book and the other was the bible.

8.      I went into the grossest public bathroom I’ve ever been in.  And I feel like there are a lot of gross ones on this trip.  But the grosses had so many flies, and these Israeli flies are RUDE.  They land on anything exposed, and are in the toilet.  And then there were old ladies wearing babushkas washing their feet in the sinks.

9.      At lunch the other day we were all eating falafel sandwiches and the lady next to me asked me to pass the ‘mayonaise’.  With all my might I hid my indignation and said, ‘it’s not mayonnaise.  It’s Tahini.’  ‘Whatever.’ She replied, ‘it’s the closest thing to mayonnaise I’m gon’ get around here.’  This same lady had another funny incident the day before.  We were at an archaeological site and the tour guide didn’t want anyone to go in the gift shop yet because we’d lose track of the group.  but this lady went into the shop anyways.  Our tour guide Nola (who is amazing- a South African Jew who knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING) yelled at her ‘Please!! Can you please come over here, I promise you’ll have time to shop later.’  The lady pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.  With her hands on her hips she said fiercely and with a strong southern accent, “I.  NEEED.  A. PRAYER. SHAWL.’ 

10.  Animals I’ve seen on this trip: goats on a mountain, otters in the Jordan river, lizards by River Dan, donkeys and camels everywhere.  (tomorrow i can ride a camel if I choose), lots of cats roaming around the mountains and deserts, rubbing their backs on our legs, a couple stray dogs, extremely large minnows also in the Jordan river, a few grazing cows…

11. Tomorrow i float in the dead sea and visit Masada

Nov 3rd - 2 days of travel

I got into a cab at 1 pm Tuesday afternoon and arrived at my hotel in Israel at 8 pm Wednesday night. 

I met three coworkers at the terminal.  I am so lucky I got to travel with these three.  Betsy has a great sense of humor and will laugh at anything, which just makes joy easy to find.  Sue and Dereck are married and both have entertaining accents-- Sue has a thick southern accent, and feels no shame or embarassment at being pushy and bossy and Derreck has a country English accent and must go to bed every night with a sore face from constantly smiling.  He has a story for everything, usually with many words i can't understand but i'm amused by the pleasure he takes in telling them.  All of these traits came in handy when we were informed our flight to NY was late and maybe even cancelled.  Sue was proud to be the one to give the airline attendant behind the counter hell, and to have us (literally) cheering her on.  And Derreck was telling us a story in a thick British accent relating to his days flying military planes.

Two hours later our plane was fixed, so we flew to NYC, knowing we might not make our flight to Israel.  We landed at JFK airport and had an hour and a half to pick up our luggage, find the international terminal and re-check our bags and go through Israeli security which we had been warned is one of the strictest on the planet. Betsy showed us the way to the gate, laughing all the way, while Derreck told reminescing British stories about plane layovers he's had in the past from England.
But i cannot begin to describe the culture shock of the El Al terminal at JFK.  It was like we'd already traveled out of the States.  The majority of people were orthodox Jews, men with long beards and payis (long sideburn curls), women with their hair covered, elderly rabbis pushing carts bigger than their bodies, and all wearing black.  When i got to the front of the line i was questioned by security.  and despite my attempt to only reveal necessary information it was like my excitement to go to Israel gave me diarrhea of the month.  Every answer i gave led to more questions and soon the woman, although smiling, took away my passport and showed it to a group of people.  i was then led to a secluded room while they started taking out all my belongings.  i peered over, trying to keep a neutral expression on my face.  if i looked nervous, angry, in a hurry-- would that make me even more of a suspect??  they saw me watching and rolled a wheeled divider up so i couldnt see them go through the suitcases.  Two other girls were brought over and sat by me.  One was taken into a room and the door was closed.  the other girl and i looked at each other nervously.  a few minutes went by and then the security guard opened the door and closed it.  She was carrying a few belongings, including the captive girl's sweater.  Would we be strip searched? the girl next to me was visibly stressed.  'Oh god, they makin me nervous,' she told me.  But we got to leave, without being searched.  Because we were held over, the security guards personally escorted us through the rest of security and right to the plane, bypassing the long line of people.
But getting on the plane was like another culture shock.  the seats were smaller and closer together than any plane i'd ever been on, and my stomach turned at the thought of being on this for 10 hours.  Not only that but the El Al flight attendants were no where to be found.  Senior citizens stood in the aisles with glazed eyes, not reacting when you say 'excuse me' to pass.  No flight attendants were available to help put suitcases up or tell us where to sit.  And i found that i was in the middle seat.  But good news-- i got to sit next to Betsy!! i was so relieved.  Amazingly, the plane started backing up and moving without any warning message or greeting from a flight attendant or pilot.  People were still standing up, praying, chatting, putting bags up and the plane was slowly making its way down the runway.
then i realized i hadnt eaten since 9 am that morning.  and it was midnight.  Betsy is my mom sometimes and had bought me a turkey sandwich but it had mayo on it.  i knew i had to eat because my hands were shaking and the stress and craziness of the day was probably draining me.  also i wanted to take a sleeping pill.  so i slowly forced myself to eat half of a sandwich with mayo.  who would have thought i'd eat a non kosher turkey mayo sandwich on a trip to Israel?
as i started to drift to sleep sitting up, watching Good Guys, with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlburg, which by the way is a terrible bad bad movie, anxiety washed over me.  what was i doing? i was crammed in a seat on a plane containing 470 passengers, flying over night, taking me farther and farther away from my husband.  even with the ambien it was hard to sleep. 
in the morning things seemed more hopeful, we were closer to our destination.  all the orthodox jewish men were stnading up and praying and rocking back and forth over their scriptures. 
when we landed we had to collect thirty people, some of whom are mentally insane.  that took over an hour. Luckily, again, Betsy was still laughing, and Sue was bossing everyone around as needed.  then we got on a bus and drove an hour and a half.  it was dark so i couldnt see anything interesting.  from what i saw it looked like Arizona, only all the signs were in Hebrew or Arabic. 
our hotel in Caesarea is gorgeous.  Christina has already made friends with half of the tour participants and introduces me to them.  she was so excited to see me, she jumped up and down and hugged me.
we had a delicious dinner, with a variety of different fresh salads- pasta salads, eggplant salads, roasted pepper salads, quinoa salads, delicious hummus, several types of yummy kosher meats that reminded me of eating dinner at my grandmas...
after dinner we all met and prayed.  it was encouraging.  Jerry said that we were all there because each one of us had a reason to be there, a purpose.  one woman got so excited she stood up and started saying 'Hallelujah'.  i thought it was a bit of an overreaction, but it got worse when, as she exited the meeting she began speaking in tongues.  another man joined her.  disturbed, i turned around and walked in the other direction to speak to Betsy.

tomorrow we are up at 5:45, luggage on the bus by 6:15, breakfast by 6:45, on the road to Caesaria and Tiberius by 7:30.