The weekend was packed from early morning to late at night with tours, speakers, and exploring. For me, it was also an emotional weekend as I came to understand more about the Holocaust and the Arab/Israeli conflict. So here goes a long entry taking you through the sights that I saw and the thoughts that I thought.
Kesariyya Beachfront
The weekend started off in Caesarea (Kesariyya in Hebrew). We arrived at the Caesarea train station a couple of hours before we were expected (don't blame us for wanted to leave work early!) It was not the most welcoming place as it is located in the middle of an industrial complex. Being the adventurous college students that we are, we decided to walk from the train station to the hotel. This was a terrible idea because the distance between the industrial complex to the beachfront hotel was essentially a long stretch of highway with little shoulder. Luckily for us, we hardly got out of the complex before we were picked up by a kind gentleman. After dropping our luggage off, we were beach bound with cameras in hand.
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| Sunset and seashells |
For me, one defining thing about the beach was the tremendous coal-fired power plant. This particular plant generates most Israel's of electricity, which is an important part of a discussion to come.
Kesariyya National Park
Our walk that evening ended when we stumbled upon the ruins of Caesarea National Park. The unexpected find excited me, and I ran around as excited as if I were the first to discover the ruins. The next morning we went on an actual tour of Kesariyya National Park, and to my surprise we entered the park via the same questionable route taken the night before. It was fascinating to learn about the history of the area through all the different periods and to tie it back to the AP World History tidbits that I managed to remember.
Druze Hospitality
For lunch, we visited a nearby Druze village. The Druze are a group of Arab people who practice their own religion. The people regularly welcome visitors into their homes to learn more about their culture. We enjoyed a fine meal of hummus, pita, eggplant and other delicious dishes accompanied by sweet tea. In general, the experience led to a lot of questions about the religion and unsatisfying answers, which left me unsettled. Though we were not able to identify with the religion, this visit started the conversation about the different religious groups within Israel and the conflicts that we have come to hear about.
Tech
Outside Tel Aviv, we visited companies and were exposed to Israel's entrepreurial spirit. As a treehugger, I was looking forward to going to a Better Place. Better Place's vision is a world where traditional cars are replaced by electric cars. Their goal is to achieve their vision by building charging stations for everyday use and switching stations for those longer drives. Their business model is impressive, as is their marketing.
But does it provide for a Better Place? Sure, there are pros. Emissions are now concentrated to power plants that are easier to regulate (compared to millions of cars on the road). No exhaust means the air we breath is cleaner. But unless the energy mix for electricity generation changes from predominantly coal and natural gas, we're just hiding our footprint.
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| Image courtesy Rand, 2007. Electricity generated is 69% from coal. More recently, natural gas has probably replaced some of the coal. |
Western Wall during Shabbat
That evening we arrived in Jerusalem and made our way to the Western Wall for the start of Shabbat. I had never realized how joyous an occasion Shabbat actually is. There were people praying and chanting and dancing!
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| Busy before Shabbat |
The next morning, we had some time off, and we took this as an opportunity to visit Bethlehem. It was a quiet border crossing into Palestine by taxi, and we were dropped off near a giftshop where we were picked up by a tourguide who showed us the Church of Nativity. (Of course the tour ended back at the giftshop...) This church was built over the stable where Jesus was born and is comprised of the Catholic component, the Greek Orthodox component, and the Armenian component. The three were vastly different, but I appreciated different elements in each. I like the intricate light fixtures, and the incense, and the mosaics. We were not allowed to enter the stable because there was a special ceremony going on and viewing was limited as the church had a special guest. We later found out that this special guest was the ex-President of Romania when we saw her leaving with her entourage and body guards.
Israel Museum
The Museum celebrates the history of the land and the artwork throughout that history. It contained an impressive collection of artifacts that were laid out in excellently planned exhibits which took us chronologically through time. The Israel Museum is also home to the Dead Sea Scrolls which contain the text for the Torah. The modern architecture is stunning and the sculpture garden is also worth checking out.
Holocaust Museum
The Holocaust Museum was also well designed. Everything from the architecture to the floor plan was meaningful. The main walkway is triangular with the walls closing in at the top. This is to symbolize the oppression and how trapped the Jews felt. The display winds along chronologically from the seeds of antisemitism, to the ghettos, to the death camps. Near the end, there is a room for the heroes of the Holocaust. At the end, the walls open out and you can step outside into fresh air and take in a scenic view of Jerusalem. The very presence of the State of Israel is the greatest victory that the Jews can hold over the Nazis.
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| The Final Scene |
The first is about a girl and her doll, Leta. This young girls mother was helping smuggle Jews out of Poland, so she had to leave her daughter in hiding. As she leaves, she reminds her daughter to never open the door unless she speaks the code: A mother never leaves her child. When she realizes that it is no longer safe, she sends a friend to get her daughter. The daughter takes much convincing to leave her hiding spot, but the friend eventually coaxes her out and hides her in a sack, carrying her as if she were a bag of coals. A short while later the girl starts screaming, wanting to go back. The friend is confused, but opens the bag to question why she is attracting attention to them. The girl responds I left Leta, A mother never leaves her child. We must go back for her. And they did.
The second anecdote is about a survivor. A lot of couples were married shortly after being rescued in a desire to return to normalcy. One particular lady got married and soonafter started feeling ill. She went to the doctor and found out that she was 3 months pregnant. Her response was terror. Doctor, I can't have this child. Please abort it now. I can't stand to hear the screams of a child at night any longer. When the doctor replied that he would not do the abortion, if she couldn't pay, she tried extreme methods to self-abort. Luckily her measures failed and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy. I prayed that he would stay healthy.
Our trip to the museum was followed by a talk by a Holocaust scholar. She spun a beautiful narrative combining her years of knowledge, her mother's survival anecdotes, and some fiction to tie loose ends together. This talk helped me get into the minds of the Jews, and it saddened me to realize that the Jews intially blamed themselves for the Holocaust.
Understanding the Arab/Israeli Conflict through Mifgash
The Hebrew word Mifgash literally translates to encounter, and that is what we did to understand the different positions in the conflict.
Armymen
On Sunday night we had dinner with soldiers in the Israeli army. Citizens are required to serve in the military after high school (boys for 3 years, girls for 2). There are exceptions for Hacidics and Arabs, but for the most part, everyone does it willingly because it is a rite of passage into the real world. No service, no job.
It was interesting to interact with them because mostly everyone in the army is our age. We bonded over our family lives, and hobbies, and even pop culture.
Arab woman
Monday morning we had another mifgash, this time an Arab woman spoke to the entire group. She told us about her experiences living as a Muslim in Israel and how she felt discriminated against, but stays for her family and her love of the land. She was able to answer all of our difficult questions and it was a rather eye-opening experience. She was saddened by the association of the Muslim religion to terrorists acting in the name of Jihad ("Striving in the way of God"). We are peaceful people. Bombing buildings and other acts of terror is not Jihad. Explaining about the Quran and helping people understand us is.
Comic relief came when a male asked why women dressed so conservatively and covered their hair. Woman are sexy, and YOU are not. We must cover ourselves because our beauty is a gift that we only want our husbands to see. When we are around only women, we like to show off.
Obviously the conflict is deep rooted and more complicated than I can imagine. I will not attempt to reconcile the politics in my head, but I think understanding the people is a good start.
Golan Heights
Sunday morning we toured the Golan Heights. We visited a fort to learn about how the area was militarily significant. From the top of the volcanic rock, we could see the vast expanse to the Syrian border. Scouts could easily detect military activity and mobilize the Israeli army and reserve forces. Lacking this resource would be disastrous for Israeli defense.
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| View of Golan Heights Looking Towards Syrian Border |
Rafting down the Jordan river was the perfect way to end the weekend. The river was very calm, and "falling" into the cool water was very refreshing. Rafts were toppled, boats were commandeered, and splash wars ensued. And we even hit a rapid!
Visit my facebook gallery to see more photos from this weekend.
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