Wednesday night
February 18, 2009
After twelve hours of flying, I arrived to Israel Wednesday morning at 9:15 am. I snapped a picture as well passed over Tel Aviv, minutes away from landing.
Waiting to go through immigration control, in I saw we were joined by a group of tourists from Africa wearing colorful native gowns, as well as by the a Turkish (The Turkish?) soccer team. Milwaukeeans Mert and Dottie Rotter and I hitched a ride to Jerusalem with Milwaukee's own Habad rabbi, Rabbi Samuels (on the right, conversing with Federation president, Bruce Arbit).
As we drove into Jerusalem, I caught sight of a new building project - a Calatrava designed bridge that will be part of an urban light rail system. Calatrava's work is instantly recognizable, especially for a Milwaukeean!
After a few minutes (literally) to wash up in the hotel, we set out for Latrun, approximately halfway back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem. Latrun was the sight of an important series of battles during Israel's war of Independence in 1948. Today, the former British police station serves as a memorial to fallen members of Israel's armored corps, as well as a museum to over one hundred and fifty different kinds of tanks Israel has had to use in wartime. In addition, the site is where future armored corps soldiers are sworn in.
For more about the modern history of Latrun, press here. To learn about American Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who helped the fledgling IDF (Israel Defense Forces) build the "Burma Road" to break the Arab siege of Jerusalem in the late forties,) press here.
And to learn more about the Israeli designed and manufactured Merkava (chariot) tank (and to see a video of it in action) press here.
After lunch and a visit to the museum and memorial, we headed down toward the Mediterranean to Kibbutz Ayalon. Ayalon was a collective settlement that prior to and during the War of Independence (1948-1949) hid an underground factory that produced nine millimeter bullets for the war effort. To see the program the "History Channel" did about the clandestine bullet factory, press here.
BUT WAIT! The day wasn't over yet. After a tour of the Weitzmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, we arrived at Moshav Ish'i, a collective settlement founded by Yemenite Jews. We ate a delicious Yemenite dinner and took part in a ceremony preparing for a Yemenite Wedding. The bride groom and attendants were bedecked with fabulous traditional costumes, which are owned collectively by the community and loaned out to brides and grooms. Brides were many different rings of silver and are usually covered with designs painted on with Henna from head to foot. There was lots of dancing, in which we all took part. Sinai congregant Jane Gellman got into the dancing in an especially vivid way, sporting a hat of burning candles (see picture). I am happy to report that everyone everyone emerged from the wedding banquet unsigned and in good health!
If you would like to read a first person report on the preparations for a real Yemenite wedding, press here.
A last thought: Today, on multiple occasions, we drove by the downtown Jerusalem residence of the prime minister. It felt as if we were "so close yet so far" and this underscores an inherent paradox of our trip so far: on one hand, we are at the center of the news universe. Israelis themselves are news junkies, regularly tuning to the evening newscast and reading at least one daily paper.
And yet, being tourists in Israel, slowly acclimating to the time change and the jet lag, means that we are ironically cut off from the news. Our days are filled with traveling and learning, not watching television and reading the newspaper. Ironically, it's easier to follow Israeli news from afar.
Even so, we have some important advantages in being here, first and foremost that we can talk to Israelis one on one. I've already cornered the bus driver, our security guard (who, at 21, seems armed with little more than sunglasses), the tour guide (whom I know from twenty five years ago when I worked in tourism in Jerusalem), and some others, in order to ask them their thoughts and analyses of the day's events. I won't report on those right now; I'll wait until I have critical mass tomorrow or Friday. In the meantime, please feel free to share these missives with friends and family - that's what they are there for!
Rabbi David B. Cohen
p.s. Please let me know if there are specific question you'd like me respond to, or to pose to my Israeli friends. I've already received 20 suggested questions and I have time to ask even more!
Waiting to go through immigration control, in I saw we were joined by a group of tourists from Africa wearing colorful native gowns, as well as by the a Turkish (The Turkish?) soccer team. Milwaukeeans Mert and Dottie Rotter and I hitched a ride to Jerusalem with Milwaukee's own Habad rabbi, Rabbi Samuels (on the right, conversing with Federation president, Bruce Arbit).
As we drove into Jerusalem, I caught sight of a new building project - a Calatrava designed bridge that will be part of an urban light rail system. Calatrava's work is instantly recognizable, especially for a Milwaukeean!
After a few minutes (literally) to wash up in the hotel, we set out for Latrun, approximately halfway back to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem. Latrun was the sight of an important series of battles during Israel's war of Independence in 1948. Today, the former British police station serves as a memorial to fallen members of Israel's armored corps, as well as a museum to over one hundred and fifty different kinds of tanks Israel has had to use in wartime. In addition, the site is where future armored corps soldiers are sworn in.
For more about the modern history of Latrun, press here. To learn about American Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who helped the fledgling IDF (Israel Defense Forces) build the "Burma Road" to break the Arab siege of Jerusalem in the late forties,) press here.
And to learn more about the Israeli designed and manufactured Merkava (chariot) tank (and to see a video of it in action) press here.
After lunch and a visit to the museum and memorial, we headed down toward the Mediterranean to Kibbutz Ayalon. Ayalon was a collective settlement that prior to and during the War of Independence (1948-1949) hid an underground factory that produced nine millimeter bullets for the war effort. To see the program the "History Channel" did about the clandestine bullet factory, press here.
BUT WAIT! The day wasn't over yet. After a tour of the Weitzmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, we arrived at Moshav Ish'i, a collective settlement founded by Yemenite Jews. We ate a delicious Yemenite dinner and took part in a ceremony preparing for a Yemenite Wedding. The bride groom and attendants were bedecked with fabulous traditional costumes, which are owned collectively by the community and loaned out to brides and grooms. Brides were many different rings of silver and are usually covered with designs painted on with Henna from head to foot. There was lots of dancing, in which we all took part. Sinai congregant Jane Gellman got into the dancing in an especially vivid way, sporting a hat of burning candles (see picture). I am happy to report that everyone everyone emerged from the wedding banquet unsigned and in good health!
If you would like to read a first person report on the preparations for a real Yemenite wedding, press here.
A last thought: Today, on multiple occasions, we drove by the downtown Jerusalem residence of the prime minister. It felt as if we were "so close yet so far" and this underscores an inherent paradox of our trip so far: on one hand, we are at the center of the news universe. Israelis themselves are news junkies, regularly tuning to the evening newscast and reading at least one daily paper.
And yet, being tourists in Israel, slowly acclimating to the time change and the jet lag, means that we are ironically cut off from the news. Our days are filled with traveling and learning, not watching television and reading the newspaper. Ironically, it's easier to follow Israeli news from afar.
Even so, we have some important advantages in being here, first and foremost that we can talk to Israelis one on one. I've already cornered the bus driver, our security guard (who, at 21, seems armed with little more than sunglasses), the tour guide (whom I know from twenty five years ago when I worked in tourism in Jerusalem), and some others, in order to ask them their thoughts and analyses of the day's events. I won't report on those right now; I'll wait until I have critical mass tomorrow or Friday. In the meantime, please feel free to share these missives with friends and family - that's what they are there for!
Rabbi David B. Cohen
p.s. Please let me know if there are specific question you'd like me respond to, or to pose to my Israeli friends. I've already received 20 suggested questions and I have time to ask even more!
No comments:
Post a Comment