Our Trip Comes to a Close

Posted on 08/04/2011 @ 11:19 AM

On our last day in Israel together we visited the new Yitzhak Rabin museum in Tel Aviv.  The museum presented a dynamic overview of Rabin’s life in parliament encompassing the major events of Israel’s independence and construction of the state we know today.  The exhibits used a wide range of media and related each year to the major events taking place outside of Israel creating useful context.  The experience presented us with an excellent summation of the establishment of the state of Israel which was appropriate for our last moments here together.  Our group enjoyed a lovely meal at Regina and said goodbye to this two week experience in Israel.

Leeba Morse

Kibbutz Sa’ad

Posted on 08/02/2011 @ 10:31 AM

We began our travels today by going to Kibbutz Sa’ad in the northern Negev desert. The kibbutz  is a national religious (Orthodox) institution situated 5 kilometers from the Gaza border.  There we met a lovely Anglo immigrant (from Ireland) named David Jackson who described  the dire security situation of the kibbutz during the War of Independence in 1948. We learned about the serious material privations and vicious battles against the Egyptian army that the early pioneers of the kibbutz endured.  Many of us were very moved by the bravery of those early pioneers and impressed by their capacity to create a new sort of social experiment  - a wholly modern, yet religiously observant, communal Jewish settlement.

Our group then traveled a short ways away to a Negev development town called Netivot.  Netivot was founded to house a large wave of North African Jewish aliyah during the 1950’s. Netivot has gained fame in Israel as the burial place of the famed Moroccan rabbi and baalei mofet (miracle worker) Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira – popularly known as the Baba Sali (praying father).  While in Netivot, we spoke to an Israeli anthropologist  who discussed the Moroccan Jewish custom of venerating the tombs of tzadikim (saints).  We also learned about the influence that various mekubalim (kabalistic rabbis) have in Netivot and in the broader Israeli society.  Many of the trip participants expressed surprise that the Jewish tradition contained within it such concepts as miracle workers and the veneration of the graves of rabbis.

We concluded our day by visiting the Israeli city of Nitzan. Nitzan is the relocation site of many of the families that were evacuated from the Israeli settlement bloc in Gaza called Gush Katif. These families were forcibly evacuated from the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army during Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan in 2005. Many of the residents of Gush Katif had developed a strong sense of communal cohesion and requested that they be resettled together as a community. The residents of Nitzan have constructed a museum documenting the former communities of Gush Katif as well as video testimonials of former residents.  Many of the program participants thought that the museum would be an opportunity to view Israeli “right wing propaganda.”  They were surprised to discover how professionally the museum was developed and how moving the testimonials of former Israeli Jewish residents of the Gaza Strip were.  Although many of the program participants continue to believe that the evacuation of isolated settlements in largely Palestinian areas is both a necessity and an inevitability, they gained an appreciation for the anguish of the settler community and the human toll that any evacuation places on the Israeli polity.

Ben Rancman

Rosh Chodesh Av

Posted on 08/01/2011 @ 10:26 AM

(Written from the perspective of our friend, the Ibex)

This morning—Rosh Chodesh Av, after butting heads (literally) with my brother, I noticed a group of 10 PDIers walking up the path leading to the vast expanse of my home, the Negev. They seemed to be a cheery bunch (at least cheery for a 6am Tiyul—hike). After inquisitively looking at my tracks (and those of my friends) and trying to (rather poorly) track us, they gave up and the PDIers went their separate ways.

Some of these characters put on boxes on their heads and arms and swayed back and forth, others rummaged through the desert trash to find used bullets and parts of bombshells, yet others took some time to themselves to just check out my home. Eventually, they gathered back together to discuss, eat breakfast, and drink tea and coffee.

I followed them back to their shelter at Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh, where these curious humans swam, enjoyed free wireless, and eventually even did some Hebrew and Bible study. During Hebrew, they learned about the root “B.D.D.” which is the building block of words such as “alone.” After, they discussed what deserts mean to the
Jewish people as well as the State of Israel through studying texts.

They hopped on the bus and I could not keep up. I did, however, catch that they were on their way to Mitzpeh Ramon, the largest ecological crater in Israel. I quickly called up my friends in the area so that they could spy on these travelers and report back.

After getting to Mitzpeh Ramon, and seeing our beautiful sculpture garden, these peculiar individuals decided to climb on our art… so American (I guess maybe they were trying to imitate us—again, this was a poor attempt). After taking in the magnificent view of the crater and taking many pictures of my friends as well as each other, the group boarded the bus to enjoy dinner and head north to Be’er Sheva where they would spend the night dreaming of our agile movements on the mountain side.

Transitions

Posted on 07/31/2011 @ 03:29 PM

Today we continued one of the major themes of our trip . . . transitions.

After spending Shabbat in Jerusalem we left the hotel and went from the “center of the world to the end of the world.” During temple times, when the Temple stood where the Dome of the Rock currently stands, the priests would send the sacrificial scape-goat outside of the city walls to the desert. The desert just at the edge of the ancient city was the “edge of the world.” These days we know the world exists far beyond the surroundings of the walled city of ancient Jerusalem. In many ways the distinction is no less severe though.

Jerusalem is a city of contradictions. It is serene and bustling. Holy and dirty.  Inspirational and completely secular. Leaving Jerusalem in many ways was an extension of this conflicted identity. Traveling from Jerusalem towards the south and the Negev we drove through conflicted territory in the shadow of the security barrier/fence and military checkpoints . At one point a soldier boarded the bus to discuss his role and the role of the checkpoints. Before being called back to inspecting vehicles, the soldier told us briefly about his role inspecting cars for both security and commercial purposes. Smuggling of goods and workers from the West Bank is also a concern, not just the more widely reported security threats.

Our first stop in the Negev was at Sde Boker, the area where David Ben-Gurion lived and died. We toured his home which is now a museum and had a chance to explore who he was, his family and his role in shaping the development of the Negev, the Israeli Army and the Israeli State. In addition to his home we also saw the spot where he and his wife Paula are now buried. One of the compelling aspects of Ben-Gurion was his humility. He specifically requested in his will to have a simple funeral and burial. In keeping with those wishes his burial site merely notes his name and the date he made aliyah. The simplicity of his burial site is only accentuated by the impressive viewpoint overlooking the Negev from where he is buried.

Following our tour of Sde Boker and the Ben-Gurion College area we drove further into the Negev to visit one of the many Bedouin settlements in the area. We walked about 1 mile from the highway through fairly barren desert until we were welcomed by Salman, some of his children and relatives in their traditional Bedouin tent. Salman greeted us with tea, made Bedouin pita in the charcoals of a fire and shared his personal story with us. Salman told us of the challenges and struggles of maintaining the Bedouin culture for himself and his family. The Bedouin lifestyle has been constrained by technology, the ongoing development of the Israeli nation-state and the conveniences of running water and electricity. For Salman, maintaining the Bedouin way of life and passing on his traditions is something he is clinging to but seems to sense it slipping away.

In the evening we had dinner at a private home in Yerucham, a development town in the Negev. Our hosts were born in Libya and Tunisia and told us the story of their arrival in the city of Yerucham and how it has evolved over the past 60 years into a town of 9,500 people (and 27 synagogues). Theirs too was a story of connection to a land and the continuity of a way of life.

We’ve explored many themes on the trip so far including holiness of a place and various peoples’ connections to land for various reasons. Over the past week we’ve met with many people who have shared their personal stories of connecting to the land and how that connection has shaped who they are and what their daily struggles are for. That seems to be the unifying factor for most people living here. From the 4th generation Jerusalemite who led us on walking tour of Jerusalem, to Salman who lives in a Bedouin village in the Negev, the struggle is to stake a claim to land that is part of who they are. It seems like everyone in Israel these days is in a struggle with “place”. Ben-Gurion came to Israel and in his 60’s he began a struggle to develop a place, the Negev. Generations later Salman, a Bedouin, is struggling to hold on to a tiny piece of land that is historically his own and desperately trying to maintain an ancient way of life. The people living in Yerucham are creating a new history blending their past with their future.

Identity, history, modernity and ideology intersect everywhere and within everyone we’ve experienced over the past few weeks. Today was another stop on that journey. No big questions were answered but the complexity continues to deepen in a way that in some ways is making the questions make more sense.

Aaron Katler

Shabbat in Jerusalem

Posted on 07/30/2011 @ 03:28 PM

There’s nothing like Shabbat in Jerusalem. The city shuts down and everyone embraces the concept of rest. This held true for our group as we took pleasure in resting from our intensive week. This Shabbat was quite different from the one we spent in Tel Aviv. Although we had a good amount of free time to take leisurely strolls and take a dip in the pool at the Inbal Hotel, we also had some programming that completed our Shabbat experience.

We had the pleasure of meeting with Rabbi Shlomo Fox from Hebrew Union College, who led us in the discussion of the Parsha Ha’Shavua. The parsha was Masei and discussed the various travels of the Israelites. Rabbi Fox framed the discussion through the lens of a tourist. It was interesting to think about how we have travelled through  and across Israel for the last two weeks and have felt more than  just as tourists. We have been able to get to know the people that live here and the dilemmas that they face every day. This is something we can relate to our ancestors as they got to know the people that they came across as they travelled through the desert on their way to the Promised Land.

Our Shabbat continued with a walking tour of some Jerusalem neighborhoods lead by Elan Ezrachi. He gave us a brief history of the development of Jerusalem as a modern city. We walked through the oldest new neighborhood, outside the Old City, where Elan described the growth patterns among Jews, Arabs and Christians in Jerusalem after World War I and during the British Mandate. It was compelling to hear that Jerusalem was developed as a modern city once the British had control since they utilized modern city planning. We then walked to Mamilla, the open-air pedestrian mall leading up to the Jaffa Gate. There, we were able to see where the border between Jordan and Israel stood between 1948 and 1967. It was mind-blowing to see how small the city was when it was  divided.

Our final Shabbat in Israel together, concluded with a rousing Havdallah in a park that was overlooking the Old City. The Havdallah was even more memorable as we heard celebratory fireworks (possibly gunfire) from a nearby Arab neighborhood celebrating a wedding. As Shabbat came to a close, we prepared to head south to the Negev to see how it has bloomed, according to Ben-Gurion’s dream.

Justin Pollack and Ben Kozberg