Today, we are actually at the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth, although this certainly doesn't describe our spirits. We arrived yesterday, after 3 tumultuous days in Jerusalem. By this, I mean that that our experiences in Jerusalem were a mixture of awe, activity, and frustration.
First, the awe. Jerusalem is a city almost beyond words. It leaves you simultaneously breathless and speechless. The road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is like the aorta of the country, the mainline corridor of transit in Israel, as evidenced by the volume of traffic, frequnecy of buses between the cities, and the huge numbers of people going from one to the other. The scenery along the way is striking, with vistas encompassing hillsides which are either stark and rocky or lush and green. Everywhere, you see housing or commercial developments tucked into the natural topology. Entering the city proper. as we did, via Egged, the national bus company that has been our prime transportation option of late (more about Egged later), you are immediately struck by two things- the architecture and the inhabitants. The city is entirely built of stone. The buildings and walls, whether ancient or of contemporary design, are comprised of this almost-radiant white-yellow coloured stone. It has a blinding impact in the day's sun, and it leaves an unforgettable impression on us. You can instantly feel that this is a place like no other, a special place, a holy place, and you can also understand why it is so cherished by Jews, Christians, and Moslems alike. This is a jewel to be treasured. The mixture of thousands of years of history intertwined with the vibrancy of life today is evidenced everywhere. The Old City is surrounded by the newer areas of Jerusalem. However, even the term Old CIty is a misnomer, as it is constantly undergoing change as new archaelogical finds and renewal efforts are underway. Thus, the Old City we found today was vastly different from the one we encountered on our last visit 30 years ago. Moreover, we were frankly overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of the city, its myriad maze of streets and neighborhoods. It took us the 3 days we were there to get even a basic feel for how the city is laid out. We took city buses everywhere, and walked and walked. This helped. At times, we envied the people on the tour buses, as they had their 'packaged' visit to the city, whereas we were determined to do it all and see it all under our own steam. Most times, this worked out, but sometimes it didn't.
Now, to describe the other aspect of awe upon visiting Jerusalem--the people. We were overwhelmed by the citizenry of the city. Never had we encountered such a mxiture of people, in dress, in behaviour, and in background. Basically, you see everything here--people apparently of every nationality and colour who have adopted Israel as their home, or at least as a place to be. We saw hordes of black-hatters, and Jews of every stripe, non-Jews (we surmised) of every stripe as well, arabic people both in traditional and contemporary dress, a multitude of soldiers, many of whom appeared to be barely of legal age, tons of good-looking people in great physical condition, bubbies and zeidies, children in profusion, obvious tourists and visitors everywhere, and on and on. You quickly get used to seeing things you would never see at home, things like weapons being openly carrried by soldiers and others not in uniform, prayer on public buses, on the street, everywhere. Everyone, but everyone, has a cellphone in Israel, even the small schoolchildren that we observed. The streets are abuzz with people, all purposely going about their lives, all making out just fine. Now, we've been to other large cities before, so this isn't new to us. But unlike New York CIty, for instance, there is something happening here that may be more our percepions than fact, but here, people seem to be striving more. Squeezing more out of life, you might say. Here, there seems to be a driving force that propels people to want more , to achieve more, to live more , to be more. Again, this may likely be our our biases showing, but we felt so encouraged, so optimistic that if ever a place deserved, this is it. That doesn't mean that things are easy here. in contrast, you see lots of struggling. Even in the simplest thing, like getting on a bus or crossing a street, becomes a major exercise, as everyone is anxious to do what they need to do when they need to do it. Thus, as visitors, either you either learn to deal with it, or you don't. It's truly a study in human nature.
I alluded to our frustration earlier, and now I'll describe it. In visiting Jerusalem, we neglected to do sufficient planning for how we would spend our days. As with any trip, it's good to have an idea of what you want to see or do. We didn't, thinking that we could just make it up as we went along. Wrong! There are some things that are quite popular and advance reservations are essential. DId we get into any of there? No. Did we regret it? Yes. We spent a lot of time getting from place to place, getting lost a few times, and even took a bus tour on a double decker, yet we weren't able to see and do it all. Best as we tried, we weren't completely satisfied with our time spent in Jersulam, me more than Bonnie. Perhaps it was unrealistic expectations on my part, but I felt that we could have spent our time more wisely and done more advance planning to get into the aforementioned attractions (eg touring the tunnels under the Western Wall, which are supposed to be amazing.).
I don't want to give the wrong impression. We still had an amazing time there, visiting the stirring monument/museum dedicated to Holocaust--Yad Vashem, the Israel Museum, including the building which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Arab shuk (market), the Knesset (parliament), the Old City, and much much more. We took lots of city buses which are excellent in their geographic coverage and frequency. We also walked for miles.
But above all else, the Western Wall, holiest of all Jewish sites, was stirring beyond words. Here, we walked in silence, alone with our thoughts. Here, we experienced feelings like in no other place. We witnessed those of pure faith and those of no faith, all mindful of the sanctity of the place. Tour groups aside, we were engulfed in emotion. And of course, we left our little slips of paper in a crack in the wall, expressing our own unspoken messages to God. The Kotel remains as the prime focus of our trip to Israel and to Jerusalem, in particular. Memories of our time here need no pictures to remind us of what we had experienced here, for these are memories etched into our brains.
With these impressions fresh in our minds, we left for the Dead Sea. Our destination was Ein Gedi, a veritable oasis of lush greenery in an otherwise stark and barren setting. We had reservations for the guest house at the Ein Gedi kibbutz, an upscale hotel situated in what could be described as a horticulturalist's fantasyland. The people who had created this Garden of Eden were surely miracle workers, for the fragrant atmosphere and beauty of the kibbutz stunned us. Our room overlooked a brilliant canyon. We shuttled to the nearby Spa, where we floated in the incredibly buoyant waters of the Dead Sea. This was something we had done 30 years ago, with one big difference. The sea has severely receded from those years, as evidenced by signs noting where the seashore had been back then-- hundreds of yards back from where it is currently sits. Today, you take a tractor-pulled trolley to the shore, since it is so far from the spa facility. Floating in the bathtub-warm water was lots of fun, but you had to ensure that no seawater got into your eyes because the minerals could do severe damage, we were warned. Of course, we took the cheesy floating photos that you've probably seen from others' visits. But the day's activites were far from over. We then covered ourselves from head to toe in the healing (supposedly) mud of the Dead Sea, and baked in the hot sun till we looked like a couple of brown lizards. A nice long shower left our skin feeling smooth and clean. We then immersed ourselves in the hot sulphur spring-fed spa pools, and concluded with a swim in the olympic-sized pool also on-site. All in all, not a bad way to spend the day.
Back in our room, after freshening up, we headed to the Kibbutz dining room, where we enjoyed a huge buffet of good home cooked comfort foods, in the finest Israeli tradition. Nobody ever leaves an Israeli meal hungry! We walked in the cool evening air, and planned our next day, which was to be a full one.
We were up early, had incredible Israeli breakfast, a meal upon which you could last the whole day. We took the Egged bus to Masada, which at 10 o'clock was already intensely hot. Once again, the Masada we encountered differed greatly from that 30 years ago. Back then, it was a basic facility which almost no visitor information or support. Today, there is a large modern visitor's centre, which includes a well-executed museum describing the events which transpired there back in 70 AD, when the Jews under a long Roman siege chose to commit mass suicide rather than to submit to death or slavery which the certain loss would entail. Even today, this has inspired debate among scholars, some of whom feel that suicide can never be condoned, and those who believe that it was a heroic message left for the frustrated victors. One thing is certain--it remains an inspiration to Israelis, who believe that this tragedy shall never happen again.
After viewing a short background film on Masada, we took a cable car to the plateau of Masada mountain, and toured the remains of the fortifications, the sumptuous palatial remains of King Herod who had ruled 100 years before this, and the other archaeological sites to be found on Masada. Although we could have easily spent hours and hours exploring it all, the reality was that the midday sun made the visit almost unbearable, and after just an hour and a half, we left Masada, having seen a good proportion of it. Needing a cooldown, we returned to EIn Gedi and had a short dip in the pool there.
We will now be leaving for our next stop, a few days in Ashkelon, staying with relatives we've never met on yet another Kibbutz just 2 kms away from Gaza. It's a bit nerve-wracking to consider that that this kibbutz has seen shelling in the recent past, although it has been silent for several months now, so we feel fairly safe. Stay tuned for more...
All our best,
David and Bonnie
Oh Jerusalem
Friday, June 19, 2009
`En Gedi, HaDarom, Israel
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