Israel Adventure

The Kaufman Five are headed to Israel for the children's first experience. We'll be there for 17 days and this is the best place to travel virtually with us. If you want to see all the photos - go to http://kaufisrael.shutterfly.com/.

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Back in Israel

A day in the West Bank meeting with Palestinian Leaders and a day is Tzfat - it's been quite a start to Wexner Israel 13.

Neal and I are back in Israel after a year to complete the Wexner Heritage Fellowship. The goal of this trip is to provoke thought and to wrestle with the "real" Israel.  Two days into the trip, it certainly is doing exactly that. in the last year, there has been exciting momentum politically with the Women of the Wall, a coalition without Haredi and possibly the re-starting of peace talks. And there are set backs as well - it's a country, not nirvana.

Spending a day in Ramallah and Rawabi (a new planned city in construction) speaking with Palestinian business leaders, politicians and marketers was certainly a unique experience. Of course there was an agenda and clearly this trip was designed to show us that the Palestinians are serious about creating a state, capable and dedicated to growing their economy.  There are definitely many challenges facing them - internally and from Israel as Israel wrestles with security, politics and human rights. No easy answers - but I do believe that economic growth is key to peace. The West Bank was peaceful, there was a lot of construction in Ramallah (apparently that's not representative of the territories) and people talk about investment and growth. And occupation (some reference that more than others).  I hope Israel is able to promote economic stability and growth as it will be good for security.  Rawabi was very western influenced (and Palestinians are apparently very literate, very technology-savvy and quite secular) - and it's a 40,000 person city being built complete with schools, entertainment, shopping and industry (they hope). Inspired by Reston, VA.  Every person we met was educated in America and was fond of America.  And most mentioned having Israeli friends - although the current philosophy in Palestinian territories is very anti-normalization (meaning no contact with Israelis) and security precautions have led to a generation of Israelis and Palestinians having no social contact - knowing each other only as Army and occupied.  It's a complicated situation.

Tzfat is the birthplace of spiritual Judaism - Kabbalah.  It is also a very diverse and very poor city in the north of Israel - in the Galilee. Meeting the young, Corey Booker-like Mayor who is working effectively to bring tourism and industry to Tzfat without compromising it's history was terrific. He seems to respect the diversity of Tzfat and is getting results.  He invested heavily in education (a key interest for me) and now Tzfat has the top rated religious and secular schools in Israel. We visited excavations and an organization dedicated to giving Americans a deep spiritual and physical experience over 1-4 weeks in Tzfat.  We met the President of Tzfat College - a public college focused on Health Sciences education.  The most impressive (and I think most likely to transform Tzfat) was the new (two year old) Medical School of Bar Ilan University.

When the Russian Jews emigrated to Israel in the 1990s, they brought 1M people and some were doctors.  Those doctors are retiring and Israel realized that they didn't have sufficient doctors or space in medical school to provide for their larger population.  Tzfat and Bar Ilan University made a successful proposal to build a medical school in Tzfat - and then had to do it in 7.5 months.  They've elevated the existing physicians as they assume teaching and research responsibilities (and are promoted according to their success in both those and in practice).  They're attracting researchers with labs on campus and in area hospitals. They're planning other health graduate schools and in just two years, it has the feeling of place that will be a center of learning and attract people to the Galilee.  I was impressed.

Finally, all the Wexner Heritage Fellows in Israel plus the Wexner Israel Fellow Alumni joined together for a wonderful dinner and concert at the Ben Shemen Forest. Hard to remember how much arid this area is in the midst of a beautiful forest of tall trees (that I hope are mostly native to Israel, but I think are pine - which isn't). After a fun concert with all sorts of percussion and good guitar (and not guitar, but stringed instrument) - we danced, did a little capoeira and enjoyed a lighter evening than our days.  Tomorrow - Yad Vashem, Marzipan and Kabbalat Shabbat.

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Over the green line and it's not what we expected

At home, when I read about settlements, territory swaps and borders, it seems pretty clear - I know where Canada stops and the US starts.  Usually the same with Mexico.  But in Israel, where everything is so compressed and where history combined with a community of intense investment and a community of historical nomadism makes for very blurry lines.

There is a straight line from Beersheva through Hebron, Bethlehem to Jerusalem.  

The Israelis call this line the Path of the Patriarchs and there is ample archeological evidence that Jewish pilgrims traveled that path for many years - in the era of the First and Second Temple (pre Christianity and pre Islam). In fact, the cities of Beersheva, Hebron, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Tsfat (in the north) have had continuous Jewish populations for over two thousand years (there was a brief time recently in Hebron where there were no Jews...because they were slaughtered).  

For example - a series of mikvah's - ritual baths used to purify yourself before entering the Holy City and the Temple Mount - were found along the Path of the Patriarchs.

Now we find ourselves in a heated international debate over who should control what land -  and we found ourselves in the Judean desert in the area of Gush Etzion. We noticed that we were near or in the West Bank when we drove out to Newe Daniel to meet our Tour Organizer, Kenny, for a fun day in the Gush and observed a concrete wall to our left following a checkpoint. We were nervous.  There was no traffic at the checkpoint - vehicles were clearly coming and going.  The wall literally faded away - because we were actually deep into the West Bank.

The most impactful thing about our visit to the Gush was seeing the proximity of the different towns - two Palestinian towns with their farms - about five Israeli towns ranging from Haredi (ultra-orthodox) to secular with our friends in the religious zionist community.  To be clear, the land of the Jewish settlements was legally purchased in the 1920s and 1930s. The Palestinians and Jews shop in the same supermarkets. Palestinians work in the Jewish towns. Frankly, it feels very "normal".  Even more "normal" than East Palo Alto versus Palo Alto.  

Gush Etzion is in the Judean Hills directly on the Path of the Patriarchs.  It is clearly a line of defense for Jerusalem. IT was destroyed in the War of Independence and rebuilt following the Six Day War in 1967. And it is actually inspiring.  These aren't zealots - they are zionists. They want peace. But they are living in lands that are historically, culturally and morally Jewish - with Palestinian neighbors who have their own government. Their lands were both legally purchased and militarily secured. Everyday life feels like people quietly tolerating each other out there.

And we had a lot of fun.  The kids shimmied up a ropes course - BK looking like a true spiderman as he showed grace, ease and fearlessness up on the course.

TK made the height requirement for the course - by about 2 cm - which made much of it a stretch.

AK dazzled everyone with her extension and focus to climb the wall.

She then fearlessly joined TK and I on the third longest zip line in the world.  Just a note - earlier this year, I went on the actual longest zip line in the world.  If I can swing a trip to Africa, I can catch zip line #2 and make 2012 my year of the Zip Line.  Any sponsors?  Anyone?

Please watch the video of our time in the Gush - I captured the entire Zip Line and it's fun to ride it virtually with us.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch with our hosts, the Kodish family, and learned more about the history of the Gush. Then we rode horses and ponies for a special experience in the Judean mountains just near Herodya - Herod's man made Masada where it is believed he was buried. For the kids, this was their first trail ride.  For me - it was the first time since Hawaii in 1996.  

  Before you learn to ride, you must learn to walk.

The ponies are matched to the rider...and our young cowgirl loved her pony.

BK rode a bigger horse and showed his natural balance and enjoyed a little trotting and cantoring.

And while it's not quite like riding a bicycle - even after 15 years, I am still pretty good on a horse - and the horse guide/owner took me on the trail to cantor a bit - my horse was Ahava and she's a beauty.  

Seeing the Judean hills on a horse on the paths trodden by Jews for centuries - in sight of both the Dead Sea and Jerusalem - was incredible. Sharing it with our children - priceless.  There are no simple solutions out here, but this was a fun, normal day in an amazing place.

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Some days are best seen and shared - then written about.  Join us for a sample of our exciting day in the "gush" - Gush Etzion in the Judean mountains.  

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Digging and walking through history

Israel is a living archeological site - in order to build anything here, one first must conduct a comprehensive archeological dig to determine what is beneath the ground.  Imagine if we did that in the USA?  

We joined the only dig open to and funded by tourists at Beit Guvrin national park - the town of Maresha. This was an Edomite town where the residents dug caverns beneath their homes for storage and industry.  A town with 5 olive oil presses is considered an oil exporter and Maresha had 22. They also raised 22,000 pigeons - with no pigeon bones found yet.  The archeologists believe this town served the Jewish pilgrims headed to the Temple in Jerusalem and sold them oil and pigeons (for sacrifices).

In Maresha, they've discovered written evidence of the story of the Maccabees and the rise of the Hasmonean period.  When the Hasmoneans conquered Maresha (which sided with the Greeks in that conflict), they offered the residents the choice to convert to Judaism, leave or die (ancient world was not very diplomatic).  The majority choose to leave and destroyed their homes and property in the process.  That's what we were digging up in the soft chalky dirt of the caves - our cave was Lucy.  One of the families who converted had a son who became King Herod of Judea. 

Any person over the age of 8 could have a pick-axe as well as a shpakle to conduct their dig.  How could that go wrong?  Actually, TK and BK were very responsible with their pick-axes and the only injury was a self-inflicted cut on TK's finger.

The caves are rich with "finds" - mostly pieces of pottery from everyday life.  In addition, people have found tablets with proclamations and history - including the history of the Maccabees success (and the prequel to that - when a Greek tax collector was refused at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem because the priest said the money in the temple is for the poor, hungry and widows). We had pottery finds as well!

AK shows off a find.

TK was a very focused archeologist and found many pieces.

BK was attentive and found small and large finds. The kids also learned how to sift through the dirt we all carried out of the cave in a schlep line to find even more stuff - including shells used for decoration and ink.

We left Lucy the cave and the kids and I explored an unexcavated cave on our derrieres and back including entering a grain silo and water cistern.  It was candlelit and very cool - tight spaces.  And it will be dug out over time!  We completed that trip and joined Neal in a fully excavated cave with a water system and olive oil presses - all underground. It was literally and figuratively cool. Again - Israel connecting our ancient history in this land to the current era.

Our next experience was to jump into the current era with the pre-Shabbat throngs of people at Ben Yehuda market. It seems as if all of Jerusalem and its suburbs come to this market - a farmer's market times ten.  Nuts, fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, falafel, schwarma, eggs, kippot, halvah and more are all for sale in the many storefronts of this market. Quite possibly the best Rugelach we ever had is made in this market at Marzipan.  Not to be missed.

We completed our walk through history with Shabbat at the Kotel. It is joyous - full of singing.  AK and I joined two Birthright groups in Am Israel Chai and watched a group of female IDF soldiers in their celebration of Jewish life and Shabbat. Neal and the boys found a minyan at the Kotel and that minyan supported Neal as he said Kaddish for his father - a moving and meaningful prayer.  We prayed for the health of our friends and for peace in our community and throughout the world.  Shabbat Shalom!

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From swords into ploughshares

Our day was spent in the fields and among the armaments of Israel. Swords and ploughshares, indeed.

We spent our morning volunteering for Leket - and picking tomatoes. In Israel, there are still 2 million people who do not have enough to eat and Leket Israel collects left-overs from food service, reaps the harvest (according to Jewish Law, farmers must leave corners unharvested and can only go through their fields once to harvest their crop - all else is left for the poor to harvest themselves - Israel has some version of this), and has farms growing produce 100% for the hungry.  

As always - we were achievement oriented - and we proudly picked 100 kilos of tomatoes - enough to feed 50 families for a week. Our young gardeners (mostly) enjoyed finding, picking and tossing tomatoes into the bins.  We joined 35,000 annual volunteers in enabling Leket to feed Israel.

We rewarded ourselves with delicious fruit smoothies and drove up the road, literally, to the Ayalon Institute.  Neither Neal nor I had every been to Ayalon and there is a good reason - this hidden ammunition factory ran underground in a training kibbutz from 1945 - 1948 and was dismantled once Israel was independent and legally allowed to make bullets.  It wasn't until 1987 (long after Neal and I did our "tour" visits) that Ayalon was reconstructed using three of the twelve actual machines that the 17-22 year old kibbutzniks used to make 2.5 million bullets before and 2.5 million bullets during the War of Independence. 

The factory was hidden underground with access through the laundry and bakery.  In the laundry, a washing machine would lift and slide revealing a ladder. This was the primary entry - used every day.  Only the 46 people who worked in the factory knew it existed (plus the commandant, the baker and the guard).  The bakery needed to lift and slide the oven to access the larger shaft - and that took 1.5 hours each direction so it wasn't used except to set up and remove the equipment. The Israelis were ingenious in their deceptions to get the equipment, raw materials and to ship the bullets out of the factory - which was quite literally under the noses of the British. If you are in Israel, Ayalon Institute is worth the 1 hour visit. We recognized that some of the alumni of our school's sister school were the founders and workers of the Ayalon Ammunition Factory.

Following Ayalon, we visited Latrun - the museum for the Israeli Armored Corps. Israel is very proud of their proprietary tank - and very proud of their history of armored success. They are also deeply respectful of the fallen soliders from their corp and both Neal and I found ourselves moved to tears by the words and experiences of the soldiers and their families. The memorial is very powerful and the tanks are simply cool.  Intimidating, to say the least. They are a significant element of Israel's security.  They designed their tanks to protect Israeli soldiers - with rocket deflecting armor, the engine in the front and space, in the back, to transport 7 wounded soldiers. Their tanks weigh 60 tons and are huge - because Israel is so small, they don't worry about transporting them very far.

"And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, neither shall they learn war any more" Isaiah. Not a solider or other Israeli we met wanted to use any of the weaponry we've seen - but these arms are keeping Israel and Jews safe and they will do what they must to protect the Jewish people.  It is an inspiration to see and to feel. 

Our day stretched into evening with a real treat we walked (yes, all three kids walked there and back happily - Jerusalem enraptures them) from our flat to the Jaffa Gate for the Tower of David Light and Sound Spectacular.  It is, quite possibly, the single most impressive creative production Neal and I have ever seen. In 45 minutes, the show takes you visually and aurally through the history of Jerusalem without any words...and uses the Tower of David fortress (the interior) as a 3D canvas on which to tell the story. It is gorgeous. At one point, they transformed the fortress into a library - surrounding us with books.  At another point, one looked about to see camels, a tiger, sheep, horses and then the seven species as they depicted the Canaanite period and when the Israelites first arrived (in case anyone is feeling political - Jews were in Israel 1000 years before the Common Era - which is 1600 years before Islam existed...). All of us were enraptured and a special thank you is needed for our Tour Organizer who helped us overcome my misreading of the time and got us into the 9pm show when we had tickets for the 8pm. How?  I don't know.  

After journeying through 3300 years of history in a visual dessert, we journeyed some more - walking home and meeting our friends the Ofeks at our flat and walked into the German Colony for a delicious dessert.  

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Trees, Olives and Alice in Wonderland

Neot Kedumim is a Biblical nature reserve (and a JNF forest) envisioned by two botanists and realized by their son - where all the plants are from Biblical times and the reserve has built the tools such as an olive press, water cistern and water wheel that are similar to those used back in the time of King David. 

The Jews settled in the mountains because the coastal plain was inhabited by the Philistines (who are an ancient and extinct civilization). In the mountains, they had to figure out how to capture water (cisterns), raise livestock and farm. The seven species of the Bible - wheat, barley, dates, figs, pomegranates, olives, and grapes - were grown in the mountains.  Neot Kedumim grows all except wheat and barley. 

Our first task was to perform the mitzvah of tree planting in Israel. For all of us, it was the first time we actually planted the tree.  The initial forests planted by the JNF were pine- not indigenous, but grows quickly.  Now the JNF and Neot Kedumim are planting indigenous saplings and we planted tiny oaks. 

One of the dramatic things about Israel is how many trees and forests thrive there.  At Neot Kedumim, we could see the remains of a forest fire from Friday (unfortunately the work of arson) - where the pine trees were destroyed. The plan is to reforest that area with Carob, Oak and Olive trees that thrive in the climate and are apparently more fire resistant.

In keeping with the Biblical experience, we all wrote our names on the tree planting certificate using reeds and ink. Our boys delighted us writing their names in Hebrew and English.  But we were really impressed with the knowledge they had of the mitzvah of tree planting - both knew that if you are planting a tree and the messiah should arrive, you are commanded to finish planting the tree before greeting the messiah.  They know Israeli geography, biblical history (and now Israeli history) and plenty of Hebrew - good job Wornick!

We put the kids to work at the olive press and water wheel. The kids pushed a very large circular stone around another circular stone to see how the olives are crushed prior to being pressed for oil.  We learned that the stone is so heavy because the pit needs to be crushed as well as the fruit of the olive - and that the optimal time for pressing oil is when the olive is turning from green to black. 

Our new friends, Debbie and Kenny Kodish brought their four kids with us and everyone enjoyed making new friends and "working" with them.

The water wheel scooped water from the reservoir in order to fill buckets.  It's an art to time your paces appropriately so that the water is poured out of the ceramic buckets and yet the wheel doesn't stop.  Did we mention that it was hot?

After pressing an olive, walking on the wheel, lifting water from the cistern, tasting wine grapes, figs and a pomegranate - it was time to fast forward into the 21st century and cool off - in the Israeli suburb of Modiin.  We went to a park with a man-made lagoon accessible to all the residents. No power boats - but lots of paddle boats and more "hamster wheels".  In fact, Modiin reminded us of Foster City - although the buildings are taller in Modiin - and there are 500,000 residents.

All four boys took turns running on these water-born, inflatable hamster wheels. They got soaked and loved every minute.  One of the important things to Neal and I is that the kids have really positive memories of their time in Israel in addition to learning more about their heritage and walking in the footsteps of history. The girls enjoyed a boy-powered paddle boat ride around the lagoon - and picked up some floating trash on their way - apparently Israel hasn't yet created penalties for littering - so you see it everywhere except in the Old City.  Glad our kids took initiative to clean it up.

Drying after the rides was accomplished by doing handstands, cartwheels and round-offs on the stage of the amphitheater at this park in Modiin.  This is TK and EK balancing.

When we were dry enough, we left the Kodish family and went to Mini-Israel - a model of many of the major sites around Israel - geological, Jewish, Christian, Moslem, Bahai and Israeli. Many of the models had moving elements and the kids were inspired to consider building a model of SFO in our backyard - as Mini-Israel had a model of Ben Gurion Airport.  Inexplicably, Southwest Airlines was in line for take off.

At Mini-Israel, we saw a Hebrew acrobatic production of Alice in Wonderland. The boys understood some of the Hebrew (Neal understood it all) while Ariel and I enjoyed the acrobatics and the acting out of the story. It was colorful and different.

Tomorrow we're off for another mitzvah - this time we are going reaping in the fields - collecting fruits and vegetables for the hungry and poor. 

[kaufisrael]

History is Politics

It is said that the victors write the history books and what we believe is fact may indeed be the political propaganda of a victorious conquerer. Imagine if the campaign advertisements of either Romney-Paul or Obama-Biden were recorded as historical fact sometime in the future - what would our descendants make of us? It is impossible to avoid politics in Israel, even more so in the Old City of Jerusalem where we spent our day. And the Jewish people didn’t win many battles until 1948 (with the exception of the Maccabees 2000 years earlier) – but we have a mania about recording our history, studying it and learning from it.

Right before we entered the davening plaza of the Kotel.

We had a wonderful guide, Eytan, who shared both Biblical and recent history as we explored the Old City. After seeing the Old City and City of David from the Promenade, we entered by the Jaffa Gate after stopping to learn about the time when the British ran the country and their inaction the day before the Declaration of Israeli Independence when Arabs protested/rioted (depends on your politics) and then broke into all the Israeli stores on Mamilla and looted them.  Did you know that the Jewish Quarter pays rent to Arab landlords...and Arabs in the Moslem quarter pay rent to Jews. Crazy. Not 100% but enough to notice.

Then, when Independence was declared, there were 2000 Jews in the Old City – and they were mostly religious, Yeshiva bochers.  They had 34 bullets…and three Jordanian Battalions attacked. Not surprising that the Old City fell.  But very scary to see where the Jews holed up and eventually surrendered – and then faced their men (13+) taken as prisoners while their women and children were thrown out of the city.

There is a prophecy from Zachariah 5 about children playing in the Old City and after Israel retook Jerusalem in 1967, the very places they were thrown out of became Yeshivas and schools – and we saw children playing in them – even ours.

There is so much historical and archeological evidence that the Jews were living in Jerusalem 900 years before the Common Era. We spent time at the Kotel (Western Wall) which is the holiest of places to the Jews because it is closest to the Holiest of Holies where we believe Abraham bound Isaac and where both King Solomon and Herod build the Jewish Temple. The wall itself tells the story of construction and destruction – up through the Arab conquest in the 600s when they built the Arab quarter to be street level with the Temple Mount – burying years of Jewish and Roman history in the process. The Israelis are carefully excavating and exploring this history.

BK in the Kotel Tunnels

The kids didn’t initially understand the magnitude of the Kotel and it’s tunnels – but they thought it was cool and the boys joined Neal in saying Kaddish for Roger while Ariel joined me.  When we approached the wall, she said that she didn’t know how to pray and I explained that she could express something she is thankful for, something she wishes for and/or we could say the Shm’a. After watching me and everyone else pray at the wall, she and I took a moment to sit in the shade at the back of the women’s section – and she picked up a Hebrew prayer book and quietly said whatever Hebrew (or what she thought sounded like Hebrew) she wanted.

We learned through the Kotel tunnels tour about how the Temple was a three-times a year pilgrimage site where everyone circled the Temple itself from right to left except for the mourners, who went the other direction – queuing people to catch up and share the stories of the past year. Non-Jews came to Jerusalem as well. In fact, the vision of Jerusalem in the Bible is of a universal city where all are welcome. We noticed that while there are metal detectors at the entries to the Kotel, anyone could enter. The ramp to the Temple Mount is only open for 3 hours a day, only to tourists and we cannot enter the Dome of the Rock (I did enter it in 1983). Different.

The impact of the victors writing history became very evident as we saw all the efforts of the Romans (and later the Arabs) to eliminate any evidence of Jewish life in Jerusalem by burying all the Jewish structures and building on top of them. The streets we walk today are not the streets of King David or Jesus – they are streets built at least 100 years later. The Dome of the Rock, which we cannot enter now, was built deliberately on the land of the Jewish temple on the Temple Mount because the early Moslems appreciated their Jewish and Christian history - and wanted to honor it - it's not a mosque...it's a memorial. The mosque is 100 feet away. Only 300 years later did someone craft the story that Mohammed went to Heaven from that rock.  In both those cases, the early Christians and early Moslems invited the Jews to join their faith (and many likely did) but the ones who rejected the invitation became the evil other and the stories were created…the propaganda…to support Jews as the other. And these stories emboldened much persecution and attempted annihilation.  I’m certain there were Jews who did bad things – as there are among every people – but the archeology and histories (not just ours, Roman, Babylonian, etc.) are consistent with our version of events.

After the Old City, we entered the City of David, where the Israelis are doing amazing archeology and you can see the evidence that 900 years before the Common Era, the housing structures changed dramatically and consistently - marking a new population entering. And that population - generated 12,000 animal bones from the first temple era...and of 12,000 bones - only 8 were not kosher. Neighboring villages were 35% non-kosher. Pretty clearly Jews in the new structures. Plus they found clay seals (for letters) with the names of people in the Bible from the time of King David. The City of David grew as more Jews came to Jerusalem and ultimately they re-routed a water source into the City. 

Standing in the pool of water at the end of the City of David water tunnel.  

We walked that tunnel – dug by hand 2500 years ago – with our feet and legs in deliciously ice cold water – using our LED headlights. The kids thought that was incredibly cool (figuratively and literally).  We hiked up through the drainage canals where Jews sought refuge when the Romans were attacking – a futile attempt as the Romans lifted the roadstones to get to them and kill them.  We saw where they hid and where the stones were lifted and BK was viscerally impacted by that sight. He felt very sad for the Jews that were so eager to live and brutally murdered.

At the end of the day, a story we learned seemed to keep getting repeated by other guides we heard talking to other groups.  Hadrian was the Roman emperor from 117-138 and he was the person who put down the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judea and renamed the territory Palestina.  He ordered the extermination of Jerusalem’s Jews and the elimination of all evidence that the Jews ever existed there. The Jews remember the destruction of the Temple and the murder of Jerusalem’s Jews on Tisha B’Av – a fasting, solemn holiday. But one Israeli professor spends Tisha B’Av at the Israeli Museum shouting at a statue of Hadrian. According to Eytan and the other guides, he shouts at the statue that the Roman Empire is gone, but the Jews, we are back in Jerusalem.

We headed back through Mamilla and wound up joining in spontaneous Israeli dancing - if that doesn't express Jewish joy in Jerusalem - what does!  And all three kids joined me in figuring out and doing some dances to celebrate our first day in Jerusalem.

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SMS from a Camel

A full tank of gas, extra water and enough oil were the requirements for our adventure into the Negev desert where Israel's first Prime Minister envisioned a significant proportion of Israeli's living. 60 years later - 60% of the land of Israel is in the Negev and 15% of the people - with a lot of military installations.  Turns out, most Israeli's prefer the coast. 

The Negev is rugged, desolate and beautiful. We spent our day on a Jeep in the Makhtesh Ramon - called a crater, but formed by erosion, natural preservation and more erosion. Our guide, Adam Sela, was incredible - educated us with a miniature model on how a Makhtesh is formed and preserved - and then brought us all over the 5 mile wide, 15 m long Makhtesh on trails created by the Israeli Park Rangers. We saw beautiful reds, yellows, purples and blacks - and it looked like a Martian landscape with a blue sky (based on what we can tell so far about the Martian landscape). 

Northern wall of the Makhtesh Ramon.

We made our way to one of the highest points in the Makhtesh - passing Ibex, Gazelles, quail and evidence of wild horses as we went. Surprisingly, it was cooler than Ein Gedi - the altitude dramatically reduces the heat.

  The top of Mt. Marpek - on of the highest points on Makhtesh Ramon.

As we left Adam, we headed for a night in a Bedouin encampment - Sfidar Hamidbar - Ship of the Desert. We drove north towards the location and see a sign - Desert Ship. We turn left - and about 100m later, there's another sign - Desert Ship. We turn and we are alone.  There is spa in front of us - it's empty and closed for the night. We notice a dirt road to the right and take it - to a dirt parking lot in front of a wood fence that says Sfidar Hamidbar. It's dark.  Leaving us in the running car, Neal enters and a few minutes later, exits. All he saw where some Moslem men praying and smoking. 

We confirm our location and reservation with our trip planner and head back towards the wood fence. This time, on the phone with a planner, Neal meets one of our hosts and we are directed to drive around the fence and park inside the encampment where we see a number of small buildings and three huge rectangular tents. We were the only guests for the night. Our hosts spoke little Hebrew and we spoke no Arabic - so conversation was limited. But they were gracious and offered delicious food, comfortable mats, modern plumbing and a sky that was gorgeous. 

Dinner at the low table - after the cat had been chased out from underneath.

BK makes time for summer reading.

Definitely not a cramped tent - not quite sure how easy this sort of tent would be to move - especially since this one had electric lighting.  So while we were totally off the grid, our hosts stayed connected.

The next morning, we rode on the true ships of the desert - camels. The kids named the three camels - Ifnur, Crazy Bub and Bob. We rode them from sitting to walking to sitting again - a jostling experience. Camels are pretty hard backed and definitely are not the most comfortable creatures for riding - but they are efficient in the desert.  Our host was very helpful and made sure we all were as comfortable as possible - and then, while we hung on to the saddles, was texting someone from his cell phone as we rode (he was in front of me on our shared camel). Funny - ancient meets modern.

As we left our hosts, we rapidly re-entered the modern age as we visited the Hatzerim Air Force Museum.  Finding it was yet another adventure - it's southwest of BeerSheba - a large, bustling city in the Negev. And the signage for the museum just wasn't visible to us.  So we drove around a suburb, found a cabby who clearly thought we were nuts but led us to the right road and said - in Hebrew, to "shmola ba Matos".  Neal knew that Shmola meant to take a left...and as we started he looked at us and said - "I have no idea what a matos is - but we make a left at it". We stopped a cyclist to ask and he also looked at us as if we were insane - and repeated, shmola ba matos - and mentioned that it was green.  So now we are looking for a green landmark at which we turn left to go to the air force museum.

So when we saw the full-size, green and brown camouflaged jet pointing to the left, we knew that matos was plane.  And understood why everyone thought we were nuts to be asking what the landmark is that points to the Air Force Museum.  A good laugh in the car and now we have a new Hebrew word - matos.

Israel is rightly proud of their air capabilities and this museum gave us all a taste of their history as well as an opportunity to see the many aircraft and anti-aircraft equipment used by the Israelis and their opponents in war. The Israelis were scrappy - and if they captured enemy equipment, they used it. The IAD is committed to protecting and rescuing Jews anywhere in the world they are threatened and to protecting the safety of their flight crews. It's quite an impressive place - so much so that BK told us that if he ever had to serve, he was going to be an Air Force man. 

Our trek took us from the coast to the far north to the far east to the south of Israel and tonight, with relief and pleasure, we wove our way into the heart of Israel - Jerusalem  - where we rented an apartment in the German Colony.  After settling in, we had one more adventure to accomplish - stocking the pantry.  That entailed driving around Jerusalem where the streets change names every five blocks, many are one way (or should be) and all of them twist and turn.  A great challenge to my sense of direction, Jerusalem sure is. Thanks to our landlord's willingness to talk us through twists and turns over the phone, we found the supermarket, stocked up, and found our way back. Our first family dinner in Jerusalem and tomorrow - we explore the Old City just 15 minutes from our flat. 

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Explaining Masada

Masada, in the last 100 years, has become a symbol of Jewish self-determination and military strength.  It is where many Israelis start their mandatory IDF service and some of them finish as well. Israelis still say - "Masada lo ti pol sheni" - "Masada will not fall again". All my kids knew was that we woke them up extremely early to hike up a desert mountain to see something.

Which meant we had some explaining to do - and started a day of geopolitical discussions we've never had with our still young children.

We explained the story of the Jewish Zealots who fled after the Roman's conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the temple (left out the rebellion that sparked that event - they'll learn that in middle school, I believe). These 960 zealots ensconced themselves on Masada in Herod's winter palace. There was an incredible water supply and food stores as well as many stone buildings.  And it is remote and accessibly only from the bottom of the flat-top mountain on which it rests. The Zealots held off 8000 Roman troops for quite some time (months at least) until the Romans built a ramp and a seige tower that breached the fortified walls.  The zealots, knowing that the Romans would breech the wall in the morning, elected to kill every Jew on Masada rather than become Roman slaves. They would rather die free Jews than live as slaves.

Heady stuff for 5:30 am and youngsters. After the expected bravado of how they would have killed all the Romans, the boys got more serious as they saw the ruins of the multiple Roman encampments and let their imaginations travel to 73-74 CE and the time of Masada. 

The exploration of Herod's Northern Palace (we went all the way down to the lowest level to see the columns, frescos and ritual bath) and the bath house amazed them.  Then we entered the synagogue where i was Bat Mitzvah.  There was a Taglit Birthright tour in the open air synagogue and we listened to the end of the speech - talking about the initiation into the IDF and the strength Israel draws from Masada as a symbol. For me, it was special to share the place where I became Bat Mitzvah in 1983 with my children. It's quite small and non-descript, but I remember wearing all white with 18 other B'nai Mitzvahs and reading Torah in Israel - the memory is sweet.

As we explored the Western Palace, the pool, the dovecote and the cistern the boys processed the guide's message that Masada will not fall again and they wanted to know what it meant. I explained that after the destruction of the second temple until the founding of the State of Israel, Jews could not determine our own destiny or fate.  We had no place that would always provide safe haven.  That Israel (and they've seen the tanks and soliders at the base we visited on Tuesday)  would defend herself in order to live as free Jews rather than subject to any other nation's priorities. And that, as they have learned from our visit to the north, Israel has needed to do that repeatedly.

Throughout the day, we had discussions about war, conflict - we talked about World War II, Hitler, the atomic bomb, the current situation with Iran.  We discussed economic sanctions and diplomacy (didn't call it diplomacy) and why war is a last, last resort that results in everyone losing - people die on both sides. These were deep but relatively short conversations over lunch and in car rides. Our wonderful host, Tiki, shared her perspective - having lived through 1967, 1973, two intifadas, two Lebanon Wars and considering Iran very skeptically. It was fascinating.

And then it was time to experience one of Israel (and Jordan's) natural wonders - the Dead Sea. This body of water is surprising large (and seriously receding as the waters that refill it in the north are used for agriculture and supporting communities).  The bottom isn't sand or silt - it's hardened salt. And entering the water, it's shockingly HOT.  But the coolest part of the Dead Sea is when you lean back, lift your feet and find yourself floating with no effort.

The boys executed flawless rolls to their tummies without getting the incredibly salty water in their eyes.

The Ein Gedi Spa is the "Lowest place on Earth" and in addition to the Sea, they have sulfur showers (stinky), black mud, sulfur baths, a pool and ice cream.  And it's seriously hot. So after our dip in the sea, we sampled the mud, sulfur showers and the pool.  We wanted the pool to be freezing - but alas, it's pretty warm. The ice cream, however, was divine and the kids certainly earned it this morning.  They were well entertained by their parents - the mud monsters.

Finally, knowing we had no plans for tomorrow morning, we let the kids experience true kibbutz life with shabbat and communal dinner followed by total freedom.  The boys took off with the kibbutz kids.  Apparently, there was soccer and other activities. Good amount of rough-housing, but the kids resolved everything amongst themselves - no hovering parents anywhere.  About two hours later, Neal and I went looking for them because it was late and they'd been up for 19 hours already.  They didn't resist - but they clearly enjoyed the freedom.

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Dead Sea and Masada - by TK

Me and my family hiked up Masada. It was hard and tiring. We got up to the top and looked all around the archeological points. We looked at the Western Palace. King Herod's Northern Palace house - on the lowest level there were some really interesting paintings (frescos) - diamonds with swiggles on them.  They were painted a really long time ago. We saw the bath houses where they had cold and hot water. Near the west palace, there was a tanning building where they created clothing from skins. 

We went into the synagogue where my mom became Bat Mitzvah and it was all old - even the seats - there was nothing new. It was small and had no ceiling. It was not as destroyed (and rebuilt) as other buildings on Masada. I also liked looking down at the view of the different Roman camps. We saw the place where they decided the 10 people who would kill all the others before the Romans entered Masada and then kill themselves. We saw the humungous bridge (ramp) that the Romans made - it was sand with rocks to make a path. We saw the storerooms where they stored food, weapons and armor just in case they had to battle. There were 12 humungous pits where they stored lots and lots and lots of water. They even had two swimming pools - we were able to look into one and it looked like it was 12 feet deep or deeper. 

We saw a place where King Herod use to raise birds - two of them (there were three) - they had big towers with holes in them for the birds to make nests - it looked like a miniature bird city. On the cable car down, which was a really big cable car, we saw all the things we walked up.

This picture is of me and Ben floating in the Dead Sea.  It was freaky at first because you lay back on your back and it feels like you are simply going to crash down onto the floor of the sea.  Then you can go on your tummy - but don't put your face into the water or else your eyes will burn.  The Dead Sea is really, really warm.  But it also hurt my chin because my chin got itchy. 

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Maim, maim, maim in the desert

We returned to one of Neal and my favorite spots - The Spring of David. In the middle of the desolate and powerful landscape bordered by rust colored plateau mountains on one side and the bright blue, deceivingly beautiful Dead Sea, is an oasis.  Maim means water in Hebrew. According to the Bible, when King Saul wanted his son Jonathan to succeed him, but David was the heir apparent and Jonathan's best friend.  To protect David from Saul, Jonathan and David ran away and hid in the desert, in an oasis near Ein Gedi - and that Oasis is now called Nachal David.  In between rust cliffs with caves carved into them is a strip of green with waterfalls, desert creatures and lots of happy people dipping into the cool waters. 

Although this hike only requires an hour, we were very leisurely on it. The kids were so happy in each of the pools (they're quite small and somewhat shallow) and we were in no rush. They played with each other - horsing around in the pools and with the waterfalls. BK learned to skip rocks.  TK and Ariel did piggyback rides in the water. They were childlike, wonderous and adorable. 

We spent almost two and half hours at Nachal David - savoring the water and meeting other travelers doing the same. Neal and I did a longer hike in this area 12 years ago and it was great to share it with our children and have them enjoy it so much that they didn't want to leave. At one point, we reached the upper most pool and there is a large landing to the side. In my imagination, I pictured David and Jonathan making camp in this high, sheltered, plentiful spot with vegetation, animals and ample fresh water. It is wild to be standing in a location of history.  And enjoying it - both for ourselves and also from the joy our children shared.

We are lucky to be staying within Kibbutz Ein Gedi - a kibbutz founded in 1956 where our friend Tiki came in 1971. Tiki came when she had to serve in the army and was stationed here - she just loved it. The Kibbutz was strategically important because the Jordanian border was 1 KM away and the Jordanians were in the mountains. In 1967, they took territory that allowed people to go from Ein Gedi to Tel Aviv through Jerusalem rather than through Beer Sheva (two hours south to go due east).  Today, it's a tourist destination - aside the Dead Sea with a spa, hotel and literally down the road from Masada. 

We enjoyed lunch in the Kibbutz dining room where we will have Shabbat tomorrow night. The kibbutz has aged - the average age is about 55.  But last month they admitted 34 new members - young families of second generation kibbutniks. The Kibbutz is not really a collective anymore - it's more like a planned community where members pay for common areas, common meals (lunch is available daily and Shabbat dinner) and enjoy the schools, day care, housing.  The kibbutz owns 50% of the spa and 50% of the Ein Gedi Spring Water company (water here is delicious). There is a botanical garden with trees, plants and bushes from around the world integrated beautifully into the kibbutz. And kibbutz are very safe and family friendly.  No one locks their doors. The children move freely and unsupervised.  Our kids found playgrounds and guided us around the kibbutz after our "siesta" - because in the desert, we didn't want to be outside in the heat of the day.  It's plenty hot the rest of the time! 

tomorrow - early morning as we climb Masada at sunrise. 

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Our day at Wadi David by: BK

So here we are at the place were David and Jonathan are hiding with springs all over the place. There are a lot of water falls and hiking trails. We hiked on the shortest trail it was 1 hour. It had a whole bunch of water falls. We went in all the water falls.      

                                                              The first was really shallow and not a very strong water fall. It was fun to go in that one and it was a very good experience. When I put my back against the wall, it felt like a huge massage.

The second one was hidden and my mom and dad didn't think that the pool was that way , but I took my brother and sister and my mom and dad followed. That was a very shady pool with a strong water fall.          

The third  it was on the way back it was a very deep and powerful water fall.  It was a great experience.  (written by BK)

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Go to the camel, make a left

We left the north today and headed into the desert. Our first destination was the Kabbalistic center of Israel, Tsfat (Safed). Tsfat is also a beautiful artist colony and we learned how Tallit (ritual prayer shawls) are hand woven and watched one on the loom. We saw micro-calligraphy, fascinating modern Hannukiot and creative painting.  We also made our way to the Safed Candle Company - where the candles are stunning. Our window shopping was lovely...perhaps someday we'll come back with a budget to invest in some of this stunning art.

Tsfat is the city where the Spanish Kabbalists settled after the expulsion from Spain. A Rabbi became a leader there - Rabbi Isaac Luria - who is the father of modern Kabbalah.  We visited the synagogue that was built in his honor, after his death, and I noticed the Kabbalistic stained glass window.  it is the spiritual version of the body with Kabbala terms for all body areas that correspond to values and strengths.

The synagogue was tiny and hot, hot, hot. Amazing to walk in a place where people have prayed and celebrated for 500 years.

We left Tsfat and headed south along the Jordan River Valley - and encountered our third border - Jordan.  It's quiet and cooperative - the Israeli's provide water to Jordan for the valley's farms to encourage community and settlement - knowing that communities with opportunities don't support terrorists.  We drove through the West Bank (nothing to see where we drove - it's very quiet along the Jordan River Valley) and Neal and I noticed the abandoned bunkers open towards Israel - reminders of a time when this border was not safe.

Along the trip, we stopped at Gan HaShlosha National Park where the kids and I swam while Neal stayed indoors to give his skin a break from the heat.  These natural pools are huge, clean and delicious in the heat. As we entered, a lifeguard yelled in Hebrew to me - and my confusion led him to English - "can she swim?" looking at Ariel.  Like a fish.  She swims better under the water than on top of it - but she was a champ because there we no where to stand in these pools.  The kids jumped off the walls of the pools, swam from rock cropping to rock cropping and stayed close enough for me to watch all three while we all cooled off. 

Next to Gan HaShlosha is Gan Garoo Park - a partnership between Australia and Israel. Not really expecting to pet a kangaroo for the first time in Israel.  Never really expected to pet a kangaroo anyway.  Saw some very cool animals and the kids enjoyed an activity that wasn't about ancient history or current events - just animals.

Of course, with all the amazing animals in the zoo, Ben's favorite were the enormous bats.

Just past the exit for Jericho, which is unfortunately not safe for us to visit - in fact, no one from Israel can visit without express permission from the IDF - we parted ways with our wonderful guide Ami who was an incredible source of history, delicious food and fun. He'd like to catch up next year when Neal and I return with Wexner.  As we entered the gas station to drop him off to catch his taxi to Jerusalem, Ariel saw an odd creature at the entrance and wide-eyed asked - "What's that?". We told her it was a ship of the desert - a camel.  She didn't believe it was real until she saw it turn it's head towards us.  While we filled up the tank, the kids saw a haredi family enjoy camel rides in the parking lot (we'll be riding on Saturday evening in the Negev). Then we asked Ami how to get to Ein Gedi and he pointed where we need to turn right and stay on the road until we arrive at the Kibbutz.  

Neal relayed the instructions to me - "go to the camel and turn left." So we did and here we are at Ein Gedi staying with Tiki - Neal's au pair from when he was 6 and 7. Watch out, our Brazilian friends, the kids will never forget you and you never know when they'll drop in!

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Golan Day - Hikes, Jeeps, Tanks and Chocolate

The day started with a walk/hike in the Tel Dan Nature Preserve in the Upper Galilee. Unlike the swift but calm river we rafted yesterday, at Tel Dan we saw the waters rushing through narrow canals from the limestone of the Hebron Mountains into the Jordan River.  About 10% of Israel's entire water supply comes from the Dan river. We worked our way to a manmade wading pool and the water was really brisk - but we were all brave and enjoyed it.

We didn't get to the ruins on that walk (we drove by them) but looking at them was wild - they are believed to be from King Ahab as well as an altar used by the 10 northern tribes of Israel (Jerusalem was the capital of Judea in the south) for sacrifices.  We left Tel Dan to take a Jeep ride in the Golan. We learned more history including that in 1948, part of the upper Galilee was a DMZ - but the Syrians believed DMZ meant unihabited and the Israelis believed it meant non-militarized. Additionally, from 1948-1967, the Syrians had concerns/complaints that the Israelis were using a disproportionate amount of the water from the Jordan River - the shared water supply for both countries. These disagreements led to ongoing shooting and bombing of Israeli farmers by Syrian military.  In 1967, the Golan apparently wasn't a target (according to our Jeep guide) but the Galilee farmers told the IDF that if they didn't take the Golan after they routed the Egyptian planned attack in the south, the farmers would abandon the Galilee that feeds much of Israel.  Amazingly, the Golan fell in 36 hours and has remained Israeli since.  It is loaded with vineyards, farms and...chocolate.  More on that later.

We lunched at Kibbutz Ortan where their businesses are agriculture and wine. There is something idyllic about kibbutz life, but I think I am too achievement oriented to be comfortable with it. Certainly felt very welcoming and safe. We met another touring family there (by design) and the Goldman's joined us for the rest of our Golan day - fun to travel with another interesting couple with three boys around the ages of our kids.

The Goldman's joined us in order to visit a Golan IDF base - in this case, a tank brigade headquarters. Israel has designed and manufactured their own tanks and these 60 ton monsters are incredible.  With five people operating them, they can shoot accurately 5 KM away.  They are fast, intimidating and effective as a deterrent. Israel is worried about terrorists like Al Queda taking advantage of the civil war in Syria to take up residence on the Syrian/Israel border and is actively patrolling - it was great of these soldiers to take the time to show us their tanks, M-16s and machine guns. They are proud to protect Israel.   

After seeing the tanks, we wanted to see the Syrian border (thankfully quiet today). We drove up to Mount Bental where you can see Lebanon, Syria and the Galilee. It's pretty humbling - the Galilee and the Golan, on the Israeli side, are green with agriculture.  The Lebanese and Syrian side are brown. They are very, very close. We watched cars and trucks driving on the Syrian side.  

Finally, we lightened things up with a visit to the De Karina Chocolate Factory.  Karina made aliyah from South America where she was a third generation chocolatier. The factory is small - everything is handmade - and the chocolates were yummy.  We made some chocolates too - and other than my daughter's tears that she couldn't make an octopus out of chocolate (Mom made one - not award winning, but passable), everyone happily tasted, designed and enjoyed our time with chocolate.  

Tomorrow - S'fad and Ein Gedi.

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And ride down the Rosh Hanikra cable car with us...

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Ride along on our ATV adventure in the Golan.

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Divine (rustic) dining at Dag al Hadon

Neal and I escaped for dinner and found a treasure of a restaurant called Dag al Hadon.  This translates to Fish of the Dan (River). We arrived unsure of what lay ahead - and walked down the steps, past the fresh fish market and crossed a small wooden bridge into a delightful open air restaurant nestled between the Dan and Hatzbani rivers.  As we took our seats, I noticed there was a swan swimming in the river next to us.  

We sat on wooden seats at a wooden table and the menu had a number of options, but the point was fish.  Trout from the local rivers or Salmon or Sea Bream (what is a Sea Bream?) combined with delicious hummus, Israeli salads and tasty sauces.  I had the buttered trout - served whole and gratiously filleted (away from the table) by our friendly server. Neal's salmon was perfectly crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

To top it off, they served pecan pie, Neal's favorite, as dessert.  Pecans grow in Northern Israel and Dag al Hadon makes their pecan pie very heavy on the pecans, not heavy on the connecting sugars. Delicious with ice cream. So - if you are up near Hagoshrim or Kiryat Shmona, strongly recommend this charming spot.  And it was nice to have dinner without telling anyone to sit back down, stop bothering their sibling, finish their meal.  They're very cute, but restaurants are still tough. A pleasure to talk with my husband and enjoy something divinely inspired.