December 23

      “Next year in Jerusalem,” Jews throughout the ages have declared

at the end of the seder meal.

       In June of last year, my older brother Stewart told me that he

and his wife Bonnie would be going to Israel this December – his first

trip, her second.  My immediate response: “I’m joining you.”  My 14th.

      “Next year (and six months) in Jerusalem” was today.

       Our group from Baltimore, the ASSOCIATED Family mission, reached

Mt. Scopus mid-afternoon.

       Rachel and Elliot, my twin niece and nephew, have joined us.  The

bright sun made the Old City of Jerusalem hazy, not the best for

recreating the photo I took of the two of them from this spot 13 years

ago, shortly after their Bnai Mitzvah.

       Shortly before we said the Shehecheyanu, the prayer for such

special occasions, a member of our group read this excerpt from a

Yiddish poet:

      “One does not travel to Jerusalem.  One returns.”

       I will recite that line every time I return.

 December 25

    The outer walls of the Old City of Jerusalem are from “only the

1500’s,” our guide told us at the start of today’s tour.

    By contrast, the site of the City of David is just outside those

walls and now a disputed neighborhood among Israelis and Palestinians. 

Archaeological evidence from King David’s time has been found in the

14th of 21 layers of civilizations.

     In another neighborhood outside the “new” outer walls, what was

undesirable real estate in West Jerusalem and made available to the

Reform Jewish movement because it was too close to the border between

Israel and Jordan from 1948-67 when bullets were flying, is now very

valuable property.

      Inside the Old City of Jerusalem, in the Jewish Quarter, on sites

where properties were destroyed by the Jordanians, houses now sit in

pylons to preserve the archaeological sites underneath.

      An older outer wall of the City has been found in the midst of the

Jewish Quarter.  (There are also Muslim, Christian, and Armenian

Quarters.)  It reminds me that North Ave. was once the northern

boundary of Baltimore.

      Cities expand their borders as their populations grow.  In

Jerusalem that has happened over millennia and in the midst of fighting

among and within the three monotheistic faiths.

       The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus was crucified,

buried and resurrected, is on the site of the Temple of Aphrodite.  The

current demarcations between Christian faiths inside this extraordinary

structure date back to the settlement of the Crimean War.

     Merry Christmas and Shabbat Shalom!

December 26

     “This is easier than the last time,” I said to myself as I climbed

Masada.

    “Don’t jinx yourself.  Keep quiet,” I would then mutter.

     Turned out it was easier.  I attributed it to my “sprint” work at

the Meadowbrook pool.

     “But it was 20 degrees warmer the last time in June,” someone who

was there reminded me.

    Nonetheless, I’ll keep doing my sprints.        

—

Masada was a palace fortress built by King Herod along the Dead  Sea, the lowest point on earth and the southern route to Jerusalem and Jericho.

     “Israelis are ambivalent today about the mass suicide on Masada by                                        

its Jewish defenders to avoid enslavement by the Romans.” our guide

noted.  “We are the descendants of those who survived.”

     He also tells us that his kibbutz once served a military purpose.

It’s located near an air force base.  The Kibbutz members were to hold

off Jordanian forces for 36 hours until the Army reserves arrived.

     Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan during the Clinton

administration.

     After our climb, a first for me.  We drive by the massive Dead Sea

Works, which refines the salt in the water. It’s the largest

money-making factory in the country, our guide tells us.

December 28 
 
    “I’m sitting in a bomb shelter near the Syrian border so that people in Tel Aviv can sit in cafes,” an Israeli famously told CNN 30+ years ago. 
 
     Israeli military history has been marked by the element of surprise (Arab troops massed for the Yom Kippur attack unbeknownst to the Israelis) and deception (Nasser falsely told King Hussein that Egyptian troops were winning in the Sinai, prompting Jordan’s entrance into the Six-Day War and The Israeli capture of the Old City of Jerusalem.). 
 
    Technology has made those circumstances obsolete. 
 
    Missiles – conventional or nuclear, can soon hit Tel Aviv. 
 
     In the Psalms, the mountains may skip like rams; today, those rams’ horns take the shape of sophisticated listening and viewing equipment. 
 
    We heard loud booms as we sat in a chocolate factory in the Golan Heights. 
 
    “We live with the Army. We don’t hear their exercises anymore,” responded the area economic development official. 
 
     At least for now…

December 29

Tel Aviv is a new city – even by American terms.  It’s barely one hundred years old.  Nonetheless, layers of ideologies can be found at the same site. 

We stopped at a modern complex that was once two separate buildings for boys and girls education, then housed two rival factions of the pre-1948 Israeli military, and is now a ballet center. 

            The street patterns here are not a grid.  That was considered too much like a cross. 

            Other things are like America.  Models of synagogues from Europe have no outward sign of the Jewish faith.  That is also the case for the Lloyd St. synagogue in Baltimore.

            There is no question about the emotional highlight of the day.  The exhibit at the Rabin Center concludes with the funeral service.  I rememembered President Clinton’s “Shalom chaver [my friend]” but not the tearful eulogy from his granddaughter.

December 30

We began our day at a kindegarten.  Most of the kids are Ethiopian immigrants, but not all. 

 “Everything has to be about integration,” we were told.  “We never do just an Ethiopian group of kids.”

 This program will be replicated in the Hopkins Hospital neighborhood in East Baltimore.  Integration will be difficult to achieve there. 

 Drawings of the Founding Fathers are often found in an American classroom.  Or perhaps a photo of the current President. 

 In the class today, there were three photos.  The first two were readily recognizable – President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.  The third face was unfamiliar to me.  I assumed it was the mayor of Ashkelon. 

 With my limited Hebrew reading skills, I could read the name of the third – Ashkenazi.  He’s the head of the Israeli army.

December 31

The layers of complexity and contention in this holy land are aptly summarized by the text accompanying the artifacts and documents of “Breaking Ground: Pioneers of Biblical Archaeology” at the Israel Museum.

 

Israel has been home to peoples of different cultures and faiths for more than 1.5 million years.

Lt. Charles warren of the British Royal Engineers was sent to Palestine to conduct excavations and draft a military map.

The Israelites and philistines fought frequently for dominion but influenced each other greatly.

Until the next time I return to Jerusalem, shalom.