Not everything is bad

7.27.06
4:25PM

This, I promise, is my real last entry for this sitting.

Reading this article made me feel so good, I just had to post it...


enjoy!

SO MUCH WORK

7.27.06
4:10PM

... memorizing words is one thing, transforming them into a vocabulary is something different -- at least for me. I'm writing on just a few hrs of sleep thanks to a Hebrew presentation about lumberjacks (כורתים עצים) that kept me burning the midnight oil way, way late last night. All's well now, and before long I will be back at it once again.

The news, you may have read, does not look good for anyone. Anyone interested in reading some brief coverage from both sides can check out recent stories from Al Jazeera and Haaretz. Like most conflicts, this seems to get more complex & scary by the hour. What is the best solution here? Feel free to post a comment...

Everyone here prays that the conflict will end soon, though no one expects it will. Interestingly, I live with some Arab suitemates who are pretty excited about Nasrallah/Hizbullah, though I haven't had a chance to chat politics with them yet. They are very nice guys, easy to live with.

Even more than in the US, opinions here run strong. The most pleasant person on the street can believe things that would blow your mind.

Off to food, Hebrew and - finally - some more football (קדורגל)... and then more Hebrew!

So pictures aren't loading from here...

and I have no idea why. Sorry. Yesterday, I was accepted into a 5-month ulpan on Kibbutz Ma'agen Michael, located on the Meditteranean Coast, which hopefully will provide more complete internet options once I get going.

I'm posting during a 10-minute break in classes, so unfortunately I'll have to get back to this later. After class I have been asked to interview with the AP!

Also, sorry if I am slow in responding to emails... the internet here has just been so bad. I will get to it at my first chance, I promise!

Week 3 (July 16-22): Appreciation of the Groin

Week 3 (July 16-22)

Appreciation of the Groin

Apologies for my week of silence – I have been moving into / exploring Jerusalem and Hebrew University’s Mt. Scopus campus, where we will remain through the end of our ulpan. What’s more, thanks to the shaky wireless connections to which I’m presently bound, I have not been able to post this page until now despite a few days of attempts.

Last week’s craziness almost feels like it was part of some insane dream, as Jerusalem has not felt the effects, physically, of Hizbullah’s missiles. UHaifa’s administrators have moved mountains to bring the Hebrew program to Jerusalem on a very short timetable, and I cannot sing enough praises lauding their efforts. While most folks here are missing Haifa at least a little, everyone is glad to be out of range of the missile strikes that have continued all week. About 160 out of Haifa’s 260 original Ulpanists have remained with us through the uncertainty to continue classes, which restarted last Thursday with a mostly new teaching staff.

Before delving too far into the events of this week, I want to say how much I appreciate the thoughtful notes that many of you have sent regarding my safety. Please know that I remain out of range of the rocket strikes, and I do not plan on placing myself in any kind of senseless danger. If you’re wondering about my (brief) take on the conflict up to this point, I think it’s tragic but I support the IDF’s actions.

Here’s a picture of my new roommate, Nick, and me. We all have roommates now (my tiny old Haifa single evokes feelings of nostalgia, to say the least).

Nick is a neat guy.

In lieu of classes, here are some things I have done this week:

-Tour around Jerusalem

-Play (or try to play) soccer… more on this later

-Get lost for an hour on Hebrew University’s campus (while apparently being about 5 min from my dorm the whole time)

-The Jerusalem bar scene

-Enjoy a vegetarian Shabbos dinner at an Israeli home

-Hike Masada, swim under the desert waterfalls in Ein Gedi and chilled out in the dead sea

Jerusalem is amazing. There is so much here, and every square inch is steeped in enough history to fill volumes. Mt. Scopus rises up about a half-mile from the Old City, which means that it’s easy to find scenic views up here on campus…

<Jerusalem>

Though not quite as wide, I can also get this view from my window… and from the court where we sometimes go to play soccer (yes -- I’m actually getting some use of my favorite toy). Hence the title of this entry…

I’ve had a chance to dabble in the street markets that line the Old City’s walls, and also to see some of the modern city. We have discovered, maybe too frequently, some bars off of Ben Yehuda St, which is a little like Jerusalem’s response to the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville. After doing Shabbos with some Israelis last night, our hosts introduced us to some local bars that aren’t as beleaguered with tourists (i.e., Americans), which was a pleasant – not to mention cost-effective – change of pace. One can only imagine how badly the local vendors rip off American tourists. According to Yakhir, one of my generous Israeli hosts, where shook (marketplace) vendors open negotiations with him at 40 shekels, they would start me at 200. Apparently tourists can bargain down the price to something reasonable; it just takes time. That said, all I’ve bought from the shook has been some rugullah and tea…

Hiking Masada Friday morning was a fun time. We bussed out of town at 2:30AM to arrive at the mountain’s base around 5AM, at which point we proceeded to hike up just in time to watch the sun rise over Jordan, across the Dead Sea. Unfortunately, my pics from the mountain aren’t anywhere near as spectacular the ones I took during first trip here in ’99, but it’s what I got.

A sleepy Ben Israel having made it to the top of Masada in the minutes before sunise.

Looking out from Masada just before dawn… much cooler to see it in real life.

<Masada – BenGabriel>

This is me with my friend Gabriel on a perch overlooking the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea… at this pace, the entire sea will be gone in 10-15 years thanks to mass Israeli pumping out of the Jordan River. In 50 years, the sea level has descended about 35m… what’s really crazy to me is that I actually remember the water being closer during my last visit seven years ago.

Masada has a famous story, as it marks the site of the heroitragic last stand of the Jewish Revolt against the Romans beginning in 66 CE. A band of 976 Jews camped on top of Masada’s “desert island” fortress (King Herod, a Jew and also a close friend of Emperor Augustus, constructed the palace as a safety measure, fearing mass insurrection) for three years while staving off a Roman siege that would inevitably break through. Famously, on the eve of certain defeat, a council of Masada’s leaders chose death over slavery, commencing a mass execution / suicide that would leave only two women and three children surviving to tell the story when the Romans arrived the next morning. Thus, most of modern Jewry descends from the million or so in Jerusalem who survived the revolt and did not flee.

Here we are faffing in a natural pool in Ein Gedi, in the middle of the desert. The water in this spring flows from the Judean mountains, where it seeped into the ground hundreds of years ago, tunneling beneath miles of earth to emerge again today (or Friday).

This is the same region where David hid from King Saul, who in a fit of paranoia had set out to murder him. As the story goes, David passed up an opportunity to ambush and dispatch his would-be assailant and later succeeded him as King of Judea around 1000 BCE.

I forgot to bring my camera to the Dead Sea beach… maybe for the best, since one careless move could have landed it in deadly corrosive salty stuff. Just take my word that floating effortlessly off the beach like a bunch of inflatable shamoos was cool.

Appreciation of the Groin

So you’ve read – or scrolled – this far and might still be wondering about this entry’s title and how far my focus seems to have drifted now that I’m no longer dodging rockets. To explain this, we should go back a few days to a barefoot soccer match outside of Hebrew U’s Reznik dorms. To keep a short story short, I managed to pull three muscles in both legs in my first two minutes, pulling my left groin most severely. One of the pulls was kind of weird, as in addition to the nasty groin injury I also injured a left hip flexor – the muscle opposite the groin. I have no idea how this happened.

So I have spent a few days stumbling around to the tune of my injury, and I hereby testify that the left groin is a majorly important muscle that deserves close and tender care in all situations. For instance, did you ever stop to think about how much you use those muscles when you… turn… bump your knees together when you’re bored… kick things? I have spent half of this week dreading every right turn. Take this as your own personal warning: start caring for your groin before it blindsides you with an injury.

I am hoping to re-emerge onto the soccer scene come Monday.

To conclude: We have relocated successfully from Haifa, as the North remains to dangerous for class. Despite a relatively cramped living situation and higher living expenses, we are moving on with the program, and with life. Classes began again on Thursday – starting Sunday we will be in class 6 hrs/day, 6 days/week – and I am loving my new teacher, who also relocated from Haifa. We’ve been having fun with our loads of free time, but our time here is about to get intense with classes continuing tomorrow.

New Conflict, #2

FRIDAY, 1:30PM

Following a dull Sabbath day, Lebanon began unleashing rockets at Haifa around 8:15AM, and overseas students have been confined to the fortified shelters in our respective suites. To my knowledge, eight Israelis are dead, and around the same number have been seriously wounded.

I don’t have much more to report, really… just a bunch of guys hanging out in my room (I have the fortified one) faffing about until the next announcement. To tell the truth, we’re about bored out of our minds. My morning’s pinnacle event probably was completing my first victorious game of mindsweeper – on intermediate difficulty – after my Swedish suitemate taught me how to play.

The biggest worry here is less about continued rocket rounds and more that Syria, with bigger; more accurate rockets, might get involved. People say that Syrian involvement could also drag in the Iranians, and you can guess what that would mean. But people could be wrong. I hope they are. I am trying my best not to get too involved with any of the various rumors flying around.

The Hizbullah seem to have taken a break, as nothing has landed here for the past hour or so. It could be an effort to adjust or hide firing positions to avoid Israeli counterstrikes.

1:58PM

If Hizbullah really was taking a break, it has ended. The city’s missile alarms rang out a minute or so ago, and we’re just waiting for more sounds of explosions, still locked in the fortified rooms. David Gray’s “Babylon” is playing on my computer, a title that feels appropriate for a time of increasing Jewish strife. We will be meeting in the Muadon auditorium when the present alarm ends for an educated update on the situation.

3:15PM

The University has decided to close and transplant us in Jerusalem, where we will stay for three days as the situation develops. Many, maybe 20, have already decided to leave Israel altogether… I am determined to stick it out, even I have to stay further south for a while.

Unfortunately we will be able to continue formal studies in Jerusalem, though I may be able to brush up on the little Hebrew I have picked up while there. It’s nice to know we’ll be somewhere safe(r), not to mention beautiful and fascinating. I am looking forward to what promises to be a stimulating and more relaxed three days. I expect we will know our next step by Wednesday. For now, it’s off to the bus for a three hour tour south. Peace!

New Conflict

Hi all, below are my entries covering the last 24 hrs or so in Haifa, beginning Thursday afternoon and ending Friday around 3PM. As you might guess, in the last 24 hrs some crazy events have pervaded our daily routines... the bottom line is that I and everyone else here are OK, and presently the general feeling is more of concern than outright worry. I will keep you posted with updates. Also, sorry about some of the pictures in earlier entries. I will try to get them up and running when I have more time.

Incidentally, if you'd like to follow events closely, the local publications The Jerusalem Post and Ynetnews keep their websites updated to the minute.

Thursday Morning Headline: Israel Enters Lebanon After 2 Soldiers Are Kidnapped

…Hezbollah attacked northern Israel with rocket fire this morning, injuring several Israeli civilians in the northwestern town of Shlomi, the Israeli military said. Israel responded with artillery fire and air strikes that targeted Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon. Later, Israeli troops moved into southern Lebanon in the first such incursion since Israel pulled its troops out of the region in 2000.

The Israeli military did not immediately provide details on the border clashes.

Thursday, 6pm.

So it appears we have walked into the backyard of a new conflict. Though we didn’t know what was happening at first, the muted sounds of the artillery and air strikes were discernible Wednesday from our perch on Mt. Carmel. For better of worse, we were not able to see what was going on, as there was too much haze to see anything very far away.

It may sound anticlimactic, but the renewed fighting has been received rather quietly here in Haifa. My Hebrew teacher explained to us that she (and others) don’t like to get worked up about these kinds of things as they break out; what would be gained? So Israelis remain more or less quiet, at least in public, about the latest violence. Life moves on.

Thursday, 8:30pm, and afterwards

The Israelis’ calm display can only go so far. Hizbollah (“Party of God”) just launched two rockets into Haifa’s outskirts – no casualties, thankfully – and our House Mother has instructed us over the dormitory loudspeakers to go the bomb shelters located in our respective suites. People are doing everything from making plans to leave the city to drinking wine & jamming tunes in their shelters – I fall close the latter edge of the spectrum… what more can we do? We are all hoping that the excitement will end soon, but of course no one expects that. There is no knowing what will happen. We can only wait.

A bit of confusion has begun to set in. Rumor of a third Haifa-bound rocket has come in, and the House Mother has phoned again with further safety instructions, beseeching us “not to panic”. I don’t know how to feel. To be honest, while the whole episode certainly is frightening, there’s also something exciting in the air. In an ad-hoc lecture on current events, an Israeli professor prognosticated that Israel will use this opportunity to launch a large-scale offensive against Hizbollah in a grand push to dismantle the organization once and for all. Apparantly, Hizbollah does not enjoy widespread political support in Lebanon. The only reason they have continued to exist in the time following UN Resolution 1559 (which ordered Lebanon to dismantle the militant groups housed inside its borders) is because Hizbolla commands the most potent armed forces in the country and when they rejected disarmament there was nothing the government or army could do. It has been speculated that a substantial weakening of Hizbollah could prompt a long-awaited military response from Lebanon itself, though the Israelis certainly aren’t counting on that. As far as I have heard (UHaifa’s rooms have no internet), the Lebanese have not responded to the situation. They haven’t even acted symbolically, i.e., releasing an official statement, condemnation, etc. It is a weak government politically, and according to our professor they might like to see the Iranian-backed Hizbollah go as much as anyone excepting the Israelis. The dismantling of Hizbollah is indeed an exciting prospect here.

It is hard to know how to feel about all this. On the one hand, there are people just a few miles away pointing missiles in my direction who would take high delight in scoring a direct hit, while on the other hand I feel like I’m watching something really important unfold before my eyes, something I do not want to miss. What if Israel really does go in for the kill against Hizbollah?

I think that somehow I feel that right now this is where I need to be. Haifa lies about 30km from the northern border – almost exactly the maximum range of Hizbolla’s medium-range Katyusha rockets, which for better or worse cannot be aimed precisely. What a privilege it is to watch my people – the Jewish people – manage such a crisis. Is it pride I feel?

Israel’s government, you may know, is holding the shabby Lebanese government responsible for allowing the indiscretions along its border. I am not sure what options the Lebanese government has at its disposal considering their dearth of regional clout, their weak military and their recently incapacitated ports; bridges and airfields. Our guest lecturer, while elaborating on Lebanese impotence, ironically suggested that had the destitute yet domineering Syrians not been forced from Lebanon last year, “this never would have happened.” Perhaps he is right. Funny how these things can play out.

12:02am

A jet plane roars overhead in the darkness, its destination obvious.

12:15am

Another jet. The same one?

I want everyone to know the following things:

1. Contrary to what you may have seen or read, Haifa feels safe. Villagers from northern Israel are even moving here as a source of refuge until the situation cools.
2. The University, as you can imagine, is taking steps to ensure the safety of its overseas students and is providing us with updates periodically.
3. If I begin to feel seriously unsafe, I will move out of Haifa. Right now there appears no reason to do so.
4. I will post updates as often as I can.

Friday, 2:30PM.

Apologies that I have not been able to post my last 24 hrs of entries until now… as I wrote before, I have been stuck in non-internet areas for a while. First, a break from the crazy front-page topics for some mundane updates:

They re-placed all of the students in my Hebrew level, now that we’ve had a few days of classes to find our bearings. Fortunately, I wasn’t down-shifted to a lower level (though about half of my classmates apparently were), and the new group seems solid. I have this nice Orthodox lady named Efrat teaching me… she’s super-sweet and had us singing in class about how good it is to stop working on Shabbat. What's more, everyone joined in!

In other banal news, I think I will finally get to see Pirates of the Caribbean tonight. Yes! Unlike clothes, food and other commodities, movies in Israel cost around the same as they do in the US… for the price of a movie (30-40 shekels -- about two hrs of work on 17 shek/hr, the Israeli minimum wage) I could also purchase a decent shirt in Haifa’s downtown market. Maybe movies live in their own special sphere here.

As far as current events go, there is not much else to report since last night, except that things at the University have continued to calm. A recent article from the Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) confirms some of the predictions posited by our guest speaker/updater last night…

"We have a goal," [Israeli Foreign Minister] Livni said. "The goal is to move Hizbullah out of southern Lebanon." Livni, speaking to Channel 2 soon after a rocket hit Haifa, said that during a cabinet meeting Wednesday where the IDF operations in Lebanon were approved, the ministers took into consideration that Hizbullah would make good on threats to hit Israel cities in the North…

"We had no other choice," Livni said of the army's operations. "For a number of years, Israel waited, as Hizbullah was arming itself, for the Lebanese government to move it out of southern Lebanon."

Livni said Hizbullah was not only an issue on the Lebanese border. "Hizbullah is a proxy of Iran and Syria with an open front with Israel, and Nasrallah wants to become a regional leader and block any possibility for an agreement. He is a regional provocateur; it was impossible to continue with it anymore. We had to respond, and that is what we are doing today."

She said that the operation was not intended to avenge Wednesday's attacks, in which two soldiers were captured and eight were killed, but had larger strategic goals. "There will be a point of time where the Lebanese government will need to decide that Hizbullah does not promote Lebanon, is a burden on the Lebanese people and the Lebanese government, and that they will need to send the army south to areas that are now empty."

Livni said that as a result of the IDF's actions, the Lebanese government can no longer claim it doesn't have the ability to dislodge Hizbullah from the south, since to a large degree the IDF has already done that.

So while the IDF isn’t proclaiming a mission to totally demolish Hizbollah, they have placed some significant goals on the table. Of course, I will continue writing as new things come up.

Peace,

Ben

The Big Garden, etc.

7.10.06

Took a tour of Haifa today. It was hard to understand most of what was going on, as I rode with the Hebrew-speaking group instead of the English speakers. The folks who already have some Hebrew, by and large, are more serious about getting down & dirty in the language… plus they don’t mind teaching me bits and pieces as we go along. Lesson of the day: Half of everything on sale in Haifa is women’s underwear. Also, clothes here cost so much less than in the States, it’s crazy. A decent button-down shirt will go for 29-50 shekels (~$8-12).

A hillside & the Mediterranean Sea behind me… just off the beaten path.

Here is my friend Caleb chillin’ with a manikin that clearly hails from the Israeli hood.

7.9.06

Lots of class preparation activities today… kind of dull overall. We all had to speak with a Hebrew instructor (or try to) for a while so that they could finish placing us. I was happy to hear that my instructor chose to place me in the second-level beginners’ class, which will be great since the lowest level has to focus on simple, simple things like the aleph-bet before really getting into language.

A mostly dull day, except for the World Cup. The Israeli students brought drums, etc. into the projector room to cheer for their fav team. Unfortunately, the game didn’t end as I had hoped, though if you didn’t catch Zidane’s sick head-butting of some Italian guy, I am sure it’s posted somewhere online and you must check it out.

7.8.06

Today we visited the Bahá’í Gardens today, which may be the most picturesque landscape I’ve seen. The garden slopes all the way down one side of its mountain (see pics) and ranks as the holiest site of the Bahá’í religion, which spawned from Islam only 200 years ago. The Bahá’í people, we were told, endured prejudice and brutality from the Ottomans well into the 20^th century… the religion now claims about 6 million followers.

Around 100 gardeners are responsible for maintaining every inch – literally – of the garden.

For all the garden’s visual splendor, my favorite parts were the “waterfalls” lining the stone staircases (left). While exploring the garden, visitors can hear the water gently lapping all around them – you almost forget that you’re surrounded on all sides by a bustling city.

After touring the garden, we stepped a few blocks over to shop in the Arab market, where the food is tasty… and cheap! Here I am holding some guy's broom...

Haif-A!

… I have arrived.

The flights went well, mainly, once we got off the ground. Probably didn’t sleep enough, but I guess that’s how plane rides go. Here is a picture of me with some of the folks bound for Bethlehem (from left: me, Daniel, Steve (?), Mike & Sheryll). A fun, thoughtful and generally admirable bunch.












Also noteworthy, I got to sit next to a group of nice Italian nuns on the connecting flight from Frankfurt. They wore all white, and they were very, very small.


So here are some pics from Israel:

First, here I am at the airport (I had been wearing the same clothes for 3 days at this point).











While exploring a tower on top of Haifa’s Mt. Carmel, I got to snap some shots from the 29th story. Check it out.

Here’s the best one… Haifa Major. Where the skyline ends, the Med. Sea begins.

Nice, no?

The people here are nice -- hopefully I'll have some candid shots posted soon. No crazy or interesting stories yet... except maybe that I spent the night of my 23rd birthday escorting a couple of Wasted 18-year-olds back to campus in a taxi. Thankfully no one puked.

Happy World Cup Finals weekend!

The Dulles Hyatt

7.5.06

Maybe real adventures never begin as cleanly as we want them to. Here are pictures of me exploring my first overnight venue since departing Dulles airport…













Don’t be fooled. Your safari-style hero smiles for the camera while exploring the Dulles Hyatt Regency (ok, not really exploring) despite his flight’s earlier cancellation: an unmoored luggage cart sailed into one of the engines during a pre-liftoff thunderstorm, tearing the casing.

On the bright side, the Hyatt was super-nice, and free. I have gotten to know some of my fellow travelers, most of whom have stayed chipper despite the delay. One nice Bethlehem-bound group even wants to connect me with clergy in the Jesus’ hometown.

Our plane is huge – a double-decker. The clouds will fear us. Biz class people sit on top, but being stuck with the ordinary folk is no curse, because we freaking rule. An indie remix of a Beatles trak from Sgt. Pepper's plays overhead while the TVs display our projectory to Frankfurt. This somehow seems noteworthy, though I couldn’t tell you why.

A few rows ahead sits my new buddy Mohammed, who has missed a day of debauchery in Cairo thanks to the delay. He is getting married there in a few days.