Sukkot in Israel: Part 2, Welcome to Winter!

Israel is small, but half of it is a desert.  Not many people live in that half, although there are definitely attempts to create sustainable communities in the desert.  In fact, Israel probably leads the world in desert living from a scientific perspective. More on this after Fulbright orientation will be taking us to the desert this week.

Sukkot commemorates the Jews wandering in the desert on the way to Israel.  And so, it worked out pretty cool to spend night number 5 of sukkot at the Negev Camel Ranch.  On the way there, we cut through Shomron, the lower half of the West Bank.  When you drive through these parts of Israel, you have a better understanding how the land is not easily divided.

On the way to Negev Camel Ranch, we stopped in Dimona, a town known for it's nuclear research, but which apparently also has good Mexican food.  I was so nauseous, I skipped out, but Adam seemed to love it.

The Negev camel ranch was a welcome retreat for a night--the kids were so excited to just run around the ranch petting camels, and we stayed in these rooms that had no bathroom and were simple.  The highlight would have been the desert meal you eat on the floor and breakfast, but I (Yasmine) was sick (carsickness turned into something else).  But I admired the LOOKS of the meal. :)

In the morning, we headed out on camels for an hour.  Just our family alone! :)

I guess camels are very sure-footed because we were right on the edge of some cliffs.

Then we drove to Arad to check in to our hostel, drop off stuff, and go to the Dead Sea.

Arad is actually in a different desert--Judean desert.  At least I think so.  We go UP to Arad, and then down down down to the Dead Sea.  Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth.  So my kids definitely felt the pressure changes in their ears, as we ascended and descended something like 1000 meters.  The Dead Sea is awesome because you float.  That being said, if you have any skin sensitivity or irritation, it can be painful.  So my kids were in for a total of about 5 minutes.  Adam could have spent his whole day there because he can't float, and the sensation of floating is only attainable at the Dead Sea for him.

The next day we headed back down the same path and while trying to keep the kids entertained, I told them the grown-up story of Masada.  Masada is a story of Jews being cornered--of having to choose between slavery and rape or suicide.  They chose the latter, so it is the story of a tragedy with some of the world's most preserved ruins during the Roman era.  But when you walk up Masada, as a Jew today, while the Roman empire has fallen, it's also a story of triumph--look where we were and look what we have now.  It's particular emotional when I consider that the Israeli army is often sworn in there and says the words "Another Masada will not fall".  This means that we as a Jewish people will never be cornered like that again (like we were also in the Holocaust).

I was surprised, after sharing the story, that my kids really wanted to see it.  I actually was planning on skipping it.  Okay, off we went up the cable car, after spending money on an annual Israeli parks pass.  My kids LOVED the ruins, and my daughter sat there touching the rocks thinking about who might have touched these rocks before.  You never know sometimes what your children will find interesting or moving.

Above you can see the snake path.  We opted out and took the cable car this time :)

On the way down, we ate at the cafe with a gorgeous view, and then headed to Ein Gedi, an oasis.  Splashing in the streams and the waterfalls was a hit with my kids.  Ein Gedi is beautiful--waterfalls in the middle of the desert with a view of the Dead Sea.

From there we drove past Jericho to Jerusalem, with a stop in Maaleh Adumim for dinner.  We ate at a fantastic restaurant with a gorgeous view of East Jerusalem.  Maaleh Adumim is officially a "settlement", although a very large, established one.  It is beautiful and peaceful.  See picture below of our view...

We finally arrived in Efrat, which is in the Gush Etzion settlement block of the Shomron part of the West Bank.  There we were greeted by our cousins, Michal and Yehuda and their four kids--Ariel, Efrat, Dvir, and Ayala.  The kids immediately made themselves at home playing outside.

The next day, my kids went to a "lesson" about Hoshana Raba (the last day of sukkot) in the sukkah.  Although mostly in Hebrew, I tried translating as quickly as possible the questions so they could earn some stickers for answering questions.  I was so impressed with the Jewish education of the kids there.  In general, Adam and I walked away from the weekend reminded that the state of education in the Reform/Conservative Jewish world really sucks.

That day, we went to Kfar Etzion Adventure Park, which unfortunately was just closing for the day.  We managed to get three of us on the biggest zipline in Israel.  Matan declined out of fear for his life.  We then went to a park built to memorialize the three teenage soldiers who were kidnapped near there.  Adam and I read all the Zionist quotes around the perimeter of the park while the kids played.

Adam, above, finally bonds with a cat to please Sivan.

That night began Simchat Torah, which is the "8th" day after a 7 day holiday that celebrates us finishing the Torah.  Basically it's a happy holiday where we dance with the torahs and flags, and eat junk and drink (if you don't have to take care of kids like we do). We went to an orthodox synagogue, which has its pros and cons.  Pro: It was extremely spirited with tons of kids running around inside and outside. Con: the men get more room to dance and they dance with the torahs, not the women.  The kids had a great time, especially because candy was being thrown right and left!

The next morning, the kids got themselves dressed and demanded to get to shul (synagogue) as quickly as possible.  They didn't want to miss the candy.  Adam and I have never seen anything like this.  We were half asleep while six kids left the house (including a 2.5 year old).  Efrat is amazing this way--the kids just wander the town by themselves.  It is a small city, and considered very safe inside.  Security is very strong because Palestinian terrorists have been known to attempt things.  The settlement is officially in the West Bank, but in any final status negotiations, they will likely remain in Israel.  They have cameras around periphery with 24/7 monitoring, security driving around, and in the synagogues themselves, there were more than a couple men packing weapons.   Have you ever seen a man with a machine gun slung over his back dancing with the Torah?  If you were to want to understand Israel in pictures, that would be one of them.

This by the way, led to an interesting discussion of how hard it is to own a gun in Israel (once out of the military).  Most citizens probably know how to use one, but to own one you need a course, license that must be renewed every year, etc.

Anyway, once our kids were extremely sugar-highed, they played off their energy all afternoon.

Morale of the story: Our synagogue needs to start giving out candy.

In all seriousness, if you see Efrat on Simchat Torah, you'd never believe there was an "assimilation problem" or that our religion is dying in anyway.  In contrast, it's vibrant, fun, full of young people, and really thriving on all accounts.  It's only in America that a sense of Jewish peoplehood is totally dying.  If you ask me, Judaism is nearly dead in America.  We desperately try to cling to something (or we become black hat religious), but you don't need to desperately cling.  Come to Israel, and it's alive, interesting, fun, and real.  This for me is always very difficult.  I don't like being Jewish in America.  It's boring, it's a chore, and it's dying.  I guess if I did things out of faith it wouldn't matter.  Instead, I do things out of a connection to culture and history.  Kind of like carving pumpkins on Halloween and dressing up just don't work here in Israel at the end of October. 

Okay, I'll save my emotional thoughts on being Jewish in America for some other time.  Suffice to say, it's fun to NOT be a minority.

The other thing I'd like to talk about is the beauty of living the Israeli calendar in Israel.  In America, us Jews pray for rain starting at the end of Sukkot.  Really we are praying for rain because that's what our ancestors who lived in Israel did.  Monroe, NY doesn't actually need rain in October.  I guess I'm praying for Israel, but the point is this....

It actually starts to rain in Israel when you start praying for rain!  The rainy season is upon us!  I won't say it's a downpour.  I felt a few drops in Jerusalem a week ago, and I felt a few drops yesterday.  But for a desert-ish country, the first rain is UBER EXCITING.  GESHEM! GESHEM! (rain! rain!)

This being said, Adam and I are going to design a research study to see whether the first rain goes by the Jewish calendar or Gregorian calendar here.

I can't wait for Rehovot to get a powerwash and quit smelling like trash and cat urine.
Love Israel, but my little neighborhood needs a good hosedown.

We ended the holiday in Israel by saying "Good winter".

So, here I am in "winter" and my AC is on, and I'm wearing a tshirt.  Yeah, it's not quite Hudson Valley.

We also did a camping shabbat kibbutz style.  This was an interesting experience on the other end of the spectrum of religiosity.  Music blared until 10:30 pm.  They set up awesome activities for the kids.  I think one thing that Israelis have going for them is that they all travel all over the place (and I mean places like India and Vietnam) so they bring back the best of what they see and learn which I think helps make for a more creative country.  The kids made pitas to cook on these slabby hot things (no idea what they are called) and a big communal stew was made (like Stone Soup).    It was extremely kid-oriented, which is what my next post is going to be about.  The children first attitude of this country.

and this name on our door really shows we aren't tourists: