January 12 through 21, 2023
So we came back from Egypt and then Art immediately headed off to England for some magic shows (he was one of the headliners). I took this as an opportunity to explore on my own (even more than usual 😉). I did a full-day tour of Akko and Caesarea (with stops in Haifa and Rosh Hanikra) where I tried to absorb centuries of history into my brain. I think I got the gist of it all; both towns have a lot of ancient and living history. I liked the tour guide but I would have arranged the day differently so we'd have more time to wander the museums and structures on our own. Historical information doesn't often stick in my brain the first time around 😕. I was glad I got to see Rosh Hanikra again (the amazing sea grottoes); I could stare at those waters for hours and it was a different experience this time around because the weather was more overcast and the seas were tempestuous 🌊.
I also went into Jerusalem again because a) I could, b) it's easy to get there by train, c) I didn't really get to wander as much as I wanted the last time, and d) I needed to do more souvenir shopping (obviously 😊). It was a much better experience this time; I could totally spend all day wandering the different areas, markets, and Western wall tunnels. I'm sure I still haven't seen even half of the city. I also took a fascinating tour to learn more about the Orthodox Jewish community (it was run by a guy who grew up there and then left the community in his 20's). I even got to see my first "kosher phone" which limits connectivity to the (evil) Internet 😅.
One day I went to dinner at a stranger's house (in Jaffa) through a program called EatWith that's supposed to match up people with locals who can cook. Although the food was amazing (home-cooked Indian 😋), the experience fell short for me because they seemed to forget about the whole "welcoming" mission. Most of the group already knew each other so they talked amongst themselves, and worse, they spoke mostly in Hebrew. I felt pretty left out and never even got to talk about my sabbatical. If I were in charge, I would have included some icebreaker or get-to-know-you activity, but hey I'm not in charge of anything these days! 👍
The next few days included 1) another visit to Carmel Market in Tel Aviv (did I mention you can never have too many souvenirs?), 2) a trip to the Weizmann Institute where Art did his Mathemagics show, 3) a day or so of figuring out the Vietnam visa so I can go on my group tour in April (not so straightforward since normally you have to give up your passport to get the visa, but eventually we figured out the e-visa), and 4) a visit to the West Bank to visit an Orthodox family whose dad did a podcast with Art.
That last one was quite an adventure; the family was super nice, we had Shabbat dinner together, we went to shul with them, and we talked late into the night about beliefs and values. Interesting highlights of the evening: seeing congregants with guns at shul; being told that I don't go to a real shul because Reform = Christian; hearing the mom tell her 13-year-old repeatedly that she wants grand-kids soon; hearing their views on LGBTQ and transgender (their "slippery slope" arguments were wild). I was actually glad to take part in that whole evening/experience (in spite of having my brand of religion disparaged 😒).
It's hard to believe we're coming up on the end of our 10 week stay in Israel. I had thought 10 weeks was too long and now I'm realizing it's not enough time to see everything (even though Israel is a really small country 😀). In my next post, I'll try to include some overall reflections on our time here and on Israel in general.
Deena and Art
Jerusalem bakery (featuring Shabbat challahs)
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