Flashback Series: Israel Part 1

Israel: The Promised Land.

July 2014

You think Israel, you think holy. You think sacred, religious, mystical, and prophetic, right?

My first impression of Israel was: loud, smelly, busy, and hot. Can you find that in your Bible?

Kidding aside, Israel was in most ways completely different than what I had expected. A week in this dynamic little country wasn’t nearly enough, but at least I was able to scratch the surface. Once I got there, that is. I was searched and questioned for nearly an hour at the airport in Budapest because I was flying an Israeli airline. They took out every piece of my backpacker luggage and scanned it, leaving me to repack all of my bags (not easy). After this, I was questioned about my oversized passport and reason for so many stamps. I had to list the countries I had been, in order, for the previous three years or something. I felt like the questions guy and I were buddies by the end of the whole ordeal, but he had to move on to completely empty the next person in line’s luggage. He also informed me that things were a little tenser in Israel at the moment due to the incident in June 2014 of three Israeli boys kidnapped and killed by suspected members of the Hamas. I didn’t know it at the time, but that wasn’t the last I would hear of that incident on my trip.

My knowledge of Israel at the time was primarily from Leon Uris’ Exodus, one of my favorite books, recommended to me by my mother (and also one of her favorites). It’s a historical fiction novel that chronicles the foundation of modern day Israel through the struggles and hardships of the Jewish characters who made their way to the Promised Land. From 19^th century Russian peasants to Jewish orphans from the Holocaust, they made their way to the land they had been forced out of so many hundreds of years before, wanting to claim it as their own once again. The land was untamed and apparently uncultivatable, but through establishments like kibbutzes, or small collective communities, set up in the early 20^th century, they relied on what agriculture they could for survival. Eventually, the kubbitzes began to flourish. At first, in the novel at least, the Jews were friendly with the local Palestinian communities. However, as the British took control of formerly Ottoman Palestine and politics began interfering, tensions grew and created a divided state. The state of Israel was voted into existence in 1948, which immediately provoked an invasion and war with the neighboring Arab countries. The area has been in dispute ever since, rivaling for territory and rights. Though my knowledge was limited, I knew that things were not peaceful between the Palestinians and the Israeli people, especially in light of the then-recent situation with the three boys.

  But, I knew of at least three people who had traveled within Israel safely and without problems earlier that year, and they all said it was an incredible place to see in person. I remained cautious, but couldn’t wait to see some of the places I had read about numerous times in my favorite book. After touching down at the Ben Gurion International Airport from Budapest, I hopped on the first bus I could find to Jerusalem, my first destination of my tour of the Holyland. This bus was actually a little difficult to locate, and I had to cross a couple of busy streets, but I was assured that if I stood and waited, the bus to Jerusalem would come.

Jerusalem

Bus window photo.

The bus came. I spent the entire trip gazing out of the window, looking at “the Promised Land” and wondering how in the world the Jewish people had been so successful at creating communities. There was a fair amount of green in the area I was headed, but I imagined how long it had taken to create what I was seeing. Before long, we were pulling into the vicinity of Jerusalem, which is a rather large city (1 million metro population).  However, I chose to spend my time primarily in the Old City, due to limited time and safety. Though I’ve already written about my time in Jerusalem, I’ll work it in between my day trips. I already mentioned my hostel roommate, Esther, who is from Israel and encouraged me to see as much of it as I could. Thanks to her and her help in planning, I decided on three day trips for each day I would be there, though I had to plan carefully around the Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, for there would be no bus service starting Friday night at sundown and ending Saturday night at sundown. I had a reservation in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, so that was silly of me to not plan more wisely, but luckily the buses would pick up and continue running after sundown. 

Masada

One of the most popular tourist attractions today in Israel, as well as a place of reverence for Jewish people to see in person is the ruins of the fortification atop Masada, a desert plateau. The top of Masada, after either climbing a steep path or taking a cable car up to the top, contains old ruins to poke around in as well as views for miles around, including the Dead Sea.  

View from Masada

Former palace

As the story goes, in times before Christ, Masada was built for the Jewish King Herod as a luxury palace. When the Romans invaded Israel and began the First Jewish-Roman war, there was a Jewish tribe that made their way up to the former palace and used it as a hiding place from the Romans. However, once the Romans discovered them, they built a vast ramp in order to more easily reach the top and capture the Jews. As the siege reached its final stages, the story is that the Romans reached the top, only to find that the entire population had committed a mass suicide, for they would rather have died than be captured by the Romans. To this day, the steadfast Jewish resolve to defend their holy land makes Masada a revered site and top of the list for travelers who make their way to Israel. If you're interested, you can read more about the Siege of Masada here. I believe there are even a few movies that depict the Siege. 

I had met a few people who were able to do the sunrise hike up Masada and recommended it. I decided to do the trip on my own (they had been with a group) and just take the local bus there. Unfortunately, the sun was already too hot mid-morning to allow the hike, so I had to pay for a cable car ride up, which felt like cheating. The sun was indeed excruciatingly hot, however, and made sure to have my sunscreen ready and plenty of water along. The ride up provided amazing desert views extending as far as the eye could see, with a glimmer of blue for the Dead Sea, and the country of Jordan extending beyond that.

View from the ground. 

There were plenty of ruins and diagrams to outline and explain the once glorious palace that had sat there thousands of years before. Although I didn’t have a guide, I did some careful eavesdropping on some of the other tours to learn a little bit more about what I was standing on – sophisticated plumbing, room design, etc. I noticed a group of young people, and realized they were a Birthright group, which is a Jewish organization that arranges for Jewish children (I believe they have to be at least 1 quarter Jewish) born outside of Israel to travel to the country and learn more about their heritage.

I spent plenty of time roaming around the ruins, looking at the views from all angles, before I decided I had had enough sun exposure and wanted to head back down. However, I had been determined to do the Masada hike, and to my delight I learned that even though I hadn’t been able to hike up, I was able to do the hike down the snake path. I was warned by the ticket collector guy that it would be too hot, but since it wasn’t closed off I figured I would give it a go.

Fun fact: I asked a woman to take a picture for me at the fortress, (who told me to ‘work it girl!) and if you look closely enough, you can see that I am in fact wearing two different sandals. I believe it was on the walk to the Old City that one of my flip flops snapped, yet the reason I had been wearing the flip flops is because I was having a difficult heel blister situation. I needed the flip flops for comfort because the sandals were so painful, so when one of the flip flops broke I decided to sacrifice fashion for a pain free journey and wear two different shoes, especially since the working flip flop was on the more painful foot. I doubt any of you would have noticed that if I hadn’t pointed it out, but I thought I would humor you all the same.

As it turned out, the trip down really wasn’t that bad, in spite of the weather and the shoe situation. There was a bit of a breeze and I was moving quickly enough to make the trip in good time. At one point about halfway down I looked back and discovered I was not the only one walking down the path – he was another tourist I had seen with his wife and baby on the tram ride on the way up. He caught up to me and we chatted the rest of the way down. I discovered that he and his wife were Jewish, lived in New York City, and were thinking about moving to Israel for a few years. He said that many Jewish people feel that Israel is their true home, but he and his wife just weren’t sure if they could make the move because of all the things they would have to give up. A life in the desert is certainly a contrast from a life in New York City.

We made it to the bottom and took a few pictures for posterity (which I will not be sharing with you because I was very sweaty), then he and his wife offered to give me a ride to Ein Gedi, the little beach town that I was aiming for after Masada to cool off in the Dead Sea. They gave me a few more Israel tips, as they had been there many times before, and then sent me on my way.

The Dead Sea

Not to be confused with the Red Sea, the Dead Sea is actually a saltwater lake bordered by the countries Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank. It has the lowest land elevation on earth and has nearly ten times the salt levels as the ocean. Although no living organisms can exist in the Dead Sea, it is still used today for healing purposes and the creation of natural products. In addition, it is sought after by tourists to soak and float in its high density water. Of course, this was on my list. The sea itself is beautiful, providing a striking contrast to the desert surrounding it. 

It was still extremely hot out, I was still dealing with my shoe situation, and I couldn’t leave my things for very long unattended, but my game plan was to make it as far down as I could, strip to my suit and slide in carefully with the one good shoe, and stay close to shore.

Safety first. 

The Dead Sea was one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had, mostly because I’ve spent many hours of my life in the water. If I’m not floating, my legs go down to the bottom. This was swimming as I knew it. But in the Dead Sea, I was contradicted. My legs didn’t go down. If I tried to stand vertically, they just popped right back up. I could pretty much float and relax to my heart’s content without even thinking about it (like a personal floating chair) except it was over 100 degrees and that’s just not pleasant, no matter how easy the floating is. But it was still a fun time. 

My fellow floaters.

So instead I tried to defy the Sea once more and stand up, which proved too difficult, so I accepted my defeat and floated my way to the shore, stepping gingerly on the slippery rocks to reach my clothes and valuables. After this I made my way back to the shade in the little beach café, where I could wait for the bus back to Jerusalem. I had a little more time in the afternoon and evening for exploring the Old City, but I also had another excursion planned for the early morning, so it was an early night. However, this evening was when I learned that there was a new development in the tensions I had mentioned before: there had been a retaliation killing of an Arab boy, whose body had been discovered the day before, killed by three Jewish Israelis. It was sad to think that the places I was having such delight discovering and experiencing were still areas of deep conflict and tension below the surface.

Part 2 is coming up since this is already getting long: stay tuned!