Scott Sitner-Jerusalem-December 2018

It’s shabbat here, and has been since last night at sundown for people who didn’t know that, if anyone.  For Jerusalem that means the City essentially shuts down, restaurants close, shops are closed, it is fascinating to see how things just die off.  And to see how many observant people there still are. The city is apparently one half orthodox as far as the jewish community, and one half of course secular.  But given that so many things close, orthodox wins out.  There are still people out but it drops by 90 plus percent.  Hotels have special shabbat elevators that stop at every floor so no one presses a button and the hotel has a second set of toilet paper so observers don’t have to tear, which is prohibited.  Crazy. On Saturday morning, most of group met for a shabbat service at a local temple at the University.  The room was amazing, looking out over the western wall, the wall of Jericho and the City[]. It was even more special as 25 kids read from the torah,  some soon to be bar mitzvah kids and some from the past.    You could tell from the parents and most of the kids that reading from the Torah here, overlooking the City was the highlight of the trip, nothing could really top that.Regretfully cloudy so I can’t show a better picture but you get the idea, it was stunning.So what does one do on Shabbat?  We go to the other side, Christians of course.  A short walk takes us right into the Christian corridor and market where of course they are happy to take our Schekels and show us around.  We had lunch at an Armenian restaurant which was well, chicken and beef and vegetables and pita, starting to see a bit of a trend?  

We then set off to explore the area which includes the “Tower of David”, which dates back 800 plus years but ha evidence of ruins for over 2000 years ago.  It sits on a site that overlooks the city, used for military strategy because of the height.  It has been built and rebuilt going back those 2000 years.  It now is a museum and gives an amazing view of the City.The Church of the Holy Sepulchreis of course where it is believed to be the site of the crucifixion and his ultimate burial and the last supper close by.   

The church has changed hands so to speak for generations and is now controlled largely by the greek orthodox church.  Once inside you can  see and feel the solemness of where you are even as a Jewish person.   This is clearly the holy grail for christians, to pray at the site of where Christ was buried and of course crucified.  The line was very long, so we explored otherwise. The artwork and artifacts inside are amazing, the Church having been rebuilt about 1100 years ago, so it feels old but you can see where it has been fixed up.  Artwork depicting events of this times are throughout but when you see the area where his tomb is you can feel its importance  As a non christian I don’t feel comfortable commenting more than this, but I assume it is like when we are at the wall or similar place.We then took to exploring a bit, accidentally spending 25 dollars on a latte and tea and just walking the area.  Last thing at night, we saw Santaheading a concert on the Ben Yehuda Street, singing all the classics, was I think the perfect way to top off the night. That and a really mediocre bagel, I guess you expect more from being here.  Disappointing.

As for the title, it’s an old Warren Zevon song, the lyrics don’t mean a lot but after going to temple services and then seeing the Christian side, and I am not religious, but you wonder if at the end of the day there is a heaven and it what all religions say it is, shouldn’t everyone fit in and be welcome?  Shouldn’t whoever guards the gate simple be indifferent to the differences between everyone?  Or not I guess

Scott Sitner-Jerusalem-December 2018

For some reason this Tom Petty song kept running through my mind as I was touring the Holocaust museum:(Ya’d Vashem)

You belong among the wildflowers

You belong in a boat out at sea
Sail away, kill off the hours
You belong somewhere you feel free

The lyrics kept running through my head thinking of the people trapped where they were.  First in their what they thought were secure homes, with jobs, families and kids.  Then as those things were slowly stripped away, I envisioned them all thinking that all they wanted was to be free, yet most never would be until they were murdered.  It’s a funny thing going to a museum designed to recall and memorialize a true horror of world history.  The museum, interestingly enough, is not for people like us, even though of course it is a huge part of our cultural and religious history.  More importantly it is for non jews, as we of course will never forget, but it is the rest of the world that has to remember, those groups who do not get immersed in it like Jews, but for whom it is a chapter in a history book and a few lectures.  No different than other genocides, the world has to remember, not the people who were targeted and were its victims. Our our guide, who is also our guide for the trip walked us through the museum and gave us perspective.  

What struck us was that he framed everything by saying “they didn’t know what was going to happen.”  So with each new act of repression and suppression over a decade or more, people did not know they were soon to be executed, more they hoped that it would get better. It gave a new perspective to me walking around thinking of the people who could never have envisioned they were soon to be murdered, not knowing that people could do that to other people  and just hoping it would improve and they could resume their normal lives. doThe worst part was the children’s memorial, dedicated to the 1.5 million kids who were murdered.  There is nothing else I can say.A few things if you go.  It’s mobbed, like wow.  If you have already been to DC, or other holocaust museums, many of the exhibits are the same or similar, which is good because it is near impossible to see a lot due to the crowds.  Thew views outside are amazing, designed to show Israel as this is our homelands and where people strive to come..  It’s shorter than DC, two hours and done.  Well worth it as how can one be here and not go?So what does one do after that?  Shop and eat of course.  A good glatt kosher meal, some shopping for trinkets and a nice day of rest.  We blew off the dig, just too tired and wanted to explore the city.  A nice dinner in town, fish.  and done for the night.   Traveling this much is hard, everyone is being a trooper but I can see it wearing on people, tomorrow is Masada and the dead sea so 12 hours of a bus and such, but a nice way to finish.  Good night

Scott Sitner-Dead Sea-December 2018

OK, so no we did not migrate to Australia, but we did in fact take a two hour bus ride to the lowest point on earth, 1400 feet below sea level:  the dead sea. The sea, composed of a ridiculous amount of salt, is slowly evaporating, look at the pictures where water used to be years ago which is now just dry lake bed.   It is a fascinating thing to be driving from the city here in two hours, and even more fascinating that there are resorts here, like six of them, all on the beach.  It is very pretty but we are all having a hard time figuring out why they are so popular.  You cannot really swim in the sea for more than a few minutes as novelty, and there is not a golf course to be found for probably 150 miles.  Nonetheless it is a cool site to see knowing you are in fact at the lowest point on earth.  Russians flock here I guess.What we saw next was far more interesting and something that anyone who loves history, jewish or not, should see.  We went to Masada.. Most people know the story, 2000 years who Herod built this fortress on top of Masada 2000 plus years ago.  There homes, temples, baths, community centers and the like, all built on top of this mountain in the desert south Israel, with NOTHING anywhere near by.  It sort of begs the question of what was being secured?  But the story goes that the romans attacked Masada, and the 960 jewish people on the mountain. The story goes that rather than being taken into slavery the people decided to not commit suicide as this violates jewish law, but choose ten soldiers to kill the citizens, then those ten left would kill each other, leaving only one to violate jewish law by killing himself.]It is a testament to not wanting to live as slaves and that death is preferred and to find a way not to violate jewish law.  What we see now is a National Park, and people hike up the mountain( I did not, really cool cable car my kids did)commemorating this event.  Digs have uncovered the very complex way of life, and how they managed to create a whole community on the top of this very large mountain 2000 years ago.  The views are amazing as you can see miles in the distance, although as pretty as it is, it is just sand and rock and sea..  Today, as second to last was one of those days of things “you have to do”  no trip would be complete without seeing masada and floating briefly in the dead sea.  And no day like this would be complete without dinner at yet another pretend Bedouin site run but a man pretending to be an old Bedouin farmer who had the strangest british accent.  I guess on a tour you suspend belief……One more day then a long ride home.

Scott Sitner-Tel Aviv and home-January 2019

It’s a prescient thought on the last day of a long trip far away, and on the last day, with an 11:35 pm flight it does feel like a very long walk home.  But we have to fill what amounts to 15 hours before getting to the airport, so more to see.   First is Temple Mount which is one of the most contested religious sites in the world.]  The first temple was built,(or close by) in 565 BCE by King Solomon, one of the original jewish temples.  This site is the holiest site in judaism, the temple there is the second, and rumor has it the third will be built  someday.    For muslims, this is the third most holy site according to the most believed texts.  The dome in the picture was built around 692 AD, and has been renovated and such(the gold was from Saddam in the early 1990s).  The site sits in the middle of the Old City, which accounts for the very very heavy military presence.

Next was off to Israel’s version of Arlington cemetery.  It was very striking how similar it was.  Areas for the leaders, areas for general soldiers, and then certain areas for soldiers who died in specific battles.  It was very pretty, and to be at the grave of Theordor Hertzel, who in the late 1800s, and early 1900s, come up with the idea of a Jewish state, and set out to make jews aware of how and why it is necessary to have one to be respected on the world stage was inspiring.The rest of the day was frankly a blur, and I cannot imagine anyone really cares.  A super fancy food court where I had lamb bacon(pretty tasty).

 A final dinner together where we had, yes, kabobs and rice and hummus, which most people, picked at with a strange look of disgust.  And a nutty 2.5 hour journey through security at Ben Gurion airport and home after 14 hours of flying and 6 hours of layovers.  See no one cares.Thanks to the few dozen people I know are reading this and apparently others scattered around the internet.  This is an exercise of ego, so thank for indulging.