November is Halfway over!

Well, Trent has bugged me a couple of times about updating my blog, so here it goes.

The most exciting thing about the past 2 weeks has been having my mom here to visit. She was on a mission through the Baltimore Jewish community and then stayed a few days past the end of her tour to be with me. It was really wonderful to see her! We spent a good amount of time shopping in and around the old city, which was a nice change of pace because I don't do nearly enough shopping here. We also ate good food which was also a change for me.

It was nice being able to do some touristy things with my mom as well. We went through Machane Yehudah (the market) with an Israeli chef which was really neat and delicious! We also went up Masada and down to the dead sea which is always fun.

The story of Masada raised some new questions for me though, especially after a paper I wrote at Carleton last year. The story of Masada goes like this: Back in the day the Romans were persecuting Jews and a group of Jews fled to the mountain fortress of Masada and lived there. Eventually the Romans came after them and took forever to finally get up the mountain to attack. Once it was clear that the Romans would conquer and capture them, they decided as a group to commit suicide. Each man killed his wife and children then himself. 900-some Jews died on Masada and only 2 women and 5 children escaped the massacre. This group of Jews are considered heroes. My problem with this whole story is that Judaism usually forbids suicide. Last year I did a whole project on Rabbinic Responsa during the Holocaust. When Jews asked if they could kill themselves rather than be captured by the Nazis, most Rabbis said no. Committing suicide represented loss of faith in God. So, why are the more than 900 Jews who chose to take their own lives instead of face the Romans heroes and not faithless cowards? I’m not saying that I would want to be captured by the Romans to be raped, enslaved, maybe even crucified, but I also don’t think the Jews who took their lives on Masada should be considered heroes either.

The dead sea was also really cool. Last time we were there it was late December at least 5 years ago and the water was freezing and not inviting. This time it was a lot of fun to float in the water for a while. It was also hilarious because swimming in the dead sea is unlike any other experience, thus we spent pretty much the first 8 minutes that we were in the water just laughing.

The next weekend was my birthday weekend- so we decided to spend the weekend up in a spa in the very north of Israel- near Rosh Pina. Our first mistake was deciding to rent a car and drive up there ourselves. The process of renting the car alone was a huge ordeal that was totally not worth it. Our second mistake was driving up north in the dark. That’s kind of self explanatory. Our third mistake was making a wrong turn that took us through the city of Nazareth.

Getting lost in Nazareth was the scariest experience I’ve had since I’ve been here, and the thing that is so upsetting about it is that there was not reason for how scared we were. Nazareth is best known because it is the ‘hometown’ of Jesus (in Rabbinic writings he is referred to as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’). These days Nazareth is a predominantly Arab town. As we drove around in what seemed like circles, in the dark, in the middle of the town, the only thing we were sure of was that we could not stop the car and ask for directions. Looking back it seems ridiculous, but in the moment that was simply not an option. I was petrified, wondering if we stopped to ask if I should ask in Hebrew or English, and which one would be received worse. My mom spent most of our time lost in Nazareth yelling, I spend most of it crying and shaking from fear. All I could think was that this was the worst country in the entire world and that I wanted to go back to the states now. I didn’t even want to go back to Jerusalem- just home. I kept thinking that this was a horrible place to be- where getting lost in a city wasn’t just unnerving, it was downright terrifying. It is horrible that we have been trained or brainwashed or conditioned to believe that stopping to ask for directions in an Arab town could only possibly result in something terrible. It’s not all without basis, of course. I can’t walk around my 2/3 Arab neighborhood without getting beeped at or called to from cars. There was no reason for me and my mom to think we would get treated any better. But, at the same time, there was no reason to think that we were in any actual danger by calling to someone on the street from our car, or by walking into a small shop and asking.

Looking back, our night in Nazareth is an interesting situation to analyze. One thing that I find really interesting is how immediate and innate our fear was. It was completely irrational and unprovoked. Also, it came to me and my mom independently of the other (what I mean here is that I wasn’t fine with everything until my mom started talking about how bad it was that we were lost there, I knew/felt it on my own). We didn’t really talk about what we were feeling or experiencing until we were out of the situation, it was simply understood. It’s simply amazing (in a horrible way) that everything we’ve read and seen on the news or experienced in person or heard about could have manifested itself in such a fear. It’s terrible that everyone only slightly involved in the conflict has been instilled with such prejudices. It gives me absolutely no hope for the peace process here- that someone like me who is not an Israeli or Palestinian, has not been directly affected by suicide bombings or the occupation, and who even claims to see and understand both sides of the conflict can be so entirely terrified when surrounded by “the other”.

Eventually we found our way back to the main road and got up to the spa with relative ease. Our stay was nice and very relaxing. Sleep, organic vegetables, cheese, and a bubble bath were all involved. It was a really nice escape from Jerusalem and life as a student.

So at this point I’ve almost finished up last weekend, but I think I’ve decided this post should be done and posted- it is a little intense and a little on the long side, and I don’t want to bore you. I will try to post in the next couple of days to talk about what has happened since I’ve turned 20!