Slow Down!

Having just returned from a three day field study, wherein I took copious notes, visited various historic sites, and examined numerous scenic view points from a geographer's point of view, I have decided to post a (humorous) tourist's guide to Israeli traffic signs (having had ample opportunity to observe them in recent days).

Today's lesson is on reasons to SLOW DOWN!

1. Letters in the road:

Yeah, the recycled-O is pretty dangerous, and so is the tetris-T.  Not sure if that is a Z or an N, but that's probably why its dangerous.  Too much ambiguity.


2. Vehicles of various sorts.  

Yes, this includes light rail cars, trains, tractors, dancing cars, and two kinds of bicycles.


3. Animals.  Or People.  

Deer, Ibex, Camel.  Big person with small person.  Big person with undetermined tool.  Dancing male and female with boxes.  All of these will make your road experience that much more exciting.


4. Geometric Shapes

5. Various.  Basically, there are lots of these signs all over the place.  

To summarize the signs above, watch out for snakes, exclamations points (how did they get on the road anyway?), mole hills (which may disguise land mines), rock and roll, black and white 30-60-90 triangles, colored circles, octagonal hands, and people landing on their heads.

Yes, Israeli roads are very dangerous places.  So watch the signs and be safe.  

Simpsons and the Holy Land

It's true.  As a child I was never allowed to watch The Simpsons.  Probably with good reason.  I mean, it might have been partly due to the fact that during most of my formative years we didn't own a TV, thus making TV watching a rather difficult pass time.  That aside, though, there are probably a number of good reasons why I wasn't allowed to watch it.  (Therefore, viewer discretion is encouraged in the following blog.)

Because I never watched it growing up, it never occurred to me to watch it once I was grown and had television access.  This, however, was not the situation for several roommates I have had over the years.  Many of them have apparently had an inordinate fondness for the show, and in hanging out with them, I was first exposed to, and then even began to enjoy, The Simpsons.  Shocking, I know, but true.

This is not to say that The Simpsons have become an every day part of my life.  However, the other day one of my former roommates recommended that I watch the most recent Simpsons episode wherein they take a trip to the Holy Land.  I watched it here (if you want to experience it yourself).

I have to admit, it was quite impressive.  (And by impressive I mostly mean humorous.)  Irreverent, of course, but there is so much religious nonsense over here that sometimes you just have to laugh at it, or else you'll cry.  It was, for the most part, remarkably accurate in its portrayal of both places and people here in the land, though obviously exaggerated and generalized.  Let's just say that it's light-hearted take on life here was a welcome contrast to the on-going tensions felt in the city.

Signs of Pesach

Today I got free food.  Why?  Because we are the known goyim in our apartment building.  Pesach (Passover for you non-Hebrew speakers) is upon us and all good Jews are removing all traces of leaven from their homes (and hey, instead of throwing it out, might as well give it to the poor-college-student-heathens in the building).

For us non-Jews this sounds like it should be a relatively easy process: dump the yeast (and maybe the baking soda and baking powder?), throw out any breads you might have hanging around, and you're good to go.  Apparently it's not quite that simple, as evidenced both by items given to us by our neighbors and items currently unavailable in Jewish grocery stories:
Cookies
Cake
Crackers (other than matza)
Tortillas
Pasta
Cereal (unless you buy kosher-for-passover cereal)
Flour

According to Wikipedia (and other sources I have read and heard from), Chametz/Leaven is defined as "a product that is (a) made from one of five types of grains, and (b) has been combined with water and left to stand for longer than eighteen minutes without being baked."  This is a Rabbinical definition, not given anywhere in the Bible.  Still, if that is the definition we operate under some of the discarded foods above make a little more sense.

With things like crackers, tortillas, and cereal, I suppose it would be easy enough if making them at home to insure that they were baked before 18 minutes passed, but, if they are purchased, one has no way of knowing how long they sat.

Pasta, though seeming unlikely to contain trace elements of yeast, is generally dried rather than baked...and that, I suppose, eliminates it.

The homemade cookies and cake are perhaps discounted because they include baking soda?  In reality, they are probably eliminated because, apparently, any sort of baked good containing those 5 grains and water, other than matza, is automatically eliminated.  Even those which would otherwise make the cut.  Who knows?  I, for one, am still confused by the distinctions.

I must admit, though, that I still have a hard time understanding why grocery stores don't carry flour.  After all, I'm pretty sure that flour is used to make matza.  Perhaps they are afraid that there will be a flood or a pipe will burst or something, and all the flour will get wet, and then, within the next 18 minutes, they will have chametz on their hands.

I guess I just won't be able to make my own matza this season.  Don't worry, though, I won't be matza-less.  Last week a nice Jewish man came and gave free matza to all the inhabitants of my apartment building.  I'm set.


//Please note that no offence is meant to Jews or their holiday practices.  As an outsider I find some of them
//quite humorous (especially when the Biblical basis and logic behind them are considered).  Still, I recognize
//that some of my holiday traditions probably appear just as ridiculous from the outside.  I mean, gifts in
//stocks on Christmas morning?  Where in the world did that tradition originate and how does it relate in
//any way to a baby in a manger?

Perfumes and Camels

Upon emerging from my tent this morning, the first thing my eyes rested on was the blimp, floating high in the air, which was to watch us for the rest of our journeys. (It did not, in fact, follow us around, though we began to be suspicious when we kept seeing it. See if you can find the blimp in all the pictures below!)

The sunrise today caught me hiking up a small hill near our campsite. It was a day to be dedicated to paths across the desert, so I suppose it is appropriate that it began on a path in the desert.

The first order of the morning, after eating and packing everything up and all that, was to drive down the Scorpion's Ascent (Ma'aleh Akrabim). (Notice the orange dots which attempt to highlight the road.)

I must admit, I had been quite looking forward to this part. We talk a lot about routes in my major. They're kinda a big deal. This particular ascent plays an important role in the history of several periods.

1. It is mentioned in Numbers 34:4

"And your border shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea. Then it shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon."

as well as Joshua 15:3 and Judges 1:36.

2. This was a vital part of the Spice Trade during Roman times. We stopped at Rogem Tzafir, which guards the bottom of the ascent, and could see Metsad Zafir which guards the upper part. (This picture is inside the lower fort, looking up at the upper one.)

3. In the 1950's it was part of the only route to Eilat. A terrorist attack took place on this stretch of road on March 17, 1954. After this, other routes to Eilat were constructed, and today, this road is little more than a tourist attraction.

After reaching the bottom of the harrowing ascent/decent, we continued on to one of the main oasis on this spice route, Tamar. This is another site which I've wanted to visit for some time. It has, according to the sign at the site, six layers of strata, stretching from Israelite to Arab periods.

They also had a neighboring Crocodile Farm. Just what everyone wants in their neighborhood.

From Tamar we headed south and picked up the first part of the Nabatean Spice Route. (Well, the first part of the Nabatean Spice Route that happens to be in Israel.) The signs warned of the need for four wheel drive, but we made it quite well to the first site along the way: Mo'a. After that we decided that wisdom was the better part of valor and made our way back to the main road. Someday, though, I'd like to come back with a jeep or similarly prepared vehicle and traverse the whole trail to Makhtesh Ramon.

Which is where we headed next. We stopped to visit the "Ammonite Wall" (supposedly a geologic feature with fossilized snails. We failed to find the wall, but hiked up and into what turned out to be the edge of Makhtesh Ramon, getting a great view of the crater. After making our way back to the car we drove across the crater to Mitzpeh Ramon, where we had lunch. We decided to camp and Mampses that night and began to make our way there, with pit stops at Wadi Zin and Ben-Gurion's grave, and a failed attempt to find Aroer.

We seemed to run into millions of blue-clad Israeli school children or green-clad Israeli soldiers where ever we went on this trip, and Mampses was no exception. The yelling children apparently had a camp-out planned and ruled the camp ground. Other than them, though, the camp ground was rather empty. We got the fire pit and a lovely large tent to ourselves. Our state of exhaustion, coupled with the cushy mattresses provided, allowed us to sink into deep slumber, in spite of the loud children.

Our final day was uneventful, mostly involving driving from Mampses to Beer Sheva, through the Shephelah, and to the Ibex campus near Abu Ghosh. For a geography geek, though, it's always fun to see drive on these routes, to see the land. And it was fun to see my sister in her "home" environment.

We ended back in Jerusalem. For most of the people reading this, routes and places visited mean very little. I, however, had great fun plotting them and seeing on the non-concentric circles we made as we traversed the south.

Borot Lotz and Beyond

The day dawned cold and early and we shivered out of our sleeping bags, ate a simple breakfast, and broke camp before beginning to explore the region.

*Warning: brace yourself for some Historical Geography geekiness.*

Borot Lotz:

"Built by the Israelites almost 3000 years ago, the water holes of Lotz continue to collect rainwater flowing off the mountains. During the season, flora of all kinds cluster around them en masse. Seventeen Israelite cisterns have been uncovered to date, along with fascinating remains from a 3000-year-old-house... It all began when King Solomon opened up trade with the Queen of Sheba. Solomon constructed fortresses along the main roads to protect merchant caravans."

Israel's Southern Landscapes by Aviva Ben-Am and Yisrael Shalem, p.161

"Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the Angle, and fortified them. And he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil."

2 Chronicles 26:9-10

The couple hours spent exploring in this location where possibly my favorite part of the trip. We saw remains of 4-room houses, terracing, cisterns, and even a threshing floor, in the antiquities department.

We saw flowers of all sorts, sizes, and shapes in the flora department. We saw birds, bugs, and some pretty stinking cool fossils in the fauna department. Basically, it was lots of my favorite things, all wrapped up in one beautiful location.

Unfortunately, we had places to go and people to meet and were unable to linger long. Instead of heading back the way we came, we took a right on to the "main" road and headed for the Egyptian border. This is when the sketchy part of the journey began.

We had not gone far before we came to an army base. In fact, over the course of this trip, I came to the conclusion that the whole southern part of Israel is just one big army base. You can't drive 20km without passing a base, or a sign saying "Warning, firing range to your right. Stay on the road" or some such indication of the military presence. The road to Borot Lotz has and army base at either end of it, and is thus, I believe, only open on Shabbat. Fortunately for us, it was Shabbat.

At any rate, as we approached the base near the Egyptian border, we saw that there was a gate that was closed. Then we saw a soldier approaching. We asked if we could go through and told him we were going to Nessanna. He opened the gate and let us through, so we continued on our way, admiring the fantastic views of Egypt.

The road was narrow and windy, climbing into heights and falling back to the plain. It also had a tendency towards having barbed wire instead of patches where the sides of the road had been washed out. We saw one other civilian vehicle in the roughly 1.5 hours spent on the road, so it seems that it is not often frequented. We stopped at a couple lookout points, including Har Horsha, from which the oasis of Kadesh Barnea was visible.

We passed another army base and were nearly within sight of our goal when we came to another gate. It was secured by an odd juxtaposition of a fence post, a barrel, and some wire. Not locked. This time, there was no one around to open it, so we just let ourselves through, in the process knocking down a sign (facing the other side of the gate) which I'm pretty sure said something like "No Entrance." We were exiting, though, so it was of no concern to us.

We had not gone much farther when we spotted an IDF vehicle coming down the road towards us. They saw us too and wave at us to stop. They asked where we had come from and if we had crossed the barrier. We weren't sure of what barrier they meant, so we replied that yes, a soldier had let us through. They seemed satisfied with this answer and we all continued on our ways. Shortly after this again we saw a few soldiers off to the side of the road with their guns, making us fervently hope that it was indeed still a Shabbat and they weren't practicing in their firing ranges.

It was with a considerable amount of relief that we finally reached the main road by Nessanna/Nitzana.

Unfortunately, with our time constraints we could do more than wave at that Nabatean ruin as we passed. A little further on we came to Shivta (by another army base/firing range) where we were able to stop for a short visit. It has three churches, all of which are remarkably well preserved.

After Shivta we raced east and northward, in an attempt to pick up my sister and her friend near Jericho by 3pm. We stopped at a couple lookout points and saw the Zohar Fortress from afar. It has now been added to my list of places to visit. The more I see, the more I see there is to see.

After picking up people we headed south again, searching for a camp site. We found one near the little crater. We watched the sun set over the desert hills before setting up the tent and finding wood for a fire. The evening joys included s'mores and Bedouin tea. Can't beat camping! We fell asleep to the sound of Perelandra being read, accompanied by our rowdy Israeli neighbors singing and talking late into the night.

Map of the routes of the day:

Let the Adventures Begin!

Today I took a drive.

That's a simple enough statement. Or would be, if I were still in Montana. Here in Israel, where I don't have a car and where road accidents are a leading cause of death, such a simple statement reeks of mystery and adventure.

In anticipation of just such an adventure I rented a car. As it was my first car rental, that itself was a bit of an adventure. It was immediately followed by another adventure: my first time driving in Jerusalem. Things proceed without incident, and shortly after 1pm my friends and I were headed south.

We skirted Hebron to the east and then swung over towards Arad, encountering only slight opposition on the way. (In other words, not only were we stopped at the Israeli check point, they also made us take everything out of the car and put it through their x-ray machine while they examined our car. At least they didn't strip search us. I've never been searched like that at a check point. It was weird.) On our way we passed Biblical sites of importance such as Ziph, Karmel, and Ma'on. (See Joshua 15:55).

For the record, Arad in the spring time is a very different place from Arad in the fall. In the fall is appears to be a very hot, very dry, very desolate place. In spring, the hills are covered with a lush carpet of green grass and yellow and purple flowers.

From there we continued on, past Beer Sheva, past Avdat, taking a right just before Mitzpeh Ramon and climbing into the desert highlands. We were nearing the Egyptian border when we took another right, onto an ill-kept dirt road, filled with pointy stones, jutting from its surface. I have to admit, I feel pretty comfortable on dirt roads, but some of these Israeli dirt roads made me a bit nervous. Driving slowly and carefully we made out way to the parking lot and campsite of Borot Lotz.

We arrived just at the sun was beginning his final decent towards the horizon. As we stepped out of the car to explore before setting up camp, the chilly wind blew the fresh, sweet air over our faces. Indeed, it was almost a little too sweet, vaguely reminiscent of some barely remembered childhood medication. The threat of darkness and cold, however, kept us from more exploration and enjoyment of the scent. We quickly found a place to set up out tent and climbed in to get out of the chilling wind.

The rest of the evening was spent trying to stay warm, eating dinner, shivering, reading Perelandra to each other, and trying to catch a few hours of sleep.

Abu Ghosh

Today there are roughly 1.3 million Arab Israelis in Israel. They represent approximately 20% of the population. About 82% of them are Muslim and the remaining 18% is divided almost equally between Christians and Druze. They are living in a state which makes attempts to be both Jewish and Democratic, leading to some interesting conundrums.

On Saturday I went on a Field Study to Abu Ghosh, the only Arab village allowed to remain along the Jerusalem Corridor during the war of 1948. There we met with their Head of Education, Issa Jaber who told us some of the history of the town and offered some insight about how it was to live as a Muslim in a Jewish state.

We met him at our first stop of the day: the Church of Notre Dame de l’Arche d’Alliance. The church was built over the remains of a Byzantine church - ceramic tile work is still visible in many places. The current church was built in 1917 and commemorates the house of Abinadab in Kiriath-jearim where the Ark of the Covenant stayed for 20 years, until David brought it to Jerusalem. (See 1 Samuel 7 and 2 Samuel 6). The church even has a picture of David playing "the organ" before the ark.

The church is visible for miles around, along with the statue that sits atop it: Mary, holding Jesus, standing on the Ark, facing towards Jerusalem.

The Christian population in Abu Ghosh is basically non-existent. The church is kept up by a few nuns who live there and run a guest house, but no services are held in the church. It does see use, however, twice a year when the town has its semiannual Classical Music Festival.

Our second stop was also a church and monastery. This church, the Church of the Resurrection, dates back to the crusader period, for the most part. It was built on top of a fort of some sort constructed by the 10th Roman Legion. It commemorates the New Testament site of Emmaus. The tradition connecting this place to Emmaus is quite late, as far as traditions go, and therefore seems rather unlikely to have settled upon the correct location, theologically appealing though it may be. At any rate, the church has some lovely, newly restored, crusader-era frescoes and wonderful acoustics.

After this second church Issa took us to his house where his wife had spent all morning preparing an amazing lunch for us. Throughout our time with him he told us about various issues affecting him and his community. Education is a huge issue for him, as the head of education in Abu Ghosh. Biblical studies are required in the curriculum prescribed by the state, as well as Jewish history and literature. Islamic studies are not required, nor is space alloted for Islamic History and Literature, which is clearly something of an issue for the Islamic community. It would be like America being required to teach Chinese history and literature - instead of American history and literature.

We also learned about various other pars of life - marriage traditions and the importance of coffee. (Note: never serve coffee until nearly the end of the visit, make sure to use sugar, and if you are offered coffee, drink it!)

Over all, it was a refreshing visit. Abu Ghosh has a very unique history in Israel. It's a nice contrast to Jerusalem where religious tensions always run high, especially in this recent news. Issa reflects the general desire there for peace among the three major religions of the country as a chairman of ICCI.

After we left Issa and Abu Ghosh we stopped at Castel (pronounced kast-el...like it looks, but coming from the same word as castle). Castel was a site of great importance in April of 1948 as the Jews fought to gain access to Jerusalem. It also has great grass.

On top we took some time to discuss the events of April 1948, the taking and re-taking of Castel which allowed the road to Jerusalem to be held for 11 days. We then looked around at the view. For a geography geek like me it was a great view.

It was a good day. Quite informative. Lots to think about. And, of course, as on any good field study, there were flowers: