A New Week

Ahh so by the end of this post, we'll be all caught up.

Monday was uneventful...I did the laundry...I tell you this only so you don't think I've been doing some exciting thing and not telling you...

Okay, well one interesting thing. We took a walk that evening to get some falafel and went down to the old city. As we entered the Jewish quarter, we heard singing and dancing. Then saw a horde of kids running to grab what appeared to be party favors. A wedding? Bar Mitzvah? Nope, it was another new Torah dedication ceremony. And this one was way bigger than the last one. The central square next to one of the oldest (if not the oldest) synagogues in the country was filled with people celebrating, live music, and dancing. Very interesting. Sorry I don't have pictures.

Tuesday we went for another walk into the Old City. I needed some pieces for my backgammon set which I bought many years ago in Jaffa for around 30 shekels. I had been berating my friends about their negotiating skills (considering we are all future lawyers, I assumed we'd all be a lot tougher) but as it turned out, things are different now. I remember going into the market in the old city, and at the time there was so much tension in the air that there was really only one area of the Arab sections we ever went, one street that intersected the Christian and Armenian quarters. Only once did we get lost and wander into the Muslim quarter, and you could really feel the tension. Because of that atmosphere, there were very few tourists - shoppers in general - that were patronizing the market. So at the time, bargaining for a good deal was relatively easy, shopkeepers were more willing to make a deal.

Now, the market is packed. Tourists fill the small alleys and there's no animosity. This is great for the country, great for the economy, great for business...bad for haggling. These guys are real tough now. Don't get me wrong, I still don't get taken, but I just can't get as great of a deal as I think I could have. I guess it's the difference between a fair price, and a great deal.

So we wandered around into the Christian quarter, my friends wanted to look around the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and we wandered a bit into the Muslim quarter (not too far). Felt no animosity, no tension at all.

For dinner, my friend Mike invited me to his Uncle's house for Erev Shavuot, and his grandmother's birthday. His uncle just so happens to live in Ma'aleh Adumim - a settlement in the West Bank. Years ago we went to Ma'aleh Adumim for a speaker, and had to take a bulletproof bus to get there - it was really a controversial place. Now, it's still controversial, but much safer. In fact, I wouldn't even know where we were if I didn't know. It's a really beautiful town, more of a city than a settlement.

I returned to Jerusalem and met up with a couple of friends. As I mentioned, it was Erev Shavuot, the holiday when we celebrate the giving of the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai. Traditionally, people stay up all night learning and then go to the Kotel at sunrise. I wasn't sure if I would stay up, but there was a speaker I wanted to hear. Nathan Lewin, Esq, an American lawyer who frequently argues before the U.S. Supreme Court was speaking about issues involving Constitutional Law (now I wish I had my Chemerinsky book with me). This fall he will argue a case which stems from a congressional rule requiring American citizens born in Jerusalem to have "Born in Jerusalem" stamped on their passport, as opposed to "born in Israel." The lower courts have dismissed it as a political question. I think, if I understood correctly, that the issue is whether congress has that power as foreign affairs is an executive branch power. But I'm not 100% because we got there halfway through the lecture - it was in a tiny synagogue in a tiny neighborhood up some stairs down an alleyway, so we couldn't find the place! And wandering around Jerusalem late at night is usually not the best idea. Although that night was different because it seemed like the whole city was up and wandering around! There were literally hundreds of lectures all throughout the city all night.

The next speaker was a rabbi who spoke about good leaders having shady backgrounds, not too in depth, but somewhat interesting. At 1:30, we went to another place down the street from where we are staying to hear a lecture from someone who works in Bank of Israel. The lecture was about Real Estate and foreclosure law as it relates to the Jewish law. I didn't realize there were rules about repossession in Jewish law, but I guess people needed loans back then too. At 3:00, a real treat, the speaker was Muki Tzur, a famous Israeli author, poet, and figurehead of the Kibbutz movement. I've heard him before, but why pass up another opportunity? He was a little hard to follow, his stories kind of went all over the place, but he still gave an interesting history of the first Kibbutz, Degania, and early Zionist immigrants.

Just after 4:00, I started heading down to the Old City...and so did everyone else. People were conglomerating from all over the city to go to the Kotel. They came from the various side streets, flowing into a river of people down into the Jaffa Gate. Throngs of people stormed through the Old City, in and out of alleyways and made their way to the Kotel. Never have I seen so many people try to get to the wall at the same time. I decided to head for higher ground to get a view of the scene. As the sun came up over the desert, more and more people came. I only wish I had pictures, but since it was a holiday, I did not bring my camera. I will try to find some and if they show up, I will post them.

I walked back to the hostile around 6:00 a.m. this morning, very tired, and overwhelmed. Tonight I am heading to a concert by missFlag, an Israeli band who sings like Coldplay, some in English, some in Hebrew. They came to Texas many years ago when I was running an Israeli Music radio program, and I was able to interview them. If I can figure out how, I will post that interview. But they since broke up, and now tonight they are back together with the original band. So I am very excited about that.

But first I must pack - surprise! I'm going to Jordan tomorrow to see Amman and Petra. Will be back Saturday night. I will for sure have pictures of that.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of the park near where I'm staying.







And here is our actual hostile - I'm on the building on the right, second floor, window on the right.


Here is a view of southern Jerusalem

Weekend!

So Thursday the 2nd we awoke bright and early (too early) for a field trip to the Knesset - the Israeli Parliament. I had been there before, but it seemed appropriate to go again considering my program is through a law school. Unfortunately, being a Thursday, nothing was going on. Nobody was there. So we looked at an empty building, empty rooms, and met nobody (except our tour guide, of course). Still it was fairly educational, we learned about some of the art in the building and a little bit of the history of the building, and a little bit about how the party system here works (don't ask me to explain it, I think you need a doctorate degree just to get the gist of how it works...I think even the Prime Minister doesn't fully understand how the system works here, lol!). Also, in the news recently was this article about a new piece of art recently hung in the Knesset

Apparently, some people find this is inappropriate for the Knesset. I think it's the perfect thing for the Knesset; to me, this is a reminder that while Israel is the homeland for the Jews (and must remain as such) other people do in fact live here as well. Just because it's not part of Jewish history, doesn't mean it's not part of the history of the land.

After the Knesset, we went to Har Hertzl, which is kind of like the national cemetery. Many leaders of the State of Israel are buried there, as are soldiers. I don't think I need to go into any more detail about that.

An afternoon of classes, and then we went wandering in search of dinner. I do mean wandering. The guys I went with (who know their way around Jerusalem) couldn't decide where to eat, so I think we just started walking until we felt like something. On the way I couldn't help but notice that the city actually smells pretty awful...it's a real shame that such a beautiful city is also so dirty. Also, they are testing a new light rail system. Notice I say they are just now testing it. They were starting to build it eight years ago! And you think construction is slow in the States...

We ended up at the Central Bus Station. It's actually more similar to a mall that happens to be a bus depot. I think they improved it a bit since the last time I was here, maybe added more floors. But there are some good restaurants there too.

So remember how Israel is such a small world? Friday morning I had to run a few quick errands before starting my weekend. I stopped into the post office and as I did, I saw my program guide, Ofra, from when I was here for my year long program. How random! It really is such a small country.

Friday afternoon I set out for Bat Yam to visit my friend Mike. Bat Yam is like a suburb of Tel Aviv...well, a suburb of Jaffa, which is like a suburb to Tel Aviv (even though Jaffa came first). It's actually kind of an immigrant town, and the current wave of immigrants are Russians, so there's lots of Russian influence - Russian restaurants, bars, signs (dentists). Unfortunately, because it's an immigrant town, it's also kind of a poor town. Most of the apartment buildings are older and dilapidated. However, it's still on the beach. So there are huge new high rise condos springing up all over the place. It's kind of like those high rise condos behind the Vegas Strip - nice expensive buildings right in the heart of a bad neighborhood.

The first thing we did (because I had already been in Israel a week without doing it) was go to the beach! The beach in Bat Yam is more low key than Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is young, fun, hip, always moving, Bat Yam is more relaxing. There are even grassy parks behind the beach for bar-be-cueing.

That night we went out to the clubs and bars of Tel Aviv. Mike and his friend (even though they've only lived here a few months) know bar owners and bouncers all over town. This helps, because the clubs have different policies than clubs in the States. Here, there are no lines, just people standing around the entrances. If you know a promoter, the promoter might put your name on a list. Every now and then, the doormen call names from the list. If you happen to be standing there when your name is called, you can come in. If not, well...

But these guys don't have to worry about that, they show up and get the VIP treatment. We went to an area called HaNamal - The Port. It's in the Tel Aviv marina but it's a nightlife district. Pretty cool, but to me clubs all seem the same, so I couldn't really even tell you if it was a good place. Still, had fun. Left around three, but after getting out of the cab, Mike realized he left his iphone in the cab. We tried calling it and tracking it via gps, but the driver just yanked our chain for a couple of hours before disappearing. Apparently, this is very common - so keep track of your phone!

Next day (afternoon by the time we woke up) we went back to the beach. It wasn't quite hot enough to go in the water, but it was nice enough to just sit out with a couple of beers and ice cream. Then back on the bus back to Jerusalem (although we took some strange route, so it took almost 2 hours!)

Sunday we have our classes in the afternoon, so not much to go on about that, except for dinner. A whole group of us decided to try the Chinese restaurant down the street. I can't remember ever having Chinese food in Israel, but it was delicious (also, the fortune cookies are in fact in Hebrew). And it's right across from a delicious ice cream shop too, so that made my night.

Up to Jerusalem

I am now a week behind my posts - I apologize for the delay, but I have been doing so much, I just don't have time to do, and then write what I did. But I will update when I can.

So I left Rehovot last Sunday. The first thing I noticed at the bus station was how relaxed the security was. There's still a metal detector and a guard checking bags, but it's not as thorough as it used to be. The metal detectors go off, and they don't really care. More on this topic later - but I see this as a good thing.

Ride to Jerusalem was fairly short, but we took a road I had never been on before, very rural. Also, the buses stop more on the highway - they made special exits for bus stops. It appears that the cities are really growing. In fact, as we got into the city limits of Jerusalem, I noticed how far the city is sprawled out now (think Vegas boom years, when houses just started springing up everywhere). Also, cab prices have gone up as well. Not quite like the states, but gas prices affect things here too (if I did the math right, it's near $9 a gallon!). And the dollar doesn't go as far as it used to either. Last time I was here, it was between 4 and 4.5 shekels per dollar. Now it's 3 to 3.5 shekels to the dollar. So things actually aren't as cheap here. Now, perhaps I'm spoiled by cheap food in Vegas, but I can generally eat there for under $7-8. Here, the average is about $10.

Anyway, I arrived at the Agron Hostel in Jerusalem in the early afternoon. The place is pretty cool - right next to Independence Park, a few minutes walk from downtown Jerusalem one way, and the Old City another way (and a delicious ice cream shop another way). It's really right in the center of town. So the program didn't start until Monday evening, but some people were arriving Sunday. Many people on this program had never been to Israel before, so I took a couple people with me and figured I might as well show them the Kotel, the Western Wall

(I didn't take this picture)


The walk to the Old City was very different. There is a new upscale outdoor mall right outside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City. I guess it's part of a re-branding of that area as an upscale kind of place. We walked through the Arab quarter, I remembered some things, and I had an okay sense of direction. Oddly enough, many of the little booths were closed. I'm going to guess it was just too late in the day, I'll have to go back earlier in the afternoon. As we walked through the Jewish quarter, I tried to tell my new friends some historical tidbits, alas, I have forgotten most of it. But here is one...

An American journalist once heard about a rabbi who visited the Kotel every day, twice a day for over five decades. Intrigued, the journalist decided to go check it out. So he goes to Jerusalem and finds this rabbi. He watched the rabbi pray for about 45 minutes and then goes up to talk to him. "Sir, I'd like to ask, how long have you been coming here to pray?" "About fifty years" he says. "Amazing. What do you pray for?" She asks. "I pray for peace between the Jews and the Arabs, I pray for hatred to stop, and I pray for our children to grow up in safety and friendship." The reporter is in awe. "And how does it make you feel, after doing this for fifty years?" "Like I'm talking to a wall!"

Just a little joke :-)

Anyway, we decided to continue exploring Jerusalem (the new city) and discovered a park where some high school kids were having a basketball tournament (as part of the Israeli Scouts - like boy scouts, but actually cool, and everybody is a part of it). After dinner, it began to get cold...uncomfortably cold, and we had to head back. I realized I've never been in Israel between late May and mid-June, and it's not super hot yet.

The next day more people arrived for the program. We went out and explored some of downtown (finally ate some schawarma!) I wish I could say I did more that day, but I had some important school work that took up my whole day (a few days as a matter of fact - what a way to waste an opportunity to explore!). That evening, I heard some traditional klezmer style music outside my window (my room is right on the corner, so we have a pretty cool view of the street) and a few of us went to check it out. Turns out, we are catty-corner from the Great Synagogue, and they were getting a new Torah. So they were parading through the street singing and dancing. The cars were decorated in lights - it looked like the Main Street Electrical Parade!

So Tuesday we began our first day of classes. I am taking Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism, Church and State Separations in Israel and the U.S., and A Legal History of the Arab/Israeli Conflict (interesting topics but let's be honest, I'm here first for self propelled learning, second for in class learning). The professors are all very nice and knowledgeable, it should be a good few weeks. We have some field trips scheduled around Jerusalem throughout the summer too. The first was that night to the Kotel Tunnels. I had already been multiple times, but like I said before, I have forgot a lot I learned years ago. So this would be a great opportunity to go back. On top of that, it was erev Yom Yerushalayim (eve of Jerusalem Day) - the anniversary (in the Hebrew calendar) of the reunification of Jerusalem during the six day war. So there was dancing and fireworks and celebrations all over Jerusalem, but especially at the Kotel. Too bad I already had other plans!

Instead, my cousin Ron had got me a ticket to Laylah Lavan (white night) an all night music festival for Yom Studentim (day for students - music festivals that go on all over the country at each college campus during May as kind of a fun event for the end of the school year. I've been to one in Haifa once, and it was awesome). The one in Jerusalem is like the biggest one of them all. So first I went to meet my cousin Ron down the street at a friend of his. Turns out, this friend (Michael) and I had gone on Year Course together! They had met as part of the Lone Soldier program here (for immigrants who come and serve without any family, the army helps them out). Small world? Not yet. Turns out that Michael's roommate, Richie (who was also friends with Ron) grew up in El Paso and we went to Hebrew School together (couple years difference). Now that's a small world!

(I have a photo of the four of us somewhere, when I find it, I'll amend)
Here's me and Richie at the festival


So this festival was absolutely awesome! At least a few thousand people showed up, there were booths with advertisers, food, beer, it was awesome. (for music samples, click the links) We got there just as HaYehudim were starting to play. I had heard them years before in Haifa, great show. After that, was Dudu Aharon - he's one of the more popular mizrachi (easern style) artists, but I've never heard any of his music before. He's pretty good. I also realized that since I stopped that Israeli music radio show I had, I'm 4 or 5 years behind the times on the music scene. Oh well, I'll catch up. Anyway, around 1 a.m., the main reason I came to the concert came to the stage. Berry Sacharof! The first time I came to Israel, ten years ago, I heard his music on the radio, and bought his CD, Negiot - it was the first Israeli music CD I bought in Israel (okay, I bought it together with Ehud Banai's, Tip Tipa). Although he sang some new music I never heard before, I knew most of his lineup, and it was so awesome! Well worth it to stay up until 4 in the morning!



As a matter of fact, we left after Berry Sacharof. Ron and Michael wanted to take a nap and come back later, haha! I was a little disappointed we didn't get to see Shalom Chanoch and Balkan Beat Box, but I only know a couple of their songs, and it was already close to four am, and we still had to walk back. Totally worth it!

Wednesday was a walking tour of the neighborhoods around Jerusalem. We went to the shuk (market) which was bustling, even on a weekday. It was interesting because even though it was a market in the very traditional sense of the word ("Fresh grapes! Good watermelon this way this way!" etc.) there were tiny little coffee shops and cafes. Kind of becoming more progressive and European in a sense. As we walked through the neighborhoods, it became very apparent to me that even though I lived in Jerusalem for four months, I never really explored it. While I was here, it was during the heart of the second intifada (palestinian uprising) so we couldn't really go out very much and explore. But now, it's great to see the streets and see more of the city.

Went to bed early that night - big day to come on Thursday with some field trips, and I'll leave you on that cliffhanger!