Rejoining the World

Horowitz Travel- Israel-Tel Aviv at last-January 29, 2017,

Good news. I didn't faint after my shower today. Bad news. I didn't take one. We didn't have hot water. The maintenance guy came while we were out. Hopefully, he's fixed it.

We just had to get to Tel Aviv today to bring Leah Sass the stuff her mother wanted us to deliver. We were on the way to the bus much earlier than we've been out before. It was so cold I could see my breath. I wore Under Armor top & bottom, layers on that, scarf, earmuffs. Had a half hour wait for the bus. At least there was sun to sit in while waiting.

Security going into the central bus station was "broken." Bags were piled up on the Xray conveyor belt & the belt wasn't working. Locals just grabbed their bags off the belt & walked on in. We followed suit. So much for security.

The place was hopping with military. Thursdays are when they go home for Shabbat, & Sunday is when they return to their units. The women soldiers might have been described as "attractive" with their ponytails swinging behind them. All were armed with Uzis. Some of the men were shorter than I by a lot. I'm sure any one of them could take me down. They all carried huge packs which they stowed in the luggage bay under the bus to Tel Aviv. The Uzis rode with them in the bus. There was a fracas near the driver. People were yelling & trying to board. We finally understood that the bus was full.

I think I scared several on that bus. I'd forgotten my water bottle. I got a coughing, gagging, eyes watering, gulping air fit that went on for quite a while. The man behind David wanted to know if I needed the Heimlich. Then he offered his water, which would have helped, but it was in his own personal bottle, so I wouldn't use it. Ultimately, the driver gave me his water in a commercial disposable bottle. David tried to pay him, but he declined.

We were turned down by two taxis at the bus station in Tel Aviv before one took us on. I think they didn't understand where we were going although we had a full address. Our driver spoke enough English to ask where we were from.

David: The United States
Driver: Where there?
David: Ohio
Driver: Near New York?
David: Near Cleveland. Cavaliers. LeBron James
Driver: Oh. You like basketball & David Blatt
Driver: You like Donald Trump?
David: Not Trump, but many Israelis like him.
Driver: Not all


Tel Aviv was 10 degrees warmer than Jerusalem. It's a very modern, artsy, progressive city. We had a delightful lunch with Leah & were impressed with her plans & ambition. I hope it warms up. Even though we spent yesterday indoors, I wore a hoodie with the hood up over my layered clothing. At one point David was wrapped in a quilt. Friends of ours emailed us that they were staying in an apartment here in February & had to move to a hotel.

We got a call from Shaul, someone we've known since seminary days. He & his wife, Tanya, have lived here 40+years. They've been trying to get together with us but have been sick. They went to their doctor with the same symptoms we had & were given the same treatment. A week later, they were sicker. They went back to the doc & convinced him to give them antibiotics. They've been taking them for almost a week & are marginally better. We decided neither couple would feel much improved before we left & finally made a date.

Oh, there's a government moratorium on municipal services including garbage pick-up.  Funding didn't come through from the national government. It looks like NYC when that happens & it's only day one. At least we were upright & could get out to see it.

Best burger yet was at Roza's for dinner. Thought it was a vegetarian place that served pizza. Nope. Upscale Italian serving meat.

Shopping revealed the same Imagine Vegetarian Chicken Broth I get at Mustard Seed at home as well as the Israeli version of bacon. Picture of latter being forwarded.

Toby

Israeli Bacon

Garbage Strike

Down & Out

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem- Erev Shabbat-January 27, 2017

How did we get so sick? Was it my taking a woman's picture with her phone then watching her take it back from me using the hand holding a snotty tissue? Was it the counter servers who don't glove & also handle cash? Or maybe the customers who sample foods without using toothpicks, utensils, gloves? Or perhaps the unwrapped challah? I'm sure we weren't the first to handle it. We handed it to the cashier. It was still not bagged when she put it on the conveyor belt. Maybe we're just wimps after living in a sanitized word.

David ran out in a two-hour window of clear skies to get the paper, Kleenex, cough drops, you know, essentials. It was early afternoon when he returned. I hadn't eaten breakfast, had taken the codeine, got into a steamy hot shower, got dizzy, got out, & fainted. Lovely day. I now have a cut next to the left eye which will probably bruise just as my right eye is clearing up. The only other time I fainted was in college when I'd taken a new-to-the-market cold medication on an empty stomach.

David made a whole can of tuna on challah then gave me a peanut butter sandwich. I felt better but have slept on and off all day.

It's going below freezing the next two nights. Our rental manager asked us to run water in one tap. There's no insulation in these buildings. It's raining like crazy now with high winds. Somehow, it's seeping through the mullions of our bathroom window. At least it's not in our bedroom.

We skipped services at Hebrew Union College & had a quiet Shabbat carry-out dinner tonight. We tried the other Shabbat food store & liked it a bit better than last week's. We bought carry-out quiche yesterday, & that will be lunch. We may not stick our noses out until dinner tomorrow. There's no place to go on Shabbat, anyhow. We really need down time.

Toby

Fighting the Crud

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Bible Land-January 26, 2017

We scurried around buying our weekend stash of food this afternoon trying to beat the predicted Shabbat rain. Actually, our scurrying started last night after dinner. My cough/cold hasn't gotten better after over a week, & I started to run a fever. Terry was on her way out anyway so took us to a 24-hour clinic. We'd take a cab home. She assured us that Israeli medicine was excellent & on the cutting edge. I knew that to be true & had full confidence. What I needed to know was whether or not I should start taking the antibiotics we travel with. I put our antibiotics in a bag along with a banana, dried fruit, & nuts. Never know how long it could take. David was getting sick too, so it would be twofer. We are becoming familiar with foreign medical care. We have since learned that many people at Stuart's birthday party have this crud. It's going around.

As for efficiency, we were in and out in an hour. As for aesthetics, it needs a face lift. Many there spoke English or a semblance thereof. When we checked in we were asked for our passports. I thought that would be a hurdle since we secure ours.  They accepted a copy. They assured us they'd take VISA, & we could collect from our insurance in the U.S. We knew that ahead of time. Cost:$206.

The good news is that my blood pressure was excellent! The triage person asked about symptoms & allergies & that was it. No interest in what meds I regularly take. The doctor was happy I hadn't started taking my antibiotics, listened to my chest, checked my throat, & decided on an X-ray & blood work to rule out pneumonia & an infection. The X-ray tech asked me to remove my bra. She said there was no need to remove my shirt. When I looked puzzled, she said she did it in the army all the time. I figured it out. The lab tech not only didn't wash his hands or glove, but he put the needle & glass tube on the paper on the examining table. He didn't change the paper when he was finished. I'm sure it hadn't been changed in a while. He used a latex glove (yes, he had them) as a tourniquet on my arm. All in all, it was an easy stick. I couldn't help notice a pile of casts balanced on top of the paper towel dispenser. The results of both were fine so I left with a prescription for Tylenol (325mg) with codeine (15mg) & two starter pills. The Tylenol was for fever & codeine for cough.  I added that to my bag of tricks of cough medicine & nasal spray. We carry both separately in our med stash so we knew what to do if David got worse.

We'd cancelled our date with Leah Sass & didn't set an alarm but didn't sleep well. But how could we waste a day here? My temp was down, so we dragged our bones to the pharmacy & got on a bus for the Israel Museum. When we arrived, it looked overwhelming. Across the street was the Bible Land Museum. I kid you not. It seemed more manageable. We envisioned a kitschy Disney-esque amusement venue with actors wearing costumes.

We were so wrong. It's an extensive archaeological collection from the Neolithic through Babylonia. We got the audio guide, went DOWN from the second to the third floor & stayed three hours. It was evident from the artifacts, timelines, maps, & narrative that civilizations have borrowed from each other since time began. Kosher slaughter was used by Sumarians; carvings of the Egyptian goddess Isis holding a child on her lap is echoed in the Madonna & child; the evolution of the alphabet, & multiple flood stories are a few examples. My favorite "creation" story was that the gods got tired of always fighting amongst themselves. They created mankind to fight in their stead. I think humanity has done an excellent job.
One thing I noticed was a mosaic with a hippo depicted in it. As most of you know, our ten year old granddaughter, Rylee collects hippos, & that's a major search every time we travel. As we continued there were artifacts made form hippo bone & mention of hippos as dangerous animals. There were no hippos in the gift shop, nor have I seen hippos in any stores. I stand corrected. There was a malachite hippo in the Old City shouk. It was $100 after bargaining.

For a country obsessed with security, there was none at the museum. Displays were in cases with temperature/humidity monitors, but they weren't alarmed. Many times, we touched the glass to point out an object of interest. I even spotted a few nose prints.
We've been going through a huge amount of Kleenex. Today I saw that the tissues that came with the apartment have a design of a bunny emerging from an egg. Really? Easter bunnies they have, but no hippos?

I'm looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow. We need a break. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep this place warm.

Toby 

Hippo in Mosaic

Examining Room at Clinic

New Places

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Ein Kerem- January 25, 2017

Today's agenda was to take Terry, Ron, Stuart, & Ellyn to lunch. Unfortunately, Ellyn was sick with a cold so stayed home. We went to Karma, a restaurant in Ein Kerem (meaning spring of vineyards) where we were able to view the golden domes of a multi-domed Russian church. The Spring of Mary is at the base of the hill where the church sits. It is said that Mary stopped to drink the water from the spring while visiting John the Baptist's parents. Today the water flows freely but is not potable. It's a popular pilgrimage site.

We are all great story tellers & shared anecdotes for a few hours. I had a feeling there was lots more to say, but Ron had an appointment so we broke it up. We asked to be dropped off at Ben Yehuda Pedestrian Mall where we attempted to walk yesterday. There are lots of jewelry & souvenir shops. It was cold & blustery, so we didn't linger. 

We walked back to the apartment & are exhausted. We have an early start tomorrow. We're going to Tel Aviv with a package for Leash Sass, a young woman from Akron who made Aliyah (moved to Israel permanently). We hope to see her brother, Ben, as well. He's in the army & we're not sure of his schedule.

We're going by bus. That means the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, a bus change, & taxi ride to the restaurant where we're meeting them.

Toby

Gathering Information

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Feeling it-January 24, 2017

David wanted to come to Jerusalem, walk the streets, & feel the people. Today we did all that & what we felt were sore feet, knees, & backs.

Liberty Bell Park is near us & it had been suggested that we walk through it. There was a restaurant at the other end, so why not? The park was established in 1976, in honor of the bicentennial of the U.S. There is a replica of the bell, but, that aside, the 9 acre expanse is dedicated for use by "All the Children of Abraham." It's one of the most popular & culturally diverse parks in the city & features activities for all ages as well as outdoor theater & music venues. 

We didn't like the menu at the restaurant we'd chosen so continued on thinking we'd be able to meet up with Ben Yehuda Pedestrian Mall. We had to meet a woman at 4 PM & were running short of time. We turned around & ate closer to our meeting place.

David realized he'd left his sunglasses at a pharmacy we'd stopped at in the other direction. We thought we'd check to see if they'd found them. The problem was the pharmacist didn't speak English, & David didn't know the word for glasses. Before we went upstairs to the pharmacy (what do disabled do?) we stopped at a kiosk selling sunglasses, learned the word, & sure enough, she knew exactly what he meant & had saved them for him.

How do you drive a car from Florida to Jerusalem? Impossible. Ship it? Out-of-sight expensive. Yet, we saw such a license plate on a car parked on the street. Curious.

The woman we met, Robin, is from the LGBT community. She's a social worker who has lived here decades. We thought we'd learn more about the legalities of the Community, but she was unfamiliar with laws regarding employment & housing discrimination. She personally has not had any problems with the system, but admitted that transgender people had it harder. She & her partner had been married by a Reform Rabbi here. They each bore a child by artificial insemination (paid by insurance). Since "gay" marriage isn't recognized by the government, when they split, there were and are issues regarding custody of the children.

Tomorrow we're taking Terry, Ron, Stuart, & Ellyn out to lunch to reciprocate as best we can.

Toby

Strolling

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Park Walk-January 23, 2017

Strolling? What's that? We set out to "stroll" through Blumfield Park where the Montefiore Windmill is. It skirts the wall of the Old City. Instead of following the street, our detour was scenic, but challenging. We climbed steps up & down then ramps up & down. We helped a woman drag a very heavy stroller with a toddler in it up steep steps only to find her husband waiting & watching from the top with three more children. David noticed that, unlike at home, people don't smile at each other as they pass. Maybe they're out of breath. 

We wanted to branch out into different quarters so went to lunch in an Armenian restaurant. We were coaxed in by the owner as he greeted us on the street & convinced us to follow him into an ancient courtyard. It always strikes me how new our country is. When we were in Greece, we thought that was old, but this building housed a shopping area from Biblical times. The Roman columns flanking the courtyard are considered "new." Versavee met our requirements. It was old, secluded, & served food new to us. David had "sujuk." It looked like a quesadilla cut in triangular pieces. The double layer of dough was pita-like & filled with beef sausage. A surprise at the end was that the toilet (more steps to climb) was modern. Lucky us.

The narrow lanes of the souk (market in the Old City) branch off a gently sloping main street of steps. Each step has small ramps to ease the passage of delivery carts. We followed one piled up to seven feet as the man in back stepped on a dragging bike tire to brake, & the man in front balanced the load. They both shouted "hello, hello" to warn others. The ramps, as the steps, have been there forever & are quite clever, unless you're making your way along without a cart. The steps &, thus the ramps, are unevenly spaced & the heights of each are different.   

Keeping with our theme of exploring new territory, we searched for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  We followed a non-English speaking tour group into the building & realized we were clueless as to its significance. We learned. It was consecrated in 335, & for the last 160 years has been shared by Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, & to a lesser extent Egyptian Coptic, Syriac, & Ethiopians. It houses the traditional site of the crucifixion & the tomb from which it is believed Jesus was resurrected. More ups, downs, steps, & ramps.

As we left the Old City, a vendor who chatted us up a couple of days ago recognized us & asked us to come into his juice stand. The proprietor of Versavee greeted us in Hebrew (I doubt he's Jewish) & thanked us for coming to his restaurant. Then he invited us into his gift shop. Both were turned down with a smile & "perhaps tomorrow." We did go into a shop in Mamilla Mall where the clerk spoke excellent English & Spanish. When asked, she said she learned her English when she was in South  America.

We're whipped & came home for our last leftover Shabbat dinner. Time to start again.

Toby

Fountain in Blumfield Park

Church of Holy Sepulcher

Shops & Bus Stops

Horowitz Travel- Israel-Jerusalem-Machaneh Yehudah - January 22, 2017

No fair! The temperature in Akron is warmer than here.

There were jets flying overhead this morning. I hope it's only practice manuevers . No one seemed alarmed. I told David when we first got to the apartment, that if it came with gas masks, I was heading back to Akron. No gas masks.

Machaneh Yehudah is enough past the Old City (and everything is uphill) that we decided to take a bus. We bundled up (I have a down jacket, gloves, scarf & earmuffs) and went in search of Bus 18. It's a whole new bus stop & route! The bus was crowded, I was loopy from a head cold, & the buses move at quite a clip. I literally fell into a seat. Most people do. The goal is not to land on a person, package, or arm rest.

Machaneh Yehudah is a typical farmers’ market. We've been to many & each one has its own flavor. The produce was alluringly fresh, the dried fruit displays were hard to resist. There were spice stalls, & places to buy any lentil or legume your heart desired. There were more varieties of halvah than I knew existed. Housewares, hardware, clothing, you name it. David told me it was very aromatic in a good way (I can't smell). But at this market they also sold kepot (yarmulkes, head coverings) & mezzuzot. It wasn't a tourist mall. The customers were seriously shopping locals.

We wanted to find a Turkish-Kurdish restaurant, Azura, & asked directions many times. We got conflicting instructions in Hebrew, but fortunately, like most Mediterranean people, Israelis speak with gestures. We followed the "rights & lefts," but were vague on how many turns. After five tries, we found it. I was disappointed in that things I wanted were "finished" for the day. My first choice was stuffed eggplant, then goulash. I got a plate of beef with potatoes called beef Sofrito. 

David loved his huge meatball with rice & thin crispy noodles topped with lentil soup. I was relieved they had bathrooms. The one I used had a urinal outside the tiny room with the toilet. David had to tell me when it was safe to come out, although nobody really cared.

About this time, I asked David if he knew where the bus back to the apartment was. No clue, including the street where we were dropped off. Deciding to compound our "lostnes," we headed for Na'alot, supposedly an artistic area across from the souk "market." The streets looked empty & ominous. I hesitated until I saw a group of three young folks head down a side alley. Our courage increased as we followed them, & we eventually relaxed enough to wander on our own. We didn't find much. What we saw was residential or closed.

Luckily, David knows the bus routes, & I can find my way out of most maze-like streets. The street where the buses ran was where I thought it would be, & we headed back. We wanted some coffee at Ben Ami, near our place, but got waylaid at a shop we'd patronized before. We bought several items (I can't tell or it won't be a surprise to our kids).  We chatted with the owner's mother in her broken English & our more limited Hebrew. She told us of a woman who bought items she later returned because her daughter who taught at a U.S. university said she couldn't wear anything with Hebrew on it. Sounds extreme. We told her about our Iranian friend who joins us for Seder, & our synagogue that meets monthly with members for our local mosque. She was fascinated. She advised me on how to treat my cold (tea & honey), then she invited us to her house for dinner on Thursday or Sat. We can't go Thursday., but she gave us her phone number for Saturday. Who's knows?


We stopped for milk & David bailed out a couple who were having trouble understanding what they were buying. It was cheese yogurt & they didn't understand "cheese" in Hebrew. The man was Irish, the woman was from Finland, the baby was a Sabra (born in Israel), they spoke English, they weren't Jewish, & they'd been working in Ramallah for three years. They said their Arabic was quite passable.

We did make it for coffee & a succulent chocolate & cheese brownie. Dinner will be leftover Shabbat food & late.

Toby

Synagogue in Na'alot

Old Friends: New Perspectives

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Skyline View-January 21, 2017

Our neighborhood welcomed Shabbat with someone broadcasting spirited and familiar songs.

Unfortunately, our dinner guest, was unable to come at the appointed time, so we were able to watch the entire grueling inauguration. Poorly attended, awkward pauses preceding strained applause, & a "same old, same old" speech. Enough said. I don't want to re-live it.

Our daughter, Wendy, her husband, Julian, & friends are in D.C. with the Women's March hoping to have their voices heard in protest to the hateful rhetoric of Trump's campaign. Our son, Daniel, & his girlfriend, Janet are in Cleveland participating in a similar protest. 

Today, Terry took us on a drive around the high points of Jerusalem from Mt. Scopus to the Promenade of East Talpyot to give us a perspective. The Territories, Jerusalem, & Israel, in general, remind me of visiting Four Corners in the U.S. where the state lines of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, & Utah converge. We were able to stand with our feet and hands in four different states, separate, but united as states. Here, there's easy access in some places, walls, fences, barbed wire, & security guards in others. Israelis are conflicted about the walls, but they have cut down on terror attacks.

The original Hebrew University, established in 1918, & Hadassah Hospital built in1934, were cut off from the rest of Israel in 1948, when the area was taken over by Jordan. In 1967, the university was back in Israeli hands and was fortified with a system of tunnels connecting the buildings and through which students enter. There have been attacks.

We skirted barrier walls and landscaped parks. The Old City with the golden dome drew our eye as an iconic marker around which the metropolis and hills rose. East Talpyot Promenade, where a terrorist killed four soldiers with his car, was our last stop. There's a small memorial of flowers & candles. The promenade is a place where families gather on pleasant days to enjoy the view and walk the paths. Palestinians, Jews, Christians, & tourists rub elbows. And, evidently, terrorists too. It's two blocks from where Terry lives.

We rested before Terry & her husband, Ron, picked us up at 5 PM. for Stuart s 75th party. Ellyn put on a huge spread that served as both lunch and dinner for us. We met many people we knew from seminary days. One was David Geffen, a writer who appears in the Jerusalem Post, not the movie mogul. He's from Atlanta & has roots in many Southern states, including Florida. He knew a few girls I went to camp with in Georgia & some I knew from Jewish youth groups in Florida. If this party was any indication, senior American transplants to Israel go to bed early. People started leaving at 8PM & we were home shortly thereafter.

I have a cold, of course. I get one whenever we travel. I needed cough medicine so Terry took us to a pharmacy that was now open after Shabbat. Things we get at grocery stores in the States are behind the pharmacy counter here: Advil, Tylenol, & cough syrup. The pharmacist, a Palestinian woman, knew of Robitussin, but didn't have any. She spoke English & selected a DM cough medicine that was similar. Good service, friendly demeanor. Terry insists that if it was left to the everyday people who want to live in peace & provide for their families, there would be a path to an agreement. It's the extremists of every side who sustain and stir the pot of hatred. Discouraging.

Toby

Barrier Wall

Another Week Ends

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem- Shabbat #2-January 20, 2017

The inauguration of Trump will begin 6:00 PM, Israeli time. That's about when our dinner guest, Lauren Werber, will arrive. I doubt we'll watch it live. Shabbat is about peace, not stress. We'll talk, eat, and eat some more.

We walked the now familiar route on Emek Refaim to what I've begun to think of as the Shabbat dinner store (only open Thurs. & Fri) It reminded me of being in a soup kitchen. The line was out the door. The one aisle was too narrow for two adults to pass without one turning sideways. Fortunately, the foods were labeled in English & Hebrew. Containers & lids were provided. We left our rolling shopping cart on the sidewalk as everyone does & dove in. We wanted to try one of everything: to the best of my recollection we got: Moroccan cigars, kebab, egg roll, green beans, potatoes, meatballs, stuffed eggplant, roast chicken (leg & thigh, stuffed breast, & boneless breasts), challah. I didn't mention what we didn't buy. David kept saying, "Get more. There are three people to feed." I think we two will have enough left until next Shabbat.  At another store, we got plain & pistachio halvah (a sweet, dense loaf made from sesame paste). Now all we have to do is figure out the oven in centigrade & decide if we want to use the convention setting. We also have to avoid activating the cleaning cycle or we’ll be eating charcoal.

Ironically, there's a store that we can only find when we walk in one direction. It's inset & the display is one-sided. We marked where it was by the store across the street. In looking for it, we saw that the gate to the Alliance Church International Cemetery was open. It's a park-like setting, & we were curious. There was a group gathered at a grave taking pictures of each other. We asked if we could take a group photo. They were at the grave of a Chinese man who died in 2003 and had been their tai chi teacher for fifty years. His daughter, who had been raised in Israel, was visiting on a college trip. They'd known her since she was a baby. Some of the people were from South Africa, & most all spoke English. We compared tai chi styles & one woman said she could play the music their sifu (teacher) did when he was alive. I was shocked to hear it was the same as my sifu plays in my class in Akron. As were left, one woman confided to me that the deceased had not really been a Christian. He died in hospice of leukemia. Some missionaries converted him without asking, but he didn't seem to mind.

At the far end of the cemetery was a mural depicting Jews coming to Jesus. Most tomb stones had Hebrew, English, Greek, Asian, or Arabic inscriptions. Those not born Christian had to have converted to Christianity to be buried there, even a rabbi. It's traditional to place a pebble or small stone on the grave at a Jewish cemetery. But, in Israel, the custom doesn't translate to a Christian cemetery.

We lunched at the Waffle Factory which was short on waffle options, but our food was photogenic. The sides were served on a large painter's pallet: fried halloumi & cream cheese balls, sweet potato chips, guacamole, cottage cheese, baba ghanoush, tuna salad, olive tapenade, feta. It came with a small salad, rolls, & two eggs.

I was interested in two articles in the paper this morning. One is about abortion in Israel. They view us as backward & even mentioned doctors who had been murdered for doing abortions in the U.S. Israeli law states that an abortion will only be given if the woman is under 17 or over 40 years old; if she's single or if the fetus was conceived outside her marriage; if the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape; if the fetus is likely to have mental or physical disabilities; or if the pregnancy is likely to put the woman's life at risk. She has to appear before a committee with medical & social work professionals. Ninety-nine per cent of requests are granted. Some women who don't fall into those categories lie to get an abortion. The consequences can cause problems in the future. If they say they had an extra-marital affair or fake a letter from a psychiatrist regarding mental health & later seek a divorce, it's a black mark against them. The other part of the right to choose issue is that birth control & education is available for those who want.

The second article was about women waging peace to put a political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is composed of Israeli-Jews, Israeli-Arabs, Palestinian, Druse, Bedouin, Muslim, & Christian women. In the beginning (2014) they were mostly mothers of soldiers, but membership has spread. They were inspired by Liberia & Northern Ireland, two examples of women taking initiative to put pressure on their governments  for peace. Meanwhile, soldiers armed with Uzis casually shop & stroll the streets, & we saw a father & young son eating in a restaurant with the handle of a gun clearly visible under the dad's jacket.

As poly-cultural as Israel is, it maintains its identity as singularly Jewish. There's no mistake when it's Shabbat; even Christian cemeteries have Hebrew inscriptions; most people speak Hebrew no matter their ethnic identification. It doesn't seem to want to be a melting pot. It's a hodge-podge, a tossed salad, its own unique chaotic tumult, but Jewish.

Tomorrow we're getting a personally guided auto tour by Terry, then we're going to Stuart 's 75th birthday party.

Toby

Breakfast 

Dad packing at dinner with son

Parliament

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem- K'nesset-January 19, 2017

Thank you for all your responses. Now I know I'm not blogging into a void.

We made a stupid American mistake yesterday. Rabbi Lauren Werber, former assistant at our Temple in Akron & now rabbi in Cleveland, is in Israel for a time. We invited her for Shabbat dinner tomorrow. We'll try the carry-out place that's only open Thursday & Friday. We gave her explicit directions on how to get here telling her what bus number to take & that we'd meet her at the bus stop. Duh! It's going to be Shabbat. No buses. She'll take a cab. Hope no ultra-Orthodox Jews throw stones or curse at it. It's been known to happen.

We took a bus to the K'nesset (Israeli Parliament). Bus drivers don't commonly speak English, but ours was helpful getting us to the closest stop to the iconic building. We easily found the entrance & were casually asked by a guard if we had a weapon. We said, "No." He said, "OK." Not very intimidating.

Passports were checked as we entered the building. We lined up to go through security where passports were checked again. For some reason, ours weren't stamped when we entered the country. We also don't have the card that's issued in lieu of stamps. Some Middle Eastern countries won't admit those with an Israeli stamp on their passport, thus separate cards are used. After some computer work, it was decided we weren't a threat.

The metal detectors are so sensitive that David almost didn't make it through fully clothed. He emptied his pockets, removed his belt, & jacket before he passed. It was warm, so I tied my scarf around my waist. That caught the eye of security. I had to remove it & explain what it was. Their care is reassuring.

When we went to the area for English speaking tours, the guide asked for younger people to stand so elders could sit in the available chairs. I think we were profiled. Didn't like it.

The Israeli government has three branches: executive, legislative, & judicial. K'nesset, the legislative branch, is from the Hebrew, “to congregate”. Two thousand years ago, when the twelve tribes of Israel (the children of Jacob) formalized how they'd govern themselves, ten men were chosen as representatives from each tribe. Today, there are 120 representatives in the K'nesset. They are elected by voters casting ballots for a party, not an individual. The composition is of men and women with seventeen non-Jews (Christians, Muslims, & Druze).

Chagall Hall is the main reception area decorated with mosaics and tapestries by the artist himself. When the government asked him if they could hire him to provide the art, he donated it. The Hall is primarily used for state receptions.

A copy of the Declaration of Independence, written in 1948, professes high ideals, some of which have been achieved, and some not. It calls for peace and justice for all regardless of race, religion or sex, and extends a hand to neighboring states in peace and neighborliness. It calls for a constitution to be written in one year. That still has not happened.

The place where the representatives go for voting & speechifying looks like any other, but the rows of desks there are configured in the shape of a menorah, the iconic candelabra & symbol of Israel.

We had errands to do and one of them had a bonus of doing a mitzvah, a good deed. Some of our purchases were from a store where all their products are made by people with Autism.

Lynn Wiskind, formerly of Akron, came by to pick up an item we brought for her. It was delightful to visit with her and catch up on her family. She observed that the ceilings in our apartment were very high and thought it had been built for Arabs years ago. High ceilings weren't typical of Israeli style.

Dinner was a bust. We looked forward to eating at Burgers Bar (not a typo). It's similar to Five Guys, but flavorless.

We found a liquor store that specialized in wine. The owner spoke no English. He was trying to be helpful, but his words fell on ignorant ears. We couldn't decide on an Israeli wine, & he interpreted that to be we wanted wine from another country. He came up with a Chianti from Italy. David finally got him to understand that we wanted a moderately priced Israeli wine, but didn't know one from the other. I told him to choose a Cabernet Sauvignon. We still don't know what we have except that it's a Cab. He assured us it was excellent. We'll find out tomorrow night.

We hit the streets early tomorrow to buy the weekend Jerusalem Post & prepared food at the Shabbat dinner carry-out. Wish us luck.

Toby

Chagall Art

K'nesset

Menorah, Symbol of Israel 

Past to Present

Horowitz Travel- Israel-Jerusalem- Seminary to Citadel-January 18, 2017,

I love hearing your reactions to my emails. My last few have been pessimistic & responses have decreased proportionately. Hopefully, there will be an uptick in the future.

Stoney, the resident dog, is getting used to us. I always greet him, & today he stood up & stuck his nose through the fence for a sniff. Evidently, he liked the back of my hand, because I got dog lickers.

We walked to Hebrew Union College to meet Chaim Shalom by noon. On the way, we stopped at the bank whose ATM generously gave David money yesterday. We waited in line 15 minutes to change some of the 200 shekel bills he got for smaller notes. The teller checked the authenticity of the bills, then gave us what we wanted. Later in the day, a woman approached me on the street asking for change for a 200 shekel bill. I didn't have it & David was in a store. I guess there's a problem with counterfeiting, & even if I'd had change, I wouldn't have helped her.

As I mentioned before, Israel is where the Jewish world crosses paths. As we entered the HUC campus, we ran into Jeff Klepper, who was the Cantor at our friend, Rabbi Peter Knobel's Temple in Chicago. He was also a song leader at the Union camp (OSRUI) in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin where our granddaughters go.

Rabbi Shalom was a most gracious host & guide. The College is built in the early 1960's on what was a slum. It was in a precarious position on the Jordanian border near the Old City into which Jews were barred. The original architecture reflects the vulnerability. It was built as a bunker with thick walls, narrow slits for windows to be used for defense, generators, & wells. The expansion after 1967, was on land purchased for $1, because it was in the No Man's Land in what had been the border between Israel & Jordan. The neighborhood is now considered prime real estate with tiny apartments across the street selling for $4 million. The programs have expanded with the campus from an archaeological center to a full seminary ordaining Reform rabbis. Israeli congregations want Israeli rabbis nowadays, not English speaking rabbis. They want to dispel the image of being "foreign" congregations.

We stopped for a late lunch on Mamilla Mall where we had to climb down two flights off steps to the rest rooms. All eateries have sinks outside the actual bathrooms so the Orthodox can wash their hands & says appropriate prayers before eating. I thought it was interesting that the bathrooms today had a trough style sink positioned between the men's & women's room. Lots of rest rooms here are unisex.

We almost didn't have enough time to tour the Tower of David/Citadel. By the way, the tower was named by Christians. David didn't build it. It's a minaret of an ancient mosque & now a symbol of the Jewish State of Israel.  David's actual city was outside the present walls.

It took us two hours to see it all. We took the audio guide and were impressed with the presentation and detail of the exhibit. I chuckled when the narrative assured us that none of the artifacts was "authentic." They're all replicas. They cited where the originals were housed. One was a 4000-year old Canaanite stele found in Egypt that mentioned Jerusalem, albeit as an enemy to be cursed. An artifact in Istanbul mentions the original water tunnel built by Herod in 19 BCE. One display illustrated the origin of the color yellow being associated with Jews. Thank you, Adolf, for doing your homework. During the Mamluk occupation, different color turbans signified whether a person was Christian, Muslim, or Jew, thus what taxes were paid. Jews wore yellow.

So, our day was a trek through time from a present day institution back 4000 years. Our trek continued towards home, but wasn't as orderly. We weren't paying attention & veered left at a fork in the road to find ourselves on Bet Lechem St. That's  Bethlehem St. Yup, we were on our way to that famed city. We caught our mistake early on & never would have made the 4.5 mile walk, but I do understand how tourists can get lost & end up in Iraq & in prison. Things are so darned close here.

We'd lengthened our walk so rested at a cafe. We learned why restaurants are crowded with young people. Housing is so costly that they have little hope of owning an apartment. They spend their extra money eating out.

Good news: there doesn't seem to be iceberg lettuce here in groceries or restaurants, & they have kosher chorizo.

Question: Who is in more denial about their security? American Jews or Israelis?

Tomorrow, the Knesset.

Toby

David's Citadel

Stoney

Routine Sets In

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem-Scut work- January 17, 2017

Weather warmed up to the high 50's today. Tomorrow we may hit 60's. A veritable heat wave.

Today was to be laundry/cleaning day. We put it off by walking to lunch then doing light grocery shopping in one of many neighborhood stores. We walked through our neighborhood on a street parallel to Emek Refaim, the main drag. Probably all the buildings we saw were apartments. Private houses are for the wealthy. Lots are small, but most have citrus trees bearing fruit. I even saw a kumquat tree. Haven't seen one of those since I was a kid in Orlando walking home from school. There's not much in the way of flowers this time of year, and most of the greenery looks untamed.

We ordered our falafel & I asked about a platter of crisp round things on the counter. The guy looked at me as if I was nuts. He said, "Latkes." I said, "But it's not Chanukah." He probably groaned inwardly, but sold us one for dinner.

David spent a good part of the afternoon trying to find an ATM that would take his Ameriprise VISA card. We were warned that this could be an issue, but were advised to keep trying different machines. This is the second day of being told, "no service to this card." He dropped me off with the groceries then went out in search. He meandered a good 5 minutes away until he found a bank with two ATMs next to each other. The first didn't work; the second did. When he came home, another chunk of time was spent trying to locate the switch to turn on the lights he needed for reading.

I did general housekeeping & was not happy with what I found. It didn't seem as if anyone thoroughly cleaned before we came. I plowed through dust & schmutz that shouldn't have accumulated in the one week we've been here (including long brown hairs). I emailed the rental agent. She replied with GREAT news. They hired a new cleaning service. No benefit to us.

The latke was enjoyed by David at dinner. It heated up well & was crispy. He also liked his hot dogs. I know. Boring. I finished up last night's dinner. I forgot to tell you that I'd ordered a focaccia with egg, eggplant, lettuce, tomatoes, humus, onions. I pictured a sandwich. What came was what looked like a 16" size pizza. Odd.

We've been hearing lots of sirens tonight, which is unusual. Police cars & motorcycles are always everywhere & easy to spot. They ride with their blue lights flashing all the time.

I omitted a fact from our trip to Yad Vshem yesterday. After the liberation of the concentration camps by the allies, Jews who tried to return to their towns in Poland and Russia were persecuted as they had been before the war. The majority ended up in displaced persons camps until they could be relocated. This was difficult since most countries didn't want them including the United States.

Friends of ours posted this on Facebook. It is poignant, prescient & frightening as hell. Keep it in mind as you make your way through the ordeal of January 20, 2017.


H. L. MENCKEN, WRITER, JULY 26, 1920:

"AS DEMOCRACY IS PERFECTED, THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT REPRESENTS MORE & MORE CLOSELY,
THE INNER SOUL OF THE PEOPLE.  ON SOME GREAT & GLORIOUS DAY,
THE PLAIN FOLKS OF THE LAND WILL REACH THEIR HEART'S DESIRE AT LAST,
AND THE WHITE HOUSE WILL BE OCCUPIED BY A DOWNRIGHT FOOL & A COMPLETE NARCISSISTIC MORON."

To those of you going to Washington, DC or to other demonstrations, be alert. Stay safe. Be strong.

Tomorrow we're meeting Chaim Shalom, of Hebrew Union College, Israel, for a tour of the campus. That's the Jerusalem campus of the seminary in Cincinnati from where David was ordained.

Toby

Orange tree in yard

Remembrance

Horowitz Travel- Israel-Jerusalem-Yad Vshem- January 16, 2017

We conquered the transportation system. We have a bus card & got where we were going, but it was a learning curve.

We were told that bus cards were purchasable from the driver, but Mr. Bus #14 wasn't in agreement. He said we had to go to the Central Bus Station. That's where we were going anyway. We bought a ticket from him & got off at the end of the line. We were not at anything resembling a bus station. He waved us down the street to what was obvious to him. We interrupted some soldiers on cell phones (a perpetual appendage) who waved us on in the same direction. A security guard pointed to a metal detector through which we walked and found ourselves in a downscale multi-level mall. No signs in any language mentioned buses, so we asked. The station was up two floors. The escalators we needed weren't contiguous, but we found the second one in due time. We lined up at a window only to be told ticket purchases were at terminal 22. It was beyond all the other gates, down an endless hall, & past the rest rooms. The nice lady there asked us for our passports so we could get tourist passes. We offered her copies. Our passports are secured in the apt. She said that what we needed were "anonymous" bus passes. Those were for sale at the original window we went to. At least we knew where that was. Unfortunately, the guy there hadn't heard of "anonymous" passes. He said, "I don't know what you want." David replied, "Me either." At that point we didn't care if it was anonymous, senior, tourist, or subversive. He finally sold us the damn pass. I felt like saying, "Dorothy, we're not in Switzerland anymore."

Ah, but there was more confusion. Where was the bus to Yad Vshem, the Holocaust Memorial?  David was embarrassed to go back to the same man, so we went to another window. We couldn't understand that man's English. I sheepishly went back to the original ticket window and was greeted warmly & familiarly. With great care, he said we should go to the "tren" (guttural 'r'). I held up ten fingers and asked if he meant gate 10? He shook his head vigorously & gestured out the window repeating "tren, tren." It dawned on me, as a train rolled by, that he was saying "train." There was a light rail across the street. It took our passes, & we were off. Whew!

We exited the train & followed signs to a treed path forming a link between present and past. The parking circle at the entrance was filled with buses carrying U.S. & Canadian Birthright college kids & Israeli students. The place was hopping.

We had first been to Yad Vshem in 1974. The second time was in 1995. The campus has grown enormously since then. We had sandwiches in a cafe overlooking the hills & I recalled how our granddaughter, Talia, described her experience eating there on Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for the military) surrounded by soldiers. My heart hurt to think that she witnessed what we were about to see.

There is no describing the, by now, familiar atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis on 12 million. This memorial has a Jewish orientation highlighting the six million murdered. There is mention of disabled, homosexuals, gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, Communists, etc. who totaled another six million killed. You are all aware, & if your memory has faded, I urge you to either go to the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, DC, a memorial near you, read, watch documentaries. We tend to let the horrors recede, but we need to be jolted back to the possibility of recurrence: not just for Jews, but for any people. One of the first quotes we read was, "A country is not just what it does, it is also what it tolerates." Neighbors turned their backs & were complicit. Media was censored. Lies were told ad nauseum until truth was indiscernible. Take the time to look up what Martin Niemoller, a German Lutheran pastor & anti-Nazi theologian had to say.

There didn't seem to be a country in Europe & Russia that was untouched. Oh yes, Switzerland didn't lose any Jews. Neither did Turkey or Denmark. Bulgaria was a puppet of Nazi Germany, but saved it's Jews by "filling its quota" with Jews from Macedonia & Thrace.

Exhausted, drained, emotionally raw, we exited into daylight. Relief was short lived. I noticed smoke wafting from a waste basket. I alerted a guard who took it very seriously. I expected he'd summon the military, but he ran into the men's room, emerged with a bucket of water, & doused it. Crises over.

But we hadn't finished tormenting ourselves. The Children's Memorial is genius in its simplicity. We entered the dark, candle lit maze to the sounds of the reading of the list of names, ages, & countries of children murdered by the Nazis: age 2, age 16, age 8........  Brutal.

Our return to the present was by way of a train ride. We sat opposite two teens who chatted interchangeably in Hebrew & English. Their exchanges were peppered with the inimitable "like" in both languages. At the bus station, we re-entered the crazy world of Israeli irrationality. We went to the bus stop across the street from where we'd been dropped off earlier. The logic was that we'd be going in the opposite direction. Nope! We were on the wrong side. Bus #14 was waiting where we'd gotten off that morning. We boarded, asked if it went to our area & were told this was the end of the line for that bus. We had to get bus the #14 back two blocks further along the street. As we walked, we joked that it would probably be the same bus. Sure enough, 6 minutes later, as promised, the same bus driver pulled up to where we waited & let us board.

Dinner was disappointing, but when we came out of the restaurant, a couple from New Rochelle, NY, asked if we enjoyed our meal. We were honest & were able to make several recommendations finally walking them to a falafel place. We're going native.

Today is our son-in-law, Julian's, birthday. As we were speaking to him, the doorbell rang. Our downstairs neighbor gently told us that our porch light had been on for a week (expensive) & our awning was open blocking sunlight to her apartment. We were very apologetic & she was very sweet about it. All this took place in English, Hebrew, & French.

Tomorrow is sheet washing, housecleaning, shopping day. We'll take it easy...maybe.

Toby

Old City

Horowitz Travel- Israel- Jerusalem-Old City-January 15, 2017

Having figured out the bus system, we decided to walk to the Old City. It was only 1.5 miles & the sun was out. Although the high was around 54 degrees, I layered with Under Armor & earmuffs.

We happened on the Montefiore Windmill then stopped at the King David Hotel to pick their brains on distances & sites. Even though we told them we weren't staying there, they were most gracious with help, a map, & lunch suggestions.

We took Mamilla Mall, a trendy upscale street where you'd recognize the store names. Our choice for lunch was mine to make. I'd forgotten how anxious David gets making food decisions, so I took over that job. We ate at Rimon where David had fish & chips. That sounds pedestrian, but this was a delicately battered trio of salmon, tuna, & trout. I looked at what the woman next to me was having & said, to quote "When Harry Met Sally, "I'll have what she's having." It was julienne sweet potato & halloumi cheese concoction on a bed of cucumbers, tomatoes, & spinach.

We had a bird's eye view of the mall & people watched as we ate. There is no rush in Israeli restaurants. No one will approach a table to present a check. We tried to figure out who were Muslim women & who were Orthodox Jewish women. I'd like the concession on black tights & scarves. Both items are worn by some women in both groups.

Emerging from modern Mamilla, we scaled steps to be confronted with a woman screaming about how Jesus saved her. Watching as they walked past were women in hijabs, & ultra orthodox Jewish men with big black hats, tzizit (fringes of prayer shawls), & payot (long side curls). Behind it all, was the wall of the Old City with minarets & domes barely visible.

We ran the David St. gauntlet of vendors trying to entice us into their shops with offers of "good prices." It's the main drag down to the Western Wall which is where we were headed.

We waited for what looked like a platoon of soldiers to pass before we could get in line for security at the Wall. David went to the men's side of the Wall with a note/prayer to place between the stones while I waited. That done, we went to an exit into the Jewish Quarter. As we dithered about how to get through that quarter (there's no direct route) a woman greeted us with a big "hello." It was Jen Chestnut, a Hillel regional director from Akron who was there with a Hillel Birthright group. She is married to Sam Chestnut, the director of the Lippman School (a multi-cultural school teaching Jewish values) where our grandkids go/went. It's amazing how often people run into folks from home here.

The Jewish Quarter was a challenge. The streets wend, wind, & end haphazardly. Typical Medieval maze, but older. We came upon remnants of a wall that was accidentally found while digging for another reason. It's dated at 2600 BCE, the Israelite Tower from 586 BCE, & the Ramban  Synagogue founded by Nahmanides in 1267. He came all the way from Moorish Spain at a time when Jews flourished there.  Not to leave out Rome, The Cardo, an old Roman road has columns in evidence & is still in use as a street.

It was time to head back, but we needed to sit & sip coffee. Aroma Cafe called our name. Coffee houses here serve food as well, but we just had cafe Americanos. Two women from New York sat next to us, & we chatted about their plans. The younger one had worked for Michael Bloomberg 17 years ago. We thought we were on the same page. Then we got into American politics, & they assured us they were Republicans. They were Kasich fans but voted for Trump. Oy! We disagreed on what was good for Israel & the Clintons with fervor but respectful dialogue. One woman mentioned that Reform Jews weren't that informed about Israel. We objected. She accused us & Reform Jews of not caring about Israel, only social issues. They were social liberals, but voted for whomever they thought would make Israel strong. Their theory was that Trump would make a deal with Putin to take over Syria, then Putin would exert pressure for a peace between Israel & the Palestinians. I told her I hoped that would end up better than when Chamberlain gave Hitler the Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia. She paused & agreed. The end of friendly disagreement came when they rose to leave, & one said that Obama should not have abstained at the UN, but what can you expect from a Muslim. We should have been speechless, but managed to let her know that the conversation was over & that we wouldn't listen to her idiocy. Oy! Oy!

Still recovering from our encounter, we continued our walk back to the apt. We weren't hungry, but thought soup would hit the spot. Caffit was it. It's a pleasure to have an ice-free pitcher of water brought to the table without asking. David had an atomic level spicy tom yum, which he loved. I had an extra bland Persian lentil soup which I wouldn't order again.

At the apt. we got the joyous news that friends at home just had a baby boy. And we know where to get a new baby card here!

Toby

Montefiore Windmill

Western Wall

Cold

Horowitz Travel- Israel-Jerusalem of course- January 14, 2017

It's cold. I'm cold. David's cold. I'm layered. My favorite places are in the shower or in bed under a down comforter. We walk, I warm up. We come back, turn the wall heaters up, but I'm still cold. Turning on the central system is extravagant. As I write this I'm listening to an Al Jazeera report on the Syrian refugees. I think I'll shut up now.

We started Shabbat last night by walking to the synagogue, Kol Ha Neshamah,  a progressive (Reform) congregation, where we were meeting our friends. We weren't alone. Most of the populace joined us each going to whatever synagogue met their needs.

Tour groups are not uncommon during services. Last night there were young people from Kentucky & Buffalo, NY. There were two nuns in attendance as well. I'm told they're there every week. They belong to an order that rotates nuns to Jerusalem yearly & they tend to like Jewish worship.

The service was primarily led by a guitar playing young man under the direction of the rabbi. I was told that there are 40 rabbis who belong to that congregation. Lots of American retirees. I thought it would be easy for me to participate, but, although the words were the same, the tunes were entirely different than I'm used to. It threw me to the point where I almost didn't recognize most of them. On the two occassions I could join in, I was relieved.

After services, the Stuart & Ellyn drove us to the Terri & Ron's. Their townhouse is multi-level with each tier overlooking the Old City. During a sumptuous dinner, we had time to exchange opinions and bring each other up to date. We didn't cheer each other up. Things here have gotten to the point where an option of a two-state solution is an old pipe dream, and a one state solution is seen as untenable by both right and left. Limbo isn't a comfortable place to be. Our friends were protesting the building of a new settlement when they asked about the Arab construction workers. The supervisor told them that politics aside, the men needed jobs.  But our friends said that the most discussed topic among their peers is the economy, not terrorism or survival. For those who look forward to Netanyahu being indicted or stepping down, be careful what you wish for. We were told that his successor is likely to be worse. The Jerusalem Post thinks Trump is a savior, and David has taken to watching news on Al Jazeera, not CNN. I left there feeling that Israel was in danger of losing its moral compass. The terror attacks are real, but some types of retaliation can cross the line.

David was determined to start the day in the morning. He set the alarm for 9:00AM, & I actually woke up. We were on our way by foot to the Islamic Museum of Art in no time. Although streets in our immediate neighborhood are level, everywhere else is uphill. We followed a combination paper map (they still exist) and directions from Mapquest. The streets were crowded with people dressed in dark colors returning from worship. There were lots of strollers, children, & dads carrying brightly colored scooters.  Because of the prohibition of driving on the Sabbath, there were few moving cars, no buses, few cabs, & cats. It was a city walker's paradise.

We spent 2 1/2-3 hours at the museum. One of my favorite things was that this museum of Islamic Art in Jerusalem was festooned with mezuzahs (look it up if you don't know) on every doorpost.

It is organized chronologically by room, but within each room there is confusion. Hebrew is written & read right to left as is Arabic. English is the reverse. Explanations were written in all three languages. In setting up the exhibits, the dilemma must have been whether to place the placards in alignment with English or the other languages. They did both. Sometimes we viewed objects first, then the information; sometimes not. We never figured out where to start in a room: to go right or left around the room. After dutifully following the cases around one area we realized the "beginning" was in the far right corner of the room.

Our knowledge of Islamic history is limited. We didn't know that the division of Suni/Shiite started soon after Muhammad's death in 632 CE/AD. It's a family feud. It's the story of many religions: expand; conquer to expand; conquer by intimidation/conversion; war worked best.

The lower level of the museum has an interesting clock exhibit starting with ancient timepieces & going to elaborate creations of French royalty. Muslims have time bound and directional requirements for prayer. They devised small, pocket-sized (did they had pockets?) combo sundial/compasses for that purpose. The ones on display were ornate gold pieces. It made me marvel once again that I was carrying a computer in my purse.

Lunch was back at the apt. A first. Just soup & tuna sandwiches. We took turns on line. David figured out the bus web site & is ready to tackle the public transportation system tomorrow.  I found that if I pulled a chair up to a wall heater it was cozy. I closed my eyes and listened to strains of magnificent piano playing echoing in the hall. Shabbat was over. It sounds as if our neighbor is a professional pianist & listening to him/her practice is a bonus. Often the accompaniment is that of Stoney, a well-mannered elder golden type mix who barks & wags simultaneously. His people are responsible enough to keep him in during hours when his barking would be annoying.

We walked to dinner through a drizzle & wimped out. We chose an eatery based on proximity rather than cuisine. Bagel Cafe was a surprise. The minestrone soup was the best I've ever had.  The bagels were just freshly made after Shabbat. David had whitefish on his bagel; I had fried halloumi cheese (Turkish), which I've yet to taste. The soup came with a bagel, the halloumi on bagel came with a salad. I ate the soup & salad & took the rest back to the apt.

We're invited to Stuart's birthday party next Saturday so went in search of a birthday card. We didn't have to go far, just to Steimatzki's, a book & office supply vendor. The cards were in plastic sleeves on the wall going up a flight of steps. They weren't in any particular order, but we did see lots of bar mitzvah cards. Taking care not to fall up or down the steps, we figured we'd just look for the familiar Hebrew phrase for "happy birthday to you." Wrong! What we wanted was anything saying " mazel tov." Then we had to read through "mazel tov" what? Our confusion was increased only by the fact that we initially tried to open the cards the "American" way. Hebrew is written opposite of English, & so the books & cards open "backwards" to what we're used to.

Another mission accomplished, another day is done. Tomorrow we'll tackle the infamous Egged (pronounced 'egg-ed') Bus Company & hopefully find our way.

Toby

First Shabbat

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Still Jerusalem-January 13, 2017

It's erev Shabbat in Israel. That's the day before the Sabbath. Jewish holy days begin at sundown so preparation for Shabbat is at full throttle. Most all men can be seen carrying flowers home, beggars hit the streets so people can do a mitzvah (good deed) before Shabbat, & carry out stores (some only open Thurs. & Fri.) flourish for those too busy to cook Shabbat dinner. Everything closes early (around 3:30pm) since sunset is around 5pm. They'll re-open Sat. evening. Buses will stop running. Movies & non-Jewish museums will be open half a day. That may be our activity for Sat., but we may have to pack a lunch.

Speaking of lunch, we have to start sharing meals. We had way too much food today. The tables in the cafe were suitable for a coffee shop, which it was (Ben Ami again), but ours was filled to overflowing. We had to consolidate breads & condiments to make room. My spinach omelet came with small sides of olive tapenade, feta, eggplant, & sour cream. I opened the omelet & used most of it as auxiliary filling.

Two women at a neighboring table were speaking "American." I asked a question about getting tap water & chatted a bit. Wouldn't you know, they were hopeful about Trump. David got a Jerusalem Post in English this morning, & it said that 79% of Israelis say he'll be pro-Israel. Maybe, but at what price? And They could care less about what he'll do to the U.S.

It would probably be easy being Vegan here. I'm thinking that lots of baked goods are parve. That means they contain no dairy. Eggs are possible. Because most people here keep meat and milk separate, non-dairy pastry/breads make sense. Also good for lactose intolerance.

We meet Stuart & Ellyn (they were at seminary with us) at the synagogue at 5pm. So, this is it for today. Dinner is at the Terri’s afterwards. We're all talkers so I assume it will be a late night.

Toby

Orientation

Horowitz Travel-Israel-Jerusalem again-January 12, 2017

I slept until noon again. Don't know what's up. If I was jet lagged I'd be waking up in the middle of the night. Before we started our day with lunch, we tackled the dryer. David hung the vent out of the window as instructed, & we now have dry clothes. A miracle.

We took a slightly different route to Emek Refaim, our main drag. Chose a Japanese counter service place, Kampai. We ate noodles, mine with tofu, David's with goose & chicken. Average tasting, but crowded with lots of after school kids.

The weekend starts on Thursday night since Friday at sundown begins Shabbat. Work & school lets out early on Friday & most stores/restaurants close. School days are a bit shorter than in the States because they go to school six days a week. There must have been a music class today since lots of kids were carrying violin & cello cases. Unless they were concealing Uzis :).

Our mission was to find a gift to bring to Terri tomorrow night. She'd invited us for Shabbat dinner, & we didn't want to go empty handed. We narrowed it down to an assortment of dried fruits & nuts when David's phone rang. It was Terri. She wanted to meet us for coffee.  We happened to be in front of her favorite cafe, Ben Ami. We had 15 minutes until she came. We bought the fruit & decided to give it to her when we saw her. Otherwise we'd have to carry it to Temple with us. Our pre-thank you gift was well received.

Terri is a treasure trove of information. She works for a group that arranges for Americans interested in volunteering in Israel (Skilled Volunteers for Israel). She's lived here 41 years and knows everyone. She's expert at orienting foreigners & gave us a crash course in her favorite shops & eateries. She plans to email us her "things to do" list as well as a phone number for her favorite cab company & basics on bus usage.

Terri painted a picture of Jerusalem that was unknown to us. Her favorite butcher and provider of Thanksgiving turkeys is an Arab butcher near where we had dinner last night. Evidently, being a butcher is a profession passed down in families much like the funeral business in the U.S.  She told us that Israel (perhaps Jerusalem) has a huge Kurdish community second only to Kurdistan. There is need for Turkish/Kurdish speakers to work with them. She told us that the Islamic Museum was open on Shabbat & a wonderful place to spend many hours. We spent three hours with her. When I asked if she needed to be home for dinner, she said that Israelis don't have dinner like Americans. They have a late lunch & not an organized meal after work except for Shabbat. That left an unasked question for me of when families sit down to share their day.

We only left the cafe because it was getting crowded & they needed the table. When we parted I said that seeing her was like a reunion with someone I never really knew. We went to our apartment, put on warmer clothing, & headed for a falafel/shawarma (chicken gyros) place she liked. It was so much better than where we ate our first night here.

Toby

Settling In

Horowitz Travel Israel-January 11, 2017-Jerusalem

Like some people, the apartment is more photogenic on line than in reality. Our apartment was represented as being updated, & it was. But it hasn't been recently. It is showing wear and as with other times we've been in Israel, the workmanship is lacking. For example, they put in recessed lighting throughout, but in some rooms the wiring from the previous fixtures hang from the ceiling. Hot water has to be planned for. A switch turns on the heater & we're asked to turn it off when not using it. There are metal shutters on most windows. They're controlled by a remote. One of them is temperamental & gets stuck. When closed, they look like they could fend off mortar attacks. Maybe that's the point. We do have a washer & dryer, but they're in different rooms. The dryer has instructions taped to it that explain how to run the vent out of the window when in use.

We had a handyman here yesterday afternoon to help us figure out the heat & TV. Reva, the manager, gave us a cursory explanation of features. However, we were never told

we had a central heating system nor were we shown how to work it. We were relying on small electric wall heaters, which were inadequate. I was wearing a down jacket inside. Adding to the problem, all the surfaces, including the furniture are hard: marble, stucco, leather. Good when it' hot. Not so much for winter. Now that the heat works well, we have to turn it off at night or when we leave since it's so expensive.

I took an hour nap while waiting for the guy then we hit the streets looking for dinner. We're 2-3 blocks from Emek Refaim. It's a main shopping street with small groceries, specialty shops, & wall to wall restaurants. We think we'll start at the far end and eat our way towards our street.

After having divine falafel with fixings, including fries, we headed back. One observation: Israeli's must have strong immune systems. The server/cashier was ungloved as was the customer who stuck his hand into a bowl on the counter to sample the goods.

We were barely functional when we went to bed at about 9:30pm.  We'd been awake 34 hours. Somehow we slept through the night. David made it to 8:30 AM. I'm proud to say I awoke at noon.

In light of day the cleanliness is dicey. Why am I the one to find long dark hairs? The vanity around one of our sinks has black moldy stuff around the back. Guess that's why they supply lots of cleaning equipment.

We'd missed breakfast (no food in the apt. yet) & it was lunchtime. We wanted to find a real grocery store for our stocking up trip, but where? We saw a taxi on our street so I asked the driver if she spoke English. She didn't, but her passenger did. There goes my theory of younger people speaking English. We got directions to Supersol & learned that an American type grocery is called a supermarket; groceries are small, neighborhood shops.

It was a 10-15 minute walk, as represented, but we still hadn't eaten. I asked a girl where there was a restaurant & we were directed across the street to the Mall. It was our first encounter with security. We entered through a guarded metal detector, & bags were searched. It's not often we see guards with tzitzit (fringes of a prayer shawl) peeking out from under a jacket.

The Waffle Shop called to us. David stuck to the theme & was pleased with his dish & it's flamboyant display. I ordered Shakshuka. It's two eggs smothered in pasta sauce (I chose eggplant) accompanied with a salad & long crunchy wheat roll. Prices are shocking in Shekels (144) but it's $36. Still costly.

It only took us 10 minutes to figure out how to access a shopping cart at Supersol, & if we could get an affinity card. Carts here & in Europe (Aldi's too in the US) are released by placing a coin in a slot. The coin is returned when the cart is returned. It required a 5 shekel coin. We had a 10. We finally got an explanation that denomination didn't matter since you got your same coin back. The apartment came with a cloth shopping cart on wheels. Could we take it into the store? How do we carry it & push a cart? Yes, we could take it. I figured out a way to hang it from the cart. No one else was doing that. They all had them in their store carts. There were two prices for each item on the shelves. I inquired about a membership card. That took three people to answer. It was determined that I needed Israeli ID to be eligible. We paid the higher price. So, 10 minutes wasn't really long to figure this out.

Now we were cooking. To summarize, it took the same time to shop here as our first trip in Australia, two hours. We bought enough to fill our own cart to overflowing (about $90). Packaging was in Hebrew so it was tedious reading ingredients. We almost ended up with vegetarian chicken patties. Being a vegetarian is so easy here. Lots of options. While waiting at the deli counter for sliced turkey pastrami, I saw a clerk free at the other end. Nope, she only handled dairy. Of course, it's Israel. Different clerks for meat & dairy.

It was time to find our way home. That was the easy part. Our cart now weighed what felt like 100 lbs full, but it was downhill. I walked behind in case anything fell out. David schlepped. I helped toward the end, but he had to pull it up the steps to our flat. Yes, it's on the first floor. Translation, outside the U.S. it's the second floor.

Dinner was at First Station, the old railway station, now a small amusement park with cafes & shops. The carousel was playing "Give My Regards to Broadway" as we decided on an outdoor burger joint (Captain). No, it's not that warm (40-50) but most eateries put up plastic sheeting & use outdoor heaters. As we walked, we saw many bus stops & road signs in Hebrew, English, & Arabic. There is more diversity than expected. Africans aren't uncommon. I'd forgotten about the airlift of Ethiopians decades ago. Their children are Sabras (native born Israelis).

We're living in the German Colony. It was established in the second half of the 19th century by the German Temple Society, a Protestant pietist group of the Lutheran church. They were kicked out of Germany due to their millennial beliefs. They came here to await the messiah after the apocalypse. So, the buildings are that old. It's all beige. As we approached Jerusalem yesterday, I remembered how beige it is. As with the American southwest, it never appealed to my aesthetic. To achieve that look, most (all?) buildings are made of Jerusalem stone.

We're doing a load of wash. Most of it is what we travelled in. So far, we have rotation, water, & suds. Here's hoping.

Toby

Note on Dryer

Shakshuka

Onward to Israel

January 9-10, 2017- Leaving USA for Tel Aviv & Jerusalem

Thanks to early morning transportation provided by Janet Klein, we arrived at the airport in Cleveland three hours before flight time. I know. That's a lot of scooch room. David doesn't like rushing.

But that's not really the beginning of the story. Aside from our last minute frenzy of packing & check-lists, the month leading up to our departure date was "eventful." David was collecting leaves in our driveway using the large city garbage can. Did you know there's a warning on it in tiny print to "close like before moving?" He didn't. The lid caught on the ground, the can flipped, hit him in the forehead, & knocked him to the ground. He checked out at the ER & eye doctor with no injuries save two raccoon like multi-hued eyes. Yes, we know about Arnica.

The Friday before New Year's Eve I was delivering Mobile Meals. I wore boots since it had snowed. I miscalculated the thickness of the boot sole, caught it on the curb, & fell. My hands were full of meals so I landed on my knees & right arm. Then my forehead & cheek bounced off the pavement. I was focused on finishing the deliveries on time since I had a dental appointment at noon to have a tooth pulled. I made the appointment, they gave me an ice pack, & I asked for a discount since I thought I'd loosened the tooth. No dice. The good thing was that the novocaine numbed the injured side of my face & I had to take lots of Advil for the extraction. The bad news was that I woke up looking like a one-eyed raccoon. I didn't go to the ER, but did have my eyes checked. A-OK.

I'm telling you all this in case you notice anything in pictures we may send. David is 99% normal looking & I'm more yellow and green with touches of purple.

Back to the airport. Despite missing the exit from the circular automatic door into the terminal and feeling as if I was in an endless roundabout, we breezed through security with our new TSA pre-check status. Our connection to United in Newark went smoothly including the extra sequestration and security for Israel bound flights. As we waited to board I noticed four scruffy looking men with carry on bags being greeted by the gate attendants then entering the crew door. Bet they're Air Marshals.

There was a delay in take-off due to luggage that was checked in without the person boarding. While the ground crew was looking for it there was time for maintenance to fix one of our seats. It didn't recline. Too long a flight to sit up straight. For some reason I thought it was 13 hours from Newark to Tel Aviv, but it's 9 1/2 hours. Nice surprise. 

We've rented an apartment in Jerusalem for a month. David has wanted to spend time there without being on tour. He wants to wander the streets and "feel" the city. I wasn't that keen to go there or to stay that long, but in a weak moment, after he was diagnosed with lung cancer, I capitulated. 

We slept on and off on the plane & watched the orthodox Jewish men pray in the aisles. The flight crew were quite accommodating and gently moved them as needed. They didn't even try hard to ask them to be seated during mild turbulence. Experience taught them it was futile.

Yossi, our driver, picked us up at the airport. He's a friend of the woman we've been in contact with, Terri. Ironically, Terri was a child in our congregation in Hammond, Indiana. She moved to Israel as a young woman, married, & found David on Facebook. She's been our contact and key in helping us find housing. We look forward to seeing her.

We were met at the apartment by Reva, our agent, who showed us how to use the remotes for heat, window shades, & TV. We promptly forgot, but have a detailed guide book for help. The TV isn't responding & there's no heat in the master bathroom. We're waiting for a repairman. David just went out to get lunch since we were told the handyman will arrive "sometime today."

Toby