"Squeeze the World"

Today I shall leave my charges and take leave to Zion. I love how romantic that sounds. “Today I shall stand on God's holy mountain.” Anyway, it should be a fun trip and a nice break from the constant responsibility I've had over the last month. I'm also traveling to Bersheva soon, so I don't know when I'll be able to update again. So as a gift, I give you a summary of the latest Jewish Holy Day!

Purim is the celebration of Esther saving the Jewish people from massive genocide while under Persian rule. If you need to know more about the story, I suggest the VeggieTales movie based on it, or you can read it for yourself. It's in the book called “Esther” in the Bible. Fun fact! Madonna, who claims she's into Kabala (Jewish mysticism), has taken on the name Esther. Apparently she doesn't realize that that is a Persian name. Esther's Jewish name is Hadassah, which is much less flashy and Madonna-esque. I find this very appropriate.

Purim is celebrated much in the way of most Jewish holidays, large gatherings with big meals, but this has a special twist. We Americans refer to it as a Jewish Halloween. Every little shop I walk by has loads of little princess dresses hanging up everywhere with scandalous adult costumes on the side. It's kind of odd, really. One person joked that American distributors send all the unsold Halloween gear to Israel.

Also, they have a special cookie for the season, “haman's hashan” or something like that. Literally it means Haman's ear, but I've heard that it's supposed to look like Haman's hat. If that was true, why would it be called an ear? It still confuses me. Also, for those unfamiliar with the story, Haman was the antagonist who was very evil and sneaky, but got what he deserved in the end.

So, there's your latest Jewish Holy Day for the season. I hope you enjoyed it, and here are some pictures for reference:

store
cookies!

Cairo

So- the day trip I vaguely referred to was good fun and a great experience. There is a family living in Ariel who we've had contact with since meeting them during Sukkot, and they invited a large group of us in AQVNT to take a tour of the area. We met them at a checkpoint and went together to Mount Gerezim and a Samaritan museum there. The museum was quite the experience. Previously, I had no idea that there were still Samaritans around. According to the priest, there are 700 living today: half in Nablus and half near Mount Hermon. They keep the ancient traditions yet have modern lives. It was definitely interesting to hear their perspective of history.

After we left the museum, we drove to a lookout where a Jewish settler gave a general outline of the area. Israelis in general are rather critical of the settlers, but it really is impressive that they can live the way they do. I would find it even more impressive if they would reach out to their Arab neighbors and not isolate themselves behind their security fences. Of course, I'm living happily and safely in the Galilee, so I have little place to talk. One thing that the settler brought up was that the lands where Abraham walked and the places where Joshua and original Israelites are the lands most disputed. The valley which we overlooked was the valley where Joseph buried Jacob and where Joshua later buried Joseph's remains. Completely surrounding the two tombs was an Arab city and several mosques. Not far from the city was a Palestinian refugee camp. The “camp” definitely did not meet my expectations. I thought it would be full of temporary structures and tents, but instead it was an incredibly crowded city. We didn't go down into the streets, but I can tell it's a miserable life.

From there we visited the vineyard where the family's been working. Have you ever done a concordance search of the word “vineyard?” Even without specifying the fruit of the vine or the other related searches, there is a lot in there. Here's a great verse:

Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
Ezekiel 28:25-26

After a journey on the back of a four-wheeler through the vines, we went to the ruins of Shiloh. The famous Michael Rood gave us an impromptu lecture on the dimensions of the Tabernacle and inaccuracies of Byzantine churches, and we ended the tour with a worship session at the family's home. It was really cool to see the real West Bank and hear the various perspectives. If you want to learn more about the family's mission, you can visit their website at http://hayovel.net. Also, if you want to read more about the Samaritans, one of the boys wrote a great article about it here.

Due to various transportation issues, my trips on the bus have become more regular. This has given me more opportunity to read, study or simply observe. Also, it forces me to walk around town for half an hour which makes for great contemplation. The bus is the main form of transportation for the typical Israeli, and here are some reflections of it.

There is a religious man riding the same route who never fails to entertain me. He's older with a long white beard and the ubiquitous black hat. I'm pretty sure he's mizrakhi (Middle Eastern) and another religious man who usually talks to him often slips into Arabic. Their accents and speed make it impossible for me to even catch words, but his tone always sounds like he's complaining about the local government official. This is pure speculation. Actually, I'm sure that he says everything in this tone of voice. One stop is always coated in swarming school girls, also religious, and they usually go directly to the back and play with their cell phones. Today, a boy who looked like Perchik from the old Fiddler on the Roof movie was hanging around the bus stop in half a uniform (as in the other half was civilian). I was really confused until I saw him stand next to each bus that was loading. This isn't common, so I wonder what's up... The security here is so thorough that they don't usually need to be obvious about it.

Tomorrow I'm going on a bit of a day trip which I will report about later. It should be good fun and quite an experience! Hopefully I'll return with loads of pictures. Yom tov!

Here's a tale from the playground. A few days ago, I noticed some girls were playing House and didn't think much of it until today when they wanted me to be the "Ima," mother. Naturally, I wanted nothing to do with that and instead claimed the position of "Savta," grandmother. The idea entertained them sufficiently and I was let off the hook. This was a very intelligent move I soon realized, as Ima immediately started chasing after her daughters. Little did we know that while our dysfunctional family spread out across the yard, another family was forming at our original location. So after the daughters settled down and returned home, a fight soon broke out.

Here's a general idea of the cast: My family consists of four young girls, one of whom speaks English (and Hebrew and Arabic! I'm always very impressed). The rival family only has one Hebrew speaker, while the rest are new students. Off to the side are two English/Hebrew speakers who wisely avoid involvement.

As I approach the tree of contention (grandmothers are not expected to run), the head of the rival family immediately appeals to me, assuring me that her household held first claim. I would usually acquiesce in these circumstances, but this time I had a family to fight for! So, with my grand-daughter's future in mind, I hesitantly responded that we had set up house while they were still forming their family several meters away. She would have none of this, and all my attempts at gently pointing out the truth (Our leaves were still lying there! It was obviously our turf!) were to no avail. The rest of my family was in utter confusion since the only English/Hebrew speaker was off picking more leaves. During the confusion, I induced one of the bystanders to join me, but by that time the other family set the boundaries "since you guys won't." Apparently they built an invisible fence between a tree and stump, and we'd stay on our respective sides unless they wanted to use the swing. The rights to the swing were later on disputed.

After a new argument over swing rights, which was mostly carried out on their side since my family was still busy gathering leaves, the security fence was torn down. One girl stated "why can't we just be neighbors who share things?" The tearing down of the security fence wasn't relayed to the rest of my family, so mass confusion ensued. Thankfully, the recess bell rang and all deeds and rights were left to be sorted next time.

It's too bad grown-ups don't have recess bells.

Since my "wards" seem to have too much time on their hands, I often play card games or watch movies with them. Last night was "Remember the Titans." I forgot how much I love that movie and was only mildly irritated when the eldest charge would rewind random scenes to see the cars better. Their family has often made livings off of refurbishing old cars, so the two eldest boys are completely obsessed. Then today a highly anticipated package from their parents came. There were different medications, car magazines, CDs, and an American football for a boy in the village. So the other charge (the girl) would tell me to "look fast," to which I responded that I was handling eggs so she had better not throw anything at me, but after that we played psuedo-catch in the kitchen. Quickly I realized that such behavior would not be appreciated by her mom, so we took it outside so we could get serious. It's been raining all day, but with a little bit of light from the porch it only added to the atmosphere. I'd throw it, she'd hit it with her shin. So I took it upon myself to teach the basics and the irony of the situation dawned on me. I have never played football. I have never considered myself even remotely decent at throwing or catching "the old pigskin" (Maybe that's why American football isn't in Israel.), but there I was instructing her in the skill. Meanwhile, her brother was inside reading car magazines while the girl and I had a special "father-son"-type bonding experience. In the mud and rain. In the dark.

Also, I went out on The Balcony again today to clean out a rat cage. There, on the beach, was a Man In A Speedo. Stretching. Did I mention it's been raining all day? I can't even describe the disgust which overcame me.

I finally got my Negev pictures together!



Also, I've been learning more about the Temple Mount dispute. Israeli law requires that minor excavations be done before any construction, including the replacement of the walkway. A similar situation happened several years ago when the Tunnel Tour was opened along the Wall which goes underneath the city and inspects the Herodian construction. Neither the walkway or tunnel tour affect the actual Temple Mount, but the excavations could unearth artifacts problematic to the Muslims, some of whom deny that there ever was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

I first heard about the protests on the Temple Mount this afternoon, but I couldn't find much information online. However, after a Bible study tonight I listened in on a conversation. The speaker, who lived in the Old City during the intifada, described the video footage as being almost identical to the scenes of the infamous Friday six years ago. Rioters threw rocks while security officials are pulled through the crowd on gurneys, and then the camera switches from the plaza to the streets and back again. I just checked half a dozen news sites to gather what information I could find, and this (www.haaretz.com) story had the most information. Briefly, though, Israel wants to make a ramp leading to the Temple Mount more secure, I don't think they've gone through all the proper channels yet (Jordan maintains the Mount), and people have used the opportunity to protest. It isn't clear from the different news sources whether the main protesters were Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, or foreign Muslims, but there was also an organized protest in Nazareth today, likely by Israeli Arabs. It's very legal to organize protests in Israel, and they're usually very peaceful, today being no exception. Another exciting day in the Middle East!

Oh! And here's a diagram I've yoinked from BBC.com of the work being done:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! I am back in AQVNT along with my luggage and most of my sanity. At the time of my last posting, I was very anxious about the trip back, but it all went amazingly. Our largest difficulty in returning was an hour long questioning in the Cairo airport. After we passed through El Al security, it seemed that all other security officials were taking pity on us.

I'm not going to go into great detail of the interviews, but at one time when I was looking for my insurance card, a ticket stub from my Antalya trip fell out and a security official snatched it up and asked why I still had it. I was a little confused, but also intimidated by the whole process and felt a little sheepish when I replied “scrapbooking?” The female official next to him found it entertaining. She actually was very nice and I felt fairly comfortable most of the time.

So, now I should probably bring the rest of the travels up to date. I realized that I wasn't very clear about the cave churches- they are the churches just past the garbage city we visited. It's hard to describe exactly, but I will put pictures up soon. On Saturday, we went to a softball tournament in Maadi (a section of Cairo populated mostly by ex-pats) which was pretty amazing. I've felt very American in other settings, but this was different because everything else was American, too. I usually scoff at the title of “America's Pastime,” but it's true. As I sat in the bleachers with my cheeseburger, in front of an exceptionally opinionated observer, I felt like I was back in the States. It was pretty amazing.

EB's church held service Friday afternoon, so in the morning we dropped toys off at a Sudanese Preschool. The kids there were too adorable, I just couldn't get over it. Then, after my first Anglican church service was a speaker talking about Islam and Terrorism. One thing that was really strange about being in Egypt was realizing how much I've learned by being in Israel and how I've taken it for granted. I would be listening to someone's opinion about Palestinians and not realize until halfway through that they meant my friends in Nazareth or other Arabs of “Israel Proper.” Most Israeli Arabs would not appreciate the association, and their situation really is completely different. So when I heard the term “Palestine,” which was actually quite often, I had difficulty understanding exactly where the speaker was referring to.

Yesterday, we took the Metro to the Egyptian Museum. One ingenious bit about the Metro is that the front two cars are designated “Women Cars.” This is entirely optional, and it is so freeing. At first I found it slightly awkward as we were the only two with uncovered heads for a good part of the time, but I was able to relax and enjoy the ride without any hassling or comments. Also, it was refreshing to see the women interacting more freely, especially those under full veils. I think my main aversion to the burqa is that it cloaks the personality underneath, and all I can conceive from the person is from stereotypes.

The Museum itself was amazing. It was only two floors, but every corner had a nook with several more artifacts to see. The guide book recorded a rumor that the extra storage rooms are so packed and old that when they stock the new museum, archaeologists will have to make excavations on the rooms themselves. AND I got to see the famous King Tut mask, as well as the rest of his burial furnishings. It was all so amazing.

For further clarification, sometimes I use the term “we” to refer to my roommate and I, but in other areas it can also mean the two of us, EB, and EBs friend who would often take part in our adventures and Phase 10 games. As amazing as Cairo is, without those two, the trip would have been less than half as fun. Hopefully Sunday was not our last meeting.

My dear faithful readers:
I have many things which I desire to tell you, but it is my last night in Cairo and I have an appointment to keep on Road 9. So. I hope I am able to update again soon with greater detail and safely back in AQVNT. This might be a small miracle, so I request your supplication.

Please do not be alarmed by unanswered emails as I've been rather busy and I have plans to watch the Superbowl on Monday, so I will probably be avoiding the internet until then. I hope the weekend finds you well.

So yesterday we went to visit the cave churches of Moquattam, also known as Garbage City. The people of that area are the garbage sorters for Cairo who organize the waste into recyclable products. Not a job that I would want, but it's pretty amazing. The churches were rather impressive, the walls have various carvings, and more are being made constantly. The most amazing part, however, was driving through the neighborhoods on the way. Unlike other garbage settlements, Moquattam has real neighborhoods with sturdy buildings. On first entry, the smell is somewhat overpowering and all you can really see is donkey carts full of trash, or people with big piles of cans on their backs, but as we went further in we started seeing shops and stores, men smoking their sheesha and women in nice clothes. This isn't a last resort to them: they've probably been there for several generations. And the whole area is Christian- our Muslim driver pointed out the pork as we drove by a butcher's shop.

Afterwards, we visited Al-Azhar park, a little oasis in the middle of Cairo. It's above most of the city, and there are lovely green fields and no noise of cars or traffic. EB hadn't been there yet, and we had a lovely lunch in the clean air. Just down the road some was a market area. We were specifically looking for the Tentmaker's Market, and a man offered to show us the way. He did, but the tour involved conversations with his cousins and a tour of his own little shop. It was like the Turkey incident, but this man seemed much more straight-forward in his affairs.

That night, EB had a Jr. High youth group, so we tagged along. I have a new respect for people who work with Junior High, and I really hope that I wasn't like that at that age. We ended up talking with some of the parents inside, which was a good time. It's pretty amazing what sort of people you'll meet overseas. A lot of the ex-pats in Cairo work for oil companies, but there are also those who work for embassies and such. We might go back to the same house tonight, but no plans are set yet.