Mike Godbe, a young American on a free Birthright tour of Israel, continues his diary and photos of the tour, reporting his experiences and the ways the tour staff present the history and politics of the country. Earlier posts from Mt. Herzl, Jerusalem, a kibbutz, and Caesaria can be accessed by clicking the corresponding links.
Monday, March 15th, 2010
I woke up at 4:45 this morning for an optional sunrise hike to the top of a nearby ridge. It is noticeably drier here in the south than in other parts of Israel we have been. As soon as the dusk started to light up the land, I looked on the ground and found it to be full of empty shells from desert snails about 3cm wide – literally there was one of these shells on the ground about every six inches. The desert is actually covered in small green plants in many parts now . . . It only lasts a few weeks and we happened to catch it. Right after winter rains and before the summer heat gets too intense.
Looking around and seeing the scenery for the first time, Israel is not what comes to mind. I would have guessed Arizona, New Mexico, or Utah if I had only seen a photo. We came back around 7 as the rest of the group was waking up. Next in line for our touristy Bedouin experience was a twenty minute camel ride around the perimeter of the camp. Got to admit, this was very fun. But at the same time I wish that Birthright’s one scheduled interaction with Arabs wasn’t just camping and then a petting zoo; it doesn’t exactly facilitate the taking of Arabs or their concerns seriously. On a trip that is supposed to show us the land of Israel, I think it would be appropriate and valuable to many of the kids on my program to get a window into Arab-Israeli life in Jaffa and see that not all Arabs are Hamas. Eventually, I would hope that the Israeli government and the private funds behind birthright would find it
valuable and see that it is actually in the state of Israel’s own interest to have the groups meet Israeli and Palestinian peace activists talking about a way forward without violence from either side – I think many of the kids on my program do not even know that opinion exists on the Palestinian side.
We said goodbye to the camels and the Bedouins and headed off to the ancient fortress of Masada. Originally built as a fortress by King Herod to control the lucrative perfume and spice trade up to Europe, the Massada is better known as the site where a last bastion of Jews held out for two years after the Romans destroyed the second temple. After the Romans surrounded this isolated and steep plateau the Jews refused to surrender, so the Romans (their Jewish and other slaves) spent months building a earthen ramp up to the fortress, but when they finally broke through the walls, they found that all but a few of the Jews had committed a mass suicide . . . preferring to die free rather than become slaves, as the story goes.
Some of us chose to have a Jewish naming ceremony or become Bar-Mitzvah if they had not done so at 13. We descended into a huge cave room that was once the Masada’s giant water cistern to have the ceremony. It was quite beautiful; there was one 5 foot or so hole on the upper part of one of the walls that the sun shined through, displaying a clearly visible large ray of light down to the dust-covered floor of the enormous cistern. The ceremonies were very meaningful for most of those who participated.
On the walk down the side of the Masada I had a good conversation with the more progressive of the two staff people (there are two staff and one tour guide – 3 in all). Kerry is very involved in the queer and faith communities (and their intersection) in Los Angeles and is going to begin Rabbinic school very soon. I forget how the conversation came about but we began talking about issues that I / we were having with the program. Of course it is a free program that has an obvious if not explicit goal of fostering stronger connections between Judaism and Israel and the participants. This connection however is nurtured by the program by telling a very one sided story of Israel and avoiding the troubling bits . . . And thus our conversation.
Kerry brought up the very interesting point that many Israelis experience what she called a victimology, or an ideology of victimization. And thus, she said, it was difficult for many Israelis to grapple with or believe their current position of power in the region and in the world. I thought this dovetailed seamlessly with Rabbi Michael Lerner’s writing on the necessity of understanding Jewish (read Israeli) trauma from the Holocaust and 1500 years of persecution in finding a viable solution to the peace process. Lerner for instance has argued that divestment from Israel would be a bad move for the peace
process because it would flare up feelings of alienation the world being against Jews within the Jewish community and Israel. While Lerner and I agree that this victimology is not a justification for Israel’s military policies but is an integral part of understanding the mindset of many Jews, I differ from Lerner in that I think divestment from Israel would be productive to the peace process and feel that there is a sizable population of Jews that are ready to see themselves as more than victims, and grapple with the reality of Israel’s power.
On birthright, we have been reminded probably ten times now that Israel is a small country – “only 9 miles wide.” While this is true, it does not speak to the reality that power does not automatically correspond to size, and it furthers the security-above-all mentality that was born out of the Jewish ideology of victimization (by the way, I am not saying that this ideology of victimization is ill conceived or not based in any reality. I am arguing that this way of thinking does not apply to Israel today, though it is still present in many Jews’ minds, and validly so).
After the Masada we were dirty, dusty and tired from our hike and dancing around in the dusty cistern during the naming and bar mitzvah ceremonies, so it was only fitting that we drove down to the Dead Sea for some cleaning off an relaxing. We went to some international beach where you could buy everything in dollars and almost all the other visitors spoke English. It was great to swim in the Dead Sea and exfoliate with the thick salt crystals that cover the lake bed. Apparently, people with skin ailments come from all over to swim in the Dead Sea and take advantage of its natural healing abilities. I must admit, after the salt and the special mud suit, my skin felt as soft and smooth as it ever has. The group and myself were pretty happy about this.
Both Israel and Jordan have lucrative businesses harvesting the healing mineral deposits from the Dead Sea . . . Hopefully in a sustainable manner. Israel seems to be leading the world in sustainable development and horticulture, so perhaps they have figured out a way to not take too much from the sea.
We drove an hour or so to the Kibbutz we would be staying at for the next two nights, ate dinner, and had the evening to ourselves.
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
We began today with a trip to the burial place of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben
The graves of David Ben Gurion and his wife Paula
Gurion. Ben Gurion had a vision to make the desert bloom, and in 1953, he left the new Israeli government and moved to a kibbutz on the Negev overlooking the beautiful Ramon Crater. This crater was not formed by a meteor but by water seeping through sandstone for millions of years slowly washing away the under layers of the ground until the whole thing collapsed in on itself.
We descended down to the crater floor to begin a hike through one of the most beautiful riverbeds I’ve ever seen. We came upon a seasonal spring that was apparently one of the only springs in this vast desert-crater landscape that produced potable water.
Over two thousand years ago, this area was controlled by the Nabataeans, a Semitic Arab people that controlled a vast network of trading posts with the main product being various perfumes. These were the people that built Petra. They were also masters of finding, hiding, and utilizing these goldmines of the desert, practicing innovative agricultural techniques in areas of the desert that afterwards went unplanted until recent times and technologically advanced systems. Then, around BCE 102, the Nabataeans seemed to have disappeared, possibly assimilated into other surrounding groups. We know of their existence in part because of the trading post structures they built approximately one days camel ride away from each other, as well as the extremely thin pottery they built – a skill that no other groups have been able to copy.
On our beautiful hike we saw and learned about the Acacia tree of the bible, it’s root system and how it was the only tree that grew in the Sinai. If you crack open certain rocks in this area you can find crystals inside. About four or five times within the first hour some planes flew by much louder than normal. We passed an IDF airforce base on the way, and I would not be surprised if there was another nearby. Even in this scenery, one does not get too lost in where they are.
After our lunch break in this dry desert riverbed, we all scattered among the rock walls to take 10 silent minutes for ourselves to be with the land and reflect on our experience so far. Though I like many people in the group, it is almost nonstop being with other people, and I jumped at the opportunity to climb the orange stone walls, clear my thoughts and be silent. There was a group in front of us making a fair amount of noise, but this did not distract from the moment. The wind sounded through the gorge and rocks clinked and rustled together as people across the Cliffside moved their feet and dislodged little rocks. I was glad that no planes flew over during this calming meditative break from the usual fast pace of the program.
On the drive back to the Kibbutz people made guesses about what our mystery after-dinner evening programming was going to be. There was somewhat of a consensus that it was gong to be some sort of mock boot camp with the IDF soldiers, and indeed they were right.
After dinner we had a few minutes to change clothes and then we were led to a parking lot where the six IDF soldiers that had joined our group two days ago were waiting for us, dressed in full military garb. We were divided into three groups and made to get in square formations and in lines of three, and to go from one to the other very quickly, with every attempt not being quick / good / straight enough. Then came the running, and then the pushups. All the authority and yelling being administered by these 19 year old soldiers was starting to make me uncomfortable, so I broke formation and walked up to the chubbier and less progressive of the two staff members and sort of teased him as to why he wasn’t out there doing pushups with us. He did not think it was okay that I was not taking this exercise seriously and said to me sternly, “what are you doing, get back in line.” Again, I somewhat playfully asked him if he didn’t want to come out and do a bunch of pushups too. He responded firmly, “I was in the army for three months, I did this shit every day, get back in line.” I got back in line but did not last long there. They had us run to the far end of the parking lot, closer to where our rooms were, and had us get down and do pushups. I did a pushup and then got up and left.
My staff’s firmness and then the continued yelling from these soldiers was not something I needed, so I just up and left. I heard later that the rest of activity was just more of the same except that at one point towards the end the group was made to repeatedly yell “I love Israel” while doing pushups or some other physical exercise. I did not see this first hand so I can’t say too much about it, but this was told to me by a friend on the trip a few days later. Although I would hardly peg her as someone with strong Palestinian sympathies or anything like that, she said that the exercise made her very uncomfortable.
Thanks for the post. Very informative and consistent with many of the things my friend reported about the birthright tour she took in 1981. However she returned believing that all Palestinians were terrorists bent on Israel’s destruction. Your desire to meet Israelis who are seeking peace coincides with a general liberalization in the U.S. with regards to human rights for all. Fortunately, American’s have matured substantially since then and possess a more nuanced view of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
I wouldn’t be so sure that farming practices in the dessert are sustainable. Notwithstanding the pleasant and sustainable sounding concept of “drip irrigation”, the practice that is credited with making the dessert bloom, farming in a dessert uses huge amounts of water as compared to less arid lands. Ask a Palestinian farmer what he or she thinks about Israel’s use of water and you will likely get a very different point of view.