May 21, 2007

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May 18, 2007

Tonight is Shabbat. (Almost) all stores and restaurants close before 6:00 PM so extended families can rush home to have their Shabbat dinners. I like it around 6:30 when the sun is going down and it’s so much quieter in Tel Aviv. Friday evening is known as Erev Shabbat. The city slows down… except for the beach. I walked my normal running route along the promenade at the beach so that I could take some photos and see what people are really doing. I have always been impressed with area south of the former Dolphinarium disco and north of Jaffa. There is a very nice park on the sea. Is has nice rolling hills and lots of grass. There, it’s the Israel that I like to see: Arab Israelis barbecuing along side of Jewish families. Jaffa has a huge Arab population and it’s nice to see them picnicking at sunset and smoking their hookah pipes. A little further north, behind the former Dolphinarium, is the drummer’s beach where dozens of hand-drummers bring their African drums and jam at the edge of a jetty. Only a hundred yards away is a beach bar that is packed with Israelis dancing in the sand to nightclub thumping base music. All of this was tonight just before Shabbat begins.

I have run to Jaffa so many times but I always get a little spooked by the ghosts as I run by the Dolphinarium where a couple of dozen kids were killed by the suicide terrorist a few years ago. The building sits on the beach but pretty much seems abandoned. Speaking of spooky: A woman from my Hebrew class told me yesterday about when she was walking on my street and was ½ block from her apartment and a couple of blocks from mine. She heard a thud and then screaming. She turned around to see a dead 17 year old that had committed suicide from 4 stories up to land on the street only 30 feet or so from her. Blood was coming out of his nose, ears and mouth. His mom was next to him on the ground when he landed. The mother was hysterical, of course. The girl from my class told me I could see the spot as there was salt on the area to absorb the blood. What really fascinated me was that she told me that this was the second time someone has jumped to their death around her. The first landed on her balcony in Miami. How often do people jump to their death in your presence. Who attracts this? Strange energy there. I feel uncomfortable around her anyway. There are now signs posted around the neighborhood about the death.

Today, I volunteered with an organization called Friends for Israel. I was told that I would go to Sderot, the city just outside of Gaza. It is a relatively poor town that has been getting bombed my hundreds of Qassam rockets over the past week or so. We were to entertain the kids that were in bomb shelters and maybe help decorate the shelters. Instead, they sent us to Netanya where many families from Sderot had been evacuated. These were the poorer families that had no where to go. Some had already had their homes damages by the rockets. They used a military resort that soldiers could use when they needed a furlough. The even was well planned with inflatable toys, balloons, ice cream, etc. I played Frisbee and soccer with a lot of kids. It was just to show that there are people to do care about what is happening to them. I was told that they feel isolated and that the rest of the country just goes about their business while they get bombed.

I think the Israeli military is in a difficult position. All of the media seems to lean toward Israel taking overzealous reactions. Israelis feel that if one rocket had landed in Florida from Cuba, we would decimate Cuba. Israel is not in Gaza and Hamas runs the government. Israel clearly feels that Hamas only understands violence. So, Israel surgically takes out Hamas members while Hamas tries to kill random civilians. They feel the media always slants toward their taking out those that attack their civilians while they have thousands that have fled their homes due to the provocative rocket attacks on civilians.

I am trying to discern why Israelis have this harsh shell around them. They tell me that it is partially because of the last Intifada. You had to be schizophrenic to get by. Twice a day you would hear or hear of a bomber somewhere in Israel (again, a country that is 1/7th the size of Georgia). Often, it would blow in an area where you were walking just a couple of minutes before. Yet, you had to live your life and go to work. No matter how safe you thought you were, you always had to be ready to face the reality that you could be killed, lose and eye, arm, be burned, etc. at any moment. Now, most restaurants and stores have the added expense of a security guard with a metal detector at their entrances. That does not matter though as there are so many ripe targets that are outside where you can get maximum carnage.

Prices are approximately the same as the USA here as far as living goes. However, wages are about half. There is much greater unemployment as well. I believe there is a feeling that they are struggling to get by and to have a decent life. Seemingly, most Israelis travel abroad after they do their military service. Many have seen other countries that are developed and know how life can be. In such a tiny country, you have to get out at some time in your life.

So, I have been here over a month. I don’t love the city yet. Yet, I have not travelled as I really don't feel like wandering alone. I've done that a lot in my life and that's not what I need. I have not found a group of friends to hang out with yet. Should I stay? My friend, Rabbi Adam Frank lives in Jerusalem and suggests that might be a better spot for me. I have another few weeks where I have paid rent here. I’ll start thinking about my next move in a week or so.

Randy