On the plane from New York to San Francisco

Our last day in Jerusalem we toured the Shrine of the Book - this is the museum where the oldest scrolls found are kept. It was a truly thrilling experience. There was an incredible amount of history to read about the Essenes and the book of Isaiah, the most complete scroll discovered, is on display. The story of the Aleppo Codex, which is the oldest version identical to our Bible today, is also contained here. I could not help but think about Mom and how she used to always talk about the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls. I appreciate the history of all these events and find it incredibly fascinating but the religiousity of all of it is lost on me, I must admit. Our experiences hiking to the Mediterranean Sea and rafting the Jordan River is where I really experienced the presence of God. The buildings, the icons, the statues, the monuments, even the Western Wall, although I appreciate them tremendously and the impact they have had on human history - this is simply not God to me.

After the Shrine of the Book, we went to the Holocaust Memorial - or Yad Vashem as it is said in Israel. This is the most incredible memorial you will ever see. Besides being the saddest thing you could ever read about and the most sobering depiction of human depravity, the way this memorial is set up is amazing. You wind in a zigzag fashion through history with hours and hours of reading, interviews, slide shows and movies about the Holocaust. It starts at the beginning to explain the development of anti-Semitism and actually walks you through the development of World War II and what happened in each country. I literally wanted to weep. We were there for many hours and all three of us were emotionally and physically exhausted when we left. It was really something to experience with Avi. He of course has heard about the Holocaust and studied it in school but he really did not understand what actually happened. None of us will ever be the same.

We had dinner with the Sagis, the family friends of the Grabers, one more night and the dinners with this family were some of the greatest highlights of the trip for me. I loved them so much. They are open, warm and intelligent and so boistrous and loving. I spent a long time talking to one of the young men, a son-in-law, who was raised on a Kibbutz in a completely secular fashion with the Zionist ideals of creating a strong, secular Jew, rather than the weak, religious Jew that was viewed to be the reason for the success of the Holocaust. I talked to him about EskDale and we had a wonderful time exchanging stories, ideas, beliefs and philosophies.

Our last couple of days we stayed at the Shefayim Kibbutz Hotel just north of Tel Aviv. This was intended to be a time to relax and enjoy but the hotel ended up being less than we had hoped. Our power went out the first night which was a good thing because the next morning, we discovered we were sharing our room with cockroaches and huge black ants. We were successfully moved to a bit nicer room the next day. Part of the "joy" of staying at this hotel was the water park the Kibbutz owns and runs which is part of the exorbitant fee you pay to stay there. We had fun but only because we were able to look past the SEA of people everywhere, this park is open to the public as well, and the cigarette butts and cockroaches that were literally floating on the waves of the wave pool. OK, you have to lower your expectations a bit in a foreign country to truly get the most out of it........and we did.

Getting on the plane yesterday in Tel Aviv was the most grueling traveling experience to date for me. It took us all of three hours to get through the never ending security measures of El Al Airlines. The flight was another 12 hours after all that. This flight was unlike any other! Half of the people were wearing keppas and probably 1/3 were extremely religious Jews. I decided if the plane went down that it would not be for lack of God being represented there! There were so many children everywhere we went and this plane was not an exception. I think the Jews are working hard to repopulate the earth! There were more toddlers and babies than you see in Utah. The plane literally hummed with noise the whole flight and the people all congregated around the middle of the plane asking for drinks and food like it was a short order restaurant! It was amazing. There is nothing organized like the American way of doing things. When we got to our hotel in New York, I wanted to kiss my bed. Clean sheets, clean bathroom, so wonderful!

Things I love about Israel: 1. The food. 2. The people are warm and intelligent almost everywhere you go. 3. The food. 4. God is everywhere and is part of everyday life in a very natural way for most of the people. 5. The food. 6. The place is rich with history everywhere you look. 7. The food. 8. The coffee. 9. The Sea - Mediterranean, Dead and Red - all marvelous and wonderful - warm and beautiful. 10. The desert landscapes feed your soul in a way nothing else can.
Things I don't like about Israel: 1. Cockroaches that are 3 inches long! 2. People smoke everywhere and there are cigarette butts everywhere. 3. They aren't nearly as clean as America with public places. 4. The hotels are exorbitantly expensive and dirty. 5. Swimming pools close at 5 p.m. even when it is 110 degrees outside. 6. Too many extremely religious people everywhere for my taste. 7. It is noisy all the time everywhere. People only know one volume and it is LOUD.


This will be my last blog. If you have been reading, I hope you have enjoyed! We are looking forward to being home and I am glad to be an American, truly! The dliverse and different cultures and beliefs of the Bay Area are something I absolutely love.

Shalom.