My First Few Days in Israel

5 Minute Read

Israel, day one:

I have been a passenger for the last 19 hours. I caught a flight from Houston to Toronto, then switched planes and headed into to Israel. As I write this sentence, I am riding a train from the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv north to Haifa where I’ll live for the next 3 months in someone else’s home. I have been in Israel for close to 2 hours now and have already met a Trump supporter, witnessed a sporadic shofar blast session, and watched a man berate another much louder man for being obnoxious on his cell phone in public. And, as impressive as it was to hear a ram’s horn being blown just a few feet away from me, in the place that invented blowing rams’ horns no less, the award for "Israeli Who Best Lived Up to My Expectations of What an Israeli Is" goes to "Critical Man on the Train" for his role in "Public Cell Phone Beratement".

Being a train passenger is completely different from being a passenger on an airplane. Firstly, the act of riding a train doesn’t set me into an irrational panic. I am in contact with the earth regardless of the duration or destination. Second, everyone has a window seat. If you’ve ever had the unfortunate luck of being seated on a flight next to a window hog or, worse still, a shade-puller-downer, you know why I mention the beauty of the train window. It’s what makes the train worth using. Without windows, you’re just a weirdo on a junky old machine going unnecessarily slow, usually facing backwards, stopping at places you don’t need to be.   

Israel, day two:

I might start logging my entries by miles rather than days. Honestly, I need to start giving my calves a pep talk in the morning before I got out for the day. Today, I’ve walked about 3 miles which doesn’t sound impressive until you factor in Haifa’s terrain. I’ll draw you a picture: ^-v^v--^-v^ 
So, you see, it’s not the distance so much as the inclines and declines. This city is beautiful, but it makes you work for it. My tasks today included my weekly reading and contribution to a nonviolence and conflict resolution course I’m taking online, getting a tour of Carmel Center by my Airbnb host and her 2-year-old daughter, finding the best pizza in town, learning the numbers for the local buses, and buying essentials (hummus, olive oil, za’atar, and bread).
 
The tour was lovely. It included a stop off at a local park, Gan Haem, and Hebrew lessons. I have been working on my Hebrew every day, which might sound obvious since I am in Israel, but you truly can get by without Hebrew or Arabic here. English is totally acceptable, Russian works, and (of course) dirty looks always translate. Aside from the park, we had lunch at Bruno Pizza, which my host boasted is the best pizza in the area. I took her word for it and was not disappointed. She did warn me that Haifa has fewer kosher shops than other Israeli cities so I should keep my eyes peeled to make sure I don’t accidentally eat meat. Unfortunately, I don’t know enough Hebrew to appropriately indicate anger, should the need arise, nor have I committed the word “refund” to memory. Basically, that would just be a horrible experience altogether and I hope it never becomes a reality. With kosher pizza shops such an event is impossible since meat and dairy are never served together. The way God intended, according to my kosher friends.
 
We easily burned off the calories from lunch by walking 2 blocks. Shortly after, I went my own way to go grocery shopping in the only market open on Shabbat: My Market (מאי מרקט). I found my essentials and learned how Israeli supermarkets work. I even spoke entirely in Hebrew the four times I needed to talk to people: Do you have smaller bottles of olive oil? Where’s the za’atar? No, that’s not my basket. Is a credit card okay?
 
Nailed it.
 
After my successful market adventure, I walked to the McDonald’s a few blocks/hills away to loiter just long enough to upload some photos, say good morning to my wife back in Texas, and catch up on emails and social media. Oh, did I mention I have no international plan on my cell phone? Turns out my Verizon plan is limited and I need to get a new device before I can purchase an international sim card. So, I get by on free Wi-Fi. I know several good spots already and I haven’t even been here long enough to experience the city when shops are open. Besides, I have enough to pay attention to without being distracted by the chimes and vibrations of my phone. The view of the Mediterranean really is something spectacular. On clear days, I’ve been told it’s possible to see Lebanon.     
 
All week there’s a free film and music festival going on. I looked at the program but I don’t recognize anything or anyone except Balkan Beat Box and A-Wa. Um, that works. Please and thank you. Tomorrow, I will wake up very early to catch a bus to a peace rally at the Dead Sea with Women Wage Peace, a grassroots movement founded after the Gaza War of 2014 (Operation Protective Edge) whose members include women from the political Right, Center, and Left, Jewish and Arab women, religious and secular women – all united to demand a political agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have to be to the right place and on time because I already reserved a seat, but if I’m not there they leave without me. Then, I’d have to figure out how in the world to get from Haifa’s central bus station to their Dead Sea "Peace Village". I promise you that seditious site doesn’t pop up on Google Maps. From the Dead Sea, we head into Jerusalem and carry on with the peace waging.
 
Tomorrow is going to be a powerful day.   
 
Israel, day four: 
 
Yesterday was a very powerful day. It actually deserves its own post, not an entry within a larger post. For that reason, I’m opting to share pictures and videos here but you can expect a separate post on the march. I woke up at 5:15 to take a local bus to the Haifa "Markez Kongressim" (basically a giant mall) and wait for the larger bus booked by Women Wage Peace. Around 7:00, the tour bus arrived, our names checked on the roster, and we made our way toward the Dead Sea in the West Bank. These photos are from that trip and include the march near the Dead Sea as well as the march through the streets of Jerusalem. The march concluded in Jerusalem's Independence Park at 21:15 and arrived back to my apartment at 01:00. 

The protest was kind of a big deal. We made the news in a few places, namely Haaretz and Al Jazeera. I would say that the organizers deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, but they seem to give that out to some pretty shady characters these days. No, these women are true promoters of peace and I could not be more proud to have stood beside them yesterday.    

UPDATE: The organization was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2023