Chilean miners to get heroes’ welcome in Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, News, Religion, Social Justice, Travel
Israel will be getting some important visitors this week when 31 of the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped for 68 days underground last year are due to arrive for a week-long tour as guests of the Tourism Ministry.
The miners and their families will be given the red carpet treatment, with an emphasis on Christian holy sites and national institutions.
After an official welcome by Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov, the entourage will have a packed itinerary, including visits to the Old City where they’ll see a number of churches and the Kotel, and visits to the Knesset and Yad Vashem. On Saturday they plan to tour Bethlehem, and next week head to Masada and the Dead Sea, Nazareth, Megiddo, the Golan Heights, Tiberias, and the Kinneret.
The visit took a while to get on the books because the miners reportedly insisted that their spouses also get their ticket and expenses paid for by their Israeli hosts. And seeing the tourism and PR advantage, the government finally coughed up the budget for the whole group, numbering 68.
Tourism pros in Israel have been targeting South American tourists more aggressively in recent years, even as South American countries line up to recognize a Palestinian state. According to the Forward’s Nathan Burstein, for several years, GoIsrael.com, the country’s official tourism website, has been available in Spanish and Portuguese, and last month the Tourism Ministry announced the creation of a new pilgrimage itinerary catering to Catholic tourists focusing on the life of the Virgin Mary.
Whether the miners’ visit will open up the floodgates of tourists from Chile and neighboring countries or not, their visit will likely be a heartfelt and unforgettable experience for those who suffered such a huge trauma not so long ago. So if you see them on the street, give them a hug.
When birthright met the IDF
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, education, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Travel
The reunited cousins
Daughter Sarit serving in the IDF was in Jerusalem for four days as part of a commander’s course – her unit visited historical sites in the Old City, educational facilities like Yad Vashem and had classroom time at the hostel they boarded in near the Holocaust museum in the neighborhood of Bayit Vegan.
Returning to the hostel after a day’s activities, the soldiers encountered around five groups of American college-age youth here on their Taglit (birthright) trip who had just arrived at their Jerusalem base, the same hostel.
Amid the culture clash and the general excitement among the American kids at seeing live Israeli soldiers in their midst, Sarit happened to notice a familiar face in the crowd.
“Melissa!” she shouted. And a young woman looked over and screamed “Sarit” and they ran to each other in embrace. Melissa is Sarit’s cousin from Long Island, the daughter of my wife’s first cousin. They had spent some time together a couple summers ago, and had kept in touch via facebook.
We knew Melissa was in the country and were planning to see her the following night, but we had no idea at that point where she was staying in Jerusalem. A quick call home from Sarit with a “guess who I just saw” informed us as to her whereabouts.
Like Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, of all the youth hostels and hotels in Jerusalem, the two cousins from Long Island and Jerusalem had to walk into the same one.
They spent the evening catching up and introducing their respective friends to each other, integrating the young Americans and Israelis. For both sides, it was likely an interesting education and one that will do wonders for understanding their shared and disparate cultures and backgrounds.
Jerusalem is for the birds
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, Life, Travel
What would you do if you had a few hours free in Jerusalem?
That almost fictional scenario came to pass for my wife and I this week, when the planets coinicided and we both found ourselves with a free morning to play.
Of course, a delectable Israeli breakfast is a requisite start – available at any dozens of cafes and chains like Aroma, featuring lots of fresh chopped salad, a variety delectable cheeses, eggs, and strong cafe hafuch.
Then we considered a number of options. One was a spending a couple hours at the Bible Lands Museum, where we hadn’t been in many years. Another was a trip to Yad Vashem (is it only in Israel when having a good time includes going to a Holocaust museum?). We also haven’t been there in years, since the major renovation was completed. But the day was so warm, sunny and hopeful, we decided to keep that option open for another day.
Instead, we made our way to the Rose Garden, next to the Knesset and the adjacent Jerusalem Bird Observatory. Most visitors to the Knesset are probably unaware that there’s a world of nature situated so close to the legislative center of the country.
Established in 1994 by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the observatory serves as the national bird banding center. It was founded, and is directed, by nature artist Amir Balaban and ornithologist Gidon Perleman. Two hundred birds are banded every day by trained volunteers during the spring and fall migrations. You can read and see all about it in Rachel’s post here
There wasn’t a lot of action during the time we strolled around the observatory, but the environment was mesmerizing and calming. Anyone with a spare hour can find an oasis of tranquility right in the middle of Jerusalem.
Pooping out the Pope
Filed under: coexistence, General, History and Culture, Religion, Travel
Pope Benedict XVI welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres at the pope's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome in 2007.
It will mark the first visit of a pope to Israel since Pope John Paul II made a five-day pilgrimage in March, 2000.
I’m not sure who put together Pope Benedict XVI’s schedule, but even doing a quick scan of it left me breathless. It looks like somebody’s trying to poop out this pope, expecially considering he’s in his 70s.
Take a deep breath and imagine you’re in the Popemobile:
Monday, May 11
11:00 Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, Official Welcoming Ceremony
12:05 Arrival at Mount Scopus helipad, Jerusalem. Welcoming Ceremony by Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat.
16:05 Visit to the President’s Residence, joint planting of a tree in the Presidential Garden
17:30 Visit to Yad Vashem, Memorial ceremony at the Remembrance Hall; Wreath laying; Address by the Pope.
19:00 Interfaith Meeting, Notre Dame HotelTuesday, May 12
09:15 Meeting with the Mufti, Temple Mount
10:00 Visit to the Western Wall
10:35 Meeting with the Chief Rabbis, Heichal Shlomo
12:00 Visit to the Church of Dormition – site of the Last Supper
12:30 Visit and Prayer at Latin Patriarch
16:15 Mass at the Garden of GethsemaneWednesday May 13
08:00-19:00 Visit to BethlehemThursday May 14
08:30 Travel to Nazareth
09:15 Arrival in Nazareth, Welcoming Ceremony
10:00 Mass at Mount of the Precipice
15:50 Meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Church of the Annunciation
16:30 Meeting with the Faith Heads in Israel, Church of the Annunciation
17:30 Prayer at the Church of the Annunciation
19:00 Return to JerusalemFriday May 15
09:15 Meeting at the Greek-Orthodox Patriarch
10:00 Visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
13:30 Leaving Ceremony, Ben Gurion Airport
Whew! Talk about an intense four days. Let’s hope the Pope has some comfortable walking shoes.
Holocaust Remembrance Day and Durban II
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life, Politics
Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins Monday evening here, is always a solemn occasion. But this year, with the ghoulishly ironic juxtaposition of the Durban II racism conference taking place in Geneva, there’s an added measure of stark sobriety.
Even as Israelis pause to ponder the memory of the six million Jews who perished during the Nazi regime from 1933-1945, the gathering in Geneva demonstrates that there are still people who would like Israel – and by association – Jews to cease to exist.
So while Iran, Libya and the other latter day plotters gather for their bash-Israel fest, we’ll be remembering. The theme of the annual state ceremony, beginning at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial is ‘Children in the Holocaust.’ Some 1.5 million Jewish children were killed by the Nazis. As part of the theme, a 16-year-old musician will play a violin that belonged to a 12-year-old partisan, Mordechai (Motele) Schlein, killed in the Holocaust and whose violin is on display at Yad Vashem. The museum is also launching a new exhibition and material about children killed in the Holocaust – accessible on Yad Vashem’s Web site
According to a Hebrew University demographer – Professor Sergio Della Pergola – if not for the Holocaust there would be as many as 32 million Jews in the world today, instead of the current 13 million. Before the outbreak of World War II, there were an estimated 16.5 million Jews in the world.
Just imagine how the world might have been different if all the scientists, doctors, musicians and every other Jew who perished had gone on to live their full lives. We’ll never know what their impact would have been, but by refuting and condemning the lies which are going to come out of Durban II, we’ll be helping to insure that such wanton human destruction doesn’t take place again.
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