Easter!

Easter has come and gone, but the pilgrims are still here.

Holy Week began with Palm Sunday, which I nearly forgot about until someone nearly stabbed me in the face with a palm branch as a reminder. Thank you whoever that was. The rest of the week was dominated by Passover until Good Friday. Unfortunately, I missed the procession from the Mount of Olives down through the Via Dolarosa but made up for it (slightly) by attending a "Great Saturday" procession through the Christian Quarter. It was crazy and packed and wonderful.

The next day, I went through the stations of the cross with a friend, and if there is a day to be touristy, Easter has to be it. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher (where Jesus supposedly died) was filled to the brim with pilgrims who were surprisingly rude and pushy given the holiday.

Whoever decided to combine Holy Week and Passover must have been fasting; it is impossible to find food.

Pesach Ba

It is officially the Passover (in Hebrew, Pesach) season. While this means that I have two weeks to cruise around, it is also the time for unleavened bread and seder meals has come. Consequently, since I do not particularly like matzah bread, I'll be sticking with the usual pita and sitch.

Passover brings with it a time of intense spring cleaning. Depending on the level of ones observance of Jewish law, you can ignore the avoidance of bread, or you can wipe away any trace of bread crumbs that may be in your home. Some people just choose to wrap the surfaces of their kitchen in tin foil. That's much easier.

Grocery stores have labeled the items that are kosher for Passover and some even cover the bread aisle just in case you thought about going for a Jewish Rye. Even some restaurants substitute their usual items for "Pesach friendly" meals. At fast rood joints, this means Matzaburgers and Matzacrust pizza. You can trust that I will try all of it (but I can't promise It'll be good).

In addition to all the usual fanfare, this Pesach is special because it happens to fall on the same day as the once-every-28-years Birkat Hachama festival (a coincidence that has only happened twice in the last 600 years). Apparently when the two coincide, it is a "potential harbinger of a redemptive event of cosmic proportions", and I would have to agree: in 1925, the previous instance of overlapping, the Great Gatsby was published two days later. And the time before that, 1309 CE, we all know what happened: the Earls of Northumberland bought Alnwick Castle! So even though the event happens at 3 am, I'll definitely be there.

More after it goes down...

Let's not talk about how long its been...

Yeah, it has been more than a month. I've been pretty busy with classes and my internship (both are going swimmingly). But with that out of the way, there are a few things worth mentioning since my last post:

1) Farmers in Jayyous (I transliterated the name of the village)

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet with farmers and other village leaders from the town of Jayyous, a small farming town in the northern part of the West Bank. They filled me in on there day to day difficulties arising from being occupied as well as their specific issues with the building of the Separation Barrier.

If you look at the map you can clearly see the green armistice line from the 1948 war as well as the route of the wall. A large portion of Jayyous' farmland lies on the left hand side of the wall, limiting their access to these areas as I will get to in a second. The purpose of the wall in this area is to secure land and resources for the settlement of Zufin and its planned expansion. The townspeople of Jayyous have sought legal recourse in rerouting the wall, but have met with only partial success.

If you have land that lies within the cordoned off area and you wish to visit it, there is a lengthy permit process at a distant office that one must go through in order to do so. However, this is expensive, tiresome, and usually futile exercise. For those who are actually granted a permit, it will sometimes only be for six months, or as one man showed me, just one month. If you're trying to tend to your fields and orchards, how can you do everything in one month?

To protest this, the people hold frequent demonstrations that escalate quickly to rock throwing by Palestinians and shooting of tear gas, rubber bullets and sometimes live rounds by the Israeli soldiers (or jesh in Arabic).



On a different note, I went to a St. Patrick's Day party in Bethlehem, and yes, I realize how odd that is. Especially when you consider that before the festivities began, a large number of expat activists watched a film title Bil'in Habibti that documents the issues the village of Bil'in is facing (extremely similar to Jayyous). Here is the trailer, but alas, there is no online version that I could find.

I also got a chance to go visit the Museum on the Seam, a fascinating, but ultimately depressing, museum that seeks to foster thought and dialogue concerning social issues in Israel.

See you in a month...

Huzzah!

Today I officially finished the Winter Ulpan at HU, which of course means that I am fully fluent in Hebrew. Except that I lack a large vocabulary and working knowledge of the vast majority of the language. But we still call that fluent in Hebrew right? What is the Hebrew word for fluent....?

Anyway, next week marks the beginning of real classes in English! Plus more Hebrew... I decided to go with the intensive option which involves an extra half hour a day, so we'll see how that goes. My ulpan teacher assured us that by May we would finish the book, take the level exam and move up from Aleph to Bet (Aleph-Bet! Get it?). So by then I should be fairly conversational, although they probably won't be too crazy.

Until then,

Libree-oot (which if you mispronounce, means 'noodles' instead of 'good-bye/bless you')

Phew!

So today entailed a journey to the Mount of Olives and a failed attempt at reaching the Temple Mount. It was a beautiful journey that took us along the ridge from Mount Scopus to the Mount of Olives and offering a beautiful view of Jerusalem on one side and the Jordan Valley on the other.

The view over the gravestones was an amazing one, only somewhat hindered by the waves of tourists who walked by. Yes, yes, I know that technically I am a tourist as well, but I like to think that since I am not wearing a neon colored hat signifying that I am with a group and I have a temporary residence here that I am special. Please? However, one of the benefits of the crowds is that when you show up and have no idea where to go, it is a pretty safe bet that they're going somewhere mildly interesting. In this case, all the places they were going to were closing for noon time services. Being stranded, Mike and I decided to head to the Old City (spitting distance) until the Churches reopened. Just outside the city walls and opposite the Jewish cemetery on the Mt of Olives was a small Arab cemetery. Our interest piqued, we went in.

Before delving into what happened, let me explain a few things:

A) Like most cemeteries, there was only one entrance.
B) Also like most cemeteries, the area was surrounded by a spiked fence to keep unwanted visitors out. Not to mention the HUGE Old City walls.
C) If I've learned anything from reading other travelers' exploits, you avoid crowds when you are in the area of an occupied people.
D) If you have to be in a crowded area, avoid at all costs funeral processions. You have no idea how that person died, and if it was at the hands of a military that is somewhat funded by your country of residence, your presence will not be greatly appreciated.

In case you haven't figured out what happened, right as I was about to pull out my camera and show off my shutter happiness to the residents of the Muslim Quarter, the rushing sound of feet hit our ears as well as shouts and I think muted sorrowful wailing. It took me a second to figure out what was going on, and then a huge crowd of people came rushing through the gate (which was only slightly larger than a doorway) carrying on their head a large green box which held a body. So we moved ourselves as far away from the gate, and thankfully the crowd headed to a different part of the cemetery. We caught a few hostile or confused glances, but luckily that was it.

From there we squeezed out the gate and headed to the Temple Mount, but not before I stopped to get some pepperoni pizza (on Shabbat even!) at a really good restaurant in the Old City. We found the entrance, and were told that the only time we would have a chance at actually getting on to was from 7:30 to 10:30 on Sunday mornings. It'll be rough waking up that early, but definitely worth it.

Thats all for now. Pictures will be up later. Ulpan tomorrow at 9. Blegh.

Election Day

Yesterday, as you may know, was election day. And given the importance of recent events, I think it merits a post and some thought. If you haven't had a chance to read up on the candidates, this is one of the better collection of their profiles.

While unofficial, it seems as though Kadima (Forward) received 28 votes, Likud (Consilidation) got 27, Beit Yisrael (Israel Our Home) received 15, Labour got 13, and the rest of the 120 seats are dispersed among smaller parties on both the left and right. Perhaps the biggest development, even though few were surprised, was the usurpation of the Labour party by Beit Yisrael. When Israel was first founded, Labour dominated the Knesset for several decades until the rise of Likud. Beit Yisrael was established only ten years ago in response to the Wye Accords and its success apparently reflects a move of Israeli's to the right.

If we were to place the four parties on a political spectrum from left to right, there would be Labour, Kadima in the center, and then Likud and Beit Yisrael. Despite Kadima's plurality, it looks as though its leader, Tzipi Livni, will be unable to form a coalition government from the results (especially if the smaller rightest parties outnumber their left counterparts). This means that President Shimon Peres may ask Netanyahu, the leader of Likud to form a government instead, which there is precedent for (and thanks to Israel's lack of a constitution, he can ask whoever he think will have the most success).

The prospect of a Likud headed government with a strong B.Y. presence personally worries me for the effect that it could have on Palestinians living both in Israel and Palestine. The recent Israeli offensive in Gaza was initiated by the current government that consists of mostly Labout and Kadima members who were, in part, attempting to sway voters worried about security to them instead of Likud and Beit Yisrael. It sort of worked, but not really (as the results clearly show). Since the overwhelming majority of Israeli's supported what happened in Gaza, at least initially, I fear that with a rightist coalition, the situation could get worse before it gets better. Perhaps one man's opinion (and I do realize that this is only one man) embodies what scares me:

"There was a time when we would give up every time the Arabs made trouble," he said. "That's over now, and we're going to take a tougher line with them." (JPost).

Back to B'lem

As I sit here drinking a small glass of Bethlehem wine, I realize that I completely forgot to post my most recent adventure in what is fast becoming my favorite place (for now).

Last Saturday (Shabbat) was Mike’s birthday, and being that the whole city shuts down, we decided that we’d head over to see some holy sites in “the world’s most famous small town”. Took the Damascus (Arab) bus down to the Old City and from there it was a straight shot to Bethlehem (via another bus of course). Roundtrip, the whole thing was $5 USD, which is significantly less any other options, of which there are none. Since there are few formal bus stops along the route, the driver dropped us off at the “last” stop, aka random spot in the city. Thankfully, after a few minutes of wandering we got to a spot that I recognized from my brief expedition last time and proceeded to the Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity. Upon arriving at the church and ducking under the 4 foot door, we were approached by a man named Naif (sp?) who, largely without our asking, proceeded to give us a tour. While I was skeptical at first, he proved his worth within minutes, by showing us the spot where Mary gave birth and the manger that she laid Jesus in (somehow I missed it the first time). He also informed us that it was OK to take pictures, so you can check those out on Picasa.

I was surprised at the significance that the church held for me. I’ve always been a little hesitant when it comes to relic, pilgrimages, etc., yet even with everything that I’ve gone through religiously speaking, I was extremely moved by the site. Weird.

Anyway, Naif proved himself again by sneaking us into house of St. Jerome that lies below the church and at the time of our visitation was closed off. However, Naif hurried us down for a look. In case you didn’t know, like me before I got there, St. Jerome spend some thirty odd years translating the Bible from Aramaic to Latin. The Roman Catholic Church thanked him by taking his bones from the tomb in Bethlehem and whisking them away to the Vatican. So now its empty…

After showing us the Church, Naif insisted on taking us to a shop that had “good prices” (the catch of having him guide us). The lady who worked there, curiously named Mary, offered us (fantastic) tea and coffee and showed off here wares. I was initially struck by how amazing the prices were: 80 shekels for an olive wood carving and 150 shekels for a silver statue of Samson. To my shock and horror, due to the frequency of American tourists, all the prices were in US dollars, or four times what I thought. Even with this Mike still bought the statue of Samson, which was beautiful, but only after he got Naif to talk to the real shop owner, Joseph (hmmmmmm), and lower the price a little.

Naif then rushed us to the Milk Grotto, where Mary, Joseph and Jesus hid from Herod before fleeing to Egypt. Apparently, Mary was breast feeding Jesus while Joseph was dreaming of Egypt, and a precious four drops hit the ground, turning the stone of the cave white. While the shrine was beautiful, I think this is a good example of why I am a little doubtful about this kind of thing.

Mike and I finally pried ourselves away from Naif’s services, but only after paying him a “suggested tip” of 90 shekels. He kindly pointed us in the direction of Shepherds’ Field (“one mile that way and then left”) and we opted to walk instead of taking a bus. This was the second best decision we made on the whole trip. Not only did we make a couple of wrong turns thanks to forks in the road, but we completely forgot the “turn left” portion of Naif’s directions and three miles later were on the other side of Beit Sahour, a neighboring village. I say this was a good decision because we got to see parts of the city that most visitors probably don’t get a chance to see, and maybe don’t want to. We also got to interact with some interesting people, my personal favorite being a group of kids who wanted to shake hands with us and try out a little bit of English. Since Mike was just getting over a bad virus he refrained from shaking, turning their initial looks of fun into faces of offence. I therefore made sure to quickly shake all their hands and use extremely basic English to talk to them and redirect ourselves to Shepherds’ Field (we were going the wrong way again). We also came by a number of Fatah security outposts that we hurriedly passed. Finally, out stubbornness gave way and we took a bus two miles back to where we wanted to go, and therefore costing us twice what we would have paid if we took the bus the first time.

Apparently there are multiple Shepherds’ Fields, a Catholic one, an Orthodox one, and one more that I currently forget. We went to the Catholic one. This was the best decision that we made. While the chapel was pretty and the grounds gorgeous, right next door were excavations on a Byzantine chapel from (if my reading of the Roman numerals was right) the 4^th century. The gate was open and no one was guarding the area, so we headed on in to check it out. And the further we walked, the more there was to see. There were caves and assembly areas, which are still in use, and what looked like an old congregation area, although we really didn’t know. One thing was for sure: we needed to come back with flashlights and Indiana Jones hats.

And with that, we headed out of B’lem, but not before getting some wine from the local monastery, which is delicious and only nine dollars. And with that its time for bed because I have Ulpan bright and early tomorrow for 5 wonderful hours….

Pictures on Picasa are under "Second Trip to Bethlehem"

(also, thanks go out to Mike for letting me use his blog as a refresher. If you want a much more detailed account, check it out at http://exploratorius.wordpress.com/)