Dead Sea and Our Guide

The Dead Sea was a playful and fun distraction. Marina shared tonight how much she enjoyed laughing and goofing around with her good friends today. She was so articulate about how wonderful and rare it is to have a whole group of people giving themselves over to enjoying and loving each other. We had a great sense of accomplishment about the physical feat of climbing Masada together, and then an even greater sense of unity as we ran together into the Dead Sea.

I mentioned we said our goodbyes to our guide today. What a job he did in framing the trip for us, in creating an environment that is both critical and forgiving of all sides. For three days, he explained and elaborated without sharing much of his personal politics. By this morning he had gotten to know us well enough, and he knew he had won our trust, so he began to tell us more about himself and his views. After we had climbed Masada and ridden the cable car down, we were all standing together at the bottom waiting for our bus to come pick us up. He began talking about how the inspiration of Masada and its physical beauty are often used by Israel as a mythic metaphor to reinforce in children and soldiers the idea that Israel is always under attack, under siege, surrounded by enemies, outnumbered, and need to take extreme measures to protect themselves. Masada is their "Remember the Alamo." Our guide said he thinks this is unfortunate and unnecessary. He then asked us a little about our experience at Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum). He said he had worked their for several years leading tours, and that he had almost gotten fired, but the tour guide coordinator was "too nice" to fire him. At the end of the tours, guides typically bring up the State of Israel, and make a pitch for how essential it is for the state to ensure that this happens, "never again." Our guide used to talk to his tour groups about some of the atrocities that were committed by Jews, even by Survivors, leading up to 1948. He explained to us that most conservative Jews feel that, in light of the Holocaust (and all of history leading up to it), Israel must be strong and tough, never give in, never concede, must always show strength, and is justified in using any means necessary in order to uphold their slogan, Never Again. On the left however, people often criticize Israel by saying, "How can Israel, of all countries, after all that the Jews have been through, turn around commit atrocities on others. Jews should know better. Our guide said he doesn't think either point of view is helpful or valid. He makes this point in his programs: The Jews are a traumatized people. Being traumatized doesn't automatically make you into a better human being. In fact, trauma often makes people act worse than they otherwise would. Children who are abused often grow up to be parents who abuse their own children. This does not condone the actions of the Jews, but it does help to explain them in a compassionate light, while holding them accountable for their actions.

I am so grateful that we all got to know this extraordinary young man. I hope our paths will cross in the future.

But don't get me started about the camel.

We also went back to East Jerusalem this afternoon for a little shopping. We were very successful. Almost everyone found something they liked either for themselves as gifts for parents, boy/girlfriends, siblings, etc. Some in the group are quite adept at bargaining, which is expected in the markets. Finally, all that rude training and rude practice have begun to pay off! Parents, you've done so well!

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for the south at 7 am. We don't know yet whether we will have internet connectivity, so we might not be posting for a couple days. Don't panic.

And just a note to those of you who don't already know. The photo on the banner of the blog is Kyle and Leib making a sandwich out of Jazzy in the middle.

Finally, some more photos of us in the markets of East Jerusalem and then at dinner: