found in el al 's magazine:
"May it be Thy will, Lord of Heaven and Earth,to lead us to peace and safety. To fly us in peace and safety to our desired destination, to find life, joy and peace. Guard and watch us who fly the air routes and cross the seaways and travel overland passes. Make firm the hands that guide the steering and sustain their spirit, so that they may lead us in peace and safety. For you alone is our shelter from now unto eternity. The Lord bless thee, keep thee, the Lord makes His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. the Lord turn his face unto thee, and give thee peace. Amen.
when any of us travel...why not say a prayer?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
israel's feeling of home
"yesh hargasha shel bayit ba'avir" - there is a feeling of home in the air. - el al's (airlines) magazine. "we do everythig so that you will feel the most at home in the world. we are inviting you to enjoy the instant soup "names bacos" because for a good soup you don't need mother."
"we'll make you feel at home anywhere in israel" (for all of you non israelis, israel still wants you to feel at home) an advertisment for Eldan rent a car company.
"we'll make you feel at home anywhere in israel" (for all of you non israelis, israel still wants you to feel at home) an advertisment for Eldan rent a car company.
that home thing
first stop the ancient, fortified city of rhodes (on the island of rhodes, greece).
i enter the city in a small car driven by besara, an aussie lady (father from ghana) who has been living here for 15 years and owns and runs a bar "besara". she is talking non stop to her friend claudia, who she has picked up at the airport . claudia is a swiss lady, who has been living in rhodes for 15 years, she has just returned from a visit to her lover who lives in sardenia. they are gabbing about sex on his yacht as i bounce around the back seat with a box of wine bottles. i am unimpressed by anything i see out the window, but am loving the conversation from the front seat.
we enter thru one of the 11 remaining gates into the city the knights of st john built..starting in 1309. okay, now i am paying attention as the car barely scrapes by these ancient sandstone walls. besara drives like she has beem living here 15 years, no fear. vespas careen past us, but no one is shaken up and claudia is giggling has besara shares the latest gossip from town.
we stop. besara removes wine bottles. i remove my pack. i leave it in her very nice bar. she grabs her vespa, me on the back and off we go to the "walk in". the local bar/restaurant/backgammon tournament/hangout/for both locals and ex-pats. george, a greek national returnee from canada, shows me ugly rooms above the bar. i begin exploring as besara sits for a cider. i jog up narrow, cobblestoned roads, archways over my head, turning corners and hoping i will figure out how to get back to my pack. the Andreas Hotel ! aha! I enter a darling courtyard, mosaics formed in the cobblestone, an orange tree and geraniums. anna shows me ALL the rooms, i choose room 23. there is a sitting room with a fridge, small marble table, a bathroom, the room with the bed looks out onto one of the many minarets from the time of sultan suliman the magnificent, 1522 (when he ousted the knights of st john). i ask anna if there is an electric teapot. now i have to find my way back to...besara's ..and there is my pack in the corner. on my back..thanks to besara and billy the barman and i am on my way to my ..next home.
there are those that love to shop for souvenirs and confronted with this town that is one of the first things they might do...well...i headed out to make my room a home...out thru st johns gate, stone bridge over the old moat (this was a waterless moat) as the vespas and small cars zip by me, out thru anther gate...down into new town, over to spano's. the big grocery store. i buy tomatoes, cucumbers, honey, yogurt, olive oil, oregano, jam and of course FETA CHEESE. a small bunch of anemones for my table. when i get back anna has placed an electric teapot and 2 mugs on my marble table.
i begin to unpack.
i enter the city in a small car driven by besara, an aussie lady (father from ghana) who has been living here for 15 years and owns and runs a bar "besara". she is talking non stop to her friend claudia, who she has picked up at the airport . claudia is a swiss lady, who has been living in rhodes for 15 years, she has just returned from a visit to her lover who lives in sardenia. they are gabbing about sex on his yacht as i bounce around the back seat with a box of wine bottles. i am unimpressed by anything i see out the window, but am loving the conversation from the front seat.
we enter thru one of the 11 remaining gates into the city the knights of st john built..starting in 1309. okay, now i am paying attention as the car barely scrapes by these ancient sandstone walls. besara drives like she has beem living here 15 years, no fear. vespas careen past us, but no one is shaken up and claudia is giggling has besara shares the latest gossip from town.
we stop. besara removes wine bottles. i remove my pack. i leave it in her very nice bar. she grabs her vespa, me on the back and off we go to the "walk in". the local bar/restaurant/backgammon tournament/hangout/for both locals and ex-pats. george, a greek national returnee from canada, shows me ugly rooms above the bar. i begin exploring as besara sits for a cider. i jog up narrow, cobblestoned roads, archways over my head, turning corners and hoping i will figure out how to get back to my pack. the Andreas Hotel ! aha! I enter a darling courtyard, mosaics formed in the cobblestone, an orange tree and geraniums. anna shows me ALL the rooms, i choose room 23. there is a sitting room with a fridge, small marble table, a bathroom, the room with the bed looks out onto one of the many minarets from the time of sultan suliman the magnificent, 1522 (when he ousted the knights of st john). i ask anna if there is an electric teapot. now i have to find my way back to...besara's ..and there is my pack in the corner. on my back..thanks to besara and billy the barman and i am on my way to my ..next home.
there are those that love to shop for souvenirs and confronted with this town that is one of the first things they might do...well...i headed out to make my room a home...out thru st johns gate, stone bridge over the old moat (this was a waterless moat) as the vespas and small cars zip by me, out thru anther gate...down into new town, over to spano's. the big grocery store. i buy tomatoes, cucumbers, honey, yogurt, olive oil, oregano, jam and of course FETA CHEESE. a small bunch of anemones for my table. when i get back anna has placed an electric teapot and 2 mugs on my marble table.
i begin to unpack.
Friday, March 13, 2009
just a bit about HOME
all along, since the moment of my arrival i have been mental noting things i wanted to share about israel. the little things, like, right at the start, the arrival at Ben Gurion airport. It is a long,wide walkway from your gate, through an atrium like hall, complete with indoor fountain, cafes and luxurious duty free shops...the walls are lined with beautiful posters from each of Israel's independence day celebrations. I am walking (and walking and walking), taking it all in, excited to be here.....there are huge windows showing me the tall date palms blowing fronds and a large sign designed into the grass "Welcome Home"!!!!!!! you see? , not " Welcome to Israel" (well, maybe there was a sign like that somewhere) but "Welcome Home". Israel is certainley welcoming to it's tourists...needs them and has been improving her treatment of them...but Israel wants her citizens (or potential citizens) to know they have arrived home.
Today, i jotted down something i noticed israelis would say when, while making plans to come over to their homes "we're here", "I'm here", = it's okay, we're not going anywhere until you get here, take your time, we're waiting......
and all my friends said it...and they are all very different from different streams of israeli culture....and i loved the way it made me feel when they said it....
there are all these incentives in celebration of israel's 60th anniversary, to get "yordim" (those who have emigrated out of israel, literal translation "those who have gone down") to return to israel. there are tax breaks, help with job finding, free medical etc...people keep asking me if i will be taking advantage of these...no...i am not staying.
by the way....those who immigrate TO israel are called.....uhuh "olim" = those that go up. get it?!
One goes up to Israel.
people keep encouraging me to "buy something in israel..you know a home...you should always have a little something to return to".
Israel is big on "Home". El Al airlines talks of "coming home" in their jingles.
there is a soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been in capitivity with the Hamas for over 2 years now. and great controversy on how to "bring him home". during the last elections, when they counted the soldiers ballots ...they found Gilad's name written on a blank slip of paper, instead of one of the various names of one of the various parties......
there is such a sense of shared fate in this country. she's small, israel. with lots of controversy, diversity,extremism, fury, pressure. a constant pulsing...pushing forward...out in the street, in the public places, an undercurrent of ...anxiety? the common responsive phrase when asked "Ma nishma?" = "what's heard?" is "yihiye beseder" = " it will be allright" .....
"the economy is terrible; factories are closing, tens of thousands people out of work, the grads/scuds and kassams are still falling on the western negev from gaza, no water, no government as yet.....but (they say) "zeh ma yesh" = " this is what there is....it will be allright". very zen. then they dart in front of you in line. bring their front bumper up against your rear bumper on the freeway at 120 km per hour while flashing lights and honking. interupt you when you are asking anyone anything...because they are "in a hurry". double park behind you to go to the atm machine.....meantime you ask them to move and they get angry and insulted " hey all i needed was to go get money..can't you wait? Ma karah? = "what happened?"....entitled hand gestures and loud voices.
and I? I use the voice and the gestures to deal with it....i can match the intensity but it's not the quality of intensity i want to cultivate ...it's "interesting" to see how it sets me on the defensive...instinctively. most of us here in israel walk in readiness. it's a country on alert. you may be home. but you're not really safe.
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