Peg and Sid's blog: Visitors' week 1

We're making up for lost time. It was a very busy week.

Last Friday our friends Bill and Jane Behrmann arrived from Washington. Friday is not a day anyone should land in Israel. The airport was a zoo and they couldn't get a sherut (shared ride) to Jerusalem. They wound up sharing a taxi, and split the 400 shekel cost. A sherut would have been 65 shekels each, which is why everyone wants to take one. We also had Linda and Craig Smith, who were at the tail end of their first trip to Jordan and Israel, join us for dinner.

I enjoy cooking here. It's a challenge figuring out how to compensate for not having a cuisinart, immersion blender and whisk. Or a decent knife. It's amazing what can be done with a less than fully equipped kitchen.

Table set for Shabbat dinner

I walked over to the King David to pick up Linda and Craig, and we had a lovely walk back. Friday night in Jerusalem is unique. This might be the only city in the world where a siren goes off 40 minutes before sundown to alert people that it's time to light candles. It's very peaceful, without traffic and street noise. On our walk back to the apartment they were amazed at how quiet the city is, especially since they spent the previous Shabbat in Tel Aviv, which doesn't stop for anything.

I wasn't sure how long Bill and Jane would last, having travelled for 24 hours, but the 6 of us had such a good time we paid no attention to the clock. And there was lots to talk about, especially since Linda grew up a block from where Bill's father had lived. The world keeps getting smaller. It was 1130PM when we realized how late it was. Jane was a trooper; she came along when we walked Linda and Craig back to the King David.

Everyone slept in Saturday morning, but we went for a nice walk in the afternoon. The weather continues to be gorgeous. As often as I say we need the rain, I'm far from complaining about the beautiful weather. It's 80 as I write this. Saturday night we met at the Rimon to celebrate Eli's birthday.

Batsheva and Eli

Bill brought a long list of places they want to visit. A brief summary of this week: Israel Museum, Bible Lands Museum, City of David, the Shuk, Ben Yehuda, and the Mount Herzl cemetery.

Mount Herzl, which we've all been to, is the national cemetery of Israel. In addition to Theodore Herzl, many of the founding fathers and prime ministers are there. It's also a military cemetery, with sections for fallen soldiers from all of Israel's wars. It's a very large cemetery, with clearly marked sections, so you'd think there would be a directory of graves. But no.

We went there on Sunday in search of Esther Callingold's grave. Esther was an idealistic young (20 years old) Zionist who came to what was then British Mandatory Palestine. She died in the 1948 War of Independence. Her legacy to the world was a letter she had written to her parents back in England, telling them not to mourn if she didn't survive the war because she was doing something she passionately believed in. It's a story that's hardly known unless you've read O Jerusalem, but one that shouldn't be a footnote of history. She represents many idealistic Zionists of all ages and origins who came here to make the dream of a Jewish state a reality. We didn't find her grave, but the search was very meaningful. Grave stones in Israel aren't the stand-up headstones we're used to. They lie flat on the grave, and they have very simple inscriptions: Name, date and place of birth, date and circumstances of death. What stands out is how young most of them were and how many different countries they came from.

Fall colors at Mount Herzl

Now that the academic year has started, it's tiyul (trip) season. Once a month Batsheva and I go on a tiyul lead by one of the professors at the open university. He's remarkable. A brilliant academic with the personality of a guide. His trips to even the most inconsequential places are fascinating. This trip was to a town called Pardes Hannah, kibbutz Ein Shemer and a guy who makes passion fruit liquor. I can't say I was overly excited about Pardes Hannah, other than their collection of Torah scrolls including one that survived Kristallnacht.

The kibbutz, on the other hand, was fascinating. This is the sort of kibbutz that tourists should visit if they want to know what kibbutzim are all about. It was founded by 15 people from Poland in 1925. Conditions were terrible. There was no water source; water had to be brought from Pardes Hannah by donkey or camel. There were swamps, snakes and malaria. But the founders were determined, and in spite of the fundamental changes that have taken place in the kibbutz movement over the past 40 years (the shift from children's houses and communal meals being the most striking), it's still thriving as an agricultural enterprise. They grow cotton, avocados and wheat and they have dairy herds. We toured the fields by tractor.

The original gate, still the main entrance to the kibbutz

One of the original buildings

Gideon, a kibbutz member, with photos and a model of the kibbutz in 1925

The main building where everything took place. It was the dining room, meeting room and office.

Dairy cattle. Happily they are free to roam about. Not a tether in sight and no force feeding.

The tractor tour.

From the kibbutz we continued to meet the Passion Fruit Man. He has a computer and engineering background, not exactly what you'd expect for someone who makes booze. He inherited some land that had passion fruit vines and one fine day decided to try making brandy. After many trials and errors he came up with a formula and method and great results. Someone encouraged him to enter a wine contest in New York and he won double gold. I bought 4 bottles. The stuff is good.