While waiting at Paris De Gaulle Airport at 3 am for my delayed El Al flight, I met a woman from Jerusalem. She communicated with me using paper and pen. I even met an Orthodox rabbi via paper and pen… the problem was that… he only knew French and Hebrew while I only knew English. Naturally I tried to introduce myself to him by writing my Hebrew name in Hebrew.
He pondered for a few seconds and then smiled and shook my hands.
L-R: Jimmy, Bert, Shermay & Erick
The security cordoned off the El Al check in counters and set up four stands. I found out it was for the Disraeli Inquisition” people as my friend, Jimmy and I put it in this way bluntly later while in Israel. A crude reference to the’ Spanish Inquisition due to the Israelis’ method of questioning the passengers which is very thorough before they could check in and board the plane.
It was my turn for the Israeli Inquisition, I explained to the woman that I am Deaf. She called another woman who took me to a stand and wrote questions:
“Was the backpacked packed by yourself end no one else?,
“Was the backpack under your supervision all the time from the packing to check in?”,
“Why are you going to Israel?”
“Do you have any relatives in Israel?”
“Where in Israel do you intend to go to?”,
“How long have you been in Europe?”,
“Why did you go to Europe?”,
“Do you have any weapons?”
OY VEY! Finally, the Inquistress was done and allowed me to check in.
When the plane finally landed in Tel Aviv, several buses took us to Ben Gurion terminal. As I deboarded the bus, I could see big bold levering on the terminal, “WELCOME TO ISRAEL”. Then only did I believe that I AM in Israel. After going through Customs, I walked into the baggage claim area and found my cousin standing with a sign with my name. He hugged me very hard (last time I saw him I was 5 years old!). In the reception area I found my Dutch friend, Bert waving.
After my cousin left for work, Bert and I drove to Beersheva. Along the way, I saw a Israeli army maneuver in action. It was the Tzahal’s Negev Brigade practicing their jeep maneuvers. We got a room at the Youth Hostel in Beersheva. Next day, we went to Tel Beersheva (ruins of ancient city), and the famous Bedouin Market.
3 August 1995
Bert wanted to take some photographs of the Bedouins in their natural clothings… but all of them refused to be allowed to be photographed so Bert asked me to discreetly take picture of him standing in front of the Bedouins playing chess game at a lean-to.
As we crossed the road, I noticed a Bedouin hawking headdresses. I asked the man how much it cost to purchase one. He told us 80 shekels. I thanked him and was about to leave before he demanded that we negotiate. I told him that I wasn’t thinking of buying it. Bert started to get into the negotiation with the man with my protestation. I set on my price… 20 shekels. I was very stubborn and refused to raise my offering. The man became very desperate shouting, “how much?!?” while Bert was frantically trying to convince me to change the price. Finally, we settled on TWO headdress at 50 shekels (80 Shekels = $29 US).
We head out to Sde Boker, a beautiful kibbutz that is the ”gateway” to the Negev Desert. We stopped by David Ben Gurion’s desert hut. It was a very humble abode. Inside were decorated with pictures of his statesman days. We continued to Midresh Sde Boker for a pilgrimage to the tomb of David Ben Gurion. His grave faced the beautiful desert valley. We continued on to En Avedat National Park, Dorvot Avedat (ruins of an ancient city), Mizpe Ramonl Maktesh Ramon (a geological phenomenon), Rafiah border checkpoint (on the border of Israel and Egypt), and then finally Eilat where we stayed with overnight.
3-5 August 1995
A lot of young men at the hostel wore automatic pistols in their waist. Apparently, about 1 out of 4 men carries some kind of weapon in broad public view. I can actually attest to the fact that I really feel safe around those people unlike America.
One interesting thing about Eilat is that the only coin operated laundry facility were at the Eilat Youth Hostel (the one that was booked solid). I went to the hostel and paid 20 shekels for two tokens for the washing machine and drying machine. I entered the laundry room to find only ONE washing machine and ONE drying machine. Huh? The only coin operated laundry facility in Eilat consists of ONE washing machine and ONE drying machine?
At the Coral Reef, the water was VERY clear. You could see schools of exotic fishes swimming around. We also visited Hai Bar, a nature reserve that rescues endangered animals, Arad and Tel Arad. After passing through the Tzahal (Israel Defense Force) checkpoint in the West Bank, we entered the town of Hebron.
A few minutes, we got very lost in Hebron. An Israeli rental car lost in a hostile Arab territory… it isn’t every good combination! We drove around and finally found the Tzahal checkpoint. Bert’s driving tactics frightened a soldier holding a Galil assault rifle sitting on the barrier. He kept giving us the Israeli gesture for “wait” or “hold one”. The soldier gave us the directions to Jerusalem. As we drove, the road split into two directions. We took the wrong one and got lost again. We found the same Tzahal checkpoint again and the same soldier who told us to take the left road. We heeded the direction and finally arrived in Jerusalem. I am sure that the soldier found us to be amusing… American and European tourists lost twice after being issued directions.
6 August 1995
Next day, we visited the Ammunition Hill (scene of the heaviest fighting during 1967 war for the reunification of Jerusalem) for a pilgrimage to honor the fallen soldiers. Next we visited the Tourjeman Post museum which chronicled the history of Jerusalem as the divided city until the reunification. Lastly, we stopped on Mount Olives for a breathtaking view of the Jerusalem old city. We even saw a police bomb squad in action as they investigated a suspicious package in an alley.
On our way to Ben Gurion Airport to pick up our travel partners, Shermay Yu and Jimmy Bronson. We decided to stop at the Heyl Shirion Museum (Armored Corp. Museum) where they had every type of tanks that was in Israeli service displayed. It had a seemingly endless rows of various tanks and support vehicles. Oh, Joy!
We started to look around for Shermay at the airport as she said she’d meet us there after spending a few days with a cyberfriend she met on the Internet through Jimmy. It appeared that she did not enjoy her host in Tel Aviv… not very much. She was so happy to be with us because her first few days in Israel were miserable that was caused by her (ex)-cyberfriend’s constant advances on her. In frustration of Shermay’s rejection of the ex-friend, he threw her out in middle of the night. She was forced to stay awake the whole night and day waiting for us.
We saw Jimmy on the overhead monitor. He finally noticed us after a half minute of glancing over the crowd. I hugged Jimmy hard and we both started to chat about his trip in Europe after my departure. I asked him who won the US-Hungary water polo game during the 1st World Aquatics Games of Deaf in Brugge, Belgium. He said that U.S. won. We drove back to Jerusalem where we settled into a Youth Hostel with a view of the old city. Shermay did not realize that we were actually in Jerusalem until I propped her on my shoulders and told her to look at the illuminated Old City wall at nightfall.
7-8 August 1995
Next day, we visited Yad Vashem (Holocaust museum and monument) Jerusalem Forest (on Mount Herzl where the famous Israeli people are buried), model of ancient Old City, and then the Old City where we stayed in the Youth Hostel INSIDE the old city. We had a great difficulty in finding the Youth Hostel in the Old City. So many mazes… we did see the hostel but we couldn’t find the right path to the hostel. We had to think like mice and then only we did find the correct path to the hostel.
Later, with free time on our hand, we explored the maze of alleys like we were kids. Yes, we even visited the Kotel (Western Wall). We tried to enter the Temple Mount (where Dome of Rock) are located but the Wakf guards and Israeli Border Police refused to allow us. Only Muslims are allowed there. Drats!
We decided to continue to the Mount of Olives for another breathtaking view of Jerusalem Old City. While on the Mt. Olives, two Arab boys were pestering us, begging us for money. I wafted Jimmy that they tend to give out olive branches for “free” then a few minutes later, demand money for It. Jimmy commented that he will be careful. Only then Jimmy did accept the branch from the Arab boys, they did demand money for it, Jimmy tried to give it back to them, they refused to accept it. Jimmy dropped the branch and ignored the boys. An Arab man shooed the boys away and enticed us to ride his camel. At least it was a good bargain… 10 shekels for all four of us. After we finished mounting on the camel, the man was grateful that I gave him a 10 shekel coin. He kissed all of our cheeks and pointed to the sky, intoning, “Allah loves you”
In Bethlehem, we walked towards the church where Jesus was supposed to be born. A Palestinian (a history student, I presume) tried to be our tour guide. He even said that he’ll do it for free. I reminded Jimmy about the Arab boys on Mt. Olives, and we all politely declined. The man was so persistent, we ignored him. He followed us all the way into the church and attempted to guide us around. We did go into the small campy tunnel and saw the “spot” where Jesus was born.
We passed through Jerusalem once again on way to the Dead Sea. It was absolutely gorgeous to see the Dead Sea. We drove on to Ein Gedi. It was almost sunset which meant that we couldn’t go for a swim or a hike to the famous Ein Gedi waterfall. We slept overnight at the youth hostel (which was air conditioned, thank God!). Jimmy would inform me later that he went down to the Dead Sea during Dusk and tasted the water. In fact, nobody was supposed to DRINK the Dead Sea water since it has a very high content of salt in it. He saw he only TASTED it. It did sting his tongue.
9 August 1995
We woke up at the crack of dawn and set off for Massada where we took a cable gondola up to the top and took a leisurely hike around the fortress. It is noon now and we started to descent down the Snake Path. It took us an hour to get to the bottom.
We drove back to Ein Gedi and we decided to take a dip in the Dead Sea. We visited the Ein Gedi Spa facility which offered Sulfur spa, mud bath, access to Dead Sea and swimming pool. We paid admission and took a dip in the Dead Sea… I’m warning you, DON’T ENTER IF YOU HAVE ANY MINOR CUT OR SCRAPE! I had a minor cut on my toe… and it was PAINFUL but yet I attempted to be patient with the ”minor annoyance”. We head up to Tiberias. We took the “Jericho By-Pass Road” which was opened a few days ago. A road that will bypass Jericho, a Palestinian Authority area, on way to Tiberias.
10 August 1995
We headed out into the Golan Heights. I caught a glimpse of a monument. It was a monument to the 7th Armored Brigades fallen comrades during Yom Kippur war. It had two wreckage of Syrian T-54 tanks and a mothballed Israeli Centurion tank. We could even see the Syrian border in horizon. We continued to Zefat (Sated), I immediately screamed for Jimmy to stop. I spotted a large river running. We stopped and had a nice swim in the Jordan River.
11 August 1995
The highlight of our visit to Acre was the visit to catacombs beneath the Acre. We imaged seeing several skeletons in the chambers but the path did not take us deeper into the actual catacombs. As we walked along the narrow tunnels, we came upon to a large room with a dark spot in one area where numerous bats huddled to each others on the ceiling. We stood there transfixed to the wonderful mass with interest and fear. After time catacomb tours,we visited an Arab bakery and I purchased a bag full of pita. We also visited a factory that manufactures art crafts and an ancient mosque. As we were entering the mosque, a man appeared and demanded that Shermay wear a modest skirt and supplied some kind of clothings that covered Shermay’s knees.
12-13 August 1995
Next day, we stopped at Netanya and found it to be nearly deserted… it was Shabbath. After determining that there was nothing to do in Netanya, we drove down to Tel Aviv and checked in the Youth Hostel there. We drove to Planet Hollywood for dinner, then went to Jaffa for a view of Tel Aviv city at night and a stroll in the parks. Next day, we walked to the beach and had a nice swim. The sand there was very fine… unlike the Southern California beach sand.
We visited the Helen Keller Center. Unfortunately, the center was shut down for the summer. Most of the people there had gone on vacation. I was upset. I was hoping to meet Deaf Israelis. The center only had a skeleton staff which wasn’t too willing to help us. They regarded us as an intrusion into their activities. We did meet two Deaf people there… but they recently immigrated to Israel and was only there for Hebrew language tutoring.
After the Helen Keller Center visit, we went to Merat Soreq (Soreq Cave). It was located near the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem freeway as known as the Ayalon Freeway. The interior of the caves were very beautiful and breathtaking. After touring the cave and last minute gift shopping at the cave’s gift shop, we drove Shermay to the Ben Gurion Airport for her flight to England. We decided to stay and see Shermay off. There was another Israeli Inquisition… There was two women asking Shermay all sort of questions. They even asked her where she will be staying in England and Ireland. Jimmy’s jaws dropped to the floor when they asked Shermay to whip out her “Let’s Go To England” book and show them the hostels she’s planning to stay. They asked her who did she come with to Israel. She pointed to us. The Inquistresses promptly summoned their supervisor who asked Shermay more questions while the Inquistresses walked over to us and asked us questions.
“How long have you known her?, “Were you with her all the time ?”, “Do you have passports?” “Do you have relatives here in Israel?”
Finally, they were satisfied with the answers and allowed her to check in. We bade Shermay farewell and off she goes into the boarding area.
14 August 1995
Next day, I bade Jimmy farewell. Bert dropped me off at my family friend’s apartment for which I haven’t seen her for more than 6 years. My friend was so thrilled to see me. We had a nice chat (using paper and pen). I was so surprised that my friend is an Israeli. I mean, I have known Batya for long and she lived with my Aunt for 20 years here in Los Angeles. Only then I found out that she alternated living here in L.A. and Tel Aviv. I found out that she is a well-known Israeli singer and actress who has appeared on Johnny Carson show and travailed the world. Her apartment are decorated with souvenirs from her globetrotting days.
As I was practicing writing my Hebrew name in script Hebrew language, Batya took a glance and was mystified. I explained to her that is my name, “Arik.”
She shook her head, “No, you were writing ‘Merik’, you see, the letter, Aleph you were trying to write was the Mem which is write like the ‘N’, the script symbol for Aleph looks like the K but is written like ‘IC’.” Now I know why the Orthodox rabbi at De Gaulle Airport in Paris was confused for a few seconds.
The correct Hebrew spelling is
15-19 August 1995
For the next 5 days, I took several long hikes exploring the Tel Aviv city, visiting Dizengoff square several times, swam in the beach, shopped around for gifts for my friends back homes. I visited the Palmach/ Haganah museum,, saw the Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence of Israel were signed, Ben Gurion house where David Ben Gurion resided during his tenure as Israel’s Prime Minister. On Friday, I finally got to celebrate my second Israeli shabbath, since my last trip in 1988, with Batya and her nephew.
Batya presented me with a book about America’s media perspective of Israel and a t-shirt. At 11 pm, Batya and I bid good bye and her nephew drove me to the Ben Gurion Airport for my 6am flight. I had several hours to kill before the Israeli Inquisition starts.
Finally, the Israeli Inquisition started and a woman started to ask me questions. Luckily, I wrote a page and half full of answers that anticipated every questions she would ask. Batya wrote something, a half page in Hebrew for her to read. The Inquistress read the paper and, caught me off balance when she started to ask me questions about my knowledge of Hebrew, where I reamed Hebrew, how long have I known Batya? All those sort of questions.
I thought the paper used will save a lot of time during the security questioning, apparently not. Finally she was satisfied and allowed me to check in. An hour later, I boarded the Delta plane for a flight to Atlanta then on to Dallas then on to Las Vegas where I will stay for two days visiting my mother before continuing to Burbank. It was the longest 25 hours flight of my life!
As I am typing, my room is decorated with Israeli Flag, Israel Armored Corp flag (to which I “stole” when it fell to the ground and neglected for a few days at the Armored Corp Museum at Latrun), poster of Jerusalem, road map of Israel, satellite map of Israel and a wall full of pictures of my Israel and Europe trip. Along with two book shelves of Judaism and Israel books.
Erick Posner has been active with JDCC’s Teen Havurah. This story has been edited due to space restrictions. Erick is a Senior at California State University of Northridge majoring in Geography.
