By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO –From the time the wheels of the Boeing 747 touched the ground at Ben Gurion Airport on June 11th 2011 until they lifted off on July 1st to bring me back home, my days and nights in Israel were filled with family, friends, adventure, new experiences, so much nachas and a renewed faith in the human spirit.
There is something special about Israel, especially for an American, who has been a lifetime cheerleader for the once fledgling state, which now, though developed, is in a constant state of alert from attack from its enemies.
It’s one thing to read about it from afar or to hear conflicting views on what the United States should or shouldn’t do or who’s to blame for what, when and how. But when you have two grandsons in the Army at the same time, one at sea the other a paratrooper, all the talk about ’67 boundaries is just rhetoric and it seems to be growing in waves. I’ve said this before. This is not about boundaries but about trust. And keep in mind you can actually see Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza, or Egypt from various Israeli vantage points.
Those preaching a pullback need to take a walking tour of the country to see for themselves exactly what they are talking about and then have serious conversations, not sound bites because missiles talk not sound bites!
But this visit was all about family, revisiting old haunts and seeing new sights, not politics. To my great pleasure it lived up to every expectation thanks to my children, daughter and son in law, grandsons and friends. For three weeks our family went, saw and did; coming and going by auto, train and on foot in and among young folks in every imaginable color of military beret with guns hanging from shoulders as if a third limb. By the end of my visit, I came to expect the sight, but never got used to it.
Aida at Masada, Jazzing the Beatles’ in Beersheva, walking through Yaffo, strolling the beautiful, new boardwalk at the old port of Tel Aviv, shopping for shoes on Sheinkin, chugging up the windy roads to Sfat and then down a more spiral road to Amuka (the burial place of Rabbi Jonathan ben Uzziel, whom some believe had special powers) and across to Tiberius to the Galilee and Kinneret, praying at the Kotel and then on to the underground tour of the tunnels, visiting ancient synagogues, walking through the old underground Shuks and later getting a peek at the Jerusalem Shuk, spending precious time with my grandsons and being witness to my grandson’s induction into the Israeli Paratroopers. That’s pretty much the long list minus all the eating out and shopping we did. You bet I had a great time.
One of the things that struck me as I traveled, shopped, dined out, visited with family and friends and mingled was how busy the streets, market places, malls, restaurants, coffee shops and local businesses were. It actually made my chest swell to see everyone going about their business even in the wake of an air raid drill. Beersheva, Jerusalem, TelAviv, Sfat and Tiberius were streaming with tourists shopping and buying.
The night I attended the opera (more on that later) the entire theatre was filled to capacity. My son in law estimated seven thousand seats in the arena. I read there were eight thousand. There was not an empty seat in the house and that was at the last performance of Aida. The following night Andrea Bocelli was to perform in that very same space.
The tour busses that brought us to Masada took up an enormous parking lot. They came from all over the country. We arrived early and it was so crowded with early arrivals that we could not find a place to sit before we were allowed into the theatre. We got home at three in the morning, but it was well worth it.
A few nights later my daughter and I attended a concert at the Center for Performing Arts in Beersheva and it too was filled to capacity. We saw Jazzing the Beatles with the Israel Sinfonietta hosting the popular singer Alon Olearchik and the ‘Hard Jazz Knights’ for a concert of songs by the Beatles under the baton of Doron Salomon with arrangements by Amikam Kimeilman.
Over the yeas during my visits to my children, I watched that building go up. To be more precise, I remember the banner announcing that an arts building was going to be erected on the site. Now it is a reality, beautifully designed with a place to nosh in a comfortable, well lit and modern lobby. The large concert hall, the one I was in. seats 712.
The most remarkable thing about this center is that it is a municipal performing arts center funded by the government. It opened in 2009 and, according to public relations reports, ‘has one of the most advanced electro acoustic systems on the planet’. That said the concert itself was, in my mind, a contradiction of sounds not so much because of the wonderful sound system but because of the combination of the two.
Somehow or other jazz and symphony didn’t seem to jive or resonate in my ears, but for those who are enamored with both forms of art, it worked. Bringing it together and making it a bit more palatable was the relaxed Alon Olearchik who sang “Yesterday” and a number of other favorites. All in all, it was a memorable evening particularly when one of the ladies in our group conveyed to me that she had gone to a Klezmer Summit at Sfat and she and saw and heard Yale Strom and his Klezmer’s performing. Small world!
Israel is a contradiction in cultures that for years has lived side-by-side, Arab and Jew. Walk into any shop, center, restaurant or open mall and you will see youngsters and even more mature adults in jeans and halter type tops, others smartly dressed. Then you might see some with headscarves and long robes.
On any given day you will see young boys and older men in kippot or with payis. Too many of them smoke and they all have the cell phone syndrome; they are always talking on it! While people watching I noticed they all seem to be in a hurry, don’t know what standing in a line means (a basic principle I taught my kindergartners as a first year teacher) and for sure want to be in your space. It’s a country so many feel they have the right to criticize on the one hand and to defend with their lives on the other. In other words it’s a country so many love to hate and hate to admire. It’s a country every Jew must visit.
And for those who continually ask if I feel safe or is it safe to go there? My first answer is that if it’s safe enough for my children, it’s safe enough for me. My second answer is a question, “What is safe?”
More impressions to follow on my big night out at the opera!
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Davis is a theater critic based in San Diego. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com