Newsletter #15 - early March 2000

Don't forget to check out our website at: http://www.geocities.com/liznkev/index.html. Kevin added some recent photos, including Jordan. He re-organized the photos so they'll come up more quickly on your screen. This newsletter will be posted under the latest news.

Kevin has been very busy indeed. In addition to maintaining our website, he began taking Hebrew (Ivrit) lessons at a nearby Ulpan, or school of intensive study. He already knew how to read the characters, but now he's picking up some vocabulary and learning pronunciation. Kevin also helped a local church clean out a warehouse to be used as a food distribution center to help new immigrants, many of whom are very poor. With the help of one other guy, he literally moved a ton of food in 100-pound sacks.

Kevin recently joined some Embassy folks on a visit to a nearby Hassidic Jewish community. Their families often reach eight children, and one family had 21 children! They cope by putting them in daycare. This village is known throughout the world for its matzoh bread. If you've ever seen matzoh in the store, it costs about $16 per pound, and you may wonder why you're paying that much for just flour and water. The reason is, making matzoh is very labor-intensive.

The group walked through the bakery, which had glass windows so tourists can see a good part of the process. The ingredients are measured at opposite ends of the building to make sure they don't come in contact, per rabbinic directive. After the flour and water are mixed in a big bowl, it's kneaded and folded by a guy who hops up and down, mashing with a long pivoting stainless steel pipe that weighs 50 pounds. Then another group of men cut it into the correct shape, about a 10-inch circle. Then it goes to a man whose job is to make holes in the matzoh, using a roller (I guess he's the holey man). After that, it's baked in a big oven for about two minutes. The result is a big, round saltine cracker with no salt!

After 18 minutes the dough begins to rise, which is a no-no with matzoh. So, every 18 minutes EVERYTHING - hands, bowls, spoons, etc. - is thoroughly rinsed, to eliminate any trace of the "old dough." Only men work in the bakery. Most of them have beards and lots of hair, but they don't wear hair or beard-nets. When I saw Kevin's video footage, I wondered if hair sometimes ends up in the matzoh! (Is hair kosher?)

A couple of our neighbors have joined together to open a chain of bagel and coffee shops. Bagels aren't "native" to Israel and must be imported. The cooking process doesn't work here because Israeli water is the wrong composition.

Kevin and I were invited for a Shabbat (Sabbath) Eve dinner with the family of a local "Messianic rabbi" (Jewish person who converts to Christianity and becomes pastor of a kehila, or congregation). The men wore kipas on their heads, the wife lit the Shabbat candles, and we sang traditional Shabbat songs and blessings (with some of the words changed to incorporate Christian concepts). The father showed us a Jewish prayer book and explained that it contains pre-set prayers for every occasion - some are said daily and thus are memorized, others are only for certain events. Apparently there is no spontaneous prayer. The family lives 40 minutes from our home, in the Jewish settlement of Alfe Menasche, just over the West Bank border at the beginning of the Samarian mountains. From their back yard, we could see all the way to the Mediterranean coastline and pick out some of the buildings in Tel Aviv. They live near a Palestinian Authority town called Kalkilya. The Palestinians living in PA-controlled cities are NOT considered citizens of Israel. They have to show papers allowing them into Israeli towns such as Alfe Menasche. (It was the Emperor Hadrian who changed the name of the land from Israel/Judea to Palestine.)

Our friends are not real popular with some of the ultra-Orthodox Jews, because they evangelize Jewish people. The father said recently he, his wife and children were walking down a Jerusalem street, looking for a restaurant, when someone they believe is connected with the ultra-Orthodox began following them, cursing and yelling in the father's ear, to get him to start a fight. The family went into the restaurant, and the guy got tired of hanging around outside and left.

The new (actually returning) American Ambassador, Martin Indyk, came up my office to meet everyone individually and to give a brief speech. I believe he was raised in Australia, so he has a neat accent. He said he plans to visit us again - the previous Ambassador never visited our office once. Mr. Indyk said that if a peace agreement is signed with Syria, it will bring more defense business into Israel, which means more work for our office. This statement was well-received, because our office is currently being downsized.

With the winter rains, the north slope of the desert hills are turning green ("He makes me lie down in green pastures..."). The Bible mentions the young shepherd David killing a lion. There are no lions in Israel now, only a few leopards who are declining as the growing human population expands into the desert. Even many of the Bedouins are settling down now and attending college. With the advent of generators, the women can watch TV and see how the rest of the world lives. Then they pressure their husbands for amenities they can't afford. At least one Bedouin works for the Embassy. The US Government is expanding the organization that provides aid to the Palestinians. They''re looking for people who speak Arabic. We've met several Israelis who work for this organization.

Kevin and I took an Embassy bus trip to Herod's desert fortress of Masada and the Dead Sea. We'd been to Masada previously, but not with a tour guide. There are many birds on top. Some resemble red-winged blackbirds, but with gold bars instead of red. There's a lot of walking around to do up at the top, including a three-tiered palace built into the mountainside, the lower level of which is reached via narrow stairs descending the side of the cliff. So, unless you're athletic, take the cable car both ways! One of the reasons Herod was so wealthy and could afford so many fortresses and castles was that he inherited his father's occupation as a tax collector. Whoever managed to collect the most taxes got the contract as tax collector, and apparently he was very good - so good that Rome made him the king. Herod built huge water cisterns into the top and sides of the mountain, both to collect rainwater and to divert water from the surrounding areas. There was enough water to farm and for a very large swimming pool! They even had heated baths to open their pores.

After Herod's time, Masada was the last stronghold of about 900 Jews rebelling against Roman rule. They were known as the Zealots or "Sicarii" (Daggers), after their tendency to stab their political opponents from behind. You can still see the earthen ramp built by the Romans to haul up their battering ram. The story goes that the Zealots chose to kill each other off, rather than submitting to slavery when it was obvious they were going to lose the battle. What we know about this mass killing/suicide comes from the writings of Josephus Flavius, who was never actually there. Archeologists did find a few bodies, but their bones were broken as if they had died while fighting. (They're buried near Masada, and you can see the grave from the top of the mountain.) Also, there's the question of whether such killing would have been acceptable to these folks under Jewish law. Our tour guide told us that if the Zealots had surrendered and been sold as Roman slaves, other Jews would have bought them and eventually set them free anyway. It was considered almost heretical to question the authenticity of Josephus' story until several years ago, when Moshe Dayan (who could get away with it!) was the first to openly express doubt.

Masada wasn't heavily excavated until the 1950's, after Israel became a nation. The dry air preserved the food and bodies for almost 2000 years. The Israeli in charge of the 1948 War of Independence, Yigal Yadin, was the first archeologist at Masada. (His grandfather, also an archeologist, was the first to authenticate the Dead Sea Scrolls.) Yadin found a 1900-year-old scroll in the Zealots' synagogue on the mountaintop. The scroll was opened to the Book of Ezekiel, to the section that talks about dry bones coming back to life. This portion of scripture predicts the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel!

Our last stop was the Dead Sea. The north end has lots of vegetation, including palm trees that are so uniform they look plastic. As you head south it's more desert. From the road you can see some of the caves in the cliffs where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. This road was a real mess after the big snowstorm in January, with rocks washed down from cliffs.

We weren't allowed very much time at the Dead Sea, so I just waded. Unfortunately I wore the wrong shoes and kept falling into the water, because the rocks are very slippery. The waves kept pulling my sandals off and the rocks hurt my feet. There were bodies bobbing around everywhere, because you can't help but float, the water is so full of salt and minerals. But if you do swim, be careful! The water causes severe stinging in eyes, cuts, and recently shaved areas. There are certain health conditions that are worsened by the Dead Sea, whereas bathing is helpful for other conditions. Some people smear black mud over their bodies, especially for skin conditions. It's very hard to get the minerals off your skin though. You can see chunks of salt too. Even Kevin, who didn't go in, could see salt clinging to his clothing and caking on his shoes. He collected some of the water in bottles and sent it off to one of the schools back in Florida.

The southern part of the Dead Sea has actually disappeared through evaporation, and diversion of the Jordan River. Israel and Jordan have dammed up pools at the southern end for harvesting minerals.

After the bus left us at the dropoff point, we went out for pizza with an American gal who has lived most of her life overseas, first with the military and now with the Foreign Service.

Next time: Our trip to Jordan! Jordan, unlike Saudi Arabia, heavily encourages tourism. Until a treaty was signed with Israel in 1994, no Israelis, or even Americans stationed in Israel, could visit Jordan. Times change!

K&E