We are Visited by Mark and Uncle Rafi Finkel

I wish I could say we entertained the Finkels, but their visit coincided with the 10th of Tevet, a fast on the Jewish calendar, so the most we could do was show them around. Mark was in Israel for a friend's son's Bar Mitzvah. Mark is the kind of guy who will drop everything to attend a friend's simcha, and he was in Israel for just a short time for that. Uncle Rafi is one of the unsung heroes of the Jewish State. He came to Israel in 1948, after lying to get in to the Marines during WWII (he was under-age), "because of what happened to the Jews in Germany." He has been involved in many of the road building projects in Israel and can tell you just about everything that has happened here from personal experience.

Our first stop was at the little neighborhood shul at the crater's rim. It is divded into an Askenazic side and a Sephardic side. Since most of the residents of Mitzpe Ramon are Sephardim, it is by far the best attened in the neighborhood.

Uncle Rafi and Mark stand in front of our neighborhood shul in Mitzpe Ramon

The ark of the Sephardic shul is carved olive wood, and chandaliers hang in the traditional Sephardic style from a pyramidal roof.

 Mark in the Sephardic half of our neighborhood shul

The Askenazic side of the shul has an ark made of beaten copper, reminiscent of the copper cladding on the alter in the Temple reminding the people of Korach's sin of disputing the Kahunah. A giant, round metal chandalier hangs from the center of the pyramidal roof. When the rising sun shines through the eastern windows in the morning it were as if the glory of G-d filled the room.

A copper-clad ark graces the front of the Ashkenazic shul in Mitzpe Ramon

We next made our way to the eerie that overlooks Ramon's Crater, a spectacular 650 feet below.

The eerie overlooking Ramon's Crater, 650 feet below

We were fortunate to happen onto a herd of about 20 Ibex kids and mature Ibex by the crater rim. I believe this was a mixed herd of kids, females, and males, an oddity since the males and females usually group separately, except during breeding season in the fall.

Ibex kids grazing on seemingly nothing

Shortly after, a group of yeshiva students arrived to feed the kids bread.

 Yeshiva boys feed the young Ibex

Bochrim feed the kids (double-click to watch full-frame)

As we walked along we saw some magnificent young Ibex.

A magnificent young male Ibex at the rim of Machtesh Ramon

Public displays of art are common in Israel. Here a male Ibex looks like he is part of his own 2001 Space Odyssey:

2010: A Space Odyssey in Mitzpe Ramon - an Ibex discovers tools

This Ibex looks like he has been injured, perhaps by a predator. Ibex use their horns for protection, but also for mating fights. It is rare for an Ibex to be injured in a mating fight, although their horns are heavy and fierce.

A male Ibex displaying the scar of an old wound

Pam, Uncle Rafi, Mark, and Donny with Ibex and Space Odyssey Rocks of Mitzpe Ramon

Herd of young Ibex by the crater rim at Mitzpe Ramon

Of course, eventually the young boys do what all young boys do, chase the Ibex and stampede the herd off.

Yeshiva bochers stampede the herd of young Ibex

Eventually we come 'round to the Chabad House in Mitzpe Ramon. Here Mark and Uncle Rafi try to make some semblance of a "770" sign, sitting in front of the Chabad House.

Mark and Uncle Rafi make the sign of "770" in front of Mitzpe Ramon's Chabad House

Finally it was time to say good-bye. Mark and Uncle Rafi kindly gave us a ride to Be'er Sheva, where we picked up a rental car for the next of our round of activities. Thanks Mark and Uncle Rafi. L'hitraot!

See you again soon, Mark!

   

On Wings of Eagles

There is a biblical metaphor, the image of an eagle that carries its young on its wings. The eagle flies higher than any other bird, and so cannot be attacked from above. Its pinions and fierce beak and talons protect from attack from below. So G-d carried the children of Israel out of Egypt, on the wings of eagles to protect them from harm. Now we are completing our Exodus on the wings of a modern eagle, a 777 Boeing ElAl jet liner. (May G-d protect us from harm.)

We are sitting at he boarding gate level at Newark, waiting for 12:30 so we can return Spot and his kennel for search and boarding. Pam is taking care of Spot, who is confused, but not panicked.

Spot waits for doggy check-in with Pam

I request a coke which Mark gets from Chili's. Chava decides on a Bloody Mary. We sit nervously and drink.

We drink and wait to board Spot

Suddenly a gate agent appears and asks me to bring Spot. What a surprise, the first time an airline agent has actually sought me out to bring me somewhere on time. Mark and I carry Spot's kennel back up to the ticketing level, where a guard searches the kennel and pats down the bedding, looking for explosives. He assures me that Spot will not be left outside in the cold and rain. I turn and walk away. Spot does not whimper or bark. I walk quickly so I will not hear him, in case he does.

We bid the Finkels good-bye and pass easily through gate security. We walk to the gate. Again there is no line. We walk on, unmolested with all of our carry-ons, find our seats with some difficulty, since seat labeling on airlines continues to baffle me, stow our baggage and wait for take off. The ticket agent has told us that the flight is not full, but all this appears to mean is that not every single seat is sold. There are a scattered handful unbooked.  So, the flight is nearly full but still surprisingly comfortable.

There is little to say about the flight. It was quick and easy. You could almost say we enjoyed "k'vitzat ha'derech", the shortening of the way that our biblical ancestors experienced on auspicious journeys: Jacob when he left Beer Sheva to go to Lavan; Eliezer when he left Abraham to go in search of a bride for Issac; and the Jews when G-d took them out of Egypt.

Our plane touches down at Ben-Gurion airport at 7:10 AM local time on Monday, December 14, 2009, the third day of Chanukah, 5770 years since the Creation of the World. It is an overcast day with intermittent showers. We are Home.

Waiting for the Sea to Split

We arrive at Newark Airport, Sunday morning, December 13, 2009, the second day of Chanukah, 5770 years since the Creation of the World. It is 11:30 AM, one hour later than I had planned to arrive. I am sure we are disastrously late, but I say nothing of it, since I have become a fatalist. As Ava Gardner says in The Barefoot Contessa, The motto of my family is 'Que Sera Sera', whatever will be will be. Or I have finally become a true believer, All that happens is G-d's plan for the best for us, and we must thank Him for the good as well as the bad that befalls us, the bad being only an apparent evil. Now is not the time to cry out and shrei chai v'kayum but to leap forward and hope against all odds that the sea will split and we will pass through on dry land.

I jump out of the car into a cold rain with Spot. As usual, he is panicked by the trip in the car and goes off with me to take a satisfyingly large poop. I am pretty sure that without eating he will not need to go again until after we get to Israel. An earlier giant pish at Rachel's has wrung him out pretty well, so I have done what I can to make his coming 14 hour ordeal as easy as possible.

Despite the fact that we are only two hours from departure, there is no line at the ElAl counter. Usually the line is miles long with people going through rigorous security screening, large families of Chasidim, tourists and Israelis waiting on line for a ticket agent with bags overflowing everywhere. We walk right up to the ticket counter, present our passports and eTickets, weigh our baggage, and are ticketed and given boarding passes. Our strategy of over loading each of six allowed suitcases a little and bringing an extra seventh pays off. The ticket agent gives us a pass on our overweight bags and only charges us for our single extra. She doesn't even glance at our many carry-ons.

Spot will have to return an hour before boarding so a security agent can check out his kennel, after which he will be sent on his way, wherever that is in the bowels of the airport. I see another couple traveling with a dog who tell me they take their dog with them everywhere they travel, no problem not to worry. This sets my mind somewhat at ease.

The Finkels, Pam, Spot and I make our way down to the boarding gate level at Newark awaiting the time we will return to the counter so Spot and his kennel can be searched and boarded. (Damn those terrorists!)

And so, 3300 years after the Exodus from Egypt, 1,937 years after the Roman Second Exile, and 60 years after the modern founding of the State of Israel, we return to the Land of our Fathers and Mothers: Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah.

...us and our Little Dog Spot.

Returning from the Second Exile