Trip to Israel

David’s Bar Mitzvah

Howard’s Journal

February 1994
February 16 – JFK Airport, NY: TWA #884 Night flight from New York
to
Tel Aviv. Grandma Ann, Melanie, David, Benjamin, Lois and Ernest,
Carol and Howard; excited; anxious; mellow – Benjamin has been
dribbling his basketball all over the airport and has otherwise passed
the
time drawing; David and Melanie are shopping; Ernie is eating; Lois
and
Carol hit Duty Free and are giggling! Grandma Ann is parceling out
the
food.

David and Ben sacked out for most of the flight. The rest of us dozed
on
and off. The plane is packed with young mothers with large numbers
of
Little babies and the mothers are also pregnant. During the flight, a
group
of men got up, removed their fur brimmed top hats from the
overhead
luggage racks and held a rear of the plane service.

Before we took off, Mom hugged me and said, “We are on our way to
Israel!”

February 17 - Ben Gurion Airport, Jerusalem. 3:00PM arrival at Ben

Gurion –lack of sleep overshadowed by adrenalin charge of being
here.
Armed soldiers casually patrol. David was quite startled by their huge
machine guns. Beautiful, mild, sunny day in Jerusalem. Driving along
the Jewish National Forest, we saw tanks in the hills left over from the
1949 War of Independence. Heavy rush hour traffic gave everyone a
chance to catch up on sleep in the van from the airport. We also got
to see
the homes built after the 1967 war in the West Bank area – 20,000
Jews,
many from Russia, now live there. It looks like a beautiful
development
(at least from afar).

Ocean Restaurant, 7 Rivlin Street, Jerusalem (Tel. 02-247501).

Terrific dinner for all (although Melanie’s pasta was not what
she had ordered!); great fish dishes and the bread (Folachia) with
olives
and peppers was unbelievable. (The waitress said that the Salmon
Trout
on the menu was from Kibbutz Dan, near Daphna.)

Met Rabbi Andy Sachs after dinner back at the hotel. David read and
chanted various portions of the Service for him, and did really well.
We
discussed plans for the Bar Mitzvah on Monday and spoke to Eddie
Snitkoff. Rabbi Sachs is from outside of Philadelphia and has been in
Israel for seven years.

Spoke to Rabbi Kelman, who was originally asked by Ishrum Tours to

do
David’s Bar Mitzvah, but who had a conflict. He called to apologize
for
being unavailable, and invited us to Shabbat services at his
synagogue,
which is Baka, at 57 Harakevet Street, at 5:15 PM on Friday.
February 18 – Jerusalem, Old City. Doron Bookshtein, Tour Guide.
Old
City Tour, Mt. Of Olives – unbelievable view and perspective of the
City,
the Temple Mount, etc. Herodian Mansions – excavations of “temple
View” mansions. Shopping in Armenian Quarter – David and Ben
bought
hats, Melanie bought a dress and shoes – Barbara and Lois bought
small
vases (or bottles). Everyone enjoyed bargaining. David was chased
Down the street by an enthusiastic shopkeeper!

Western Wall – very moving experience – David and Ben each wrote
(Ben
dictated) notes which they placed in the Wall. We all spent quiet
prayer
time at the Wall, and then went into the “cave” area which holds the
Torahs used at the Wall. This was quite an experience.

Shortly before Kabbalat Shabbat (Receiving Shabbat), we drove

through
a Hassidic area where no traffic is permitted on Shabbat and which
looked like what I picture as a 19th century Eastern European shtetl -
eerie!

Highlights of the Day – the Wall, the excavations showing streets and
buildings from thousands of years ago, the rooftop view from the
center of
Jerusalem, which itself is (or was?) the center of the world; the
shopping/
bargaining in the Latin quarter – all of Jerusalem!

We took in Kabbalat Shabbat at the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem –

all in
Hebrew – we left after the sermon (which was enlightening, I’m sure –
as
is David). Shabbat dinner at the Sheraton Plaza.

A further thought on the Great Synagogue – It is a great synagogue;

huge,
grand entrance; the synagogue itself is immense; each seat has a
locked
personal prayer book compartment in front of it, which is topped by a
reading table which can be used while sitting or standing; women are
in
the upstairs balcony which hardly, if at all, can be seen from the
men’s
section. The men’s seating is on three sides of the two bimas. Many
very
orthodox congregants stay at the Sheraton Plaza each weekend in
order
To be able to walk across the street to the Great Synagogue.
Architecture – Jerusalem stone is required for all post-’68 building to
match the ancient style.

February 19 - East to West Bank, Masada and the Dead Sea.

Descent into
the desert; Bedouin tents; Israeli Army posts with solar panel energy
lighting; donkeys; sheep on the hillside; West Bank Jewish
communities
(‘settlements”) – all on the Jericho Jerusalem road [Read Letters From
The Holy Land, Samuel Clemens]. ORMAT – solar pool electrical
generation (through steam or pressure) – 394 feet below sea level!
Right
on the Jordan border! Electronic fence all around Israel.

Masada – Herod’s palace and fortifications; great bathhouse and

steam-
room; synagogue in the round; very moving to consider the Zealots
deter-
mination: “Masada will not fall again!”

Ein Gedi – Swim in the Dead Sea – Howard, David, Ernie and Ben
floated
In the Dead Sea – everyone (except Grandmas) muddied up head to
toe in
the mud bath. Dead Sea salt got into every open cut, nick and
scratch.

Doran spoke beautifully at Masada about the way in which the

strength
and dedication of the Zealots continues today in the Israelis who will
not
let the nation fall, and he said that David doing his Bar Mitzvah in
Israel as well as in the U.S. showed the important link between the
two
countries, which is a critical element in the strength of Israel.

Lunch at Ein Gedi – I had a fish called Princess of the Nile (a hybrid
be-
tween carp and mullet); very good.

Dinner at Mineret (Oriental Restaurant) – great middle eastern food -

variety appetizer/ lamb, chicken, St. Peter’s fish, Baklavah! Lois’ treat
for dinner. Thanks! (Ben slept on two chairs throughout the entire
dinner. He was a trooper all day, although he said that he would have
been bored living at Masada without any batteries!)

February 20 – JNF Forest/ Hadassah Forest/ Hadassah Hospital/

Chagall
Windows/ Yad Vashem
Tree planting – Carol and I planted trees in honor of our children and
our
parents. Melanie, David and Ben planted a tree in our honor.
Grandmas planted trees in honor of their children and grandchildren.
David also planted a tree in memory of Paul Sobylak. Lois and Ernie
planted trees in memory of Nanny and Harvey as well. Doron said
that
one million trees are planted by visitors to Israel each year.

Hadassah Hospital – Beautiful presentation regarding the work of

Hadassah and a very interesting description of the Chagall windows in
the Hadassah Hospital synagogue. We spent extra time discussing
Jacob’s youngest son, Benjamin.

Monster slide stop for Ben, David and Melanie.

Yad Vashem. Two hours at Yad Vashem, Children’s Memorial and

Valley
of the Lost Communities. Doron: “bonding among Jews saved
children
during the Holocaust – Jews from different countries, speaking
different
languages, looked after the children orphaned in the camps. Tell the
story; do something; don’t just be an observer.” We also walked on
the
Street of the Righteous which honors non- Jews (Oskar Schindler, Raul
Wallenberg, etc.). Soldiers everywhere around. My reaction has
been, “I
love seeing these guys!” Twenty percent of Army training is
education,
including considerable time spent on the Holocaust. Yad Vashem is
very
moving; beautifully presented; and leaves a haunting stream of
thoughts
and pictures, especially relating to the children of the camps and the
ghettos of Eastern Europe. Another impression of Yad Vashem – it
was
almost completely silent in the entire Museum for the two or so hours
I
spent looking at the exhibits.

Lunch – Falafels and kosher pizza; Maccabee Beer

Dinner at Katy’s, bottom of Ben Yahuda on right (next to Ocean); 7:00
P.M.; Ben Shetachh; Ilan Weill concierge. Music Shop – St. Karen
Hayesod. Marty Finegold’s mother, Marilyn, joined us for dinner.
(Grandma Anne’s treat!) After dinner shopping in the open market
and
On Ben Yahuda Street. We bought tifilin for David, as will as talit
clips.

One other highlight today was our visit to Robert Kleinman’s factory
store where Grandma Anne bought David a beautiful talit, and Robert
gave Carol a beautiful painting.
February 21 – Western Wall; David’s Bar Mitzvah; Israeli Museum;
Billy
Rose Sculpture Garden. 8:00 AM: Bar Mitzvah of David Altarescu at
the
Western Wall; Rabbis Eddie Snitkoff and Andy Sacks (more on this
later);
brunch at Sheraton Plaza; Israeli museum (Dead Sea Scrolls); Billy
Rose
Sculpture Garden; Judaica Exhibit (financed by Doron Foundation) was
Beautiful. Dead Sea Scrolls form a link to the beginning and was a
terrific
exhibit.

Brunch at the Sheraton was #1 the typical Sheraton breakfast, and #

2a
very nice time with Eddie Snitkoff, who showed us Nanny’s and Aunt
Lilly’s fathers birth certificate. David very graciously thanked
everyone,
again, for being with him and presented a wine goblet to me and an
oil
lamp to Carol – a very nice gesture.

THE BAR MITZVAH – What can I say? I was blown away by the whole
experience. Having Eddie with us was great. Rabbi Sachs could not
have
been better, friendlier or easier to work with. His melodies reminded
me
Of Jamaica Jewish Center and Congregation Sons of Israel. The
atmos-
phere at the Wall was electric – all but nuclear – Russian bar
mitzvahs,
North African (Moroccan?) bar mitzvahs, Israeli bar mitzvahs, all
around us, all going on simultaneously, all full of their own tunes and
participants, in Orthodox dress, in foreign dress . . . When David
carried
out the torah from the depths of the cave at the Wall, one of the
Hassidim
kissed the Torah and started singing and clapping, “David, Melach
Yisrael . . . “ which we all joined in. This was repeated as each Bar
Mitzvah boy did the same. David carried himself beautifully and was
beaming throughout. David also read his portions of the prayer
service
as if he was a regular participant at services at the Wall. (The Torah
por-
tion related the story of the first census being taken by each man
depositing a sheckle, which was counted so as to avoid the counting
of
individuals.) At the end of David’s Bar Mitzvah service, as well as at
the
end of each other service, all of the participants (including the women
hanging over the back wall of the plaza) sang “David, Melach Yisrael”
and the women threw hard candies to celebrate the sweet event.
Large
numbers of Israeli Artful dodgers/ Jewish street scavengers dove for
the
candy in roving bands going from Bar Mitzvah to Bar Mitzvah.
Benjamin
easily joined in. As I carried Ben out on my shoulders he said “Dad, I
want to have my Bar Mitzvah in Israel . . . I love getting the candy.”

After the service, David said a word of thanks and then put a personal
note in the Wall. What an extraordinary event!

Tonight was also quite wonderful. After the Israeli museum, we drove
north to Kibbutz Lavi, where Eddie and his wife (who is “liberal Ortho-
dox”) Minda live with their children, Lea, Nama, Raffi and Shira. Our
entire group and their family had dinner together in the Kibbutz
dining
hall, and then dessert in their home. Eddie and our Rabbi, Steve
Kane,
are old friends. We all had a very warm and enjoyable time together.

Two additional thoughts or notes on the Wall. First, as soon as

David’s
service was completed, there was another family for another Bar
Mitzvah waiting to take over the Bima table we used for the Bar
Mitzvah.
This was happening along the entire stretch of Bar Mitzvahs, which
were
constantly in progress. Second, I keep saying that Jerusalem is
magical;
the Wall itself is even more so! For his day, David was a part of that
magic, which I hope will last forever. (Mom and Barbara were also
ear to
ear smiles throughout the service.) Carol had wanted David to do his
Bar
Mitzvah at the Wall even though she and Melanie would have to be at
a
small distance from the service. What a great decision! I had the
pleasure/ honor to wear David Levine’s tefilin, which was put on me
by a
2000-year-old Hassid who did not like the way I was doing it. He was
actually kind, helpful and colorful.

February 22 – Golan Heights. North to ancient Qasrum in the Golan

Heights. (Read Our Man in Damascus, a book about Ali Cohen, a
Jewish
spy.) The synagogue is reconstructed from its use from c. ___ B.C.E.
until
c. 500 B.C.E. an archeologist recently found the area behind the bima
where coins were deposited by congregants for 500 years. This find
will
be in the Israeli Museum next year.
On the road to the boarder on the Golan Heights. We looked out over
the
Syrian border and later the Lebanon boarder, at the Syrian bunkers,
at
Syrian tanks and trucks, at UN facilities and Israeli Army camps. This
remains a perilous situation! We just passed Tel Hatzor (which is
James
Michener’s Mazov!) Lunch at Kibbutz Ayelet, which is a very pretty
facility.

Safed/ Zefat. Rosh Pinna – founded by Rumanian Jews in late 1800s

(c.
1870). The houses are attached to form a City wall, which the Turks
did
not otherwise permit. Safed – Abuab (?), 13th century synagogue. A
fascinating walk through the holy city, looking at buildings and
courtyards hundreds of years old. Looking into one particularly old
and
unrepaired room, Benjamin said “and you thought my room was
messy”.

The Artists Quarter has works of local artists as well as others from
Israel. We purchased paintings by two Russian immigrants to Israel -
A depiction of Safed and of Jerusalem. The views of the Sea of Galilee
have been magnificent.

Dinner with the Snitkoffs (sans Eddie who was late in returning from
Jerusalem where he was responsible for a youth tour from Harrisburg,
Pa.) at Pagoda (Kosher Chinese food) in Tiberius. It was quite
humorous
talking in broken Hebrew, only to be corrected by the Chinese waiter.
Jeffrey announced (quietly) at dinner that he is moving to Israel for a
year or two. He is on his way back to Bucharest, Romania tonight and
when he came back from calling a cab from the restaurant he had the
line
Of the night when he (who is “also” a Hebrew language scholar) said
that
“either a cab or pizza would be coming in 20 minutes”. Eddie met us
back
At the Kibbutz hotel. It was just great for all of us to spend time
together.

February 23 – Leaving Kibbutz Lavi (with Eddie!)/ On the Road to

Akko.
On the road – Bedouin villages – regular housing scattered on hilltops;
also with herds of sheep; oak tree groves like those that were all
through
Israel before Turks chopped them down. National water carrier carries
water throughout Israel. We dropped Eddie off at a school where he
is
teaching. [Doron’s hat: call for catalogue – Tilley’s Endurables 1 800
338-2797.]
“Underwater” grottos at Rosh Hanukra – on boarder with Lebanon
(Grandma Anne passed on the visit to the underwater grottos.)

On the Road to Akko; Crusader city; thick walls and moats to keep
Napoleon out. Turkish coffee and spices; fresh strawberries; sweet
pastries; walk through subterranean Crusader City and tunnels. (We
lost Ben for a few minutes in the outdoor market.)

Haifa – Mt. Carmel – solar panels on all the apartments.

Caesarea – a great looking theater (seating 3800) overlooking the

Mediterranean; ruins of the stadium and the City wall. Melanie did
“Deaf
Donald and Talking Sue” on stage at Caesarea and brought the house
down!

Tel Aviv. Purim party in Tel Aviv with Doron’s family. Ben found his
way
into a soccer game with three little Israeli soccer stars, only one of
whom
Spoke Englet. This was very cute. Ben scored a goal. (I was one
goalie
and David was the other goalie.) At the end of the game, Ben said
“Shalom” to Yotom, who said “goodbye”. One of the players, a little
girl,
said “that Ben, he is a champion”.

Dinner (brought to us by Barbara) at Pizzafino in Tel Aviv with Doron,

Ron and Tome. (wine: Yarden Galilee, Mount Hermon red 1992,
Varden
vineyards, Quatzin, Israel).

Haifa is a large industrial city with a beautiful harbor view from Mt.
Carmel, and Tel Aviv is an even larger cosmopolitan city. The Carlton
feels more like the U.S. than what we have enjoyed and savored
elsewhere in Israel. Although I would like very much to spend time
exploring Tel Aviv, for this trip I am happy to be getting on to the
Negev.

I probably should note that after 3 1/2 days of warm sun in Jerusalem,
including sun but cooler for David’s Bar Mitzvah, it has been raining
steadily and it has been almost raw. Sick list – almost everyone for a
day
or so.
February 24 - South to Hazan Caves, which were found in 1979 and
which were built c. 2000 years ago by Jews, first for storage of olive
oil
(and hiding of oil to avoid Philistine taxes). Deep, large extensive
caves
connected by back breaking, thin, small passageways. Good move
again
by Grandma Anne passing up the cave tour. (Reminder: read
Schindler’s
List.)

Beer Sheba – Bedouin market in Beer Sheba. This group does like
markets.

I was just thinking about how the lives of little Ben Altarescu, Ron
Bookshtein and Raffi Snitkofff (all five years old) will be so different in
so
many ways. Ben in Chappaqua, Ron in Tel Aviv and Raffi in Kibbutz
Lavi.
Maybe their lives will be more alike than I now expect. It will be
interest-
ing to see.

Long drive south through the Negev to Eilat. Ben Gurion University
apologized for canceling our tour due to the heavy rain which would
have
Made the tour very difficult. (Remember to mention Doran in a note
to
Michael Sonnenfeldt and David Harris.)

Eilat is alive with Purim. Red Sea fish at The Last Refuge (thanks
Ernest)
in Eilat with Doron, who explained how the crossing of the Reed Sea
by
Moses has, overtime, become referred to as the crossing of the Red
Sea
(which would not have been possible). Melanie, David and Ben spent
the
evening together, out for dinner and at the amusement park on the
beach.

Doron’s suggestions for Eilat: Boat ride; Underwater Observatory –

shuttle from hotel; arrange for booking of cruise; Beach; Aerodium -
vertical wind tunnel.

Doron’s suggested reading list: The Bible; Pillars of Fire; The Jewish
Encyclopedia.

Doron Bookshtein: born in Kenya; protested government unfair

treatment of blacks; came to Israel at 17; has studied Israel for 23
years;
JFK School of Government at Harvard; travel agency in New York
while
at Harvard; Israeli military in ’67 War (Six Days War); ’73 War (Yom
Kippur War); Beirut and Lebanon (shot while on a mission to get one
of
the men responsible for Munich massacre); teaches Judaism in
Christianity in Alabama; close with the Bishop of New York. He is an
encyclopedia of Jewish history. Melanie said that she found her
“Ralph”
(Wilcke).

February 25 – Eilat. Basically hanging out in the sun, on lounge

chairs at
the pool of the Moriah Hotel. Nice hotel, beautiful setting. Nice
breakfast
with Doron before his return to Tel Aviv. He said that we should think
of
him as family, stay in touch and get together with him. We really
must
try to stay in touch with this special man.

David and I rented a motor boat and David drove us all over the Red
Sea,
as close as he could get to Egypt and Jordan. Later, Lois treated us to
the
Aerodium, where Lois, Ernie, David and I learned to fly in a vertical
wind
tunnel.

Dinner at Pago Pago – very good.

February 26 – Eliat/ Tel Aviv. Another day in the sun at the pool,
broken
only by an excursion by David and me to introduce David to
parasailing.
He did great. Unfortunately, we did not take advantage of the lunch
cruise in a glass bottom boat, or the Underwater Observatory – next
time.

Tel Aviv. Dinner at Yim Yang – very good! This farewell dinner was
due
to be at Babai in Jaffa; however, there has been terrorist activity in
the
West Bank and Jaffa and everyone has told us not to go to Jaffa
tonight.

February 27 – Tel Aviv/ Ben Gurion Airport. Carol heard

demonstrations and rioting outside of the Carlton Hotel during the
night.
This is Palestinian Muslim rioting in response to the attack by a Jewish
man who earlier in the week had broken into a Muslim mosque and
killed
a large number of people. I slept through the noise in the night;
however,
as we looked out on the terrace this morning, we heard gunfire. As
the
day was cold and rainy, we were told by the hotel desk that the day
was
likely to be calm. This just feels like a good day to get back to the
States,
although Israel feels much like home.

The security at the airport is quite intensive; TWA’s lines do not

match
the security lines; accordingly, it took quite a while to get through to
check in, leaving almost no time for duty free shopping. Oh well!

Our TWA flight took off between two storms and the left wing was hit
by
lightning (the pilot called this a “static discharge”; I thought it was a
surface to air missile; Carol screamed!) All’s well.

Note: when we were in the Bedouin market in Beer Sheba, Carol was
looking at various items that would have been difficult to carry home.
Melanie asked (facetiously, she tells me) “do they ship?”

Also, the attraction of Israel was emphasized once again at our

farewell
dinner at Yin Yang, when I asked the oriental waiter if he spoke
Hebrew
so that he could give directions to our driver from Ishrum. The
oriental
waiter communicated to the driver in Hebrew for us and then, in
response to my question, said that he was from Ho Chi Min City in
North
Vietnam and had come here 15 years ago on his own, looking for a
better
future. Good choice!

In Eilat, Ben won a stuffed animal – a penguin which he named Minus

One; named after the floor on which the arcade was located. Minus
One
was lost for a while on the plane. It took plane wide paging by a
stewardess and a steward to find the little critter.

The kids were great troopers, as were Mom and Barbara, the entire
trip.