Daily Dispatch: March 15, 2010

By Yaffi Spodek

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TIBERIAS, Israel — Our final day in Jordan began with a pre-sunrise wake-up call at 5:30 a.m., the sounds of the alarm mingling with the morning crow of the local roosters and the call to prayer from a nearby mosque. After a quick breakfast, we said our goodbyes to Petra and the Taybet Zaman Hotel and embarked on a seemingly endless bus ride. Our destination: the Sheikh Hussein Border Crossing, the northernmost point to enter Israel from Jordan. Five hours and several snacks later, we arrived, refreshed from our naps and armed with our passports.

When we reached the border, Omar’s parents were waiting there to watch him cross from the Jordanian side. Following an emotional embrace with his mother, Omar explained the significance of the event and why his relatives had driven in from Amman to witness the crossing. “My Dad is of Palestinian descent, from the West Bank,” he said, “and it’s a big deal that I’m going back to the place where he came from.”

The first order of business in the two-hour crossing ordeal was lugging our suitcases off the bus and through a security checkpoint. Next we were all thumb-printed and photographed by the Jordanian border agents before getting an exit stamp on our passports. Security on the Israeli side of the border was even more intense, as several students were questioned at length about their family and geographic backgrounds. But we had been expecting the worst, and were relieved when everyone was allowed to enter the country with minimal drama and delay.

“I guess it’s weird being asked a lot more questions when I go through any border, but I expect it,” said Sanaz, who was born in Iran. “They kept asking what nationality my parents were and what they do and where they are.”

As we walked out of the customs area, Professor Gershom Gorenberg – looking comfortably at home in a wide-brimmed hiking hat and his trademark spectacles – cheerfully greeted the group, and introduced us to our tour guide, Ophir Yarden of the Interreligious Coordinating Council of Israel.

Our first stop was at Falafel Zahava in Beit She’an, where everyone enjoyed the ethnic cuisine. “This is the best falafel I ever ate in my life,” Jose declared. With our stomachs full of pita and our wallets full of shekels, our physical needs were satisfied, and we were ready to continue our religious journey in the Holy Land.

Driving along the Jordan River to the Sea of Galilee, we marveled at the views along the way. “What amazed me most was the contrast between leaving the desert and entering into the green fertile land,” said Mariana, sharing her first impressions of Israel. “I believe that there has to be a spiritual blessing over this land.”

Next stop was the Mt. of Beatitudes Church, where Jesus preached his famous Sermon of the Mount, “sort of like the Mt. Sinai moment in the New Testament,” said Ophir. He compared the eight beatitudes pronounced by Jesus to the Ten Commandments given by God to the Jews.

As we admired the eight-sided façade of the sanctuary, Carolyn read the Beatitudes aloud from the book of Matthew, chapter five. Though this location is believed to be the hillside where the Sermon was given, the Church itself has no historical religious significance since it wasn’t built until 1933. It also overlooks a magnificent view of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus is believed to have walked on water.

“It was a really powerful experience,” said Tammy. “I wasn’t expecting to get such a strong reaction, but when I got here and saw the Sea and heard the Sermon, I was mesmerized. I have a favorite Beatitude – ‘blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God’ – and to think that this is where Jesus said it made me teary-eyed. The transition from something in your mind to reality was overwhelming and I loved it.”

Approaching the church, we heard music. A group of Evangelical Christian tourists from Germany were singing in a chorus, led by their pastor, Jacob Kroker. The group, called Messianic Testimony, was performing a Protestant hymn called “It is Well with My Soul.” The hymn struck a familiar chord for Mariana, who knew it from her church back home in New York.

The day’s final stop was the Kibbutz Lavi Guest House, where we checked in and ate dinner. Our guest for the evening was Yehuda Gil’ad, Rabbi of the kibbutz and a head of the Ma’aleh Gilboa yeshiva, who spoke about the philosophy of religious Zionist movement. He described his yeshiva’s “shiluv” model as a college for Jewish studies where young men serve in the army for three years and dedicate two years to learning Torah. “We believe in being religious but also engaging in society,” he explained. “But the problem is that people are taking religious ideology to a political platform.”

In fact, Gil’ad’s speech focused more on politics rather than religion, and he emphasized the potential of the religious Zionists to bridge the gap between different sectors of Israeli society. “Though we believe that this Jewish state is the beginning of the redemption, we must behave morally and cannot deny the rights of the Palestinians to their own state,” he said. Ideologically, he believes in the idea of compromise with the Palestinians, but he doesn’t see this as a practical solution in the near future, referring to the issue as “conflict management” as opposed to “conflict resolution.”

The group had mixed reactions to the Rabbi’s unique perspective.

“Some of what he said was contradictory, but I came away with a better understanding of religious Zionism,” said Jose. “It was really useful in giving a bigger picture of the differences between the ultra orthodox and modern orthodox.”

Maia also took away a conflicting message. “I felt like I was listening to someone who didn’t have a grasp on what he was trying to tell us,” she explained. “He was jumping back and forth so much that he lost credibility with me. I don’t think he explained himself well and he wasn’t effective.”

The night ended early, and our group of tired but ambitious journalists took advantage of the free WiFi, a welcome change from the limited Internet access in Jordan. We posted pictures and articles and considered what stories we would cover as our journey through the Holy Land continued

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 8:52 pm and is filed under Daily Dispatches and tagged with beatitudes, Falafel Zahava, Israel, Lim Wui Liang, Rabbi Yehuda Gil'ad, Sea of Galilee, Yaffi Spodek. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.