On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Dagaetch
About 15 years ago (2008), I went to Israel as part of the birthright program, where basically they pay for you (a Jewish kid) to go there for ~10 days in exchange for pushing a decent amount of pro-Israel propaganda and maybe encouraging you to emigrate. I will say that as a 25 year old at the time (just barely still age-eligible for the program), with parents who always encouraged me to learn and talk about important issues, I was able to pretty much ignore the advocacy and just enjoy a free trip to a cool place. And whatever you may think about the politics of the region, there’s no denying that it is a historically fascinating land, and a very different one from where I grew up.
I can’t really explain why, but historic cities just…feel different to be in. The closeness of the streets, the lack of many modern elements (and the juxtaposition of them too, check out those satellite dishes), and other things just make you feel like a bit of a time traveler. The smell of the air, the noises in the background, the feel of ancient cobblestones under your feet…it’s an experience.
I don’t consider myself a religious person. I grew up Jewish, but I don’t observe in any real sense now, and feel pretty conflicted about organized religion in general. That said, visiting the Western Wall remains one of the more spiritual moments of my life. Placing your hands on a piece of rock, and knowing that for 2,000 years human beings have been coming to that spot and touching that rock, in order to talk to God, just has a sense of power. I wish the politics could be removed (not to mention the gender restrictions) so that everyone could share in that human experience.
Memory is failing me about specific locations. I believe this is Haifa, the port city. It was beautiful, and without the political or religious considerations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, a much more relaxed place in my very limited experience. I really enjoyed it.
Also Haifa. Sharing mostly because I found the architecture of this sea wall kind of fascinating. I wish I remembered more about the history of it all.
Wassup? Our tour guide was, thankfully, FAR more interested in the natural world than in talking about politics (more than I assume he was obligated too). We went on several nature walks and got to meet a lot of the locals.
It is (was?) in fact as salty as people have told you. I floated a lot better than I ever have before, and you absolutely learn about some scrapes and scratches you didn’t know you had! But it was a lot of fun.
I can’t be certain, but I think this was when we went to Masada. We were there for sunrise, and it was a very beautiful desert location. The thing that I will always remember, however, is that I did the math and realized my mom back in the States would be getting ready for bed while I was there, so I took my (rented, lol) local cell and called her to say hi. Thought that was a fun thing to do, and it was!
I grew up in Washington DC and have been to the Holocaust Memorial Museum a couple of times. Yad Vashem is…different, somehow. I’m not sure why, other than the awareness that this country may not have existed without it? But the emotion can be overpowering. A couple of the people in our group had to be escorted out due to tears. It’s a hard place to visit. But that makes it all the more important. We’re experiencing right now the desire to whitewash over unpleasant or inconvenient elements of history. I hope that places like Yad Vashem can help ensure that we never forget the tragedies of the past.
Amir Khalid
Alas, Israel is the one country you can’t visit on a Malaysian passport.
Argiope
Thanks for this. Great storytelling along with the photos. Makes me want to learn more when so often the news makes me want to turn away. I guess the birthright program is a great investment!
Vickie Feminist
Loved the golden hills and the olive trees.
Furious at Netanyahu.
Betty
It seems that the historical significance of Israel for so many millions of people is what makes the current situation there so disheartening. Everyone I have heard describe their experience visiting Israel has been deeply impressed.
OzarkHillbilly
QFT.
Bruce
The picture you took in Haifa was from the Bahai gardens, which is both beautiful and fascinating. The Baha’i are an ancient religion that developed in what is today Iran. Their world headquarters-their Vatican so to speak-is the Baha’i Gardens.
Nelle
Delete.
Dagaetch
@Amir Khalid: that’s very unfortunate! After I did this trip I was warned to not go to certain countries until I got a new passport so the Israel entry stamp wasn’t on there.
@Argiope: Glad you enjoyed! I wonder if anyone has ever done the math to see if the program has any meaningful ROI…
@Vickie Feminist: SAME. 15 years ago I had mixed feelings but at least some hope for Israel. Now…ugh.
@Bruce: Thank you!! That does sound right.
Denali5
Exactly what my son said. Wish I had visited in an earlier time.
Geminid
@Amir Khalid: That may change before the decade is out. From Israel’s founding on, only two Arab countries-Egypt (1978) and Jordan (1994) had diplomatic relations with Israel until recently (Turkiye, a Muslim but non-Arab state, has had relations since 1948; they were very cold ten years ago but now are back to normal).
Now Bahrain, Morocco, and the United Emirates have established diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, while Saudi Arabia has encouraged informal (and military) relations.
There was a funny story in the Times of Israel relating to these new ties. A couple months after the UAE recognized Israel, two young Arab Israelis decided to play a prank. They donned Arab robes and drove to Haifa in a shiny luxury car, blaring out Emirati pop music as they drove down the seaside esplanade. When they parked and got out, curious Jewish Iraelis greeted the “tourists” with warm interest. After group pictures, selfies etc., the two young men informed their “hosts” that they actually had driven over from a town 20 miles inland.
They and the reporter noted that their reception would not have been so hospitable without the robes and pop music. But I thought the incident was telling of how some Israelis welcomed the easing of their long isolation.
WaterGirl
Dagaetch – very unexpected to feel myself so moved by this post. Thank you for the beautiful photos and your wonderful storytelling.
ljdramone
Great pictures. Jerusalem and Haifa look just like I remember them from 30 years earlier than you were there (except for the satellite dishes).
I spent two summers in Israel (1978 and 1979) working as a volunteer on a kibbutz. I had family friends and distant relatives who lived in Jerusalem and Haifa, so got to see both cities from a local perspective.
Back then before the Lebanon War and the various intifadas, you could just walk onto the Temple Mount and tour the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, and go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall without passing through security checkpoints.
Things seemed pretty hopeful then — the Camp David Accords had just been signed, and it seemed possible that Israel would be able to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians. The rise to power of right-wing ultranationalist political groups in Israel in the last several decades has been really discouraging.
pieceofpeace
So seldom have I encountered pictures of Israel that are of a tourist nature, rather than political. And the commentary is appreciated. Perhaps not, but I notice a lack of trees, foliage. Is that because of geological, or water problems that affect the area? The memorial and prayer wall are impressive with their massiveness and of course, the histories and reasons for their existence.
I’d like to see more.
kindness
I know most the locals in Israel speak English, but how’s your Hebrew? Do you know any Arabic? I know none mind you. The 20 bar/bat mivahs I attended growing up didn’t teach me any. But I do try to communicate to locals in a foreign place in their tongue, even if I utterly fail.
opiejeanne
In the 1960s there were programs inviting teenage non-Jews to volunteer to work at a kibbutz for a summer as well as sightsee, and my Methodist church hosted a group of kids to do this. The guy who came to talk to us at the MYF said, oh sure, you can visit Jerusalem, and something about casually strolling between the two zones, as if no one would shoot at you.
I wanted to go but my parents were already worried about how safe it was when the six day war happened and they were finished talking about the trip. I don’t remember now if any kids ended up going but it felt like an opportunity missed.
way2blue
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is the gender restriction at the Western Wall?
Amir Khalid
@Geminid:
I wish I were as optimistic as you. But Malaysia has a long history of ‘anti-Zionist” foreign policy that all too often crosses the line into anti-semitism. And casual anti-semitic talk often goes unremarked upon here.
Dagaetch
@WaterGirl: So glad you enjoyed!
@pieceofpeace: Afraid I do not know much about trees, or lack thereof. But we also were seeing a very limited slice of the country.
@kindness: I forced myself to learn enough Hebrew to be able to say please, thank you, and where’s the bathroom? But that was the extent of it. Everyone we encountered was fluent in English…but again, predetermined tour with guide, so 🤷♀️.
@way2blue: there are limited (none?) areas of the Western Wall that women are allowed to approach, because it’s under the management of an Orthodox group. I believe there was a push ~10 years ago to remove that limitation, but I expect that the resurgence of the right wing has meant it didn’t happen.
Geminid
@Amir Khalid: Well, the Israeli secret service has done its share of antagonizing Malaysians recently. And people everywhere are concerned if not angry about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
This is a particularly tense time now over there, in Jerusalem and on the northern border.
The relations that exist now between Israel and the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain would have seemed a farfetched goal 7 years ago. Those countries are autarchies though, and a democratic Malaysia is evidently more resistant to normalizing relations with Israel.
JaneE
I was in Israel in ’68. Much the same, as are all most places with continual habitation for millennia. No satellite dishes when I was there but almost every home had a solar water heater on the roof. It struck me as a country of stark contrasts then. You could tell which lands had been under Jordanian control before the war by the utter lack of green while the former Israeli areas were verdant. And the demarcation was as sharp as a ruled line. Jerusalem was a short walk from a modern hotel to 1st century structures. The old city was truly old.
The Castle
Haifa really is one of the nicest places in Israel.
The propaganda on the birthright trips is pretty heavy handed. And they absolutely want to you to emigrate, or at least give money and support Israel when you go back to the states. And it’s pretty direct — there was a moment when all of the chaperones disappeared and I was left with these (single) young Israeli soldiers; it was quite obvious that this was the moment when the government was hoping I would pair up with one of the them and have lots of Jewish children. Really gross. But, these trips aren’t being sponsored out of the goodness of their hearts!
Bruce
@Dagaetch @way2blue
There is a separation, called a mehitza, about shoulder high, at the main area of the wall which separates men from women praying at the wall. The mehitza is relatively “new” having been first placed in the 1920s. Before that men and women prayed at the wall together. But it is now the status quo
The portion of the wall that lies south of the ramp leading up to the Temple Mount is an egalitarian prayer area that has semi official status. However, it is extremely controversial among the ultra Orthodox, and they occasionally interrupt the prayers there, sometimes violently.
domaxi198
Very nice! A friend of mine visited Israel two years ago and he was excited. That’s why this country is on my bucket list.