It was about four months since I saw my son back in America. When he finally came, we made sure to show him a good time and we traveled around the country to places we had never been. Here’s his censored and excerpted diary entry about our travels.
After Donald Trump was elected as the next president of the United States, my wife and I decided to visit my family in Israel in January, where they had just moved in August. Though we considered coming earlier, flight cancellations and airborne projectiles had us hesitating. Joe Biden’s weak foreign policy of appeasement to Iranian-backed terrorism emboldened paramilitary groups to attack Israel on multiple fronts, and that is not something we wanted to be in the middle of. Trump, contrarily, has threatened that there will be “hell to pay” if all Israeli hostages held by Hamas are not released by the time of his presidency. Trump has threatened almost every country at this point with tariffs or military intervention, and somehow, his tactic of acting erratic and inspiring fear seems to be effective. I did not think that any major attacks would be launched on Israel so we booked our trip.
Most of the non-stop flights were sold out and I have had too many horrible experiences with El Al that I avoid them where possible, so we instead flew with Delta to Athens and spent the day there. from Athens to Tel Aviv is 90-120 minutes, and I finally managed to fall asleep on a plane, which is a rarity for me – even on transatlantic night flights.
My father picked us up from the airport and we headed to his home – a town outside of Modiin. After refreshing ourselves and greeting family, we headed to bed after our tiring day. (Nevertheless, I found flying with a stopover less tiring than flying direct El Al, because I was able to relax for most of the flight time and stretch my legs and keep myself occupied during the day to acclimate to the time zone.) We slept reasonably well after changing around the mattresses – we like hard mattresses and sometimes sleep on hotel floors if the mattress provided is too soft – we excurded (took an excursion? what is the past tense of that?) to some nearby farms and greenhouses.
I have to say, after having been to Israel on many group programs for youth, it was really nice to enjoy Israel through a different lens. I am more introverted, and don’t miss being shepherded onto coach buses with rowdy youth and being lectured about inspiration. I just like peace, quiet, and being left alone. We drove down country roads and shopped at farmer’s markets and landscaping shops, where we perused through parallel rows of blossoms and shrubs. At the end of one such road, we found a hippy dippy cafe with youngsters and tunes. We hung around and bought an overpriced pomegranate juice.
The next night, my wife and I were awoken at 4:30am. I emerged from our guest bedroom shrouded in a white sheet as a ghost to gauge the situation. Turns out Yemen launched another rocket at Israel and the family had all gone to the bomb shelter. They did not wake us, because they wanted to let us sleep and didn’t think it was an actual threat – not sure whether to be grateful or upset by that. Why doesn’t Yemen first focus on getting a working education system? Maybe a functional economy? Honestly, it is just tiring with these Arab countries and the Palestinians doing nothing with their lives besides trying and failing to destroy Israel. (Cue the lefty tears.)
The next day, Friday, we headed to the Lod mosaic museum, which either my father or my wife somehow stumbled upon online. As we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed a group of elders emerging. That excited me, because my wife and I usually enjoy places frequented by senior citizens. Turns out, the museum was constructed around a mosaic from the Roman period that was partially discovered (and thereafter fully uncovered) during construction of a roadway. We had a private guided tour, and the guide was really excellent. The mosaic was rich with intricate details that she coherently wove into the history of the region. Being the analytical perfectionist and future patent lawyer that I am, I scrutinized details of the designs and pointed out elements that apparently she had never noticed before. My wife and I bought small mosaic projects in the gift shop, which we plan on using for a future date night accompanied by dry white wine.
We headed to the home for Shabbat, which was nice. I played spades with family – a card game that I sometimes play online and have yet to find other fellow players of. My immediate family seems to be adjusting differently according to each family member. On Saturday night, my wife and I headed to Modiin center and strolled through the mall. We found a cheese store and sampled a few items and then shared a gelato. I then dragged her to a park situated in a valley between opposing finger-like projections of urban development, where we circled a lake and enjoyed the tranquility. Modi’in is spectacularly designed. The center of the city houses an impressive roundabout abutted by the mall, central bus station, train station, park, municipal buildings, and arterial roadways connecting to varying neighborhoods. Pedestrian bridges, bike paths, parks beneath underpasses, and automotive flyovers abound. I guess what is nice is the multiple forms of infrastructure that all feel contiguous while being atop one another.
On Sunday, we headed to the North to see the Bahai Gardens – something I have wanted to do for a while but never got around to. We took the coastal highway that had nice views of the blue sea waters on one side and nice rolling hills on the other. I suggested pulling off at Caesarea to see the Roman ruins, but I was vetoed. Once in Haifa, we parked and headed to the Bahai Garden entrance.
[Father comment: I am really unhappy that they put a tree in front of the domed building – ruins all the pictures.]
When we get to the gardens, the only tour available is in Hebrew, which, besides for a few words, I fully understand. I know internally that I speak Hebrew, but when I am in Israel, I am reminded of how proficient I really am. I invested a lot of time and energy into perfecting my Hebrew and it is nice to put that into practice and enjoy the fruits of the labour, as the expression goes. The gardens consist of flattened terraces descending down Mount Carmel towards the sea. They evoke a sense of harmony and peace, as manicured horticulture blends like a gradient into the surrounding vegetation and marine vistas. This is by design, as the Bahai religion advocates for equality, world peace, tranquility, divinity of life, and unity of religious traditions. It seemed quite intriguing, though I wonder in practice how this is implemented. Before this trip, I had met three Bahai practitioners in my life, all of whom seemed nice enough.
As during our tour, we had descended significantly down the slopes of the city, we opted to take public transportation back up to the car as opposed to walking. Haifa is an odd cable-pulled tram funicular thing [in functions like a diagonal elevator on a strong metal cable] that goes underground between the mountaintop and the seashore. The grade was so steep that the interior of the funicular had stairs along the length, and the station platforms were themselves stairs. We drove back home, had dinner and decompressed, and then my wife and I took a walk through the neighborhood. There were some citrus trees and I happily consumed freshly plucked kumquats and stowed away a lemon for later.
The next day we headed by train to Tel Aviv, which was warm despite it being January. We then spent the day basically walking around, perusing markets of both new and used goods, and enjoying different neighborhoods. I spun around on a kids’ merry-go-round and had fun despite being fifteen years too old for it. There was a nice park along abandoned railway tracks where we sat and rested. We took the new tram to Old Jaffa and took in the architecture, which felt Greek. The whole of Tel Aviv reminds me of a hybrid of Miami, San Francisco, Rome, and Athens. During our day, we ate a Mexican beef concoction, humus and pita, and a fresh fruit juice, the latter of which was given to us generously for free after I told the store owner that we did not have cash and the ATM withdrawal fee was prohibitively high.
On Tuesday we woke up late, still not quite adjusted to the time zone. We went out to a brunch with parents, then came back home and napped. We had been napping daily and that trend did not seem to be changing. Then we headed to a winery, where we tried five different wines and had a cheese plate. I liked the white wine, but the red ones weren’t to my liking. We toured the factory floor and barrel storage locations. The guide wanted to give an example of an aromatic food, so he randomly called on me and asked me if I like sweet chocolate, to which I answered “no”. I don’t think that was the right answer. We walked around the little town of the winery and found a small zoo enclosure with a cooky ram standing on only its two hind legs to reach a leafy branch. I picked the branch for it and fed it. Despite it being sunset, chickens were squawking and climbing trees, giant rabbits hopped to and fro, and a duck stuck its bill through the fencing. We perused a garden and then headed home, where we made homemade pasta according to my wife’s instruction, though it didn’t quite come out because the semolina flour is coarser in Israel.
[Father comment: The wine and cheese tasting was so good – mainly for the cheese. Wow, what a cheese selection. The wine … not really my taste. Now I won’t usually buy this brand, having visited … oops on them. If only they sold cheese …]
The next day I walked to my brother’s yeshiva whilst my wife did some work. I dropped in on a class of his, he showed me around, I met some of his peers, and we caught up. We had not spoken in a while so it was nice to see one another face to face, and we covered some heavy topics. We stopped off at a hummus restaurant and I picked up a platter for myself and a sandwich for my wife. I came home and we had lunch together. The cooky cat persisted in trying to eat my lunch and managed to hop onto the table as I was distracted. I dumped a cup of water on it to shoo it away. We then walked to a local shop and bought ingredients for a smoothie which I made for my wife. We hung around for a bit and then headed out to meet her relatives for dinner. We entered some local shops including a soap shop and then took a train and bus to get back home. She worked a bit more, I showered and relaxed, and that was really it for the day.
On Thursday morning my wife relentlessly tried to wake me up, but it still took me forty minutes from her first summons until the time I got out of bed. We headed to Jerusalem, first to the Israel Museum. There were a lot of interesting artifacts, but the place was huge and overwhelming. I think we got museumed out. There was more English spoken there than in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This museum was kind of like a version of that. I did, however, get to pop into a chamber that looked like a giant meringue cookie housing the Dead Sea Scrolls – manuscripts found near the Dead Sea comprising Biblical texts handwritten during the Second Temple Period. They prove Jewish presence in the land dating back thousands of years. Also of interest was a large color spectrum and the trinket-filled gift shop.
We entered the Israel National Library across the road, and though we were denied entry to the actual room with books due to not having the right kind of library card, we still got to peer in through floor-to-ceiling windows. I wonder what the Pyongyang National Library looks like. We drove and parked near a Thai restaurant where we got customized stir-fries. Mine was supposed to be spicy and have noodles, neither of which were the case. Not sure what happened there. My roommate and I used to go to that restaurant maybe twice a month while I was studying in yeshiva in Israel and I remember the quality being better. Maybe it has gone downhill. My roommate used to say that two yeshiva students hanging out are often mistaken for a gay couple, which is quite true. I was in the mall with him once in America and we were speaking in Hebrew – we got a lot of interesting attention.
We headed to the Western Wall and . . . went to pray. My wife went by herself to the Machane Yehuda Market. She really loves markets, and wanted me to note that here. [My father and I] browsed around the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and [saw] the Church of The Holy Sepulchre. I imagine [my father] wonders what went wrong that I am more interested in Christian sites than Jewish ones. [Father comment: Nah, I forbidden fruit tastes sweeter – and you’ve seen so much Jewish stuff … I was interested to see the Christian quarter too.] The iconography of Christianity gets quite repetitive. I don’t understand how seeing the same cross over and over again is so moving. Can anyone explain why this church is special? What is a Sepulchre? (Side point: I have a Christian cousin who is very into seeing the associated religious sites. Maybe I’ll ask her what this one commemorates.)
[Father comment: Also, the Christian quarter was nearly deserted while the Jewish quarter was bustling with activity. I think because of the war there aren’t so many Christian tourists. Spome mok-looking people always seemed to be in a hurry and didn’t give us, the yarmulke wearing Jews, any attention. <shrug> Meanwhile, the churches have huge amounts of real estate there – the church of Martin Luther … it’s got to be half a football field long and since my son learned German fluently (that’s ambiguously grammatically correct), for some reason, he could read the posted events. Nothing exciting though … and why does he speak German?]
My family shares location with one another on Google Maps, and my father noticed that my sister was located in the vicinity. We spent way too long trying to find her and getting lost because the streets are confusing and the map couldn’t figure out where we were. Eventually we did run into her and her school group on a class trip. She wanted to come home with us, but my father said no. Finally we headed back to the car, picked up my wife, and then drove home, where I collapsed exhaustedly into bed. A couple hours later, we went out to get ice cream and then I used AI to write a funky poem about my sister.
On Friday morning we headed out to a cave filled with stalagmites, stalactites, and other formations. First though, we picked up my sister from school – a school which was more so a bunch of trailers and caravans on a small lot beside a suburban shopping center. The drive was full of tortuous twists and it was quite nauseating. The cave was well worth it though. We then wanted to stop by IKEA, but it was closed. (My wife and I got engaged at IKEA, so we have a special connection.) Things in Israel close early on Fridays and open only a few hours after Shabbat. So instead, we stopped at a fruit stand where the clerk recognized me from last week, and then a honey shop with different samples and where we bought some serving plates. We then headed home, and my wife baked an apple cake. [Father comment: My son is a fan of the Oxford comma where I am not because that’s not how my 1st grade teacher taught me to use commas. What I’m noticing though is that the grammar correcting thing on my computer keeps saying to add commas. What do you think about that, son?]
Two cats of the family and the stray cats that wander into the yard made the house feel like an entertaining zoo! After Shabbat, we drove to some relatives with whom I am close and played board games. I enjoyed seeing them, catching up, and eating their cake + soup. I would have wanted to stay longer but we had to get going for my sister to get to bed on time, which realistically never happens. I tried to convince my family to meet us in Europe in the future, but I don’t think it worked. After dropping off my sister, we went out for ice cream, much to my wife’s liking. We came back, checked into our flight, which apparently was moved from 2:30pm to 9:30am…. I don’t know anymore. Things in Israel don’t make sense. We tidy up, head to bed, before getting up early the next morning and heading to the airport for our flight to London where we stop for a few days before returning to New York.
