Convergence of Worlds

I'm blessed to have the opportunity to study at a school that brings people together from all over the world. I live in an apartment with a guy from France, two Jewish Americans, and a Palestinian guy from Jersey. There's also a guy from Nigeria who hangs out here almost every day so I kind of count him as a fifth roommate. Thankfully, some of my roommates are political,and we have lively political discussions (meaning we shout our arguments at each other and then slowly descend into thoughtful discussion). We just concluded an hour and a half political discussion covering most of the controversial topics: Israeli politics, the two state solution, Netanyahu,the American election, Obama, the GOP, ect. It was fascinating to see American politics from the point of view of a Jewish Democrat and a Nigerian, and it was fascinating to see the Israeli-Palestinian situation from the point of view of a Palestinian. Though we don't agree on much of anything, we can talk civilly and constructively about the problems facing the United States and Israel and current events. Every single one of these guys is highly intelligent and articulate, so I am content with simply listening to what they have to say. This convergence of cultures takes place in the classroom too. In my Hebrew class, guys from Texas and Nigeria sit to my left and girls from Britain and Australia sit on my right. A guy from Papua New Guinea sits down the row from me. We all talk about home, find commonalities between our cultures and our worldviews, and form friendships that will span the globe. A couple of nights ago, I met a guy from Switzerland at an event and asked him about Swiss bank accounts and was treated to a ten minute insider dissection and explanation of the Swiss banking system and its superiority. At another event, I met two guys from South Korea and Japan respectively and immediately got involved in a discussion about regional politics, what the rise of China and North Korea meant for their respective countries, and what they thought should be done about it. I asked the guy from Japan whether they were considering becoming a nuclear power (possessing nuclear weapons) as a response to China and North Korea's saber rattling. He responded with a vigorous and unequivocal "no". When I asked why, he said simply "the United States will protect us if it were to come to that." The guy from South Korea agreed, saying nuclear weapons were unnecessary because of American protection. Both were very supportive of the United States and grateful for our alliance with them. At the end of the discussion, I assured the two of them that the U.S. was on their side, and they both said they appreciated the American support. Similar discussions happen every day between international students, and I have been privileged to listen and take part in several of them. This place literally is a convergence of worlds, where people from all corners of the globe study and articulate their ideas and world views together. It's a beautiful situation, and I'm looking forward to the next four months with these great people.

An Army with a State: Security

Israel is essentially one giant fortress, ringed on all sides by countries that have, in the past, done their level best to drive the Israelis into the sea. Because of this stark reality, Israel from the literal birth of its existence has had to put security first and foremost on its list of priorities. This translates into a highly suspicious and heavily armed citizenry, ready at all times to defend the state against domestic or foreign terror and aggression. I have both experienced and observed this phenomenon. My first observation is that Israelis tasked with security profile people. What I mean by this is that if you are suspicious in any way, have a stamp on your passport from an Arab country, or are even descended from a nationality that the Israelis don't deem trustworthy,you will be required to undergo more extensive security checks than others. I experienced this myself at JFK, where my Jordanian stamp in my passport resulted in extra questions and checks. I experienced the other side of this coin as well, however. When leaving Israel in 2009, the customs official at the airport asked my mother and I one question: "What is the origin of your last name?" We responded "Finland" and were waved through without any extra questions or checks. I guess the Israelis don't find Finland threatening. Such procedures would be greeted with outrage in my politically correct homeland, but the Israelis have little time or patience for political correctness when it comes to security. Their first and foremost concern is the survival of the state, and if some toes are stepped on along the way, then that is the price that has to be paid. The second experience that has helped inspire this post is the procedure we go through everyday as students at Hebrew University. Our student village is walled off, and to enter one must have a valid student ID and show it to the guard at the gate. No ID, no entrance. When we want to enter the campus itself, we not only have to present our ID's, but we also have to have our bags checked by a security officer and go through a metal detector. This process is repeated at the entrance of any major Israeli public building or area. Its not as bad as it sounds, taking only about a minute, but it's another stark reminder of the realities of Israeli life in an area of the world where they are at best not welcome and at worst hated. The university has more reason than most to impose stringent security, as a suicide bomber attacked the school during the second intifada in the early 2000's. The third observation highlighting the sacrosanct status of security in Israel is the number of guns one sees on a daily basis. Guns are everywhere in Israel, carried not just by the frequent patrols of soldiers through the streets and at checkpoints, but by civilians as well. Weapons carried by civilians range from standard handguns (I saw a man praying at the Wailing Wall with one sticking out of his back pocket), to those "evil and irresponsible assault rifles" as Obama would call them, to full out machine guns of military grade and efficiency. Israelis carry these weapons as nonchalantly as if they're backpacks or purses, and after a couple of days one just becomes used to their incredible presence in everyday Israeli life. These measures have been taken because of the unprecedented security situation that Israel has historically and currently been forced to deal with. In a country where the threat of attack is a daily reality, the Israelis have transformed themselves into an armed camp, ready to confront any threat at a moment's notice. Such is life in Israel, and I couldn't feel safer.

An Army with a State

There's a fundamental truth that permeates every aspect of Israeli society: Everyone is in the military, and can at a moment's notice be called up to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces to defend Israel from its enemies. Your bus driver today could be a tank commander tomorrow, that clerk you bought some food from could be a pilot when needed, and that store-owner you pass every day on the way to classes could have and probably did serve in one of the numerous wars in the past. I have yet to see an overweight Israeli my age, and the only Israelis I have ever seen that aren't incredibly in shape are elderly, with their soldiering days behind them. Two stories come to mind to highlight the dual-role of the Israeli citizen. A day or two ago, I stopped at an ice cream stand to buy a cone. The guy behind the counter was a guy in his late twenties to early thirties, taller than me without an ounce of fat on him. He had a Mohawk buzz cut hair cut, and he was wearing fatigues. Everything about the guy screamed "military", yet here he was, running an ice cream stand, looking incredibly out of place next to the chocolates and the candies. Maybe he owned the stand himself, maybe it was the family business, but all I could think about while buying that ice cream was if Israel were to go to war tomorrow, someone else would have to run it. The second story occurred in the Old City. My friends and I were resting in the Jewish Quarter, enjoying a late lunch at a hole in the wall type restaurant, when an Israeli boy stepped in to buy some food. I say "boy" because it was obvious that he hadn't shaved a day in his life and looked like he could be 12 or 13, yet he was in uniform and was carrying a machine gun. Nobody else gave the kid a second glance, but I couldn't help staring at him. This kid, no, this man, wouldn't have been able to buy a beer back in the states, yet he was perfectly ready, willing, and able, to defend the Jewish state to the best of his considerable abilities, and even lay down his life in its service. It brought home to me what no book or article could articulate, that these men and women have to serve. Israel depends on the ability of every male and female citizen to step out of their private lives and jobs, put on a uniform, and bravely march out to face its numerous enemies at a moment's notice. These men and women aren't serving for (and if need be, fighting and dying for) themselves. They fight for the absolute survival of a nation, of an entire race of people. I am honored to be able to observe and live in such a place, populated by such a people.

The Old City

I've been able to go down into the Old City twice over the last two days. We are able to hop on the light rail, which has a stop located at the foot of Mount Scopus, and ride it to the Damascus Gate, where we enter into the Old City via the Muslim Quarter. The Muslim Quarter is amazing. Every inch of the street is filled with booths and every inch of the booths are filled with food or products. In one booth you might find knock-off Hello Kitty items, and next to it you might find an "official" antiquities dealer happy to sell you coins, swords, pots, ect. from the time of Christ or even older. The streets are incredibly narrow, and steps downward and upward come out of nowhere, so you have to watch where you are going at all times. On Fridays, the Muslim quarter is packed to the gills with worshipers going to and from the Temple Mount. Kids zoom past you on their bikes so you have to be willing to press yourself against the walls to allow them to pass or risk being run over. Everywhere, the yells of shop owners mingle with the loud conversations of the passerby, making the Muslim Quarter a very loud and rowdy place. The Christian Quarter is quieter, with the stores selling carvings of the last supper instead of "Free Palestine" shirts. The streets are also wider and easier to navigate, and there seems to be less people in general, though admittedly I haven't been there on a Sunday yet. As a Christian, I thought I'd be more at home in the Christian Quarter than in the Muslim or Jewish, but this assumption has not proven quite correct. While it is true that there are churches everywhere in this area and the memorabilia are recognizable scenes of Christ's life and of the Christian faith, the store-owners are still looking to make a profit at any cost, and so they are just as aggressive as the Muslim and Jewish businessmen. This means that you feel almost as harassed as in the Muslim Quarter. Once you enter the Jewish Quarter, you feel like you have stepped out of the Old City entirely. This quarter of the Old City had been destroyed and then rebuilt, so all the streets are incredibly wide and there are many open areas/parks where trees are planted and you can actually see the sky. It is a great place to just sit and relax for a bit. Regardless of what quarter you visit, the Old City is an amazing place. Steeped in history and tradition, the Old City brings together the three major religions living (somewhat) peacefully side by side. Outside the walls, the world keeps on going; but inside, time has frozen.

Mount Scopus

Hello friends! I have made it to Israel safe and sound and have moved in to the Hebrew University Student Village and have started getting acclimated to the culture of Jerusalem. The Student Village is made up of 12 or more high rise apartment buildings, with five students living in each apartment. The village is full of stray cats; everywhere you look, there is at least one cat stalking something or someone. The village and the university are located on Mount Scopus, an actual mountain with views of the Temple Mount and the Old City to the South and the mountains of Jordan to the East. The village is located a little ways down the mountain and the university is located at the top, so there is a bit of a hike to get to classes. Currently, I only have internet in the campus library, so I'm only online about once a day. The walk to classes is gorgeous: we walk past a WWI British military cemetery on the way up (our orientation leader said that there's a grave in there marked "Harry Potter", but we aren't allowed to go in so nobody has confirmed that). Also, the Old City is always visible and the Dome of the Rock (the Mosque on the Temple Mount) is stunning to behold. Everywhere you look, new apartment buildings are going up; construction projects are everywhere. From my classroom yesterday, the Wall of Separation is clearly visible to the East and stretches away into the distance. The weather here is in the high 50's to low 60's, a huge improvement over the subzero temperatures of Minnesota :). The people are nice and friendly, always greeting you with a "shalom" as you pass them on the street. Today is the Muslim holy day, so the city is a lot quieter and there are less people out and about. Tomorrow is the Jewish Holy Day, and Sunday is the Christians'. Our weekend is Friday and Saturday, with the work week encompassing Sunday through Thursday. Well, that's all for now. Have a good day and I look forward to hearing from all of you!

El Al

When we arrived at JFK around ten am yesterday, we (my friend Evan and I) expected to go to the El Al desk, check in, and go through all of the security checkpoints so as to get into the terminal and find a place to relax and eat while waiting for our flight. The desk was not open, however, so we ended up sitting in front of it for four hours. It wasn't that bad, because we ended up meeting a lot of the other American students who were going with us. We eventually discovered that El Al only had one flight leaving JFK that day, and that it happened to be the flight that we were all booked on. Finally, the desks opened and we began the check-in process. we all got into a long line and waited for one of seven airline security representatives to call us forward and ask us questions. The ticket counter was surrounded by heavily armed TSA police, and each of the security representatives looked fresh out of the army. When I was finally called forward, my interrogator asked me where I was going, where I was from, where I took Hebrew (he was surprised to know that I didn't speak a word of it) and finally, why I had been to Jordan. He was very interested in this last point, questioning me extensively on my travels in that country. I even got questioned by the supervisor about it after he was finished. Finally, we were allowed to step forward, check our bags, and proceed through the TSA security station. We thought our checks were over and that we could finally relax. We were wrong. Once we got to the gate, the gentiles were called into a "back room" which was a broom closet packed with a metal detector and an x-ray scanner. Here, the security officers went through our checked bags by hand and had us go through the x-ray machine while also going through each of our papers one more time. At this point, I was exhausted and ready for everything to be over with. It all worked out in the end though, as the security officers, sensing our exhaustion and recognizing our level of cooperation, allowed us to board the plane first. The flight was great, and the food was good. I sat next to an old Orthodox Jewish man who looked a lot like Dumbledore, and we talked at length about my trip and what I wanted to study. Eventually we all fell asleep, and when we woke up, we were in Israel.