Friends and Family Tour

We never even saw Mika and Liana today because one vague plan of including them in our day of touring was derailed by Mika's illness. So Jon and I got into the borrowed car at about 8:00 in the morning and headed down off the mountain, in heavy traffic. We were going to see the only other people we know in Israel.

It was a three hour drive to Gedera, mostly along the coast. Lots of crazy motorcycle drivers weaving in and out of traffic, not as many big trucks as in the US, traffic was heavy the whole way. This is a green time of year in Israel and we think that the acres and acres of tropical-looking trees under a protective cover were bananas. They don't look quite like the bananas in Hawaii, but what else would they be? As we got further south, the towns and suburbs and cities got more continuous. Many signs and Israeli flags and giant banners about bringing the hostages home.

We got to Nir and Hanna's house right on time at 11:00. We stood outside on the street for a few minutes, studying the house and fence because it looked completely unfamiliar, and there was no street number (that would never be allowed in the US). So we called Nir and he came to open the gate for us, saying that the house had been completely renovated with a new second floor added on, and the gate was required in order for them to get the building permit. Well, that explains that.

Nir knew we were coming and we had arrived as planned, but he was clearly fitting us in between a few other things. We first met him in 2006 when we went on the congregational trip -- he was one of the tour guides. Because Nancy is so good at maintaining connections, we have stayed in touch with Nir and in fact he let Benjamin stay at his house for the first month when B. came to Israel about 10 years ago. That was incredibly generous, considering that he meets hundreds of people every year and I certainly hope that not all of them asks him to host their kid at his home, but we did, and he took in our 26 year old who was making aliyah.

Anyway, he asked if we had eaten breakfast yet and then he went into cooking mode, chopping tomatoes and cucumbers, boiling eggs, filling the table with condiments, talking the whole time. We had come partly to hear his opinion and perspective on the situation in Israel. He is a professional storyteller, as a tour guide, so he can tell you a lot without sharing his real opinions. We wanted to know what he thought. He has lived his entire 65 years in Israel and this is the worst it has ever been. The family lost close friends on October 7 (including a young woman who had practically grown up in their house) and his business stopped completely on that day. He is completely clear that Netanyahu has to go now, and he thinks that a civil war is an imminent possibility. The only thing that is keeping that from happening is the ongoing war, and that is one of the reasons that Netanyahu is dragging this out so long.

Then a tall, fast-moving young man came in the door carrying a laptop and full of excitement. He had just got a pledge for a big donation from a neighbor. This was Amit, married to a cousin of Nir's, son of Nir's mentor in the army. The donation was for the project that Nir and Amit have started, using their contacts in the States -- they are trying to educate Americans on the true Israel, not the Israel they think they know from current events and news. When Amit saw us there, his plans for a meeting with Nir were interrupted, so he decided to have some breakfast while he waited. He got out a frying pan and some eggs and made himself an omelet and sat down to join us, telling us about the work they were doing. Nir said, we have to do something, and what we have is contacts with American evangelical churches, mostly. There are many more Christians than Jews in the US and we need to get their support. I told him he needed to focus on the young people, and he said they are all having the same feelings about Israel, Christians and Jews, and yes, that is an important demographic. Amit is excited to be working in Dearborn, Michigan as well. 

Easy to feel very at home in Nir's house, certainly Amit, but also us.

Hanna came in from an appointment, was surprised to find us there (Nir had forgotten to tell her), gave us a hug, said that things are very depressing here, the worst she has ever experienced, and then went off for a weekly visit with her mother in Jerusalem. 

Breakfast was delicious, we heard about all the ways Amit and Nir would like to see Bibi gone (none should be published), and it does feel like a very hard time here. 

We went to Tel Aviv and met up with Benjamin at Hostage Square. There were school groups listening to the stories of the families of hostages but everything was in Hebrew so we were just voyeurs. Watching the kids listen, I could see that the stories were very hard to hear.  There are lots of installations that remind us of who is missing, how many we are waiting for.  Mirrors for us to remember that it could have been anyone, notes and bows and ribbons and a whole long table set for dinner in the middle of the square, a tunnel to walk through that is not tall enough to stand in. It is very affecting to think of how much remembering and hoping has happened in the last 5 1/2 months. Photos of the hostages are on posters everywhere, not just in the square.

We walked around a few blocks, stopped for a snack in a sit-down restaurant, admired the many ways that Tel Aviv and Rome are completely different from each other. Tel Aviv is full of skyscrapers made of steel and glass (unlike the rest of Israel), big civic buildings made with the look of Jerusalem stone, wide streets lined with trees. It is a very new-looking city. 

Then we worked hard to find the car in the sprawling parking garage underneath the art museum and the theater and the library and made our way out of town to Hertzliya.  We arrived on time, with no stress, and met Jon's second cousin Ygal outside the restaurant. The last time the four of us had dinner together was 9 years ago in Haifa. We ate in an upscale fish restaurant with a Mediterranean flavor. We learned a lot about Ygal, 64, and the 34 years he has spent in Israel, working his way up to CEO of a company that makes 42% of the air conditioners in Israel and is a branch of much larger corporate conglomate. This man came to Israel with nothing, knowing only Russian, started working in a factory, learned Hebrew and then English and kept on going. He is starting to fret about retirement because he is at the peak of his game and he really doesn't want to stop, nor does he know how to. I think he may be an old fashioned male chauvinist but he also has an unstoppable work ethic and he wants to take care of his family. He thinks he was not a great father. He is a little worried about being a grandfather soon since he has no idea how to do that. We told him you learn on the job, no problem.

That was a long day of driving and visiting. It is much easier to do all of that in a country where we speak the language, but they don't try to make it hard here. Lots of English along the way.