Shukropolis

Its been too long. So now its time to catch up.

Although its now November 27^th, I’m going to have to start with September 15^th.

Along with four others, I was picked to represent Kivunim as a part of the MASA program to attend the General Assembly in Jerusalem. MASA is an Israeli governmental organization set up to under the philosophy that bringing people to spend the year in Israel will not only help the Jewish community abroad but also support Israel from within; and of course hopefully insight new Jews to make aliyah.

The General Assembly is a large biannual convention that brings together North American philanthropists and Jewish community organizers. Various organizations such as the Jewish National Fund and Lion’s of Judah were represented aplenty. As representatives of MASA we were for all intents and purposes full delegates, which means we were able to both participate in many interesting panel discussions as well as hear numerous influential members of the Jewish community speak. Including Ehud Olmert, the currect prime minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, the current president, Ehud Barak, Benyamin Netanyahu, candidate for prime minister and head of the Likud party, Tzipi Livni, the defense minister and candidate for Prime minister.

Ehud Olmert, just like our current head of state, spoke like a lame duck. Calling on all Jews world wide to make aliyah and fight, what I later discovered would become the centerpiece of every speaker’s presentation, Iran. His speech was bland, with the exception of his fear-mongering mentioning of Iran. He left the stage moments after he arrived, quickly as his half-a-dozen secret service agents guided him off stage.

Shimon Peres, a much more personable speaker than his prime minister counterpart, spoke much more in depth about peace, education, energy, the economy (of course) and other pressing issues Israel faces. He presented various policy proposals, with just as many buzzwords as applause lines. ‘peace’ – yay! ‘sustainable energy’ – yay! Yet, for all my mockery I found Peres a wonderful speaker, moving and provided feasible ideas on how to help Israel pull itself out of the numerous holes both domestic and foreign it has dug itself into.

Ehud Barak, was much of the same, again, pressing the Iran as being the most important issue not only to face Israel (ever) but the world. Never before have I experienced such fear mongering including the pre-Iraq war battle calls.

Before I talk about Bibi Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni’s speeches, I wanted to tell about the panel discussions. There were two discussions that are story telling-worthy. The first was a discussion of American-Israeli diplomatic relations through the lens of the 2008 American elections. The panelists were all intellectuals of one sort or another. Both American and Israeli, a prominent journalist, a general, an Israeli political advisor and an American political advisor. I arrived five minutes late to the auditorium, and by the time I arrived there were no more seats. There were over 400 people that showed up for this particular panel (it was one of nine). The panelists, before taking questions from the audience, spoke about a potential two-state solution, the Second Lebanon War, Barack Obama’s lack of experience, the new face he brings to the world and its positive effects, and of course Iran. When the time came to ask questions, I quickly raised my hand. After fifteen minutes or so of questions, the moderator finally called on ‘’the young man in the back’. I had written down my question as to get the phrasing quite write: “President-elect Barack Obama made it an essential part of his campaign to end the current diplomatic mentality, the playground bully ideology that ostensibly punishes those we disagree with silence. How do you think this policy will affect the United States and Israel regarding conflict, but perhaps more importantly peace?” The moderator took three questions at once, including mine, and then addressed the panel to answer them together. The panelists responded to the other two questions and simply did not address my question. The moderator then redirected the panel to answer my question. “Anyone want to respond to the question about silence in diplomatic relations?” Panelists spoke once more, but again, ignored my question. The moderator then redirected the panel, once again “the silence question anyone?”. Finally, a panelist responded with this “Well… we’re just going to have to wait and see how Obama’s administration chooses to address world issues and handles crises.” Much to my frustration, I left the panel unsatisfied with the answer.

The second panel was a discussion called “Iran: the ticking time bomb”. What followed was much to be expected, and fit in quite well with the rest of the week’s discussions. There were two panelists: The general of the Israeli Air Force and recent convert from the Kadima party to the more conservative Likud. His stance was simple: ‘bomb Iran until there is nothing left. Then, and only then, send in diplomats to convince the Iranian people that what they did was wrong.’ As you can imagine, this panel too did no exactly match up with my personal ideology; though certainly interesting.

Bibi Nitanyahu and Tzipi Livni both struck me in a similar fashion: pragmatists that truly want to solve problems. I did not agree with all of their policies, but both attracted me in a similar way. Much of what I attracted me to Barack Obama was the way that he spoke about problems: ‘this is the problem, I want to fix the problem, I can, and here’s how’. Even if I disagreed with some of their specific policies, I truly enjoyed hearing the Israeli politicians speak.

This all brings me to where I am now: Salonika, Greece.

Saturday night at 3am Kivunim departed for Ben Gurion Airport for our direct flight to Athens. All fifty-one students, our bags, and handmade ‘Kivunim’ flags stood in line at the El Al security check, literally and emotionally bouncing with excitement; eager for our first international trip. We had spent six weeks in Israel, learning about the culture and history of Greece and Bulgaria and we were ready to go. We had studied for classes, done community service, eaten shwarrma, and soaked in Jerusalem enough that we were ready for this trip.

9:45 am – our flight lands in Athens, Greece. Upon landing, we immediately depart for the Parthenon. We mount the Acropolis and immediately see one of the most amazing views I have ever seen.: In ever direction, for as far as you can see, white houses. With the sea in the distance, and the Parthenon, living historical beauty that provides just a snapshot into a world that provided the foundation for all modern societies, directly in front of us. now that is a run-on.

After exploring the Acropolis we went back to the hotel to rest from our travel day ad that night we had a night out on the town in Athens. A group of friends and I went to the Plaka (a hipper neighborhood in Athens with restaurants, shops and bars) and had a fantastic dinner. With our newly improving Greek language skills (efharisto – thank you) we sat down for fried feta cheese, fresh Mediterranean fish and house wine. Delish.

After two days in what turned out to be a fairly underwhelming Athens, we headed off to an island called Halkita. The island used to have a vibrant Jewish community until WWII when it was virtually destroyed in entirety. We visited the shul in Halkita and spoke with the Rabbi, which was truly inspiring; even after the Holocaust and there remained only a handful of Jews left there, the few keep the synagogue, a jewish museum and other pieces of their Jewish heritage alive. Jews have been in Halkita since 500 BCE, making it one of the oldest, longest remaining Jewish communities in the world. We then left the shul, visited the cemetery which, in accordance with ancient city standards, was on the edge of the old cities boarders. Lunch, grape leaves, giant beans, bread and cheese, was served overlooking the Aegean sea.

We then hopped back on the bus and drove north to Delphi.

In Delphi we had just enough time that night to drop our bags and explore the town. So beautiful. In the morning we hiked to the Temple of Apollo. It was remarkable to see how much is still in tact from such an ancient temple. I wish I could describe some of the places we went better, but as they say, a picture says a thousand words, so please, ask me to send you pictures from the trip. I took plenty.

After Delphi we took off to Meteora. Up in the hills of Meteora are monasteries, hundreds of years old. Christian monks, built the first of the six monasteries by themselves, with no help from professionals. Using only what little money they had, it took them twenty years to build the first one. Again, please, please, please, ask me to send you a photo.

And that brings me to here. Thessaloniki. Salonika. For whatever reason, I had imagined it as being a small city or even a town. But in fact Salonika is the second largest city in Greece with 1.5 million people. Salonika is another story of the same type as Halkita. Once upon a time Salonika was known as the Mother of Jerusalem. For hundreds of years, until WWII, Salonika was the only city in the world that maintained a Jewish majority. Now? Perhaps a thousand Jews. The first day we spent exploring the old city that is way up top on the acropolis and various museums in the city as well as visiting one of the oldest churches in the world. A beautiful church dedicated to Saint Dominique. Today we explored the Jewish community, visiting the only two synagogues left. We prayed in the shul Friday and Saturday, providing the Torah readers and leader of musaf. In the shul, there are stone plaques up and although it was difficult to read at first, you could eventually figure out what they said: lists and dates of the various shuls that used to exist in Salonika. Some of dates were as far back as two thousand years ago, with a jump in the 17^th century from the expelled Jews of Spain.

Greece thus far has been a beautiful flurry of delicious food, fascinating Jewish and secular history, gracious people, and an incredible adventure. On Sunday we take a night train to Sophia, Bulgaria.

I’ll continue to share, I hope you’ll stay posted.

Latest update: I have arrived in Sophia, Bulgaria. I'll update as soon as I explore a little more.