Ataturk our national hero! Hazzah!

Day 1
Today we got off the plane at 815ish and immediately split into buses to head to the blue mosque. The mosque itself is absolutely incredible, huge and ornate. The surrounding courtyard is a mountain of historical tidbits piled one upon the other. The courtyard used to be a horse/chariot racing ring with several monuments in the center. Three of those monuments still exist. One of which is a giant obelisk given two thousand years ago.
Then we were off to the Grand Bazaar. Ah yes. And how awe-some it is. The grand bazaar is essentially an ancient shuk. Indoors, there are close to 5000 shops. Truly amazing. As always, I am shocked by the universalization of English. We have just enough to time to wander around and buy any little thing we might want. To be honest, though, I was underwhelmed by the Grand Bazaar. It was in my mind too similar to a mall. It was all modern and the shops are all, frankly, western. Very, very very different from the shuk in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Casablanca, Sophia or any other market I have been too. It was a MASSIVE indoor shuk with a mall flavour. Extremely interesting though. I sat down for a lunch of burekas and tea at a small shop. Very yummy.
For dinner Gabi, a madrich, and Gaby, a friend, walked through what is essentially the Times Square of Istanbul. And although it was raining the streets remained packed. We wandered around the city, which reminded me, perhaps too much, of any classic western city. What was so interesting is that there would be a burger king, and just above the roof you could see a minaret from a mosque peaking out. We ended up, due to time constraints, ate some quick food at a shwarma-esque joint which was delish delish. But as with all of our days, it was a quick stop and we were off to the buses for another adventure.
We drove an hour and a half to the edge of the city to a JCC where we were scheduled to have an ice-breaker of sorts with the local Jewish youth. We showed up but in the end there were only three or four Turks. Hmmm. There was free cold beer and music. I guess it was worth it. I am writing this all from my Istanbul hotel room with an official count of….29 hours of no sleep and 29 hours of constant activity. Sweet dreams, ill blog more as I explore more.

Day 2
This morning we woke up at 745 and went down for breakfast at our hotel before taking off for a full day in the city. Our first stop was a meeting with the chief rabbi of Istanbul. A short, older gentlemen, wearing black and purple robes (frankly looking like something out of harry potter) came strolling in. He began to speak to us in Hebrew with the help of a translator (our councelor Gabi). This man was fantastic. He was an adorable man that spoke to us of how it was that he became chief rabbi. He explained that he started his work in Turkey as a teacher and spoke to us of the importance of education and the power it holds. The Rabbi spoke of how the role of a teacher can perhaps be as influential and loved as a parent. The moment he chose to follow the direction of chief rabbi and leave education, he cried, knowing this would mean leaving the role he held so dear to him. He then touched on what he called the poison of the Jewish people, assimilation. I asked him in Hebrew at the end of his address what he thought of, the admittedly large, question of how he viewed the relationship between Israeli Jews and world Jewry. He first chuckled by asking why it was such a large question, then went on to explain the importance of the state of Israel while at the same time having a powerful Jewish community abroad to strengthen the Jewish world. He explained, with a point that I had spoken about on Kivunim and the General Assembly in the past, is the idea that without world Jewry, The world would know no Jews; only sustaining anti-Semitism and the root of the cause of stereotypes. I truly enjoyed by experience with the Chief Rabbi and wish I could have spoken with him in more depth.
After the chief rabbi, we left to the only Jewish school in Turkey. The school has kids from kindergarten until 12th grade. However, because of the secularization of Turkey under Ataturk, the school cannot be blatantly Jewish. Therefore, they teach Jewish law and customs under the blanket class ethics. The school taught currently 46% of the Jewish community’s kids. Really remarkable. We then had a short Q&A with the principal of the school; an intellectual of sorts that stumbled upon the job. He fielded questions about the Jewish community in Turkey, its homogeny, the strong culture, and its connection to Israel and if they teach Israel in the school (he responded by saying, ‘no we do not, it would be like saying do we have a United States class’. Very interesting answer.) After eating lunch in the cafeteria, we went back to the hotel to get changed for Shabbat services and dinner.
The shul we attended for Friday night services Kabbalat Shabbat and Mariv was the only Ashkenazi shul in Istanbul. We may very well of been in the shul for only 25 minutes. For those who frequent synagogue less, that’s a very quick service. Kabbalat Shabbat is typically a service with joyous melodies, welcoming Shabbat. This service was speedy quick, as they say, and without tune. Shortly thereafter, we headed to an old-age home for dinner. After a delicious Turkish-Jewish dinner of local sea bass in an lemon and egg sauce and a vegetable stew with beef, we sang Jewish songs with the residents and then headed home by foot, taking the wonderful opportunity to drink in the city on the way home.

Day 3
Naturally, an early am wake up was in order. Off we were, walking down the street, all dressed up, to services. Naturally we were the only group of people, certainly the only Americans, walking down the street dressed to the nines early Saturday morning. Just as Friday night services were over almost as soon as they began, so too were Saturday morning services. I am more and more so discovering that the magic that came with camp prayers, and the strong spiritual connection I might find there, is actually very closely connected not to the prayers or to god but in fact to the tunes, the atmosphere and the people. So sure enough, when all three are missing, as they often are throughout the year, I find myself in spiritual AWOL. We then walked from services to the old-age home for lunch. I forgot to mention that from the old-age home, specifically from the 4th floor dining room from which we ate, we had a 270 degree view of Istanbul and boy, was it beautiful.
After lunch we had some free time to relax after our exhausting travel and long days. I took the time to investigate the sauna, pool, and jacuzzi of the hotel. Yum. Although I have done a fair amount of traveling at this point this year, and have become an expert packer, have started to adapt to the hopping from one hotel to the next and the constant changing environment, I have not yet learned how to stay on my toes with little sleep. Maybe that will never change. Anyhoo, this time to relax was much, much needed.
Just after hopping out of the Jacuzzi and showering, there was a special presentation of ‘dreaming of the world to come’ by our very own Peter Geffen. I’m not sure if I have discussed this piece of Kivunim at all, but dreaming of the world to come is a very interesting part of the trip. It is a group of kids that come together twice a week to read various inspiring texts, depending on the topic of discussion for that meeting, and talk about what we change we would like to see in the world. In some sense it’s a forum to discuss thoughts and provide discourse to feed our minds. However, one of these meetings every week is dedicated to a presentation by one participant about their own personal worldview, what brought them to that place and what they would like to see themselves doing in the future. Oh boy is it interesting. So, as you can imagine, Peter’s World (we refer to each presentation by this clever name. my presentation for example would be ‘adin’s world’.) would be very insightful. He talked about how he came to the place he is now. Many of the anecdotes I had heard before, but much of it I had not. He talked about the role his dad, a rabbi, played in his life. Various texts he had read as a teenager and different experiences that inspired him to lead his life in the direction. He spoke about how the 60’s’ atmosphere led him and many of his generation to a place of idealism; a mentality that you could accomplish or influence anything you wanted to. You can be sure that a man like Peter has many-a-anecdote and many-a-powerful-a-anecdote at that up his sleeve. If you ask really nicely, ill let you see my notes from adin’s world.
After Peter’s World, we had dinner and headed off to a party, being thrown by the local Jewish community for Purim. This party was for all intents and purposes an open bar and techno music. Not really much bonding with the Turks, primarily because we were both being fairly anti-social drunks. The maybe the most interesting piece of the night, besides of someone throwing up on my back (how fantastic that was), was the security and architecture of the building (the same as all Jewish buildings in the city). From the outside, quite frankly, they look like prisons: walls with barbed wire at the top and plenty of cameras watching the streets. You would have no idea that these buildings are Jewish from the outside if no one told you. After a few deep breaths and a few people to help, you could yank open the seemingly tons-heavy door. After getting through the first door, you enter a narrow hallway with security and a security booth with one-sided mirrors. Once you hand them your passport and they let you go through the metal detector and x-ray machine, you need to enter the second enormously heavy door. I have asked every Jewish official, the chief rabbi, the school principal, and museum curators if they feel Istanbul to be hostile to Jews and they all answer no. Sort of a curious answer considering the security. Anyhoo.

Day 4
Today started with a bus ride to the Jewish museum of Istanbul; only established after a 1980’s bombing by the PLO on a synagogue that prompted the US to ask if there were even any Jews living in Turkey. The museum documents the Turkish Jews’ history, which for the most part begins in 1492 with the Spanish Expulsion of Jews. There were various decrees given at the time by the sultans regarding the Jews; many of them really remarkable. One of which was as extreme as to say ‘if anyone treats these refuges poorly, they could be subject to the death penalty’. Not even Israel provides such a serious protection of the Jews. Never in the history of Jews up until that decree and since has there been such a statement.
From the museum we drove to Topkopi Palace, the palace of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire. Easily the most interesting piece of the palace was the building that houses the holy relics. In this building the palace claims to house many incredible relics ranging from Abraham’s soup bowl, King David’s sword, John the Baptist’s arm and piece of his skull, a foot print of Mohammed, Moses’ staff, and many hairs and teeth of Mohammed himself. Very interesting stuff. Obviously its all up for debate as to whether one believes this to be the real deal or not but certainly interesting to look at nonetheless.
From the palace we walked to the cistern of Istanbul. Not in use anymore, normal folk like us can simply walk in and explore the vast underground mansion that held the city’s drinking water. It was a nice touch that as we walked around we got large drops of water on our heads.
Back on the bus and off to a lecture about Sephardi culture in Turkey, its history and Ladino music. We learned a song or two, including the classic Ocho Kandalikas, and learned about the history of the Ladino (or Judeo-Spanish). For dinner we ate at a mall’s food court. Really? I would think Kivunim could do a tad better. The highlight of such an experience was a fierce debate between Ben and me in front of a Burger King. It began with such prompting one another about who would win in an election for public office. Ben happens to be one of most skilled public speakers and intellectuals I have ever met so you might think this would be tough. Our friend Nanus provided the questions for debate. The questions were as follows: some of Burger King’s sandwhiches are longer and more rectangular while others, like the Whopper, are more circular and smaller. Some are calling for all sandwhiches to be the same size. What is your position on the matter and what would you do if elected the Burger King? Some feminist groups are complaining that the Burger King is a sexist institution, what is your position on the matter? There are many items on the Burger King menu, such as chicken fries in phallic shapes. They are damaging our children’s fragile, virgin minds. What would you do to stop such madness? The blind are complaining that they can’t enjoy the food completely because they cannot see what they are eating. They say that there should be brail pictures. What is your stance?
Of course all answers involved answers relating to the power of American freedom, liberty, justice, how the other was denouncing American freedom and justice and the whole nine yards.
I write this all to you from a train from Istanbul to Ankara.
I’ll fill you in as I go along.

Day 5
After waking up nice and early to the sound of the breaks of the train. We have to immediately grab our things and run off the train before it hops out of the station and goes one stop closer to its destination of Damascus. Running off the train, its back on the bus. As the bus pulls away, we can see a GIANT poster of Ataturk hanging from the top of the train station. Maybe 60 feet high. The admiration, a very public admiration, for Ataturk is entirely unparalleled. In such a democratic, secular country it comes as a shock, but even the kivunim crew was chanting his name by the end of the trip.
Our bus pulls up to our hotel to give us a chance to drop off our things, have breakfast and even get some shut eye if the train didn’t quite do it for you. After we recovered a little bit we headed off to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, a truly incredible place exhibiting artifacts from the rich history of life in Anatolia. Although an amazing place, we were just too exhausted and our attention lagged pretty quickly. Making a game-time executive decision, the itinerary was changed and we were given free time to go explore Ankara, or sleep, or whatever our heart desired.
I chose to wander around with two friends and one of our madrichim. We wandered and wandered and wandered, our goal to find a restaurant that served something tasty looking and beer. After much searching (being picky), we finally gave up and walked into the closest restaurant. Unfortunately for us, or maybe fortunately, no one in the place spoke English. That means we had to engage in a game we had at this point in our international experience mastered: the hand signals and vocal intonation signals game. Two of us told the waitress to order what she thought was good. We got two dishes that were fairly exciting. They consisted of doner kebab (much like shawarma) and fries, for the most part. Very tasty.
After that it was back home to get some rest.

Day 6
Finally, a real night’s sleep. The first stop of the day was to the old city of Ankara, which any self -respecting historian knows is at the acropolis. That means we got an incredible view of the city. The entire city drenched in snow, as we were experiencing hands-on, was truly beautiful. Our next stop was maybe the best of the trip: Mustafa Kamal Ataturk’s mausoleum and museum. This place is like nothing you’ve ever seen. The monument is HUGE. There is a giant pathway leading to the mausoleum itself and once you see it you're breathless again. There is a huge square in front of the monument itself. Once you walk in to the building, with incredible ceilings all covered in beautiful mosaics, there is a small monument at the back of the room. Our guide tells us it is a must-see for any and all diplomats visiting Turkey. Lucky us, we got there just in time for the changing of the guard. Outside every building in the complex are two glass cases. And sure enough, inside are two soldiers. Six new soldiers and their commander come marching in making a good point of making sure their boots smash against the tiles to create the dramatic sound they’re looking for. We then walked into the Mustafa Kamal museum, a place dedicated to his belongings and documenting his life. REALLY incredible. Everything from his first passport, to a teacup, to his swords; everything, truly everything. Of course, there was then the gift shop, selling everything from Ataturk ties, to Ataturk posters, books, keychains and every tchotchke you can think of.
We then took off for our next destination: Afyon, a small town between Ankara and Izmir. As if the day needed another plus, in the basement of our hotel is a hammam (Turkish bath). Because the hotel insisted on having first a time designated to girls and then to boys, the guys had some time to kill. So in the meantime we enjoyed the pool, which is kept at jacuzi temperatures and the sauna. By the time we were allowed in the Turkish bath room, which consists of a large circlular stone in the middle of the room and several alcoves with faucets of hot and cold water. The order of events for a Turkish bath is to first go to a ‘warm room’ where you are to loosen your skin and sweat (for us the sauna), then go to a ‘hot room’ which we substituted with hot water from the faucets, and then cooling yourself off with cold water. After all that you get scrubbed down and massaged. Sounds nice, no? Because there was only one man to scrub and massage, the rest of us had to sit on the side and continue to enjoy the hot and cold waters (how terrrrrible). We would pour practically scalding water over our head before pour ice cold water. Really fun, and feels amazing. Finally it was my turn to get scrubbed down by the funny looking older Turkish gentleman. And boy was it amazing. Essentially he rubs you down with a loofah-glove. Mmmm. Then he pours warm water on you and lets you just lay there. You then turn over and he scrubs down the other side. Finally, you get off the stone and sit down next to one of the sinks and he actually washes you with soap water then rinses. Being pampered is something I could get used to.
And as if I needed to end the day better, we then went upstairs for a delicious dinner and a cold beer.
Needless to say, I slept well that night.

Day 7
This day was rather low key. We jumped on the bus to Sardis, an incredible site of roman ruins. Pertinent to us because the site was a roman gym, pool, and school before being handed over to the local Jewish community and having a synagogue built at the same site. After some thorough restoration, you have never seen a more incredible sight. The synagogue is one of the most ancient and well preserved in the world. Of course kivunim then put on the annual frigidarium swimming races in the ruins. We arrived just at sunset making the lighting on the already incredible structure, just perfect. We then continued to Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey. We then had the opportunity to meet Turkish youth. In the small world of small worlds, this group of Turkish youth happened to be traveling to new york in two days. Youll never guess where they’re visiting: Heschel. Where are they staying? Heschel families. Where are they praying? B.J. the world is small but the jewish world is tiny. We ate dinner with them and they put on a dance show (the reason for their trip to the States). Back to the hotel and bed.

Day 8
We began the day by going to the sea and taking an elevator up to a view point. Wow. The view was tremendous. The view of the Aegean sea and the city was breathless. From there we visited several shuls in the area. Right next to the bazaar are six shuls. SIX SHULS. Not even in Israel are there so many in such proximity to one another. Although there are no longer enough jews to fill all six regularly, they use all six for different occasions.
Then we had my favorite time: bazaar explore time. Just enough to pick up some yummy treats and delicious lunch. I truly love the bazaar, shuk, market, take your pick. It is my favorite part of Jerusalem, and virtually every city we’ve been to.
A drive one hour south led us to Ephesus, an ancient roman city. The city has been incredibly well preserved and carefully restored. AWE-some. Never before have I felt this way about ruins. You truly feel present in the roman city. You feel the bustling streets and the screams from the shops on the sides of the streets, you see the houses just above the shops, the water flowing from the fountains scattered across the city. Really amazing.
Back on the bus to the airport. Just then we’re told that our rooms at Beit Shmuel (our home in Jerusalem) are not yet ready and we’ll have to stay at a kibbutz that night. Wonderful news. We first fly to Istanbul before grabbing a connecting flight to Tel Aviv.
And then our trip ended just as it began: homeless in the middle of the night, flying from city to city, exhausted.