Hallelujah for Halvah

Halvah Selection at Carmel Market in Tel Aviv

About half-way through my month in Israel and, during that time, have probably ingested as much halvah as I have in my entire life.  Israel is not a safe place to be for someone with no self-control when it comes to this tasty sesame treat!  Hummus, falafel, and pita have also been consumed in massive quantities.

Other than it's culinary delights, Israel has much to offer the wandering pleasure-seeker:  the Mediterranean coastline, ancient cities, and desert mountains.  In all these places, stories from the Bible are brought to life, especially for those who have actually read the Bible (self admonition and homework assignment). 

Rosh HaNikra Grottoes

Up to this point in my travels in Israel, I've been to the northern border with Lebanon, the southern border with Jordan, Egypt, and the Red Sea, and many places in between.  I've met my Barishpolsky cousins here, and have heard about their family histories and their strong roots here in this country.  Everywhere I've been and all the people I've met over the course of the last 2+ weeks have caused a reaction in me that is the exact opposite of what I had expected.  The Jewish identity that I've been blindly holding onto for most of my conscious life has become eroded to the point that what's left is that which has always been there...a thin veneer of awareness accompanied by very little substance.  What I mean to say is that you cannot merely will yourself to be something without truly understanding what it is to be that thing.

In Israel, unlike the countries I visited in Central and Eastern Europe, people are quick to encourage Aliyah while extolling the nation's favorable attributes, with an emphasis on the sense of comfort gained by living side-by-side with fellow Jews without fear of anti-semitism.  In Poland, Hungary, and Ukraine, the people that I met seemed to share the sentiment that life in their countries is sub-par in comparison with the way they perceive life to be in Western Europe or the United States.  Growing up in the United States with a relatively high standard of living and a lack of exposure to blatant anti-semitism (perhaps due to my minimal participation in religious and cultural activities), I have never looked to Israel as a refuge as many others have.  And while I appreciate and affirm the raison d'etre for Zionism and the State of Israel, it is not where I want or need to be.  

Holocaust Memorial - Rabin Square, Tel Aviv

On the family side of my visit, I still have not been able to confirm how exactly I'm related to this branch of the Barishpolskys.  However, I can tell you that we have some physical similarities, including the nose...deviated septum and all.  We also share a biological propensity for twins.  We are planning to send our cousin Eugene on a mission in the Kiev archives to see if we can find anything substantive that proves our blood relation, although that no longer has any bearing on the strength of the new relationships that we are building together here.

Next week I will be visiting Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee.  There is so much to see for such a small country!  I am already taking an inventory of all the sites I've passed up and will not have time for so that I can cover those on my next visit to Israel.  That future visit could happen relatively soon, depending on the plans of my best friend from Seattle and his mother.  We've been talking about coming to Israel together for almost 10 years, so it's about time for that trip to materialize.

Fresh-Squeezed Pomegranate Juice in Tel Aviv

My days abroad are numbered now; I will be back in Boston next month.  I look forward to what the future holds, but I've still got more to experience in these final weeks.  More Israel, a week in Istanbul, 18 days in Malta, 2 days in Amsterdam, and 2 days in Reykjavik.