In the beginning...

Monday 4/16/07

We are 16 people traveling together, and my mini group of five arrives three hours early Monday morning at LAX, as required by Continental for flights to Israel, only to discover that our 12:45pm flight has been delayed due to bad weather in Newark. First it looks like we’ll be leaving an hour and a half late, potentially missing our connecting flight to Tel Aviv. But then a sympathetic Continental agent named Angela at the check-in counter miraculously manages to rebook our entire group (us five plus three more) onto a flight an hour and a half earlier instead. All goes well and the early arrival in Newark gives us a leisurely two-hour layover, with dinner at the food court which has something for everyone and last-minute phone calls to loved ones. As passengers begin lining up for the flight to Tel Aviv, Orthodox men in black hats stand facing the eastern wall of the waiting area and begin evening prayers. We watch from a distance but take in once again our own sense of intentionality for this journey.

We’re finally on board but unfortunately—during the rebooking at LAX—we lost all our reserved seats nicely clustered together. With some fast thinking and talking we’re able to make some favorable seat trades that bring at least some of us back together. Despite patches of heavy turbulence the flight goes well and everyone gets some sleep.


Tues 4/17/07

Approaching Tel Aviv, seen through the airplane windows, the city emerges all at once almost magically from the haze. We touch down at the impressive new Ben Gurion airport—super bright and modern—around 4:00 pm. We traverse shiny expanses of light brown marble making our way to baggage claim, with those in our group who know Hebrew beginning to decipher all the different signs. We survive one case of almost-lost luggage.

Adrian, our temporary tour guide from the travel agency Arza meets us, until our trip’s permanent guide Shari can join us for dinner later. Adrian, born in London, tells us about Tel Aviv as we drive toward the city in 5:30pm rush hour traffic, which everyone agrees is not nearly as bad as rush hour in L.A. Adrian explains that the name Tel Aviv was chosen to represent both the old and the new—a new city in an ancient land. Tel means “ancient archaeological mound” and Aviv means “spring” or “renewal.”

The highway takes us past a massive former landfill, a flat-topped butte like you might find rising from a western American desert. It has recently been transformed into a park (Begin Park) that produces green energy. When it was still a landfill the birds it attracted used to cause problems for airplanes taking off and landing.

We’ve arrived during the end of spring moving into summer. It’s hot and humid here on the Mediterranean coast, though today’s weather is described by the locals as “dusty,” with hazy overcast skies tinted slightly orange. Our high-rise hotel, the Dan Panorama, overlooks the sea and we all have small balconies facing that direction. Next door is a historic mosque with its green-lit minaret at night. After checking into the hotel, we head over to the nearby Yemenite quarter for a delicious Middle Eastern dinner. (Lisa is delighted by the tasty vegetarian offerings!) With Israeli red wine we drink a toast to our trip’s organizers, especially Tracy and Gary and Shari, and another to Cate and Vanessa celebrating their second wedding anniversary today.