Israeli/Syrian Music in the Golan

About a week ago, I was lucky enough to have had my dad and my older brother visit me in Israel. They were here for about a week or so and we really squeezed just about everything we could in Israel in such a short amount of time. Some highlights were:

1.) Discovering great neighborhoods in Jerusalem just walking around on the way to the old city.
2.) Going into the "western wall tunnels" that go underground tangent to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. On this tour, we were able to see essentially the entire Western Wall as it was before the second temple was destroyed. Incredible.
3.) Staying in a great hotel overlooking all of the Sea of Galilee (again, one of my favorite spots in Israel).
4.) Having an amazing lunch in a druze town in the Golan.
5.) Arriving in Eilat only to find that our reservations were somehow not made. Subsequently, we found a very expensive hotel room at the Hilton (the best hotel in Eilat) that overlooked the entire gulf of Eilat (gulf of Acaba). It was on the top floor looking south out over the gulf and we could see Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt from the window.

But, I think one of the best experiences on this particular trip was when we were decending from the Golan heights down to the Sea of Galillee around sunset in our car. We tuned into a radio station (103 FM) that had great 60's and 70's Israeli music. The juxtapositon of these great songs and the timeless feeling that they exuded and the image of the peaciful Israeli frontier land, was really euphoric. What was especially interesting and amazingly metaphoric was how every now and then, a Syrian radio station on the same frequency, most likely from close-by Damascus would push the Israeli station out of the frequency, before the Israeli station would take over once again. I just sat there amazed at what I was hearing and how representative it was of the recent history of this land. But, back to the the euphoric feeling that this juxtaposition gave me - I often tell friends out here that sometimes I live vichariously through the feeling of how Israel was in its pioneer days, back when this special rugged collectivism was the central tenet of how Israel overcame the seemingly insurmountable odds of merely existing. I truly cherish that feeling and lament that this feeling has been swallowed up the folds of time, and slowly eaten up by the urban decay and selfish individualism I often find in Tel Aviv. I guess this is the main reason I want to move to the Golan. As well as as I can articulate it, I want to experience that feeling first hand "in the field". Imagine how living on a kibbutz in the northern Golan and serving in the military will instill this feeling in me. Let's hope this becomes a reality.

Me? Israeli?

Yes, you heard...eh... read right. I'm going to be an Israeli. I have applied to attain citizenship to the State of Israel - something called "Aliyah" here. It's something that about 3000 Americans do every year. But why me? Has zionism taken a hold of me to such an extent that I'll stay in this little Middle Eastern country forever and I'll never come back home? Is it the border tension, constant threat of war, rockets being launched from a terrorist group 40 kms away that wants me dead, or the blind international condemnation of "the zionist entity" that makes me want to become a citizen here?

Not particularly.

I just like it here.

I like being able to have entire conversations in this insane 12,000 year old language that has so much to do with who and what I am. I like the feeling of respect that radiates from Israelis when they find out that I want to make a life for myself here. I like the feeling of knowing that this is a country that wants me here. I like the Israeli McGuyver mentality and how they use it to create businesses the day that they conceive of them. I like how when I get into a mini bus, I'll be sitting with an Ethiopian guy, a Russian teenager, an Arab construction worker, an ashkenazi soldier and an ultra orthodox family. I like the unfettered honking outside my balcony. I like imitating the Arab Hebrew accent and the Russian Hebrew accent to Israelis and then hearing them laugh at it. I like working for an organization that helps to solve the gigantic problems that plague Israel. I like being part of the most improbable occurance in the last few centuries. I like the geographic diversity of this postage stamp-sized country - how desert turns into rolling wooded hills, that turn into lush mountainous fields, that turn into snow-capped mountains. I like walking 20 minutes to get the best hummus in the world. I like the feeling of walking through my neighborhood and being waved to by people I've met before. I even like "the Jesus" that lives in my neighborhood.

There, of course, are some things that I don't like at all about Israel. But, I can name you hundreds of things that I don't like about the United States; And I still love that country. Finding serious flaws in a certain person, place or thing does not preclude a person from having deep feelings for it nor from attaching one's self to it. So I've weighed my options, and have decided that, since I want to integrate deeply into a culture while I still can, it might as well be 100% and it might as well be in a country for which I have a true affinity and that welcomes me as a citizen with open arms. I'll stay here for a while, maybe for a very long time, or maybe just for a year. Either way, I'll accomplish my goal and desire of integration. But, of course, this goal does come with a price: Just as every other Israeli does, I'll join the army - though only for six months due to my age (I'm an old man out here) and most likely in a relatively safe position. The army is a medium through which one comes of age and it is an opportunity to contribute on a tangible level to the security of a state that needs security badly. I'm sure I'll love it and hate it at various points.

So, I guess this blog will be one American's account of this journey - through all of its trials and tribulations, challenges and joys. I'll be sure to share them on here so that someone else can get a taste of what it's like to go through this process. Stay tuned.