Admittedly, I can't entirely blame my father for my fatigue. My brother Andrew works for the Tampa Bay Rays, and we were all very excited that the the team made it into the playoffs against the Boston Red Sox. This, of course, created a huge moral conflict for me. Having lived in Boston for six years, two of which were spent in graduate school at The Boston Conservatory down the street from Fenway, I developed an affinity for the Sox. However, in the name of Shalom Bayit, I shifted my loyalties to the Rays this season and was thrilled that they emerged victorious and are currently battling the Phillies in the World Series.
But the six hour time difference makes watching baseball games in Israel very difficult. During the first few days of their visit, my parents were still on quasi-New York time and managed to catch the first few games at 2am. As they got used to Israel time, however, we got in the habit of waking up early and checking the score online first thing in the morning. This became problematic when we checked into a hotel that had internet access only from its lobby, not from our room. We relied on our TV instead, but were shocked with how long it took for us to find a baseball score, even on ESPN International! Apparently, the only sport people care about on this side of the Atlantic is football (the soccer kind) with a little bit of golf and tennis on the side. We heard dozens of soccer scores from Bologna to London, but not a word about America's favorite pastime. No wonder last summer's Israeli baseball league was a flop!
Even though Israeli television seemed oblivious to baseball's fall classic, we were greeted with hearty congratulations whenever any of us wore our Rays gear around Israel. In the Galilee, we visited the ruins of the ancient village of Korazin, where we encountered a crew filming a PBS documentary focusing on Jesus' role as a historical figure rather than a divine messenger. The producer -- a Mormon guy form Utah -- noticed my Rays shirt and we started schmoozing about baseball, religion, and ancient history. My parents recently attended a Mormon wedding (with no alcohol, as per the religion's creed), and the man was happy to oblige my mom's question on why Mormons drink soda despite the fact that the religion bans caffeine. He said that since soda wasn't around when the religion was first formulated, modern Mormons don't see it as being a forbidden indulgence and adapt their observance accordingly. Sounds a lot like many forms of Judaism...
I should also mention that our cantorial classes officially started this week, which means that I'm on the run from 7am onwards most days. That means a lot less time to blog, but hopefully I'll be able to make it work. Stay tuned!
But the six hour time difference makes watching baseball games in Israel very difficult. During the first few days of their visit, my parents were still on quasi-New York time and managed to catch the first few games at 2am. As they got used to Israel time, however, we got in the habit of waking up early and checking the score online first thing in the morning. This became problematic when we checked into a hotel that had internet access only from its lobby, not from our room. We relied on our TV instead, but were shocked with how long it took for us to find a baseball score, even on ESPN International! Apparently, the only sport people care about on this side of the Atlantic is football (the soccer kind) with a little bit of golf and tennis on the side. We heard dozens of soccer scores from Bologna to London, but not a word about America's favorite pastime. No wonder last summer's Israeli baseball league was a flop!
Even though Israeli television seemed oblivious to baseball's fall classic, we were greeted with hearty congratulations whenever any of us wore our Rays gear around Israel. In the Galilee, we visited the ruins of the ancient village of Korazin, where we encountered a crew filming a PBS documentary focusing on Jesus' role as a historical figure rather than a divine messenger. The producer -- a Mormon guy form Utah -- noticed my Rays shirt and we started schmoozing about baseball, religion, and ancient history. My parents recently attended a Mormon wedding (with no alcohol, as per the religion's creed), and the man was happy to oblige my mom's question on why Mormons drink soda despite the fact that the religion bans caffeine. He said that since soda wasn't around when the religion was first formulated, modern Mormons don't see it as being a forbidden indulgence and adapt their observance accordingly. Sounds a lot like many forms of Judaism...
We also attempted to find Rays kippot on Ben Yehuda Street, but alas they only had an ugly one with the team's old logo. Hopefully that will change now that they're the American League champions! They had plenty of Phillies kippot -- in fact, we got into a "fight" with a woman from Philadephia who purchased at least four or five Phillies kippot to give to her friends and family back home!
Some non-Rays related highlights included crossing the Jordanian border into Petra (home of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and snorkeling over the coral reefs of Eilat. We also floated in the Dead Sea at a REAL Israeli beach (aka one that's not meant for tourists -- the ticket-taker at the Qumram caves sent us to one of her favorite spots). Actually, we really benefited from the advice of lots of friendly Israelis on this trip -- at the Golan Heights Winery (home of the only kosher ice wine -- yum), our guide told us about an ancient synagogue that had been discovered in a nearby town that was being reconstructed with the help of a computer simulation. It hasn't yet made it onto the tourist maps and it was really neat to see the restoration process in action.
On the food front, we ate one of the most amazing meals of my life at a spa in the Galilee called Mitzpe Hayamim. They have a fabulous organic vegetarian buffet, including a make-your-own tea bar with fresh spices and herbs like lavender and sage!
One of my favorite moments was a random Jewish geography sighting. We were shopping on the Cardo, an ancient street in Jerusalem's Old City, when I spied the familiar face of Nola, the tour guide from my Birthright trip three years ago!
Some non-Rays related highlights included crossing the Jordanian border into Petra (home of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and snorkeling over the coral reefs of Eilat. We also floated in the Dead Sea at a REAL Israeli beach (aka one that's not meant for tourists -- the ticket-taker at the Qumram caves sent us to one of her favorite spots). Actually, we really benefited from the advice of lots of friendly Israelis on this trip -- at the Golan Heights Winery (home of the only kosher ice wine -- yum), our guide told us about an ancient synagogue that had been discovered in a nearby town that was being reconstructed with the help of a computer simulation. It hasn't yet made it onto the tourist maps and it was really neat to see the restoration process in action.
On the food front, we ate one of the most amazing meals of my life at a spa in the Galilee called Mitzpe Hayamim. They have a fabulous organic vegetarian buffet, including a make-your-own tea bar with fresh spices and herbs like lavender and sage!
One of my favorite moments was a random Jewish geography sighting. We were shopping on the Cardo, an ancient street in Jerusalem's Old City, when I spied the familiar face of Nola, the tour guide from my Birthright trip three years ago!
I should also mention that our cantorial classes officially started this week, which means that I'm on the run from 7am onwards most days. That means a lot less time to blog, but hopefully I'll be able to make it work. Stay tuned!
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