Surprise! We were joined by Hildy and Steve Martin.
Our day began on a serious note with the “seamline” tour which highlighted the differences in the development of East and West neighborhoods. We stopped to see the actual “wallfencebarrier” between the East and West which is big, gray and imposing. It set the tone for the morning.
Our next stop was Elazar, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. We met Elaine and Ted Silvetsky, sister and brother-in-law of our own Morris Stampfer. In 1972, Ted and Elaine were among the 11 founding families of Elazar. Ted took us on a tour of the community, which is now large and international, with neat homes, lawns, gardens and over 800 children. Seventeen of the children are their grandchildren. Ted spoke of his concern for the future of Elazar and all the settlements in the West Bank because of the restrictions on expansion.
We next went to meet Elias, a friend and colleague of Jared, our tour leader. He is a Palestinian Christian, and the wall has limited his ability to conduct business (tours) or to travel for pleasure. He spoke as an individual, not as a community representative. In his opinion, conditions and the relationship between East and West have never been worse.
A quick lunch, a change of tone, and we were off to meet Avinoam and Havi. They live in the Judean desert town of Alon. After happy hellos and hugs we hiked down a big hill to a natural spring which created lovely swimming pools – in the desert! What fun cooling off and relaxing in this awesome place. But we weren’t done yet!
Danny, Avinoam’s brother, is the rabbi in Alon. He has also established a program for returning Israeli soldiers to help them connect with Judaism.
The last stop was Avinoam and Havi’s beautiful mountaintop home in Alon. This town is populated by both religious and secular Jews, a new concept. After a delicious meal and some singing it was time to head back to Jerusalem. The end of another fabulous day.
- Susan Perrotti
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